No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay

Some more general shots of Hong Kong as Sara is taken to hospital. This one shows the view looking west along Hennessy Road towards the Canal Road Flyover. The shot was obtained by putting the camera on the pedestrian walkway that links the two sides of Percival Street.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay

After being lost for a bit, Sara finally manages to meet her boyfriend on the pavement where Hennessy Road meets Yee Wo Street and Jardine's Bazaar. Quite the leap from Mongkok.

Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Cross Harbour Tunnel

The opening credits roll over some in-car scenes as it drives out of the Island-side entrance to the Cross Harbour Tunnel.

My Wife is a Gangster 3 - Shu Qi (2006) - Times Square

Much of the middle of the film solely focuses on South Korea. But back in Hong Kong, we see a brief scene as the rival triad boss (played by Ken Lo - Jackie Chan's former long suffering real-life bodyguard) orders his assassins to go to South Korea to track down Aryoung and kill her.

The view from the window was taken from the north facing side of Times Square. It's not the first time a South Korean co-production has used an office in this building for a scene (see Beyond Hypothermia).

Percival Street - Now and Then

One more from the Times Square vicinity as I compare Percival Street from 1956 to 2026 - a nice round 70 year difference. The older images are from Flight to Hong Kong and the camera is located on Percival Street looking up Matheson Street (in the initial image) and then moving slightly left to look up Percival Street (lower images).

In the older, top image you can see the relatively empty space to the right of the tram which is where the old tram depot was located. Today's view shows how the Times Square development now occupies it. Although the roads and surrounding buildings occupy the same spaces they did 70 years ago.

Moving the camera slightly to the left and we are now looking south along Percival Street. The buildings that occupy the block between Percival and Matheson Streets are not the same ones from 70 years ago but, as is often the case with buildings in Hong Kong, the footprint remains the same even if the modern buildings are much taller. Actually, the building that currently occupies that angled corner plot in the foreground is called Percival House and it was constructed in 1959, so the earlier building seen in the older image didn't have long to go before it was replaced.

There are two buildings that can be "just about" seen in both images, however, the angle is a bit too acute to make out any great detail. In the upper image, if you go from the left and follow the Lee Theatre building until the vertical signage, the next two blocks belong to buildings that are currently still intact: 87- 89 Percival Street. In my modern comparison snap below they are the two blocks with the red vertical sign in front of them. They were built in 1954 and so weren't that old when Flight to Hong Kong was filmed.

Matheson Street - Now and Then

Following on from my Times Square post, here is a comparison from the back of the development courtesy of Bloodfight (1989). The top two images show a 1989 v 2026 comparison of the view from Matheson Street looking up Sharp Street East (to the east).

I also took a quick picture from the same place that used to be a noodle shop but is now some clothes/fashion store. As you can see, most of the former open space of the tram depot (and the view to Russell Street behind it) is now obscured by the Times Square building.

Times Square - Now and Then

I was in Causeway Bay the other day and took the opportunity to take some comparison snaps at Times Square. For those who don't know the history of the site, it was previously the location of the expansive Sharp Street Tram Depot where the Hong Kong Tramway kept most of its rolling stock. Hong Kong Tramways was taken over by local developer, Wharf Holdings, in 1974 and following the creation of two new depot sites at the other side of the island, Wharf was able to free up the Sharp Street site for redevelopment. It closed permanently in 1989 and Times Square was subsequently constructed and opened in 1994.

The screen shots below are from Lara Croft Tomb raider: Cradle of Life (2003) and Je l'amais (2011). There have been quite a few films shot inside the office part of the development as well, but obviously that's off limits for me.

As you'll see from the more recent images, even since it was built there have been some changes to the place including the addition of mid-atrium escalators and the removal of the external lifts.

The external lifts we see in Je l'amais are no longer there. Initially I thought the whole thing had been removed, but on closer inspection it looks as though the whole wall was simply enclosed in the rather more heavy duty version of boxing. You can see in the modern image that the wall is no longer flush with the corner which suggest to me the lifts, or at least the infrastructure, are still there but just covered up. Perhaps they are still servicable and used by staff? Feel free to comment if you know.

Je l'amais (2009)

View as of June 2026.

Inside, the mall area has changed significalty. The walkways have been remodelled and there are now escalators criss-crossing the atrium.

Looking up towards the roof of the mall area and the film obviously took some artistic license with the view. First, it's not a glass ceiling because above the mall section is the rest of the office tower, and secondly, obviously the 2IFC tower that we can see in the film is a couple of miles away in Central. I was a bit dizzy looking up when I took the modern comparison so I couldn't quite match the same orientation...

I'll finish with a quick shot of the MTR entrance which is probably the least changed part of the whole area.

Victoria Park Road Layby - Now and Then

Whilst doing the newly extended HK Island waetrfront walk, I also went past this small layby off Victoria Park Road. This is where Dr Orantes (Marion Cotillard) is kidnapped by the villagers in their attempts to get hold of vaccinations.
 

The Champions - Stuart Damon (1967) - Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay

After Stirling gets in his rickshaw, we are treated to some passenger point of view shots of the rickshaw journey. The first image shows the rickshaw travelling up Yee Wo Street from the east, close to the junction with Pennington Street.

The next sequence from the rickshaw ride shows us being pulled around the end of Yee Wo Street close to the Causeway Bay tram terminus. You can just see the yellow walls of the old St. Paul's Convent School down Tung Lo Wan Road on the far right in the lower image.

