Bangsar Park

Bangsar Park was the first residential area to be developed within the area which is now known as Bangsar in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is a much sought-after residential and commercial address in the Klang Valley.

It lies about four kilometres southwest of the city centre and is a ten minutes drive by car from the city centre. It is given the postcode of 59000.

The Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur is the local governing authority. It is represented by the Bangsar Park Residents' Association. Bangsar Park is also part of the Lembah Pantai constituency and its Member of Parliament is Nurul Izzah Anwar, for the past 2 terms.

Bangsar was initially a rubber estate. One suggestion is that it derives its name from Bunge, a Belgian, and Grisar, a Frenchman, said to be the founders of a European company that ran the estate, Bunge-Grisar. The name of this estate was soon localised to Bungsar, and finally Bangsar. It was the nearest to Kuala Lumpur.

It was later developed into a residential area. Bangsar Park was the first area to be developed. Apparently it was the first planned housing estates in Kuala Lumpur. The first houses were built in 1969. Development in Bangsar started once Socfin estates sold the land to private developers.

Though generally Bangsar is a hilly suburb, Bangsar Park lies in the southern part of the area which of flat terrain.

Jalan Maarof (Ma'arof) is Bangsar's main thoroughfare. It also divides Bangsar into two main parts. On the east of this road lies Taman SA, Bangsar Park, Bukit Bangsar, Bangsar Utama and one-half of Bukit Bandaraya (postcode 59000). The other neighbourhoods (and other half of Bukit Bandaraya) lie on the west (postcode 59100).

The Mobil service station along Jalan Maarof was sometimes used to identify the side of the road Bangsar Park is on, considering most of Bangsar was on the other side. This Mobil station was recently demolished.

East of Bangsar Park lies Bukit Persekutuan, a low density neighbourhood developed in the colonial days and Bukit Damansara. Most of the vegetation from the forest has not been cleared, thus it would appears as if the eastern neighbourhoods of Bangsar were actually surrounded by a jungle.

A few monsoon drains were constructed when Bangsar was developed. They have since been covered up, although they remain operational.

Bangsar Park is a popular residential area among both Malaysians and expatriates. It is a melting pot today with a good balance of different races living here. However, it was never always that way. The initial residents of Bangsar Park were mainly Ceylonese from Brickfields, who were mostly government clerks and looking for a new, clean neighbourhood to move into.

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Wikipedia