1950s Fred Evans' photos

A message from moddsey:

The photo sequence looks like somewhere in Wanchai. I originally thought it was the intersection of Wanchai and Johnston Roads but having looked at a comparison photo, I now have my doubts. It was probably taken from the upper deck of a tram. The side street has four Chinese characters which disproves the Wanchai Road theory.

He sent in this photo of the Wanchai Rd / Johnston Rd junction for comparison:

I asked Fred about his photo when I was back in the UK on my last visit. Unfortunately he could not remember exactly where it was taken.

Can you recognise it?

MrB

Hi there,

I have a hypothesis.....

From the photo album the previous photo showed Canal Road West and it appeared to be taken above ground level, very likely on the upper deck of a tram.  Assumming the Canal Road photo and this one were taken in a series while on a tram then the photo above would have very likely been Bowrington and Hennessy.  Pity, the photo captured a road sign but it was a blur and the words could not be recognized.  At least the angle of the proposed Bowrington Road was right if you are seeing it on a tram.

Best Regards,

T

Hi there,

I have not bumped into any other photo of the same area yet,  but I have found an entry (using the name of the rice dealer 同源棧 show at the corner of the street as a key phrase in Google) quoting the same photo as Bowrington Road in a local forum:

http://www4.uwants.com/viewthread.php?tid=6167379&page=53#pid100427013

Scroll down and you shall see the same photo with the filename bowrington.jpg   Also Note, Bowrington Road is still a wet market today despite the Pai Dongs are all gone.  At night, the section of the road right next to the Market building would be occupied by dinning tables as some of the former Dai Pai Dongs are still around.  Their kitchen occupied some of the shop spaces and their dinning area extended outside.  The open air locations are supposed to be illegal for dinning but I guess this is one of the grey areas that the Government tends to omit at times.

BTW, 同源棧 did not only deal rice.  According to it's sign around it's entrance, it sells cooking oil and fire wood as well. I guess it would have others like sugar and salt, as well as soy sauce and other local groceries.  Yes, there was a time when locals burn wood and/or charcoal for cooking fuel.  If you pay attention to some of the shop house photos you should recognize many of them had chimneys.

Best Regards,

T

Hi T,

Thanks for the extra info. It looks as though Fred's photos are spreading around! (The photo is on message #784 in the thread that T links to.)

There are a bunch of photos from 1972 (this one, and several before and after) showing firewood being delivered. So it looks like it was still popular fairly recently.

MrB

Dear Mr B,

Don't be surprised.  There was and is till is, a local Firewood Business Association located in Jaffe Road, very near Flemming Road in Wanchai.  The building they occupied is also soft of old.   Occasionally their name appears in local charity patron lists.  So you could imagine it had been a big business.

Best Regards,

Thomas

Colour photo of the same area from 1955: https://picasaweb.google.com/Don1.Irw/HONGKONG1955#5238617565749240066

Hi there,

From the colour photo it clearly showed the ‘同源棧’ had been quite a big business back then as it occupied both sides of Bowington Road.  The one due West was for rice and other groceries while the one due East was a winery, basically selling Chinese rice wine.

Best Regards,

T

Hi T,

On the winery side, Tung Yuen Chan was also a money changer.