How has urban life in Jakarta changed in the past decades? This paper will discuss life in Menteng, a Jakarta residential area built during the Dutch East Indies colonial times as an extension of Batavia. After independence it became an elite area with residents coming from various parts of Indonesia, mostly working in the civil service. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with former Menteng residents. Fifteen respondents, now in their 60s and 70s, shared what they remembered most about living in Menteng in the past and how they view urban life in present-day Jakarta. Secondary data were also obtained from the social media homepage of GAMENT, a community of ex-Menteng residents. The most dominant response shared were their views of Jakarta being a peaceful place where neighbours of diverse backgrounds lived in harmony. Respondents compared this to contemporary Jakarta which in their views is becoming more conservative and primordial. This paper is part of a larger project to document collective memories of GAMENT members. Keywords: Urban Living, Collective Memory, Jakarta