Bullet for Hire - Simon Yam (1991) - D'Aguilar Street, Central

Ngok is driving around one night when he accidentally hits someone with his car but it turns out to be a setup orchestrated by Elaine, the Interpol agent. She threatens to arrest him but offers him the chance to help bring down the gang boss. This all takes place on D'Aguilar Street at the top of Lan Kwai Fong.

Legacy of Rage - Brandon Lee (1986) - Lan Kwai Fong, Central

Lan Kwai Fong is where the old man catches up to May and tries to convince her to go away with him. The scene starts on D'Aguilar Street (top image) but then moves to Lan Kwai Fong as he jumps out of his car to stop her, only to have Michael muscle in and whisk her away.

The Killer - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - D'Aguilar Street, Central

After rescuing Jennie from some attackers, Ah Jong walks with her up D'Aguilar Street. These days this street has lost much, in fact all, of its previous character following the removal of the large stone retaining wall on the right (replaced with high rise buildings) and the stone cobbles (replaced by asphalt).

Hard Boiled - Chow Yun Fat (1992) - The Jazz Club, D'Aguilar Street

Back to local movies for a while and one of my favourites in the form of Hard Boiled starring Chow Yun Fat, Tong Leung Chiu-wai and directed by John Woo. This was Woo's final HK movie before trying his luck in the US and I get the impression that he just wanted to blow the place up before he left.

I was lucky enough to catch this at my local arthouse cinema (the Hyde Park Picture House) in the UK when I was a final year student in Leeds in 1994.

The opening scenes (and later ones where John Woo appears in front of the camera playing an ex-cop-barman-mentor to Chow's character, Tequila) take place in a venue called "The Jazz Club". This was a real club located in the California Entertainment Building at 34-36 D'Aguilar Street. Sadly, not only has the club long gone but so has the building that housed it. The California Entertainment Building was demolished circa 2011 and has since been replaced by a larger version called California Tower. The new building has the address of 32 D'Aguilar Street but it also occupies the old site of 34 -36 as well.

For those that are interested and have Facebook (I don't), there is a group for the Jazz Club at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/thejazzclubhongkong/

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - D'Aguilar Street, Central

I'm back after a 2 week (mask free!) London sojourn in which I started to see lots of London film locations and now know what will be keeping me busy should I ever need to move back.

Anyway, almost reaching the final destination and I understand why the film has the title it does...it's taken so long to walk to Lan Kwai Fong from Mee Lun Street that it's "already tomorrow in Hong Kong". Anyway, as we approach the destination we are given a quick look up and down D'Aguilar Street. It looks just as hideous as I remember it.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - D'Aguilar Street, Central

A bit of in-between-films time gives me a chance to go over old stuff and see if I can recognise anything that was missed previously. So here is a blast from the past and a zoom back to 1989 and the very first Yellowthread Street episode (called Power Play). One of the very first scenes in the series was Eden (Bruce Payne) having a drink in a bar before heading out and witnessing a man being chased by a gang. It looks to me as though Payne is walking down D'Aguilar Street (although since this was filmed the retaining wall at the back has been upgraded with smaller bricks) and stops at Wing Wah lane where he sees the chase.

Chinese Box - Jeremy Irons (1997) - D'Aguilar Street, Central

The next shot shows the familiar curve in the middle of D'Aguilar Street as it turns north down the hillside. There have been a few changes here, most obvious is the business occupying the Yau Shun Building on the right hand side, but also note the former colonial red post box and it looks as though the brick wall on the right might be in need of some re-pointing soon.

Here is the most recent Streetview.