The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

To Fat picks up a dirty old fella and his young girlfriend on Peking Road. The HK Old Mary sign you can see in the first image related to a famous shop. You can read more about it here. The Mary Building, where it was located, is still around though (71-77 Peking Road). Look carefully and you can see an advert for "Club Tasogare" (the white signboard) located in the basement (today's Delaney's).

Police Force - Wang Chung (1973) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

We are first shown the nefariousness of the main bad guy, Kao Tu (Wang Kuang-yu) when he and his buddy steal a car from a carpark in Tsim Sha Tsui. The top image shows the view along Peking Road looking towards Nathan Road, so it's worth noting some well known landmarks including the Red Lips bar, Club Tasagore, Club Danshoku, and on the left hand side a yellow sign for the former Restaurant Yamato - located up on the corner of Ashley Road and I Chang Street. The red line on that sign is obviously an arrow pointing up Ashley Road. Bruce Lee fans may remember that Lee worked out his fight scene with Sammo Hung on Enter the Dragon on bits of paper from the restaurant. They used to be on display at the Heritage Museum but it's a good ten years since I went so will have to go back to confirm if they're still there.

I digress. The carpark was created when a row of old Chinese tenements along Peking Road were demolished. Gwulo has an entry for them here. The carpark was later removed (along with a whole section of buildings by the former Marine Police HQ) to make way for Kowloon Park Drive.

T.N.T Jackson - Jeanne Bell (1974) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

So, now we know where the cinema was that Stan Shaw walks into. But how about the street scene shown just before he goes in? It's easy to think this was likely filmed outside the cinema featured in the establishing shot, but actually we have moved down to Tsim Sha Tsui. This shot was taken looking west along Peking Road. It's hard to see but just hidden at the back is the old lip-shaped neon sign for the Red Lips bar that was located on Lock Road. That's the road that can be seen on the right hand side. There are a couple of other signs that confirm the location but they are also a bit hard to see. It's worth noting that the traffic on this section of Peking Road now goes the other way (west).

Just Heroes - David Chiang (1989) - Nameless Passageway, Peking Road

I briefly covered this location a few years ago when I was posting about Something Good. There is a small L-shaped passageway that joins Peking Road and Canton Road. You can see it here on GoogleEarth. In Just Heroes this is the location where Wai's young fishermen friend (played by Ni Kuang's son, Ngai Jan) drives the car so Wai can escape following the wedding reception shooting.

Look carefully at the top left of the frame (top image) and you should be able to see the words "Hard Rock Cafe". It turns out that in the 1980s, Hard Rock Cafe had a branch here. I personally remember the one that was located further up the road at #100 Canton Road, and it later moved to #30 Canton Road, but this one looks as though it was located at #12 or thereabouts. If anyone knows the exact location, please feel free to comment.

The film has done a bit of a sneaky switcharoo here because the top two images, and the one showing the car emerge, were filmed close to the where the passageway emerges onto Peking Road looking up towards the bend in the L-shape of the passageway. But when we see the reverse view (image 3) we are already up at the bend. I suspect the reason for the switch in position was to prevent the busyness of Peking Road being captured and detracting from the apparent seclusion of the location.

As usual, the google marker is giving me grief because it keeps snapping to nearby buildings,so I've left it on the Pacific Star Building. The alley runs alongside it. 

Spot the "Hard Rock Cafe" signage top centre left

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Peking Road and its various neon-lit night clubs feature quite extensively in the film. The initial images below are from the beginning of the film as George and his pilot friends are out on the town. The Mary Building (image 2) is still around and was where Club Tasogare was located (in the basement that is now the Delaney's Irish pub).

The bottom two images are from later in the film and were filmed on the corner with Lock Road. You can just see the Chinese name of the Hyatt Hotel at the top of the 4th image, and then the entrance to Club Tasgore in the last one.

City on Fire - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

As the car makes its getaway after the heist, we see it turn into Peking Road from Nathan Road. The Capital Restaurant in the background was located in Chungking Mansions although it changed names over the years - I believe it was originally the "Golden Capital" before becoming just "Capital" some time in the 1980s.

