Kowloon (Nathan Road) 1960s

Hi There,

Back in the 1960s the common Taxi fleet are mostly Mercedez-Benz saloons.  Those shown in the photo looked like Toyota's or Nissan's.  Might as well be the 1970's.

T

Greetings.  The alignment of the road suggests this could be Jordan Road looking east.  The yellow and red signs on the left and right sides, respectively, reads Fai Lok, the same name of a theatre on Jordan Road next to Nathan Road.  Regards, Peter

Agreed. I vaguely recall that taxis in the 60's were of all kinds of color, and yes they were mostly Merz. I think they turned silver top and red body some time in the early 70's, which is what is shown in the photo. Maybe someone can confirm that?

Jordon Road does not seem to go that far east. I think this is Nathan Road looking north shortly before its southbound turning into Gascoigne. You see the 3-lane southbound expanding to 5 (or 6?) lanes with the right lanes continuing onto Nathan and left ones to Gascoigne. The right turn on the left of the picture is probably into Public Square Street.

Hi There,

Yes, the Taxi fleet back in the 1960s are in all sort of colour combinations.  Red\Yellow, Checker trip on Red, Silver typs., not a unified Red\Green\Blue like today's.  Back then they usually run based on their geographical locations (HK Taxi, KLN Taxi which include the New Territories and No Lantau Taxi).   Most Taxi operators would not cross the harbour by fery despite they are allowed to do so.

T

Greetings, and thanks nwong for the correction.  I missed the lane expansion which should have ruled out Jordan Road.  Two other lane expansions were at Lai Chi Kok and Cheung Sha Wan.  However, both had different background and lane alignment, and traffic and business there were not as congested as at Gascoigne shown here.  Then, Nathan Road connected directly with Tai Po Road until they later altered the junction.  Regards, Peter

Just a wild Google search on "粵華行", the vertical red sign up on top in the middle of the photo gave me this page: http://www.yuetwahmusical.com/introduction.htm

That page says they import musical instruments worldwide, and have been doing so since 1956.  Importantly, down the page they give one of their addresses as no.456 Nathan Road.  That puts them on Public Square Street, right near the junction where Nathan turns off on to Gascoigne Road.  Of course, all this assumes this shop has been in the same spot for ages, at least since just before the photo was taken. 

breskvar

Hi There,

I believe it is Nathan Road alright, but not that north.  The photographer was standing just south of where Nathan Road meets Public Square Street.  One of the neon signs helped to pin-point the location.

Right at the middle there is an neon sign which read 粵華行, which is a Music Instrument store.  It had been located there for ages until quite recently it moved to somewhere else.  The same rounded corner building is still there but being painted very differently.

T

ps.   The outdated Google Street View showed a latter location of 粵華行. It used to be a few shops further back, at the location of the Neon sign.