Thursday, May 23, 2019

Narazumono - Ken Takakura (1964) - Empress Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Not to be confused with the Empress Hotel that once stood over in Central, this particular one was located on the corner of Mody Road and Chatham Road South in Tsim Sha Tsui. I'm not sure when it was demolished but building records show that the current building on the site, Empress Plaza, was constructed in 1993.

Actually, this is a great sequence in the film from a location standpoint because it shows the old army camp on the opposite side of Chatham Road South, now the location for the History and Science museums as well as all the other development that has become known as East Tsim Sha Tsui. If you look at the first image, it looks as though there was some sort of religious organisation opposite the hotel which would now mark where Mody Road continues on the other side of Chatham Road South.
In the second image above you can see some of the newly reclaimed land that would eventually be turned into Wing On Plaza as well as the TST Shangri-la Hotel.


The next image below shows the view looking north up Chatham Road South and you can quite clearly see the Nissan huts of the army camp as well as the nicely curved facade of Ocean View Court which is still there (it was built in 1958). There's a brief glimpse of the hotel exterior in the lower two images as the camera is positioned on the opposite corner of Mody Road and pans down to street level.

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