Post Praya East Reclamation. Note the pawn shop - today's "The Pawn" Restaurant.
Source: This image came from Flickr, see https://flickr.com/photo.gne?id=38207183195
Date picture taken
1931
Gallery
Shows place(s)
Shows street(s)
Comments
Nagasaki Joe?
On a pillar in roughly the centre of the photo we can see "NAGASAKI" painted. I wonder if this was Nagasaki Joe, as in the thread about his premises on Gloucester Road, Moddsey noted:
... in 1917 Joe Yamakawa applied to the Liquor Licensing Board to sell by retail intoxicating liquors at the premises of 26 Praya East.
Re: Nagasaki Joe
David - Good catch.
A follow-up. Had a trawl through the licensing sessions at HKGRO. The Yamakawas operated an establishment at 47 Praya East from 1917. The name of the establishment is not mentioned. It was later known as the Yamakawa Hotel from 1920 and located at the same address.
With the completion of the Praya East Reclamation and changing of the road names in Wanchai in 1930, the address given for the Yamakawa Hotel was 70 Johnston Road.
In 1933, the Yamakawa Hotel was re-located to the ground floors at 62-63 Gloucester Road. In 1936, the hotel at the same address was renamed the Nagasaki Joe Hotel.
David had mentioned previously - There's a short piece from the St Petersburg Times dated 27 Dec 1942, but referring to a visit to 'Nagasaki Joe's in Hong Kong' in 1927. So guessing that even when the formal name was 'Yamakawa Hotel', the man and the bar / restaurant were already known as Nagasaki Joe('s).
If one can match up 47 Praya East/70 Johnston Road with the pillar in the photo or the address of the Woo Cheong Pawn Shop from the 1930s, there appears to be a possbility of a connection.
Nagasaki Joe Restaurant/Bar Calling Card