Although this street is named for Penang's Armenian population (such as the famous Sarkies who established the Eastern & Oriental Hotel), there's no evidence that any Armenians actually ever lived here. In the early 1800s the street was known as Malay Lane from a kampung settlement here, and later the Chinese named it pak thang-ah kay (copper worker's street) because this is where brass- and copperwares were sold.
It later became a centre for Chinese secret societies and was one of the main fighting stages of the 1867 Penang riots.
