I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Shanghai Street, Mongkok

Once again many thanks to my good friend Thomas for providing yet another identification from obscure clues. This one is a brief glimpse of Shanghai Street in the same car driving scene from Danny was a Million Laughs.

I may have a match for this one. The business sign painted on the last pillar was 人和悅﹐ a famous rice liquor maker & retailer. I've found another blog (http://woofertennews.blogspot.hk/2012/12/blog-post_25.html) in Chinese mentioning some history of a small section of Shanghai Street. According to the blog entry 人和悅 somehow took over of number 400 Shanghai Street in the mid to late 1960's. That would seem to match the time frame of the series.

But before I forget, here is the screen grab.

In case you can't quite see it the 人和悅 signpost is on the red column four from the front, the last character is partially obscured. So what does this place look like now? Well, as you may be able to guess the columned shophouses here have long gone, although other parts of Shanghai Street still retain a nice few examples.

The buildings on the right were all replaced soon after this was filmed and all the current buildings at this section (up to Hamilton Street on the right)

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

After a nice long lay off over Xmas and New Year it's time to get back to I Spy and the Danny was a Million Laughs episode. Again, this was a fantastic ID done by Thomas who correctly identified the open area on the right of the picture as the Mongkok Police Station compound. Here is the snap anyway.

Here is Thomas' original comment:

...are those government issue vehicles behind the wired fence? Looked like charcoal grey Police trucks to me. Might be Mongkok Police Station. Requires further comparison with older photos to confirm

And it wasn't long until the confirmation popped up on Gwulo courtesy of user 'harigger'. Here is the link: http://gwulo.com/node/18199.

Now, this area of Nathan Road looks vastly different these days because the rather large columned building on the right (I'm assuming it was once part of the Police Station) has long gone and is now largely open space - a compound that surrounds the remaining Police Station block.

Look closely and you may see at least one of the buildings in the distance is visible on both the 1965 screen grab and the Streetview grab shown above (taken circa 2009).

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Shanghai Street, Yau Ma Tei

Another great find courtesy of Thomas and his eagle eyes. Here is a quick reminder of the picture I put up on my help page...

In this case it was the pawnshop on the corner at the back that tipped him off. here's his comment.

Again, the pawn shop to the rescue. (又興大押) Looked this up and found a link with a corresponding photo at Uwants. (http://www.uwants.com/viewthread.php?tid=11902654&page=19) The location would be northern side of the cross section of Shanghai & Public Square

(*NB: link to uwants removed above due to issues with Google detecting malware at that site, copy and paste at your own risk). This is the same pawnshop that can be seen closer up in the earlier (by 3 years) filmed Heisser Hafen Hongkong.

Now, what does this place look like today? Well, no surprise really that it has changed vastly, at least in terms of the surrounding buildings, but I guess the general aspect, with the square on the right, is still familiar.

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Lockhart Road, Wanchai

Strictly speaking we are talking about the block on the northern corner of where Lockhart joins with Luard Road. Again, I have Thomas Ngan to thank for this rather excellent bit of spotting.

The scene involves Cosby and Culp moving across the rooftop of a block of shophouses in Danny was a Million Laughs. Not surprisingly, the block has largely been redeveloped but afew of the columned shophouses can still be found. The closest I can do is provide you with a shot of the same corner from street level as well as a quick piccie of the remaining shophouses I mentioned earlier.

Here are the screen caps.

Believe it or not there is still plenty of illegal rooftop occupation going on in HK, largely thanks to its ridiculously expensive real estate. But anyway, this particular set of illegal occupancies have long gone. At the far left is the gap in the buildings that forms Jaffe Road. I suspect the block was redeveloped piecemeal because the various current building dates are not uniform (plus the fact that a small portion of the old block still exists). For example, the Yen Men Building at 98-108 Jaffe Road was built in 1984, the corner block (89 Lockhart Rd) was replaced by the Wanchai Central Building in 1997, Beverly House (93 - 107 Lockhart Rd) was built in 1984, Hing Bong Mansion (107-11 Lockhart Rd) was built in 1985, One Capital Place (corner of Luard and Jaffe) was built in 1991. Such is the way of private development in HK. If it was the Govt doing this they would just get the U.R.A to completely eradicate the whole block and several streets (in the same way a nuclear bomb would) and then build a high end mall.

Anyhow, Thomas also found a comparative street level picture (courtesy of Doug) that shows us what was written on those signs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58451159@N00/7190016127

So we know that the corner building that we can see in the bottom of the top screen grab housed the "Mini Nightclub" (yes, either a night club for cars or midgets, can't decide which one yet), the partially obscured "Canadian Club" sign can also be seen a can the "United Night Club" which was almost completely obscured in our I Spy screen grab and was making me guess Red or Ted when I should have been thinking in terms of longer words.

Anyway, here is the modern Streetview, looking at the same corner that housed the "Mini Nightclub" all those years ago.

