Ferry to Hong Kong - Curt Jurgens (1959) - Shantung Street, Mongkok

Many years ago when I covered Ferry to Hong Kong, I did a general post about the old Yaumatei Typhoon shelter. I was recently looking at my screencaps again and spotted the following image that I assumed was somewhere in the Typhoon Shelter but I didn't really give it any more thought.

The metal containers in the background piqued my interest and I found out that they were silos containing vegetable oil located at the corner of Shantung Street and what was (it seems to have been subsumed by Ferry Street) Tak Cheong Street at the Yaumatei waterfront. Look carefully at the far left hand side of the image and you can just about make out the edge of old Mongkok ferry pier at the very end of Shantung Street.

Expired - Ryan Kwanten (2021) - Shantung Street, Mongkok

Jack is hired to kill a man and follows him from a laundrette down a alleyway, but passes along Shantung Street First with the Hollywood Shopping Centre in the background. That blue lighting has since been removed. Despite this movie only being a few years old so many businesses seen on screen have since disappeared, mainly thanks to Covid.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Shantung Street, Mongkok

A transition shot now as the story moves to Aberdeen. This image shows some of the old signage along the western part (i.e. west side of Nathan Road) of Shantung Street. All of these signs have been removed, sadly, but the Chung Po (中寶押) pawnshop remains at the same location at 36 Shantung Street. Several of these signs are visible in the historic Google Streetview imagery as recently as 2017.

City on Fire - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Shantung Street, Mongkok

Another of the brief street shots in the opening of the film. This one looks to have been snapped along Shantung Street from the junction with Tung Choi Street. If you look carefully you can see a sign for the Ko Wah Restaurant (高華茶餐廳) and the Hollywood Shopping Centre (荷李活購物中心 - located in the Wing Wah Building on the corner with Sai Yeung Choi Street).

Election - Simon Yam (2005) - MacPherson Playground, Mongkok

The scene where the David Chiang goes to speak with Wong Tin-lam (who happens to be Wong Jing's dad in case you didn't know already) was filmed along the Shantung Street side of MacPherson Playground in Mongkok.

Infernal Affairs - Andy Lau (2002) - Fa Yuen Street, Mongkok

The location of the drug deal with the Thais is a corner building on the junction of Fa Yuen Street and Shantung Street. The curved building where the drug deal is supposedly taking place - or at least the exterior establishing shot - is the Pak Cheung building on the NW corner of the junction. The cops, on the other hand, are located in the building on the opposite corner which is in fact a school building called G.T (Ellen Yeung) College. The fire escape where Andy Lau makes a phone call can be seen on the Fa Yuen Street side of the building and it looks like they were on the very top floor which has a covered walkway across the top of the building.

Looking west along Shantung Street

Looking north up Fa Yuen Street from G.T College

Andy Lau on the G.T College fire escape. Looking down onto Fa Yuen Street

View down onto the Fa Yuen Street entrance to the Pak Cheung building

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Mongkok Ferry Pier, Mongkok

Two years before this was filmed, Jean-Paul Belmondo was in the same location for
Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine. Located at the west end of Shantung Street and now an intersection with the aptly named Ferry Street. In the Belmondo film they catch the ferry to the made-up-name place of "Sey Chang" despite the Chinese characters on the front clearly saying "to/from Hong Kong". In this film they use it for its real purpose and take the ferry to HK Island.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - Sonny Chiba (1977) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

Another establishing shot that shows a road junction with the prominent restaurant sign in the background for the San Ah (i.e. New Asia) Restaurant or 新亞大酒樓. As far as I can tell this restaurant was almost directly opposite the Mayflower Restaurant which Thomas was able to help locate when I was looking at locations for You Only Live Twice. This means the junction we are looking at is most likely to be the one where Shantung Street meets Nathan Road on the east side of Nathan.

I've only been able to find references to the restaurant being along Nathan Road and not the exact address, so if anyone can confirm or deny it would be helpful.

The Road to Hong Kong - Bob Hope (1962) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

More stock footage from this film includes this nice north looking shot of the junction with Shantung Street along Nathan Road. The Paramount nightclub and Theatre was quite a distinctive landmark at the time. 

Actually, we were here not so long ago because I believe the building occupied the whole block up to Nelson Street and this post was located at the far end.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Mongkok Ferry Pier, Mongkok

Until I saw this film and started investigating this location, I had no idea that there was a ferry pier in Mongkok. I knew about the old vehicular ferry pier at the end of Jordan Road but this one was a new discovery for me. You see, I also widen my knowledge about HK thanks to these films.

