His father, Murray, was a seaman who often traveled to Brazil and dreamed of bringing the country's electric parties to Singapore. In , when Ong was 9, his dad opened a nightclub and named it Ipanema after the bossa nova song "The Girl From Ipanema.
But what really sets the nightclub β and Ong's childhood β apart is the nightclub's location. Ipanema is in Singapore's Orchard Towers. In its heyday, the building was full of go-go bars, strip clubs, and discos that drew in hordes of people seeking a good time. Locally it's known as "Four Floors of Whores.
There were people everywhere, on all four floors. Orchard Towers has since "toned down massively," Ong said.
It's still home to Singapore's most famous unofficial red-light district, where freelance sex workers ply their trade, but time is running out. In August, authorities began forcing nightclubs at Orchard Towers to shut down β and Ipanema was no exception.
A police spokesperson told The Straits Times, Singapore's national paper, that concerns with "public safety, vice activities, and nuisance" led to its decision to do away with nightclubs. Now Orchard Towers is transforming into another neighborhood mall, with a handful of new tenants filling up the empty spaces, selling antiques, carpets, and photo frames. Even as the new crowd moves in, the livelihoods of the nightclub owners and the sex workers who depended on Orchard Towers for income are at stake.