And finally, here is what I believe to be the sole remnant of that old block - situated at 109 - 111 Lockhart Road.

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Embankment Road, Kowloon

Despite the fact that there is obviously a school in view here I was having a really hard time trying to read the name, however, as it turns out I was able to match the angle of the road with Lion Rock in the distance and came up with some possibilities and so ended up matching it that way instead (talk about making life difficult for myself). Anyway, it turns out the school is the St Rose of Lima's school on Embankment Road.

The muddy verge on the left looked a bit like the railway track to me and low-and-behold, it was the embankment that holds the KCR track through this part of town. Of course, the track has undergone many changes since 1965 but even from Streetview you can get the same kind of feeling for the place.

The apartments that the guys run into are still around and they are called Duke Garden - built circa 1964, so they were pretty much brand spanking new when Cosby and Culp ran through the gate.

The current Streetview gives a good view of the area - and it hasn't changed that much really, but unfortunately the school appears to have been under scaffolding when the Google car was doing its rounds.

Okay, so the embankment is now covered in walkways because the railtrack - once a common thoroughfare for people walking places - is now off limits courtesy of modern high speed trains and high voltage powerlines. But thanks to Kowloon Tong's historical low-rise development, we can still see Lion Rock in the distance (although these days the smog does an equally good job at obscuring it). Duke Garden still stands in place but the school itself - under scaffold in Streetview - has since been completely rebuilt and no longer looks the same. If you are a bit unsure as to where this place is, then directly the other side of the railtrack is the Yuen Po Bird Garden (shockingly awful place if you ask me full of illegally smuggled birds) and the Flower Market.

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Shek Kip Mei Estate, Kowloon

I wasn't too sure about this one at first given the number of H-block estates Hong Kong has had over the years (I know of at least two others but there was probably more). And it wasn't helped by the fact that the ultimate clincher for the identification was courtesy of the sole remaining block left over - but the problem was that at some point over the years, even that place had a bit of a facelift.

The snap at the top shows what Mei Ho House (formerly Block H, renamed to Block 41) on the left in green. Note that the design is the same as the other blocks we can see (and yes, that is Lion Rock you can see in the gap at the top). However, more recent pictures of Mei Ho House, as it is now known, show it with some stairwells built onto the front and much of the open walkways covered up. When this happened I am not sure, perhaps sometime in the late 70's or 80's? But why this one and not other I am a bit confused, so if anyone can enlighten me please leave a comment.

Anyway, here we are in 1965 and the car at the bottom is driving along the Kowloon end of Tai Po Road. As mentioned, all those blocks save for Mei Ho House have been ripped down and replaced or their bare former sites are in the process of redevelopment.

Incidentally, the sloped road you can see in the top photo is still around and the two gaps underneath it look to have been made into storage space (perhaps?), you can see them covered with blue doors in the Streetview shot below, along with the slightly modified facade of Mei Ho House. For those who didn't know, Mei Ho House has recently been graded, and turned into a museum/hostel. I live very close so may go and get some snaps very soon.

(Note: Wiki has evidence of Mei Ho House's original facade here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1956riot_02.jpg).

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Lung Yu Restaurant, Jordan Road

Here's a place I had no idea existed, but after seeing the screen grabs I am quite taken with the exterior decoration. I can't think of anywhere in HK that is quite as flamboyant as this was with the exception of the Jumbo Kingdom in Aberdeen.

The railings in the middle of the road initially made me think of Nathan Road, but it turns out that this restaurant was in fact on the corner of Jordan Road and Battery Street. The Chinese name of the place was 龍如大酒家 (Lung Yu Restaurant). I'd love to hear comments from anyone that remembers this place. Anyway, it turns out that the building itself is still standing, it's called Booman House and looks pretty much the same minus the various decorations.

It looks as though the block to the left (the empty one we see as the car passes in the screen grabs) was preparing for the construction of #39 - 41 Jordan Road which were completed in 1966 - a year or so after this series was made.

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Yau Ma Tei Police Station, Yau Ma Tei

A new week and a new episode of I Spy, this time we are viewing stills from the episode Danny Was a Million Laughs. We start by looking at a location that has been seen on many films previously, just not necessarily on this blog (yet). It's a panning shot that shows much of the surrounding area when it was in a process of regeneration and the modern comparison shots are quite enlightening. Anyway, here are the grabs.

The police station has changed little of course. It was built in 1922 and the facade you see there is the same one we can still see currently albeit now sporting the standard grey/blue police colours. But look at the big open space on the opposite side of Canton Road. It looks to be a recent demolition to make way for the Jockey Club clinic which still stands there. Pretty much all of the older buildings you see above have now been demolished and you actually get a nice view from the opposite angle in 1973's Enter the Dragon. The last shots shows a partial view down Public Square Street showing a hill in the background that was once part of King's Park.

Here are the modern views from Streetview.

As you can see the clinic buildings now occupy the whole block opposite and the hill I previously mentioned is still there, but just now obscured by the usual high rises.