Dhobi Ghat, famous laundry in Bombay / Mumbai

Wed, 03/09/2022 - 15:59

[Admin: This was originally titled 'A Chinese laundry', but is actually a scene from India.]

Date picture taken
1950s

Comments

In the early 1970s there was a group of squatter huts declaring themselves to be the          Hong Kong Electric Laundry’ just above the southern curbside edge of Tai Hang Road immediately below Hong Kong Electric’s Cavendish Heights senior staff residential blocks at the top of the valley.

This always amused me imagining the company’s employees wives trekking down to get their washing done.

I always intended to photograph the huts and signs, but the road was too narrow, twisty and busy to safely stop the car. Nevertheless, I seem to recall a photograph of the signs in a Hong Kong published book of the period. Possibly the Eric Cumine’s Hong Kong Facts book or the SCMP‘s Hong Kong Signs books.

One would assume that HKE objected to their name being used in such a way in that prominent location.

IDJ, there are a couple of other mentions of the Hong Kong Electric Laundry at https://gwulo.com/media/32511 and https://gwulo.com/node/44555

Simtang, the photo at the top of the page shows two lines of washing ponds in a V-shape, on flat ground, with open ground and trees on the right. They don't match the view at Wun Sha Street, but they do match the two Bombay photos I linked to. Looking at theother photos in the 1950s Bullock family's photos gallery, the ship they travelled on made a stop at Bombay, so the photo of the laundry was likely taken then.

Embarkation notice December 1956
Embarkation notice December 1956, by Dibsy