Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Waterloo Road, Kowloon

Another Yellowthread Street location recently discovered, this time from Episode 5 - Angel Eyes. It's an opening shot of a road filmed as it's getting dark. The shops signs weren't much help this time but the layout of the road ahead made me think of Waterloo Road close to the intersection with Nathan Road. Actually, the opening image turned out to be a little west of Nathan Road at the junction with Shanghai Street. Most of the buildings seen in the images can still be found.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Quarry Bay Municipal Services Building, Quarry Bay Street

Once upon a time there was an official body in the Hong Kong Govt called the Urban Council. It was basically responsible for Govt services that are now run by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department - in other words a huge area of control - and by 1994 it was a body wholly elected by a one person one vote democratic system.

Tung Che Hwa got rid of it pretty quick - can't have any of that silly democracy nonsense now can we...

Anyway, I thought I would mention it because the U.C logo pops up in our next screen capture as Eden (Bruce Payne) waits outside what was the Urban Council Quarry Bay Complex for his ride to meet the evil Melvin Wong in Angel Eyes.

Pretty much all trace of the former Urban Council has been removed but you can still see its emblem on the Central Library building opposite Victoria park. Anyway, when the U.C was finally abolished, everything was renamed and this building above, on Quarry Bay Street, became the Quarry Bay Municipal Services Building.

Other than a bit of extra bridging from the pedestrian flyover (an extension of the same one that can be seen in the distance on this post) and the obvious name change, it hasn't changed at all.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Hoi Kwong Street, Quarry bay

Another quick Quarry Bay location from Angel Eyes. I should have combined it with the last one of the MTR station because this one is really right next door - however, I did it before I realised.

We see Hoi Kwong Street as the car surveillance continues. This street is recognisable only by the fact that it joins onto Hoi Tai Street (and Finnie Street on the left) directly opposite the Canossa School which we can see in the following screencap.

The school is still around and looks pretty much as it did back in 1989 (ish), but they have tidied up the scrub in front of it. For reference the Quarry Bay MTR entrance we saw in the last post is just up on the left at the end of the street.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Quarry Bay MTR Station on Finnie Street, Hong Kong

Staying in the Quarry Bay locale with Angel Eyes as Tzi Ma & Co continue to try and keep Bruce Payne under surveillance. We get to see a view of the entrance/exit of Quarry Bay MTR station that sits on Finnie Street.

Okay, strictly speaking it's not the actual station, because that's on the opposite side of King's Road, but this place is entrance to the pedestrian flyover that leads into the station.

I used to come here quite often because the missus worked nearby so it's nice to see that it looks pretty much the same as it did 25 years ago.

A few differences I guess are the change in tiling on the outside of the station entrance as well as the building on the right seems to have filled in part of the window space on the 2nd floor. However, 成記 is still doing roaring trade even after all these years down on Hoi Hong Street, although they have reversed the order of the characters on their shop sign (red/yellow sign on the left of both Streetview and screen caps). There is a relic of a sign in the background as well - the vertical red on white on the distant left. You can see it in both pictures and it is advertising a plumbing supplies/hardware shop.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - King's Road, Quarry Bay

Moving on to episode 5 - Angel Eyes, and Bruce Payne goes undercover to bust a drug gang run by HK-Canadian actor (now barrister), Melvin Wong. However, before we get down to the location I thought it would be fun to share a personal experience I had back in December of 1996 on one of my trips to HK.

I was invited to a friend's son's birthday party out in a village in Lam Tsuen called Tong Sheung Tsuen. It was a small affair with just a couple of the kids' school friends there and about 5 other grown ups. One of the dads looked a bit familiar and I subtly asked my friend if it was who I thought it was (i.e. Melvin Wong) and it was! I couldn't believe it! I had only just been watching Yuen Biao's Above the Law and ol' Melvin played the [SPOILER ALERT!] bad guy who gets an axe in his head at the end of the film.

It turned out that Melvin's son, Wesley, was in the same class at school as my friend's son: Shatin Junior. They were about 9 or 10 at the time. So it was great, I got to chat to Melvin about some of his films and I got to meet his totally gorgeous wife, Angie Chiu. I have to say they were a completely down to earth family and very friendly. It made my holiday...

Anyway, so back to location finding and this part sees Payne being taken to a secret rendezvous as he is tailed by his colleagues. Loads of sites around the Quarry Bay area of North Point including this one on King's road.

Anyone who has watched the latest Transformers film may or may not recognise the building on the left of the screen grabs. It is the Fook Cheong Building/Oceanic Mansion where some of the film was made and became famous when one of the shop tenants on the ground floor decided to attack the film crew.

Speaking of buildings, the small block of apartments in the trees on the south side of King's Road, are Govt quarters at 992 - 998 King's Road. I have no idea who lives in them now but having been this way a few times (the Mount Parker Green Trail starts just after the trees' end) I can say they are fairly hefty but seem to now be privately owned because they have an owner's corporation (#4937) which I'm not sure Govt buildings would need...

Anyway, here is a rough approximation courtesy of Streetview.

What you can spot is the pedestrian flyover in the distance, it's just above the car roof in the last screen grab, but it looks as though the retaining wall on the Streetview picture may be a more recent addition. The ex-Govt flats are obscured by tree growth from this angle.