There was another shot of this area afew minutes before as the gang are casing up the various jewellery stores along Nathan Road - we catch a quick glimpse of Larry Jewellers which, for many years, was located on the SW corner of Nathan and Peking Roads.

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Although seemingly having a drink at the Grand Hyatt over in Wanchai, when Matteo and his friend leave the bar they exit from the unnamed passageway at the end of Peking Road close to the junction with Canton Road. This is where they meet the girls and head over to the restaurant for dinner.

Felicity - Glory Annen (1978) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Welcome to what is essentially the Australian version of Vanessa. Felicity stars Glory Annen as a convent girl going to Hong Kong to stay with her sister and doing rather a lot of *ahem*, growing up, in the process. Despite some rather racy content, the film still has some locations worth looking it.

I'll forgo the usual airport shots for a change and kick off instead with a view along Peking Road showing the various neon signs to the nightclubs and bars that once lined the streets. As well as the old Hyatt Regency in the back of image one (demolished in 2006 and replaced by iSquare).

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Despite arriving in Central from Mongkok, the next scene was filmed back over on Kowloon side. The overhead signboard is for the Moulin Rouge nightclub which was on Peking Road. The far background building is, of course, a blurry Chungking Mansion. The rather large gap to the left is where the Holiday Inn now stands. On the left of the upper photo and background of the lower one is the Hyatt Hotel (now iSquare) not long after its opening (in 1963). I'm not sure if it was still branded as the President Hotel at the time.

Jaguar Lives - Joe Lewis (1978) - Peking Road, Kowloon

Time for a new film and back to colour for the time being as we follow Joe Lewis as the 'Jaguar' pursuing a criminal mastermind. Joe was in fact a famous tournament fighter back in the 1960's and is often credited with the development of kickboxing and full-contact karate. Not many people know that he was also a friend of Bruce Lee's during the 60's and was even trained by him for a time before a much publicised falling out. Anyway, first off the bat is a visit to somewhere that should be familiar to regular readers of this blog, it's Peking Road in Tsim Sha Tsui with the famous Club Tasogare sign.

And for a Bruce bonus, here is Joe walking up the side alley on Peking Road which used to be the access path for the Red Lips bar. The bar has gone but the alleyway still exists between the blocks that front Lock Road and Hankow Road. These days it's used by vendors for small stalls selling trinkets and bags etc.

Codename: Wildgeese - Lewis Collins (1984) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Peking Road is another one of those places that keeps cropping up - just follow this link to see it on several films including The Protector, Enter the Dragon, The Amsterdam Kill and many more.

It's been filmed from several angles, but the most recognisable is the one below looking west back towards Nathan Road with the Club Tasogare sign hanging over the middle. The club has long gone (replaced by Delaney's sole remaining pub) but the general feel of the road persists.

Those of you with keen eyes may also spot the half-hidden Regency Hotel (demolished and replaced by iSquare) as well as the sign for the famous Red Lips bar that was hidden up the alleyway between buildings on the left hand side.

Chinese Box - Jeremy Irons (1997) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

We see Irons crossing Peking Road next to Larry Jewelry before heading over to Nathan Road as well.

Lots of familiar shop signs there for anyone who has been to this part of town, but the Alfred Dunhill shop in the second to last picture was actually based in the ground floor of the old Hyatt Hotel (originally The President Hotel) that was demolished in 2006 to make way for the iSquare mall currently standing there.

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

I suspect this is the last The Amsterdam Kill post. I was going to post another one of what I believe is Blake Pier but the quality of the screen grab isn't great and there isn't ,much to see anyway, so I'll make this one the last one. Quite fitting because it's also the last HK location from the film anyway.

Okay, the background is a bit blurry but look carefully and you will be able to make out a couple of familiar signs in the background including the Red Lips bar and Club Tasogare.

