Thursday, February 18, 2016

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Park Lane Hotel, Gloucester Road

It looks as though Spidey is staying at the Park Lane Hotel along Gloucester Road where it overlooks neighbouring Victoria Park. I don't know much about this hotel other than it has a rather nice bar at the top with nice views over the harbour. But to be honest, I haven't been there since the 1990's so have no idea if they still let in the riff-raff like myself.

According to a Chinese wiki entry the hotel was constructed in 1974 and opened the following year as the 華都酒店 - transliterated as the Waldo Hotel. I'm not sure when the name change happened but it was definitely the Park Lane back in 95/96. The screencap below shows the name Hotel Plaza and I am scratching my head trying to figure out if this was the official English name or a subsequent change after opening. Perhaps one of you folks out there can clarify.

Anyway, it's a brief look as the camera pans down and then follows a car off up the road. The surrounding buildings haven't changed much since filming.


Thankfully the hotel has decided to at least try and hide the goddamn fugly lower section of concrete with some strategically placed metal work, but you can still see the hexagonal ports hiding behind.


We then follow the car as it drives north (towards the harbour) along this section of Gloucester Road.


You can see from the Streetview below that, other than the colour scheme, little has changed.

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