New Photos
Posted by SpikeMar 10
This evening, I found myself with some free time before dinner. For me, unexpected free time means time to take more photos. And Hong Kong has something photo-worthy on almost every street.
This fabulous old building is at the corner of Johnston & Wanchai Roads. Given our government’s almost psychotic bent towards redevelopment, I wonder how many years this building has left?
Speaking of real estate, since there are almost no exclusive listings for vacant properties, anyone with a license can stick up a sign. This is one of the more extreme examples I’ve encountered recently.
My understanding is that the government no longer issues permits to erect new scaffolding for neon signs. But you can put new signs on old scaffolding, and this is a relatively new one. If memory serves, this used to hold a sign advertising two rather grotty night clubs. I like the neon rose here.
This got me sad. I used to be on Mallory Street every week when Rock Gallery was in the Emperor Group Centre. And I used to love looking across the street at this row of houses, kickin’ it old skool, filled with life. And now they’re coming down. It’s not too hard to guess what will replace them.
How many excellent hotels do you know in Hong Kong? Here’s one!
A nice night time view looking down Johnston Road.
And we close “part 1″ with two views of The Hennessy – in true Hong Kong fashion, the entrance to this building is not on Hennessy Road, it’s on Johnston Road. I suppose Hennessy Road sounds like a better address for this self-described A-List Shopping Destination (which features a home furnishings shop and several restaurants).
Dinner was at Wooloomooloo, the branch at The Hennessy. They have the 31st floor and rooftop, which was why I brought the camera along. And even though it was a fricking cold night (especially on the roof, where the winds were really whipping around), I had to go up and take a few photos. I had both my 24-70 and 70-300 lenses along. The 70-300, zoomed all the way in, has a maximum aperture of only f/5.6 – and with the cold, my hands were shaking so much that I had trouble getting decent photos handheld. The last couple of shots, ISO is bumped all the way up to 8000 – and still quite okay I think.
5 comments
Comment by JD on March 10, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Great pics!
I live near Mallory Street – I was looking at the scaffolding the other day. I was actually hoping they were going to renovate the old places and build around them – similar to the sweat shops in Singapore. Hope you’re wrong and they stay, but you’re probably right and there’ll be a new shopping mall there in 2012.
Comment by Spike on March 11, 2010 at 3:02 am
I hope I’m wrong too! Wouldn’t that building make a great art gallery? Or museum? Or anything else other than a future hole in the ground replaced with a future crap highrise?
Comment by Phil on March 14, 2010 at 10:01 am
They’re slated for “revitalisation”. The problem is the URA will be responsible for it. So, yes, expect a shopping mall sometime soon.
http://www.ura.org.hk/html/c804000e2e.html
Comment by DeWolf on March 16, 2010 at 12:14 pm
As Phil noted, the old buildings on Mallory Street are going to be restored and converted into some kind of interpretative centre and space for “cultural and creative industries.” I really want to be cynical about this but hey, it’s better than demolition.
Plus, the news that the URA might not demolish Wing Lee Street after all gives me hope that someone has finally started listening to the riff-raff. Maybe. We’ll see.
Comment by Spike on March 16, 2010 at 12:36 pm
“Hope for the best, expect the worst.” Mel Brooks, The 12 Chairs