- Chapter 1 : Port Out
- Chapter 2 : The Fragrant Harbour
- Chapter 3 : Sei Hoi Jau Dim
- Chapter 4 : Three lives on the edge
- Chapter 5 : Firecrackers, funerals, and flames
- Chapter 6 : Dens, ducks, and dives
- Chapter 7 : Living on clouds
- Chapter 8 : Ida, Su Yin, the light of Tin Hau, and the wrath of Yen Lo
- Chapter 9 : Hiking to Buddha, swimming with Colonel Noma
- Chapter 10 : Mong Kok revisited
- Chapter 11 : 'Homeward' bound
Views along the tram line in the 1950s
In chapter 9 of Martin Booth's book, he describes a tram ride from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan.
Here are the photos we've been sent that show the views he'd have seen along that route.
Many thanks to the people who have shared their photographs with us.
1950s Junction of Morrison St & Des Voeux Rd Central
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Des Voeux Road Central
Image (external):
The above image is hosted on the Flickr website. Click the image to view it on that website.
There's a good hi-res copy available on Flickr.
Its a very similar view to this one.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Des Voeux Rd C, looking east towards Wing On
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Wing On Dept Store, Des Voeux Rd C.
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Des Voeux Road Central
received by email.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Des Voeux Road Central, near Fire Station
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Des Voeux Road Central
Image (external):
The above image is hosted on the Flickr website. Click the image to view it on that website.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Des Voeux Road Central near GPO
received by email.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Des Voeux Road Central near Ice House Street
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1953 View from HSBC
Image (external):
The above image is hosted on the Flickr website. Click the image to view it on that website.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1953
1950s Statue Square and temporary government buildings
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
Buildings around the cricket pitch
Image (external):
The above image is hosted on the Flickr website. Click the image to view it on that website.
Do you think this photo was taken in the 1950s or 1960s?
The covered walkway between the HK Club building and its annexe is just visible.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Des Voeux Road Central near Banks
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1953
1950s Des Voeux Road Central
Received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Court & Cricket Club
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Fred Evans' photos, Cheero Club, taken from tram
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1958
1950s Fred Evans' photos, View from Cheero Club
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1958
1950s Hennessy Rd / Queens Road East Junction
Photo courtesy of Andrew Suddaby
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1958
1950s Western junction of Hennessy & Johnston Roads
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Western junction of Hennessy & Johnston Roads
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Hennessy & Johnston Roads (Western End)
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1955
1950s Johnston Rd & Southorn Playground
Received by email:
The sign for the old Pawnshop (now the site of 'The Pawn') can be seen on the extreme right of this photo.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1953 Johnston Road
Image (external):
The above image is hosted on the Flickr website. Click the image to view it on that website.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1953
1950s Johnston Road
Photo courtesy of Andrew Suddaby
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1958
1950s Junction of Johnston Rd, Wanchai Rd, and Fleming Rd
Received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Johnston Road, looking West
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Eastern junction of Hennessy & Johnston Roads
Received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Hennessy Rd near Canal Rd
Image (external):
The above image is hosted on the Flickr website. Click the image to view it on that website.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Percival Street & New York Cinema
Received via email.
From 1954-55 showing the junction of Percival St and Hennessy Rd with New York Cinema in the background. The movie Mad about Men was released in late 1954.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1955
1950s Hennessy Road
Photo courtesy of Andrew Suddaby
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1958
Hennesy Road, 1953
Image (external):
The above image is hosted on the Flickr website. Click the image to view it on that website.
You can just see the spike on the top of Capitol Theatre sticking up above the blue & red sign on the right of this photo. It's worth clicking through to Flickr, as it has some interesting notes in the comments.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1953
1950s Hennessy Road
Image (external):
The above image is hosted on the Flickr website. Click the image to view it on that website.
Part of the set of photos along the tram tracks.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1955
1950s Corner of Yee Wo St & Jardine's Bazaar
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Roxy, Causeway Bay
Photo courtesy of Andrew Suddaby
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1958
1950s Causeway Bay Roundabout
received by email
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
1950s Tin Hau
Image (external):
The above image is hosted on the Flickr website. Click the image to view it on that website.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1950
Comments
Can you add any more?
Do you have any photos from the 1950s that show sections of the tram lines that we've missed above? If you are willing to share, it's easy to add them in.
Just create a new image, and fill in:
Then once you save the new image it will automatically appear in the right place on this page. Let us know if you need any help.
How does it work?
This page relies on several of the features we've talked about lately.
If you had a big box of photos of Hong Kong, and I wanted you to make a display like this, I'd ask for something like:
"all photos that show trams" - this uses tags. We tell the computer to search for all images that have the tag 'tram'.
"that were taken in the 1950s" - that's easy, we tell the computer to further limit its search to images with a 'date picture taken' between 1950 and 1959.
"lay them out in order" - here we use the 'places shown' . Luckily the tram line runs almost exactly West to East, so we can tell the computer to sort the images by 'ascending longitude'.
Filling in tags, dates, and places takes a bit more time and effort when we create the image. But I think it's worth it, as then it lets us search and view them in more interesting ways.
wonderful work
You've done a fabulous job on this. It makes me think how wonderful it would be if the govt. had turned Tamar site into a nice big green park. It also made me think of my recent Guangzhou trip - it's true that bits of current Guangzhou look like 1950's des voeux road - so visit and photograph it while you can!
Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it - and it's been a few years since I've been to Guangzhou, so yes, a visit is overdue!
Dutchman's Videos
Hey guys, I am a random person. This dutchman got some cool videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelRogge
Just want to share them with you. Enjoy!