Mount Austin Road, The Peak - Now and Then

I recently made a trip up to the Peak to grab a few comparison shots of various places around Mount Austin Road. The first is this angle to match a shot from Crossing Hennessy that I covered at the end of last year. The scene is when Loy and his ex-girlfriend, Man-yu (Maggie Cheung Ho-yee) grab a takeout and eat it in the car before getting out to have a heart-to-heart. The location is on Mount Austin Road next to the Umbrella Seat. The wall in the background belongs to a luxury development called "The Mount Austin".

Old Wanchai Post Office - Now and Then

No new films in the run up to Xmas as I wind down the posts for the year and head off for a holiday, but here are some Now/Then images that I have had on the pile for a while.

This one isn't such an old image because the film the still is taken from, Crossing Hennessy, was only released in 2010. Despite that, there has been some change to the background. This is the old Post Office (built 1913) on Queen's Road East. Crossing Hennessy isn't the first time it appeared on film, there is a brief, rather restricted, view of a sliver of the building during a scene in Soldier of Fortune . That view is a bit hard for me to recreate though so instead, underneath, is a recent picture from a brief trip there.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Flagstaff House, Hong Kong Park

Post ceremony photos at Flagstaff House.Formerly the living quarters of the British Garrison head honcho,and now a museum dedicated to the item behind the colonisation of Hong Kong all those years ago: tea. It's appeared on the blog a few times over the years. I think that's our lot for this particular film, there are a couple of locations I couldn't identify (such as the graevyard) but you never know, they might reveal themselves to me in the future. Until then.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Lee Tung Street, Wanchai

The next post features what was once a very popular street in Wanchai with the nickname "Wedding Card street" because it was chock full of shops offering a variety of small and bulk printing of wedding cards and other associated printed items such as red envelopes (利事 lai see) and decorative banners with idioms on them (揮春 fai chun). Wiki has a good page about the street with some photos showing the post-war era tenements that lined both sides of the street.

The Government, via the its Urban Destruction  Renewal Authority, decided the place looked old and needed renovation, so they evicted all the businesses, demolished all the buildings and basically erased the street and turned it instead into a themed thoroughfare with modern residences each side and a small fibreglass sculpture showing some cartoonish newlyweds for photo purposes.Who knows where all the printing businesses went, I suspect most of them just disappeeared, but hey at least we have something plastic to get our photos taken with. The former street, is now an "avenue". Welcome to redevelopment Hong Kong Style.

Anyway, when this film was shot, the street had just been demolished and things had not yet been built, so Loy, in perhaps a small allegory to the area's recent history, is beaten up by Oi Lin's boyfriend next to the sheet metal fencing protecting the building site.
 

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry

Loy's mum and her accountant, Uncle Ching (Danny Lee), are finally married at the Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry in Hong Kong Park. Old readers will remember this place, Rawlinson House, has previously appeared on the blog as one of the hideouts of a few of the "million eyes of Sumuru". You can see the post I did about it back in 2016, here, as well as the subsequent modern day comparison.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Gloucester Road Pedestrian Footbridge

After some walking, Oi Lin stops to ponder life on a pedestrian bridge that straddles Gloucester Road. There are a few that span this highway, but this is the one in front of the Luk Kwok Hotel that I believe has been around since the 1960s. Obviously this is the safest way to cross this road, unless you are Jackie Chan.

Telecom House on the right

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Wanchai Road, Wanchai

The area where Uncle Ching (Danny Lee) bumps into Loy's aunt is located at the junction of Wanchai Road and Cross Street. The fruit & veg stall, Luen Hop Hing, is still there according to the most recent Streetview (Feb 2024). The pair then walk along Wanchai Road, past the end of Cross Street.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Hong Kong Arts Centre

Oi Lin finally makes it to a bench and sits down. This is outside the Hong Kong Arts Centre on the corner of Fenwick Street and Harbour Road. Loy has followed her from the shop and watches her (a bit creepily I might add, but we know he's a good guy) from the walkway over Harbour Road. The large metal sculpture is a famous piece by Chinese artist, Sui Jianguo, and is one of a series of works titled 'Legacy Mantle'. It basically depicts a Mao suit jacket as some sort of commentary on idol worship. Funnily enough it is no longer there, but before we blame the modern atmosphere of Hong Kong, it appears to have been removed sometime between 2011 and 2016 (these are the available dates on the historical images from Steetview). It's possible it was damaged during the 2014 "Occupy Central" protests, but I have no idea. It may have just gotten too rusty. A google search brings up nothing about its removal, so if anyone has any info, please feel free to comment (comments are moderated by me so don't have to appear online if you don't want them to - just drop a request in the same comment if so).

