North Kowloon Magistracy - Now and Then

I used to live in the area and was always walking past this rather magnificent building on the way to and from Shek Kip Mei. Before moving apartments I made an effort to actually stop and try to capture some comparisons with some of the screencaps I took from Donnie Yen's excellent Flash Point. He may not be the world's best actor but Donnie has been and still remains, even in his 60s, one of Hong Kong's foremost action movie stars. I for one am looking forward to John Wick: Caine (currently filming in Hong Kong as I write this in August 2026 - along with Henry Cavill's Highlander reboot, apparently).

The North Kowloon Magistracy building was constructed in 1960 and served as the main courtroom for most of Kowloon - particularly following the closure/repurposing of the South Kowloon Magistracy on Gascoigne Road which now serves as the Lands Tribunal. For several years the building was leased to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) but that rather useful repurposing came to a shuddering halt following the imposition of strict Covid regulations in 2020. Other than a bit of a touch-up the following year - mainly to remove the SCAD sign from above the main entrance - the building appears to have just been sitting empty for the past 6 years. It's such a shame because it's a great building, but I suspect the internal layout and location might make it difficult to repurpose as anything other than some sort of adult education centre.

If you have seen Flash Point, you will know that the main antagonist, Archer (Ray Lui), goes to court after being caught by the police. He has to surrender his travel documents but otherwise can go free.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Tai Po Road, Kowloon

Chen and his girlfriend head out on a date in his taxi. They drive along Lung Cheung Road and join Tai Po Road before using the interchange between Ching Cheung Road/Tai Po Road to head into the New Territories. Unlike the old Tai Wo Ping Interchange (see here) this one is still around and one I used to use quite frequently when I had my motorbike to get into Shatin via Tai Po Road.

The Angel Strikes Again - Lily Ho (1968) - Tai Woh Ping Interchange

Until relatively recently (circa late 90s, which I consider "recent") the Tai Woh Ping Interchange allowed cars to join the Tai Po Road from Lung Cheung Road near to the Chak On Estate. It has since been replaced by a higher capacity (i.e. multi-lane) alternative constructed a hundred or so meters to the east, but for many years this simple interchange was the way to access both directions of the Tai Po Road from Lung Cheung Road. We see it during the sequence where 009 is following the gang leader in her car.

The image below is an old Govt image of the interchange but seen from the other side.

Summons to Death - Tang Ching (1967) - Tai Po Road Lookout, Tai Po Road

After evading the cops, pirate brother Poon (Ku Feng) runs down onto Tai Po Road and is met by another of his former pirate brothers, Ma Loong (Chiang Kuang-chao). As the car turns around it drives back towards Kowloon past a pavilion. This is the Tai Po Road Lookout and the pavilion is still there - although the lookout's view is perhaps not as expansive as it was back in the late 60s.

Summons to Death - Tang Ching (1967) - Shatin Inn, Tai Po Road

Head pirate, Gin Te-biu (Lo Wei) meets up with his old pirate chums and arranges to meet one of them at the Shatin Inn the next day. However, he has been double-crossed and the police turn up to arrest him.

Shatin Inn was apparently used in quite a few films over the years - it opened in 1955 and only recently closed down in September 2024 for reasons I will get into below. However, I've only ever seen it once previously on the blog and that was for a scene with Chow Yun Fat and Sylvia Chang in All About Ah Long.

We see the venue in its heyday below, when the Tai Po Road was the only way into the Shatin Valley from Kowloon, and all traffic on the road went by the Inn. It was famous for its satay sticks, but by the time I last went (about 10 years ago) it was quite expensive and way past its sell-by-date. One of the contributors to its downfall was the reconstruction of the road system here back in the early 2000s. The changes turned that part of the old Tai Po Road into the singular access road for Shatin Heights up in the hills. This meant most traffic was rerouted away from the restaurant's location unless it was heading up into the Shatin Heights residential area. No doubt the Covid restrictions imposed between 2020 and 2024 also had a major impact on the place's footfall.

The top image below shows the view across the Shatin valley from Tai Po Road. Sadly, the New Territories hasn't looked like this for a long time. You can see the most recent Streetview from the same place here but the tree growth prevents you from seeing the hundreds of highrises that have sprung up.