Anyway, after chasing the runaway king size around the southern parts of HK island for the best part of a few minutes, it finally comes to rest in front of a ferry pier. The pier is actually disguised and has a sign on the front saying (in English) "Ferry to Sey Chang".

Of course "Sey Chang" is a made up place name and the location used for it will be looked at in the next post, but anyone who reads Chinese will be able to see that the real sign above says it is the Hong Kong Island ferry service (the Chinese reads R->L): 來往香港.

Looking at an old map, I can see that the Mongkok Ferry Pier was situated at the very end of Shantung Street. So when the bed arrives, it is Shantung Street that the camera is looking up. You can compare it with the modern Streetview image at the bottom.

Shantung Street 1965

Shantung Street now

The reclamation of the harbour on the west side of the Kowloon peninsula is vast in scale and Ferry Street marks the previous demarcation between the water and dry land. There's now an additional 600 metres of land between the spot we see above and the current coastline. The reclamation actually occurred in the 1990's, but the Mongkok pier had already been removed by 1972 when it was replaced by the pier at Tai Kok Tsui. Both pier locations succumbed to the 1990's reclamation.

Luckily for us we get some good views from this film and it appears a couple of times as the protagonists head to and return from the fictitious island of Sey Chang. The shots below show part of the return journey.

The building under construction at the back is the previously mentioned Yuen Fat Building which opened properly in 1965. Other than the Yuen Fat Building and a building at 9-11 Shantung Street, every building seen in these screen shots has since been demolished and replaced. I'll leave you with a fairly good comparison with Streetview so you can see how much has really changed. You can just see the Yuen Fat Building poking out in the Streetview picture, it's the blue building at the end of the yellow line.

Incidentally, this same area around Shantung Street can be seen in this shot from Ferry to Hong Kong.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Macpherson Playground, Mongkok

The last scene from this episode shows a football game going on at a large outdoor (and typical HK-style concrete) pitch. The location is in Mongkok and it's Macpherson Playground. We've seen it before on this blog, back in 1975 for Bud Spencer's Flatfoot in Hong Kong, but from a different angle.

The block straight ahead has changed immensely because it now has two buildings affiliated to the CUHK (the Chinese University in Shatin) and at their base is an oddly placed temple - all of which front onto Shantung Street. The visible remnants from the modern Streetview appear to be the corner building (behind the person with the red T-shirt) and the taller building on the other end of the block.

Looking at Streetview you can just about see the two buildings I have just mentioned and sitting in between them are the two slim tall high rises that belong to CUHK. They look to have replaced the two low rise buildings that can be seen in the frame capture above.

Contagion - Matt Damon (2011) - Tung Choi Street, Kowloon

One of the more easily identifiable street scenes as the kidnappers are driving Dr Orantes around in their black van. In this case we are travelling south along Tung Choi Street in Mongkok - perhaps more commonly known to visitors as "Ladies Market". If you look closely at the floor in the screencaps you can see the yellow line markings that demarcate each of the stall holder's selling spots.

The street looks so deserted because this scene was filmed before all the stalls had been erected. The large brown and yellow sign with the words: 沙嗲王 on it (see top left of the last screencap) is at the junction with Shantung Street and is a branch of the local food chain Satay King. When I first wrote this post I had yet to visit for food, but I did try once and discovered to my great disappointment that not a single bit of satay chicken skewer was available - its main fare seems to be spicy soup. You have been warned.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

Thanks to Thomas' confirmation of the fact that we can see the Sun Ya Hotel in the following screen capture, it means that this was filmed where currently stands the "One Grand Tower" at 639 Nathan Road. Between Shantung Street and Argyle Street in Mongkok. The One Grand Tower that now sits here pretty much fills up the whole block, so I'm not so sure what number the Sun Ya Hotel was positioned at (probably easy to check but can't muster the energy right now...). What I can say is that the current building was opened in 1986, so I can imagine the hotel was around in one form or another until the mid-80s. Streetview comparison underneath.

Actually, it looks as though this location was used twice but from two different angles. If you look on the top right of the first picture you can see the bottom of a sign with pink neon writing. Well, looking at the picture below, it would seem that the sign was somewhere on the opposite side of Nathan Road near to the junction with Shantung Street - around where the current Good Hope Building stands. I think therefore that the "President Silk Company Ltd", seen in the shots below, would have been opposite the Sun Ya Hotel in what is now the King Wah Centre. The King Wah Centre was built in 2001, so I have no idea what was there before.