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Luard Road

After droppping the gifted humidifier back to Loy's shop, and stumbling in on Loy's mum ranting about why he didn't tell her Oi Lin already had a boyfriend, Oi Lin walks off for some introspection. She leaves the shop and can be seen walking down the southern section of Luard Road with the "Pawn" in the background. For those who are unaware the "Pawn" was a former block of four shophouses (60A to 66 Johnston Road) that were 'revitalised' and preserved rather than the usual demolition. The saving was applauded (by me too, as anyone who knows me knows I am a big fan of these pre-war buildings), but the subsequent decision to lease the place to an upmarket restaurant beyond the reach of grassroots locals was a very typical move for Hong Kong. It wasn't helped by the fact that the roof space was designated as public space, but the restaurant took great pains to stop people using it until they were called out in the local (now defunct) press. You can see how the block looked in 1989 here.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Tung Tak Pawnshop

 Just opposite from Hair's Way was the Tung Tak Pawnshop. The shot in the film shows Oi Lin and Xu "crossing Hennessy" Road (one of the few times this actually happens in the film) as seen by Loy's mum as she looks on from the hairdressers. In the background you can see the pavement columns of this rather excellent looking buildings which has sadly since been demolished. This was a bit of cultural vandalism on the part of the owners (and the Govt for allowing it) as it was the only remaining curved corner shophouse in existence on Hong Kong Island. Anyway, that's why I thought it worthy of its own place, even if it only appears briefly in the background. For more info see here.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Hair's Way, 354 Hennessy Road

The hairdressers used by Loy's mum in the film was another real company taken over for the purpose of filming. Hair's Way was originally located in the Cheong Ip Building at 354 Hennessy Road, but has since closed down. The shop space is now occupied by a Michelin starred roast goose restaurant called Tin Lung (but for how long?).

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Ship Street, Wanchai

The location where Loy and Oi Lin are walking along after Loy has given her a bunch of his mystery novels, and where they are knocked to the floor by a passerby with a suitcase, was filmed along Ship Street. The pair pick up the books and go their separate ways at the junction with Johnston Road. 

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Gloucester Road Pedestrian Bridge, Wanchai

Another brief transition shot shows the large pedestrian bridge that connects the two sides of Gloucester Road. Anyone who has spent any length of time in Hong Kong will probably have had to use this bridge as it used to connect Wanchai MTR station (above O'Brien Road) with what was the Immigration Department HQ (since moved to Tseung Kwan O though, I think).

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Mount Austin Road, The Peak

After a successful day's photo shoot, Loy and Man-yu have a takeout in her car parked along Mt Austin Road. You can see the famous "Umbrella Seat"in the background of the first image below. The car is parked next to a luxury residential development imaginatively called "The Mount Austin".

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Fu Kee Metals and Plumbing Engineering, Lockhart Road

We've already seen the shop where Loy works, now we can locate the bathroom shop where Oi Lin works for her Uncle and Aunt. Her uncle, by the way, is played by Lam Wai who was "Raging Bull" in Royal Warriors. Again, this was a real business that was taken over for the purpose of filming. It looks as though the company is still around, but not at this location. A quick search for Fu Kee pulls up a shop in Tsuen Wan with the same signage, so it looks like Lockhart Road rents may have got the better of them - just as it is getting the better of everyone else in Hong Kong these days. Anyway, for posterity, the address in the film was 368 Lockhart Road, the ground floor of the Pak Ling Building. The company has a website here: https://fukeehk.com/.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Big D Trading, Mongkok

The shop run by Loy's family was a real business and is still in operation. However, rather than being located in Wanchai as per the film's story, the physical shop location is over in Mongkok - on the 12th floor of "Ginza Plaza" on Sai Yeung Choi Street South. The company has a website here: https://bigd.hk/.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Cheung Hong Mansion, Fenwick Street

Loy's family run "Big D Trading", a white goods/home appliance store of a type that is very common in Hong Kong. It turns out Big D Trading is a real company and it appears they were amiable to letting the film crew use them for the story - no doubt for a small fee and some publicity. However, the company is located in Kowloon, so the exterior shots for the building where the shop is were done outside Cheung Hong Mansion on Fenwick Street.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Unnamed Clearing next to the Peak Tram

I've kept this location separate because I can't quite figure out if it has a name, or is perhaps part of Chatham Path that runs in a rather higgledy piggledy manner between May Road and Barker Road. Anyway, this is seen during one of Loy's dream sequences when he is dreaming about chatting with his deceased father. The location is more or less directly opposite the tennis court of Po Garden, so it's also possible that this is an extension of the podium of Grenville House. I doubt Google will let me place a marker where I want it to (it keeps snapping back to May Road or Grenville House), so here is a GoogleEarth link just to be clear.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - May Road, Mid-levels

Speaking of May Road, the very next shot has Loy running close to the last location but running past a historical residential building called "Gladdon", at #3 May Road, with its rather unique array of garage doors. There's actually fourteen doors in total and a single penthouse apartment above them all. I'm not sure who lives there but I believe it was bought by Kerry properties in 1988, so it's probably lived in by one of the members of Robert Kuok's family (he who owns Shangri-la Hotels, Kerry Group et al). Just a guess, mind you.