View from the rear of the restaurant

The Young Rebel - David Chiang (1975) - Ho Tung Lau, Fo Tan

Xiao Rong has to make a delivery to a large house where a kung fu class is being taught. It turns out this is the HQ of the gang that had tried to extort him earlier. The location is the magnificent Ho Tung Lau that was located on the shorefront at Fo Tan until its demolition in 1979 to make way for the widening of Tai Po Road and construction of the MTR depot (which, by the way, is named Ho Tung Lau depot).

We've seen it once before on the blog where it was a drug factory in The Amsterdam Kill. In this film though we get to see it in the full light of day.

Killer Angels - Moon Lee (1989) - Yucca de Lac, Shatin

Michael goes to kill the rival gang boss (played by Shing Fui-on) at a formerly famous local alfresco restaurant. This was the "Yucca de Lac" located off Tai Po Road next to the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shatin District. It was still operating when I first came to Hong Kong but sadly I never made it there to eat. The place has reopened a venue up in the Peak Galleria but I feel that the main appeal of the place was its large terrace with nice views overlooking Tide Cove and Tolo Harbour. It was a popular filming location for local movies in the 1960s but I've only featured it once on the blog previously. The place was closed circa 2005 and the land was sold off and redeveloped into an expensive gated community - called "De Yucca" - with luxury townhouses.

Yakuza on Foot - Tomisaburô Wakayama (1969) - Tai Po Road, Tai Po

The Yakuza find out that Oriental Travel have convinced some of the local girls to go with them to the middle east where they have been told they can earn good money as domestic help, however, it's a trick and really they are going to end up as drug mules for the company. The Japanese gang take it upon themselves to try and save the girls. The initial shot of what turns into a heist and a car chase was filmed along the section of Tai Po Road as it crosses the railway tracks near Yuen Chau Tsai. The distant white building in the background should be the old Tai Ping Carpet factory on Ting Kok Road. The squatter area behind the bus was cleared in the late 70s/80s and the area reclaimed for the Kwong Fuk Estate. This was the same squatter village that was seen in The Last Grenade, shot/released the same year.

Flash Point - Donnie Yen (2007) - North Kowloon Magistracy, Shek Kip Mei

The elder brother (played by Ray Lui) is due in court at the North Kowloon Magistracy and it is also outside here where Ma decides to beat him up. This place was built in 1960 and is in a similar style to several other remaining magistracy buildings of the same era. It closed as a legal building in 2005 (hence why it could be used in the film) and was later part of the Govt's adaptive reuse project and leased to the Savannah College and Art & Design (SCAD) for several years. SCAD abruptly closed down in 2020 - just after the start of the pandemic - and pulled completely out of Hong Kong leaving quite a lot of students in the lurch. 

Anyway, the building is still standing, albeit now empty, and I'm not sure of any plans to lease it to a new user. I live not far from here in fact and walk past it most days, so the bottom image is one I snapped the other day.

The Magistracy, snapped by me July 2023

Love in Hong Kong - Pauline Teutscher (1983) - Fuk Wah Street, Sham Shui Po

One of the locations that the gang try and capture their newspaper-circulation-stimulating shots is on Fuk Wah Street just next to the junction with Tai Po Road. This area looks pretty much the same today as it did then. Looking at the bottom image, I'd say they managed to grab the attention of quite a few passers-by. It's not surprising given the scene involves a girl getting out of the car and flashing everyone.

Tai Po Road Electrical Substation on the right behind the "P" sign

Love in Hong Kong - Pauline Teutscher (1983) - Yucca De Lac, Shatin

Here's a first for this blog. The Yucca de Lac restaurant was a very popular eatery throughout the 1960s and beyond, and featured in several local Cantonese films over the years, but this is the first time I've seen it in a foreign movie production.

Located on a hillside opposite the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the place was famous for its huge outdoor terrace with quite spectacular views over Shatin Hoi. This was long before the reclamation that filled up the sea and replaced it with...erm...the Shatin sewage treatment works. This place sadly closed just prior to my permanent move to Hong Kong and so I never got the chance to visit (when I came on holidays, I had no idea of its existence). Sometime in the mid 00s the owner sold up and the land was bought by a property developer who managed to squeeze 21 luxury townhouses onto the former terrace site. The sloped driveway up to the new development though is the same driveway used to access the restaurant when it was in business and the new development is called "De Yucca"

I believe the company behind the brand had already opened up a short-lived branch in California and have recently - just last year in 2022 - opened a new HK branch on the Peak. But honestly, I think 90% of the original place's appeal must have been the large al fresco dining terrace and the views it afforded, something I doubt can be replicated in the new branch, even if it is at the Peak.