In the early 1970s there was a group of squatter huts declaring themselves to be the ‘Hong KongElectric 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.
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.
Comments
浣紗街 Wun Sha Street, Tai Hung
In the 1930s
https://youtu.be/K94Lox-lJXg?t=170
Bombay?
Zooming in, the people don't look Chinese. I found a couple of similar scenes of Dhobi Ghat in Bombay / Mumbai:
https://www.flipkart.com/mahalaxmi-dhobi-ghat-bombay-canvas-art/p/itmf4…
https://www.ebay.com/itm/331324602593
浣紗街 Wun Sha Street, Tai Hung Hong Kong
https://gwulo.com/node/44555#17~22.27767~114.19350~Map_by_GovHK-Markers…
HKE squatter huts laundry
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.
Laundries
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.
A Similar Scene
A similar scene to the original photo can be viewed at: https://oldbombay.in/dhobi-ghat/
Identifying the location of the laundry photo
Many thanks for all the comments that have corrected the location of this photo.