The Red Lips Bar sign is the one just to the right of Mitchum's head, and Club Tasogare, which we have seen on a few films featured here before, is at the far back with a yellow border. Coincidentally, I was in that very venue just last night having a nice pint with some friends although now it is a pub called Delaney's.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Here's another TST location from episode 2 - The Lost Man. It features Pak (played by Tzi Ma) following a fellow Vietnamese Boat refugee because he thinks she has something to do with the disappearance of a bar girl. His mark works in a place called The Players Club and Topless Bar. It turns out it was located along Peking Road. You can just see it on the right in this photo on FLICKR.

This scene follows the Bottoms Up club scene I covered a few posts ago, so it is quite feasible that the production crew got all these bar shots out of the way in one fell swoop rather than hopping from one side of the harbour to the other.

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Here's an interesting shot from No Exchange on Damaged Merchandise. It shows the boys crossing the road to a newspaper vendor with a cinema in the background.

Look carefully in the background and you can just make out the film being shown at the cinema is John Goldfarb, Please Come Home. I don't know when the film was released in Hong Kong but it certainly was first released in the US in 1965, which tallies with what we know about when this show was made. But which cinema was it?

In this case the blue stripes on the building provide a bit of a clue to its identity. It was a cinema called the Sands Theatre in TST, specifically on the NW corner of the junction between Peking Road and Hankow Road. The boys have just crossed the southern part of Hankow Road and Peking Road is the one going across screen behind them on the upper shot.

According to Cinema Treasures, the Sands first opened in 1963, so it was a fairly new venue at this time, and closed in 1980. The theatre was demolished and a new building put up on the site which during my first few years in HK contained an HMV. The HMV has since moved on (twice!!) and the shop now has a large Adidas store there. See below. The angle on Streetview is a fairly good match to the original.

AP provided a nicely put together stitch of the two shots to give us a wide angle view of the same scene.

There's also a nice picture of it on FLICKR but looking down the road from Peking Road here.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Peking Road, Kowloon

As promised, more TST, this time in the shape of Peking Road.There are a couple of shots of it in the opening sequence as well as later on when the fighters are walking to the location of the Kumite in Kowloon Walled City. People more familiar with the layout of HK streets will know that it is quite a hefty walk to make but this is movie land and the movie makers give the impression of them being just around the corner from each other.

Look closely and you'll see signs for the CTS (the China Travel Service) which still has an office there. Princeton Tailors is a well-established tailor shop that is still around even if the sign has been removed and back in 1987 the Nathan Ivory Factory company had a shop there (it's since moved down to Middle Road).

The lower shots show the guys crossing Peking Road and in the background we can see the shops that used to occupy the ground floor of the Hyatt Hotel, e.g Zurich Jewellers.

Here's a quick view of the area today. The hotel was demolished in 2006, the year I arrived permanently in Hong Kong, and replaced by iSquare.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

Here we are at the southern end of Nathan Road and there are some small little clues as to the exact location including the Bus # 2, as well as some odd looking flagpoles sticking out of a building on the far left and look closely and you'll see one of the entrances to the MTR.

The flagpoles are the giveaway for me because they are the recognisable property of what was the Hyatt Regency Hotel until it was demolished in 2006 to make way for iSore (sorry, I mean iSquare). Pretty much all of the signboards have gone, as has the turn on the left hand side into Peking Road - it's now fenced off. I do vaguely remember the "Emperor Watch and Jewelry" sign on the left but pretty much everything else has been lost to time. Given the position of the camera the buildings on the right would include Mirador Mansions (see behind the signs on the right) and perhaps the Holiday Inn Golden Mile? I'm not sure but suspect that the red sign reading 中國官殿 (from top to bottom - it means "China Palace") may have been a restaurant in the hotel - however, I haven't checked my facts properly and can't find any mention of it online yet.

Anyway, for those interested, here's an approximation of the same view courtesy of Streetview - okay, maybe a teensy weensy bit further south, but not by much.

Here are some similar shots from later in the film, although I suspect they were all filmed at the same time.