Kent Road Garden - Now and Then

The Kowloon Tong Estate is littered with small parks and rest areas and one of those quite familiar to me is Kent Road Garden. I spent a good few years living nearby and walking past here quite a lot on the way to Festival Walk.

You may remember a few months ago it was one of the locations seen in The Taxi Driver, so here are some modern day comparisons. You can't see it now because of the small tree in the way, but the circular canopy/pavilion is still in the park. It now has benches underneath it.

Most of the older, original houses of the Kowloon Tong Estate have long since been redeveloped along with their perimeter walls. It looks like the garden was much greener back in the 1970s. It's green now, but not green enough to cover the big ugly modern house in the background.

This image below may show one of the only remaining old walls. This wall belongs to #27 Kent Road, which is one of the original European-style villas that still survives virtually unchanged since it was first built - almost 100 years ago! 

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Kai Tak Airport

The inside man for the bank job tries to fly to Europe with his ill-gotten gains but he is snitched on by the robber and the police head to the airport to arrest him.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - The Hong Kong Macau Ferry Wharf

The head robber and girlfriend make an attempt to flee Hong Kong for Macau via the ferry terminal. So it's all hands on deck as the fleets of taxi drivers descend upon the place to help prove that Chen is innocent.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Kowloon Park

After being accused of being one of the bank robbers, Chen decides to go into hiding an waits for his friend at one of the old barrack buildings in Kowloon Park. This building is still around and now forms part of the Heritage Discovery Centre along with the other block. The area between the two blocks is now a landscaped garden and an additional building has been constructed that joins the two blocks at the other end. It's well worth a visit if you get the chance.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Oi Sen Path, Ho Man Tin

We also saw this same pathway recently in The Young Rebel as it's where Tino Wong Cheung runs after committing some robbery. Coincidentally, this is where our bad guys run after they manage to crawl out of the crashed taxi.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Ho Man Tin Estate, Fat Kwong Street

A couple of the in-car shots of Chen, as he is driving the robbers, were filmed on Fat Kwong Street (driving north) with the old Ho Man Tin Estate in the background. The old estate was demolished circa 2001 and replaced by a newer version on an adjacent site. The old site of the estate is now taken up by a variety of private residential developments such as "Mantin Heights" and "One Homantin". The blocks seen in the images below were on the site where "One Homantin" now stands.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Princess Margaret Road, Ho Man Tin

After the bank robbery, Chen leaps out of the taxi as it is driving along Princess Margaret Road in Ho Man Tin. This causes the car to crash into the central barriers. This was filmed at the same spot along Princess Margaret Road where The Young Rebel filmed the same year. The low building on the right (second image) is the HKSPCA building.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - True Light Lane, Kowloon Tong

The gang are waiting for Chen at True Light Lane in Kowloon Tong. This location is right next to the current entrance to Kowloon True Light Middle School and looks more or less the same today with the exception of the background which back in 1975 was a small hill but these days has Festival Walk sitting on it.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Kent Road, Kowloon Tong

On the fateful day, Chen is targeted by the gang's girlfriend, and directed to a drop off point where they can hijack his car. On the way there we see him driving down Kent Road.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Lion Rock Tunnel Road, Shatin

Chen is out on a date with his girlfriend when he sees To Fat getting into a squabble with another driver. This was filmed on a former layby on the Lion Rock Tunnel Road right next to where World Wide Gardens now stands. The area where the layby was is now taken up by the circular entrance ramp connecting Hung Mui Kuk Road to Lion Rock Tunnel Road. The reason for the layby - and if you are paying attention, the car park on the opposite side of the road - is because this place was, and still is, the main access points for the trail up to Amah rock.

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 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).

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Kent Road Garden, Kowloon Tong

Chen goes for a picnic with his girlfriend. This was filmed at the Kent Road Garden in Kowloon Tong. The circular pavilion - a popular design in the 1960s and 70s in Hong Kong (they can be found in quite a few places) - is still there although the garden doesn't look quite as nice.

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

The bad guy's girlfriend (played by Terry Lau) lives in an apartment on Observatory Road. There are very few roads in Kowloon that are this steep so narrowing down the location was a bit more straightforward (I had no clue where this was 10+ years ago when I first covered the film).

The ornate looking building on the corner was the Luna Building. It has previously been featured, very briefly, in The Peking Medallion.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Shanghai Commercial Bank Building, Mongkok

The main plot of the film follows three rather unpleasant characters who share a room in the same place that Chen rents. They are plotting on robbing a local bank with the help of an insider. The target of their crime is the "Hang King Bank" but the newly built "Shacombank" building on the north east corner of Argyle Street and Nathan Road is the building used for establishing shots in the film. It's another of those not very long lasting buildings because despite being opened in the mid 70s, it had been demolished by 1997. The Shanghai Commercial Bank HQ is still here but in a newer more modern building.

Following the robbery we get a decent glimpse of the road junction with the HSBC building on the opposite corner.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Canton Road, Yau Ma Tei

In other events, Chen is eating noodles when he witnesses a robbery (Tino Wong doing his robber thing again). The building with the columns in the background is the Yaumatei Police Station, back then in its brown colour. The station has recently been decommissioned and I believe has recently held some sort of local film industry exhibition courtesy of the fact that it has been featured in so many movies over the years. To my shame I haven't been yet. The second image shows the view from Kansu Street.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Waterloo Road

Another victim of congestion is an old guy who is stuck in traffic on Waterloo Road as the meters keeps ticking up. This was filmed around the junction with Prince Edward Road West and you can see they have started construction of the north/south flyover that bypasses this junction and the neighbouring one with Boundary Street. The middle image is looking north and you can see the temporary east/west flyover that was put in place to facilitate the construction works at the junction, as well as the tower of St Teresa's.