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.

Spitfire - Lance Henriksen (1995) - Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay

In another of those remarkable feats of human achievement, running away from the bad guys up a street in Aberdeen leads the pair to Lockhart Road in Wanchai! Specifically where it intersects with Percival Street. The green neon shop (first image) was on the ground floor of the Po Hon Building. In the second and third images you can see the Percival Street-facade of Causeway Bay Plaza.

Three Businessmen - Miguel Sandoval (1998) - Percival Street, Causeway Bay

The final snippet from this movie is the pair riding on the top deck of a tram as it turns from Hennessy Road into Percival Street. The pedestrian bridge that straddles the junction can be seen in the background as the tram makes its turn south. The pair get off the tram here and find themselves in...Tokyo, where Frank (Alex Cox) says they must have wandered into Liverpool's "Japanese Garden". Honestly, if this isn't making sense then you should just watch the movie.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Percival Street, Causeway Bay

There are a few more interesting shots taken at street level that mark the end of the first part of the movie (it's split into two sections, the first half is when they first meet, the second half is a year later and they bump into each other again). This one was taken along Percival Street right at the junction with Russell Street/Matheson Street. (for those interested in how this same junction looked in the 1950's, check out this post from Flight to Hong Kong).

Flight to Hong Kong - Rory Calhoun (1956) - Percival Street, Causeway Bay

During a car chase, the pursuer's car is blocked by a tram pulling out from what I believe to be the old tram depot in Causeway Bay - where the Times Square development now stands. That would make this the angled junction between Percival Street (on the left) and Russell St/Matheson St on the right.

Confirmation seems to come from the dome that can be just seen around the top left of the top image (directly above the car). This is the dome of the old Lee Theatre where Percival Street joins Leighton Road. The hill at the far end of Percival Street (past the dome) is Leighton Hill.

DOA: Dead or Alive - Devon Aoki (2006) - Percival Street, Causeway Bay

One of the main characters, Christie (Holly Valance), gets her invite to the tournament as she is escaping from the HK Police on a motorbike. As she makes her escape, she drives down a road with a single tram line. There aren't too many places where the tram lines go single in HK so this was an easy find. It's Percival Street. Confirmation can be seen by the presence of the Lee Theatre Building in the background - or at least the 2006 version of it, it's had a bit of an update since then.

Shadow of China - John Lone (1989) - Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay

Here is a street corner we have seen from various angles over the course of several films. It's the junction with Percival Street along Hennessy Road. We were looking at it from the opposite angle (i.e. looking south down Percival Street) only a few posts ago. This time we are looking at it from the point of view along Percival Street looking north back towards Hennessy.

As you can see from the Streetview grab below the Fotomax sign has since been replaced by a Tom Lee advert but note that the Tai Woo Seafood Restaurant sign on the right (in the film grab) can still be seen in the Streetview picture. Incidentally, this is the same corner that Thomas was able to locate for Emmanuelle 2 a couple of years back with the Rolex and Tudor adverts below the Tom Lee sign.

After turning into Percival Street we see the car (incidentally, this was Neil's personal Mark 2 Jaguar that he lent to the production company) drive south and pass some of the signs we saw on the earlier Percival Street post.

Shadow of China - John Lone (1989) - Percival Street, Causeway Bay

One of the night scenes involving the party tram gives us a nice view up Percival Street from its junction with Hennessy Road. It's a bit difficult to see the tram lines in the screen grabs (I can only see the one that turns east along Hennessy in these) but a quick comparison with a daytime screen grab taken around the same time (courtesy of Yellowthread Street) allows us to match up many of the overhead shops signs.

Note that this was before the pedestrian bridge (crossing Hennessy Road) was built on what would be the left hand side of these screen grabs. 

Emmanuelle 2 - Sylvia Kristel (1975) - Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay

Here is a great find by Thomas Ngan from my "help me" page. It's a seemingly unidentifiable piece of the tramline with generic buildings here and there - the usual problem for me when it comes to HK, because everything looks the same.

However, Thomas has a very keen eye and has been able to identify the actual street corner courtesy of a shop sign that looks to be almost unchanged in 40 years...unbelievable!

Take note of the Rolex and Tudor signs in the top picture - here is the same sign today, taken from streetview on the northern side of Hennessy Rd where it joins with Percival Street. The buildings at the back right include the still-standing (as you can see) Po Hon Building (built 1967) further up Percival St. The shop the sign belongs to is (still) called the "La Suisse Watch Company Ltd" and the building itself is the East South Building at 475 - 481 Hennessy Road.

Anyway, once again many thanks to Thomas for his keen-sightedness.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Percival Street, Causeway Bay

Yellow is the colour of the moment it seems, so it seems only fitting that this post from Yellowthread Street (episode: Rummy's Cut), should also feature something else yellow...in this case a tram.

The scene has no real significance to the plot, but I guess when you spend all that money filming in Hong Kong you may as well showcase some of the sights and sounds. So, here we have a nice yellow tram making the turn from Hennessy Road into Percival Street in Causeway Bay (strictly speaking still part of Wanchai District).

Other than the addition of a pedestrian walkway - because, after all, why should cars be inconvenienced to stop for crossing pedestrians, right? - and the removal of many overhanging signs, the place hasn't changed much physically. Percival Street is still the turnoff/on for trams heading into and away from Happy Valley, but if you were to take a look at shop rents in this area over the past few years you'll find it has become one of the most expensive streets in HK with some utterly crazy prices being paid for prime retail space. Anyway, below is the current Streetview.