• Purvis Street spans North Bridge Road and Beach Road, running parallel to Middle Road.
• Situated at the intersection of Middle Road and Beach Road, the Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong temple and Hainan Hwee Kuan served as places of worship and community centres for the early immigrants from Hainan.
• Parallel to Middle Road (“海南一街”, meaning “first Hainan street”) is Purvis Street, followed by Seah Street, which are known as “海南二街” (“second Hainan street”) and “海南三街” (“third Hainan street”), respectively. After Seah Street, one can find the renowned Raffles Hotel.
• Apart from the Kheng Chiu Tin Hou Kong temple, which is dedicated to Mazu, and the Hainan Hwee Kuan, which catered to the needs of the Hainanese community, eateries selling Hainanese coffee, cuisine, and snacks were also found at the three aforementioned streets.
• As Purvis Street used to house many remittance companies that let Chinese immigrants send money home to relatives in China, it was also colloquially known as “汇兑街” (“remittance street”).
• Purvis Street was given its official name in 1902. In its Mandarin translation, “巴米士街”, “巴米士” is the transliteration of “Purvis”. The street is believed to be named after John Purvis, a merchant in Singapore in the 19th century.

According to the food blog, Yet Con Restaurant at Purvis Street, founded in 1940, retains its old-school ways. The proprietor continues to use an abacus for keeping accounts, and lets customers take their time to place their orders. (Shin Min Daily News, 30/11/2010)