Benson - Robert Guillaume (1984) - The Excelsior Hotel, Causeway Bay

Following Kraus being kidnapped by the bad guys, Benson flees to the roof of what is supposed to be the warehouse but is in fact the roof of the now demolished Excelsior Hotel. Sadly, this is the last Benson post until I can figure out some of the other blurry shots that pop up randomly throughout the show.

Looking down onto the apartment buildings around Paterson/Cleveland Streets

View to North Point across Victoria Park

Benson - Robert Guillaume (1984) - Matheson Street, Causeway Bay

Unfortunately many of the shots in Benson that might be quite interesting are flashed quickly and due to the poor quality of the image, I doubt I would be able to identify most any, however, one of the shows this view of a tram trundling along what is now the northern section of Matheson Street next to the old Russell Street tran depot sheds (seen in the background). This place is now, of course, filled up by Times Square and the surrounding plaza.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Olympic Bridge, Causeway Bay

Prompted by the recent news of Chuck Norris' passing, long time supporter of the blog, AP, asked me if I had ever managed to locate the place where the neon sign backlit fight scene took place during Forced Vengeance. The scene is played over the opening credits but is also part of the main story later in the film as Josh (Norris) and his two female companions are desperately trying to escape the bad guys.

I must admit I hadn't actually given it any thought at the time (back in 2014 when I first covered the film, I just assumed it was a studio set up), but a brief look at the scene has made it quite clear to me that it was filmed on what is known locally as "Olympic Bridge" in Causeway Bay. The footbridge spans Irving Street and Leighton Road and has, on the face of each step, a Summer Olympic games location followed by the year it was held. If you want to know why this was done you can read this Govt press release from 2002.

Anyway back in 1981, we see Norris and co running down Yee Wo Street towards the bridge, and then, as they walk up the bridge they are obstructed by one of the bad guys and the following fight scene is silhouetted by the bright neon Vitasoy advert on the building behind.

The neon sign was hanging on the building that used to stand right on the corner where the Causeway Bay Tram terminus loops around. It looks like the sign covered the front of #90 Yee Wo Street which has long since been replaced by the Regal Hong Kong Hotel. I haven't been able to find any 80s era images of the Vitasoy signage, but earlier versions appear to have existed since (at least) the 1960s. You can see an earlier version on this Gwulo image - it's behind the tram on the left.

Anyway, RIP to Chuck Norris.

The bridge seen from Yee Wo Street

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Windsor House Car Park, Causeway Bay

Doyle briefly catches a glimpse of a man falling past his window as he relaxes in the hotel lounge, and runs down to see what has happened. This is a quick hop to Hong Kong because by the time he gets down to what we think is the ground level of the hotel, we have arrived at a podium carpark at Windsor House in Causeway Bay.

The Scavengers - Vince Edwards (1958) - Peking Restaurant, East Point Road

Sometimes little facts pop up in my comments that lead to an identification months, or even years later. A good case in point is this following screencap of the Peking Restaurant. I can't remember the context from the film but this shot was an establishing shot for part of the sequence where Stuart is trying to track down his estranged wife. You can just make out the road sign on the side of the building and it looks like it says "?? Point Rd". As far as I know there are only two road with the word "point" in their name: East Point Road in Causeway Bay and North Point Road in...erm North Point.

Well, going back over old posts I recalled that fellow Gwulo'er "C" (who I met for the first time in person last year btw) had commeneted on one of my old posts showing some buildings in and around Yee Wo Street. Here is the post from Heisser Hafen Hongkong (aka Secrets of Buddha). But TL:DR, here is his pertinent comment:

There was a restaurant called Peking Restaurant (東興樓, pronounced Tung Hing Lau) on the ground floor of Hop Kwan Building men's hostel (not sure if it is the official English name; Chinese name is 合羣大厦男子公寓).

Well, it seems as though this is the restaurant in the screencap. You can see the English name in neon above the door, but more eagle-eyed (and perhaps Chinese literate) peeps will notice that in Chinese writing on the door lintel is three Chinese words that look very much like (reading r-l) 樓興東 i,e, Tung Hing Lau as described by C in his comment.

So, East Point Road it is and this is obviously the ground floor of the Hop Kwan Building. According to T in that same post, the current building, the Island Centre, was constructed in 1984 so I guess this building must have disappeared a few years before that. I don't know how long the restaurant was around for.

...and Millions will die! - Richard Basehart (1973) - The Excelsior Hotel, Causeway Bay

Alas no more, demolished during the Covid lockdown, the Excelsior has been a popular filming location over the years, perhaps most famously for the lift farting scene in Revenge of the Pink Panther. In this film it appears to be that Gallagher (Leslie Nielsen) has some sort of private residence on the roof, but I believe this was the "Talk of the Town" bar on the - then - top floor. At some point the hotel looks to have encapsulated the previous open roof section around the 34th floor and incorporated it into the main structure. The second batch of images below, shows the previously open roof section around the bar - behind where the hotel name sign was.

Talk of the Town? Please feel to comment if you ever went there. I only ever made it as far as the Churchill Bar in the basement with a bunch of folks from Gwulo many years ago.

The area on the roof by the bar

The scarring on the hillside in the background is the start
of construction of the Lai Tak Estate.

Roof terrace entrance/exit

We then get afew shots of the hotel interior as Pruit tries to escape from Gallagher. You can compare the entrance lobby lift shot to the same area a few years later for the aforementioned Pink Panther movie.

This clearer shot above shows the same place in Revenge of the Pink Panther