Friday, March 10, 2017

Shirley's World (TV Series) - Shirley MacLaine (1972) - Neon Bar signs

In the Figuratively Speaking episode of Shirley's World, Shirley's assignment is to document the shenanigans of the US Sailors on shore leave in Hong Kong. Cue lots of nightclub neon signs, so here are a few of them that I have been able to track down. Once again, as with the I Spy neon montage, we did a while ago Doug Price's FLICKR album of bar cards have proved invaluable so many thanks to Doug for sharing.

Let's start with the Suzie Wong Bar and Niteclub and the Seven Seas Bar.


The Suzie Wong Bar and Niteclub was seems to have had two locations although they overlap. One location was 99 -103 Hennessy Road, and then it seems to have shifted over a block to 101 - 105 Hennessy Road. The Seven Seas Bar remains a mystery as to exact address, but Doug also has a photo of the same place in brighter light suggesting the Seven Seas Bar was next door. Feel free to comment if you know the exact address or why the Suzie Wong place seemed to shift over.

Next up is the Liberty Bar, 146-148 Lockhart Road. This later version is not to be confused with an earlier same name place that can be seen in this photo, but if you see Doug's bar card you'll notice the same guitar and cowboy boot emblem that can be seen in the neon sign below. It looks like the building this was in is still around and located next to the walkway that leads to Wanchai MTR station.


The Cave and the Round Up Bar- both were at 20 Luard Road - again another identification courtesy of Doug's bar cards. The Cave was in the basement and the Round Up Disco was on the first floor (in Hong Kong this could also mean the ground floor so I'm not sure which it was).


Next up is the Pussy Cat Bar. This just happens to be one of the first cards in Doug's collection and it gives an address of 34 - 38 Lockhart Road. But even better is also one of Doug's pictures taken in 1970 that shows the same neon signs during the daytime. It looks like that address is now filled up by the Empire Hotel.


Finally we have the Mikado Night Club and Bar. Again, Doug has a card, although we can't see an address on it he has added a comment saying it was at 3 - 7 Fenwick Street. This screenshot must be looking south because on the far left you can see partial signs for the Diamond Kitchen and Playboy Club which were near the junction with Hennessy Road.


Anyway, once again a big thanks to Doug for sharing all his cards on FLICKR (plus the hundreds of other Hong Kong pictures he has put up there over the years).

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went in all those bars back then, at least briefly in some cases, but I did not go in the Liberty-back then in '72, I would have avoided country music. Now, that's the one I'd probably pick!
How I wish I had taken more photos in Wanchai-this is the one area of HK that is poorly documented (I suppose for good reason), and photos are rare and expensive when they surface on ebay.
Doug

Anonymous said...

A close-up of the Seven Seas bar card in one of my montages shows the address to have been 93-95 Hennessy Road.

Doug

Phil said...

It's a big shame Doug, but nevermind, at least you have these. I think mapping these out might be a nice little side project....
Cheers, Phil

Unknown said...

I have a pennant from the 7 Seas Bar & Night club that shows the address as 93-99 Hennessy Road, Hong Kong.

Phil said...

thanks anon. It seems to tie in with the second address of Suzie Wong - and they certainly look to be next door neighbours in the screen cap. I suspect these places expanded and contracted as and when was necessary though, hence all the weird small address changes. Cheers, Phil

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