Southern Uprising: The Scene Down Under

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  in Features
Thirsty for JUICE content? Quench your cravings on our Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp

THE RESIDENTS
JOHOR BAHRU’S COOL LIST

A pioneer himself, our anonymous guest writer is obviously familiar with the streets of JB. Here he profiles a few of the owners of the venues off Jalan Dhoby, Jalan Trus, Jalan Skudai, and pondan central itself – Tan Hiok Nee.

source: Sea Wong

Sea Wong / Roost. / 9, Jalan Dhoby
Studied design at Lim Kok Wing in the early ’00s. During this time, he roomed with Xu from Twilight Actiongirl and LapSap, whom he considers as one of his major influences. He often exchanged notes about movies, music, and design with the prolific DJ at the time. Coming from a family who is famous for selling beef noodles, he didn’t mind continuing the family business provided he did it his way, although his cousin still sells beef noodles in a typical Chinese restaurant. His father and uncle were also in a local band called the Saints, that even cut a record at one point.

source: Beverly Bee

Beverly Bee /The Girl Next Door. / 8A, Jalan Dhoby
Operated a salon and provided makeup services after getting an award for a Shu Uemura makeup competition circa 2004, Beverly was always interested in fashion so it was only natural for her to branch out into selling apparel. Always keeping up to date with the latest trends or setting trends herself, she has been featured in many Chinese magazines (both local and international) as JB’s fashion icon. Her social media updates and fashion sense are followed by many.

source: Kenny Lim

Kenny Lim / Roost Repurposed / 14, Jalan Trus
Kenny started out helping the family business sundry shop in Batu Pahat before he moved to JB and apprenticed at Elle Salon. From hanging out with the community because of likeminded interests, he joined forces with Sea Wong to open Roost Repurposed (the epitome of up-cycling in JB). Both of them had handmade almost all furniture in the shop, which took them about six months. He has also modelled for a Thai fashion magazine once.

Juice WhatsApp banner