When transvestites began to rendezvous in the area in the 1950s, they attracted increasing numbers of Western tourists who came for the booze, the food, the pasar malam shopping and the "girls". Business boomed and Bugis Street became a lively and bustling area, forming the heart of "Xiao Po". It was one of Singapore's most famous tourist meccas from the 1950s to the 1980s, renowned internationally for its nightly parade of flamboyantly-dressed transvestites and it attracted hordes of Caucasian gawkers who had never before witnessed Asian queens in full regalia.