NathanRd_TaiPoRd_BoundarySt_CSWRd 1960s.jpg

Same intersection on 1956-10-10 during the so called "double 10" riot.

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1956 BoundarySt-NathanRd-TaiPoRd2.png, by simtang

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1956 BoundarySt-NathanRd-TaiPoRd.png, by simtang

The lower image you just posted is the junction of Tai Po Rd and Castle Peak Rd, not Boundary St, surely? It shows the Garden Building.

Thank you tkjho, it is very nice to see this place again.

For those of us who stood on Cheung Sha Wan Road waiting for #4 Bus from Nathan Road - we would catch a glimpse of it before it disappeared as it rounded the centre island, and next it reappeared.

In 1962, I bought my first lottery ticket from a street-friend's mother.  We called such gambling  買字花 loosely translated to buying words-flowers where I picked several numbers for about 50 cents.  I won $42, and took the mother's younger son to dine at 銀宮餐廳 (Silver Palace Cafe).  The top photo's centre shows the cafe's sign with white words on blue background.  It occupied two ground level units.  We had ox tongue with spaghetti, with ketchup of course.  Still remember the good taste!   Regards,  Peter 

Thank you tkjho , for adding this black-and-white photo of the Silver Palace Cafe.  Although they had signs at street corner, they did not occupy the corner unit.  Yes, it looked a bit high class in such our neighbourhood.  But they did not turn up away.  Ours  was about $2.50-$3.00 per plate.  Ox tongues are now very expensive in Canadian supermarkets.

In the top/colour photo, the camera was at about mid-point of the first blocks of Cheung Sha Wan Road, looking to the southeast.  So it captured a small part of their east corners.  I remember the Golden Gate Bakery sign on the left, but shopped there only one time. It was a small shop given its location.   It looks like the single decker bus circled the island counter-clockwise before entering Cheung Sha Wan Road.  In my time using Bus #4, they circled partially the island clockwise.

Regarding the black-and-white photo showing people throwing rocks at the truck, there appears to be a gas station to the left.  One possible match is that the truck was heading east on Tai Po Road, after crossing Shek Kip Mei Street.  I cannot tell if the sign blocked by the flying horse was Golden Gate Bakery.   On the other photo, the two soldiers were standing on the north side of Garden Bakery, and camera looking to the southeast.  I don't know much about that Golden Gate on Castle Peak Road.     Regards,  Peter

My mistake. Probably because there were two Golden gate bread shops around there. According to 1956 年香港年鑑, One was at 6 tai po road. Second one at 17 castle peak rd . The shop on the left in the lower picture here is 17 castle peak rd. The building on the right is Garden bakery at 58 castle peak (yenchow junction) which was destroyed in the 1956 10-10 riot but rebuilt and still exists at the same spot today.

Thank you tkjho for the link to the video.  I wish I can today ask "Grandpa Grandma, were you there that day?".  They were living two blocks away on Ki Lung Street.

I watched the video several times to orient myself.  They were marching southbound on Tai Po Road (03:27) few seconds before turning left (03:46) onto  Boundary Street.  The added current photos are helpful, for example at 04:16 the view is looking north to the bend at Shek Kip Mei Street, and that tree looks the same as the one in the 1947 air photo.  Regards, Peter

Hi tkjho, I remember only one cotton shop in my immediate neighbourhood.  It was at either 94 or 96 (not sure which!) Ki Lung Street, on the north side of Ki Lung Street and between Maple Street and Boundary Street.  Lung Hing Tong in the 1950s and 1960s was occupying only the top floor (level 3) at 92-94, and following its rebuild, it now occupies also the street level units.

Back to that cotton shop.  To refresh your memory, when you walk from your home along Boundary Street, the shophouse shops along Boundary Street were electricial shop, pawn shop, laundary shop, Kowloon Shoes at the corner (21-21A present numbering system), next wood shop, before reaching the cotton shop.

In early 1960s a couple in their 50s operated the shop, but they did not sell any products.  Their work was to make cotton fluffy for shops that made duvets.  The man had to be physically able to work with a tool that looks like a giant bow.  He strapped one end to his body, let the 8 or 9 feet boom over the cotton, lowered the thick string (under tension) into the cotton, and used a wooden handle to hammer-pluck the string, so its vibration made the cotton fluffy.  They have one son named Chan Leung Wah.  I don't know if they took on boarders.  Does this match your search?  Regards,  Peter

Hi tkjho,

" ...regular-sized block, probably about midway between Maple and Wong Chuk".  That would be the next block northwest of the shop which I suggested.  I don't remember seeing a shop there showing cotton-beating in action.  Perhaps they had a divide between the work and store front.  You might remember these near your home ... 

in the early 1950s, the noticeable fabric-making machines were the tall rotary type.  They started to shut down in the mid-1950s.  There was one such shop at or about 22 Apliu Street.  Strange feeling playing Mahjong with my friends next to their retired machine while his father made smoke with a bamboo-water pipe!

At Number 12 or about was an electricity shop.  I know their son about my age 雷光 華 nickname Num Chi (soft persimmon) my distant relative.  He was a few years your senior.  Like other street kids there I played with, I heard no more of him after he moved away.  Their next door had a curb side children's "library" where we read each comic book for about 5 cents.  My favourite seat was inside the staircase a few steps up.

Thank you for the link about the old way making cotton duvet. Beautiful garden, lady and story!   Regards,  Peter

Hi tkjho, this bit of memory just surfaced.  Yes, there was a cotton shop on the south side of Ki Lung Street between Maple and Wong Chuk, about mid way of the block as your recalled.  That shop must be related in some way to the shop I suggested earier.  Because only for this reason my "cotton-beating" neighbour took me along on his visit to that shop.  We entered inside, their business counter was on the right and I stood next to it while they discussed business.   Regards,   Peter

Thank you tkjho for the reply.  That makes it three cotton shops in our neighbourhood.

On the south side about mid block, do you remember someone started a restaurant in about late 50s?  Tt did not last long.  Could not compete with those on Lai Chi Kok Road and Nathan-Tai Po, I think.    Regards,  Peter