diff --git a/static/js/stream_data.js b/static/js/stream_data.js
index 32a5b2c6f3..80af023729 100644
--- a/static/js/stream_data.js
+++ b/static/js/stream_data.js
@@ -451,7 +451,13 @@ exports.initialize_from_page_params = function () {
     delete page_params.never_subscribed;
 };
 
+exports.get_recent_topics_for_id = function (stream_id) {
+    return recent_topics.get(stream_id);
+};
+
 exports.get_recent_topics = function (stream_name) {
+    // TODO: deprecate this and have callers use
+    //       get_recent_topics_for_id
     var stream_id = exports.get_stream_id(stream_name);
     if (!stream_id) {
         return [];
diff --git a/static/js/topic_list.js b/static/js/topic_list.js
index 368b5fb9b3..3d5ed443ed 100644
--- a/static/js/topic_list.js
+++ b/static/js/topic_list.js
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ exports.build_widget = function (parent_elem, stream, active_topic, max_topics)
 
 
     function build_list(stream, active_topic, max_topics) {
-        var topics = stream_data.get_recent_topics(stream) || [];
+        var topics = stream_data.get_recent_topics_for_id(my_stream_id) || [];
 
         if (active_topic) {
             active_topic = active_topic.toLowerCase();