Most of my teen years - some of the best times of my life - were spent at the Go Sports skate shop at Block 6C Margaret Drive which was opened by the legendary long-haired owner Eddie Goh in 1985.
I picked up skateboarding as a 14-year-old in 2002, leading to countless days spent fooling around at the open space outside the shop which had become a makeshift skatepark over the years.
I would keep my shoes and board there and head over to skate after school.
Block 6C was one of a kind. There was an irate resident who would often hurl plastic bags of urine and chairs at the skaters from his flat.
But most of the residents had grown accustomed to the noise we skaters made. Even the elderly folk came down in the evenings for a "free show".
There was a clinic next to the shop so its patients provided a captive audience as they waited to see the doctor.
It was my idea of heaven for years - this impromptu skatepark fitted with ramps, rails and grind boxes, all constructed by Mr Goh himself, who embraced the do-it-yourself ethos.
I was part of the last generation of skaters at Go Sports, which called it a day when the building was put up for redevelopment in 2011. My skate buddies have since become some of my closest friends.
Mr Goh, who has since moved his shop to Scape in Orchard Link, sums it up best: "Today, you can never find a location like Margaret Drive, where you could skate, put your ramps, hang out the whole day and not be chased away."