Hanoi Road | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Hanoi Road

Hanoi Road
Authors: 

I believe that this was Middle Road looking West towards Nathan Road in the background.  It might have been Mody Road.  The twisted trees should provide a good clue!  Correction it is Hanoi Road.  I wonder if the twisted trees are still there. Thanks T.

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Tuesday, July 21, 1981
Connections: 

Comments

Hi There,

The Millie's Handbags & Shoes Manufactory Company gave the location.  That was Hanoi Road .

Thanks & Best Regards,

T

Thanks T.  I'll change the description. Andrew

Hi Andrew,

these trees can been seen on one of Mike Cussans' photos from 1970 and one mine from 1980:

Hanoi Road Kowloon 1970
Hanoi Road Kowloon 1970, by mike
Hanoi Road (1980)
Hanoi Road (1980), by Klaus

When I posted mine I checked the location on Streetview - all trees are gone!

Regards Klaus

Hi Klaus, Being charitable, perhaps the trees had reached an age when they had became too costly or difficult to maintain.  Their removal is a shame as they made an otherwise 'standard' Kowloon street have that bit of extra character which made the street attractive.  I wonder how long the similar trees down the Western side of Nathan Road will survive;  although I have a feeling that I read somewhere that they had a preservation order on them - for what that is worth these days.  Maybe their proximity to Kowloon Park helps.  I have a very vague memory that in 1958 the Eastern side of Nathan Road had similar trees along the pavement but I might be wrong.  The 'palm' trees along the central reservation there could have been planted to compensate for the eventual demise of the others, which are old enough to feature on at least one photograph that I have seen from the 1941-45 period. Regards Andrew

Hi there,

I think they have planted a few new trees along the street some time ago, probably after K11 was completed. It is yet to be seen if those trees would survive  the environment.

T

Hello T.  What is K11? I hope the trees survive. Andrew

Hi Andrew,

The K-11 is a redevelopment project which knocked down the whole block from Hanoi Road up to Bristol Avenue (except the Hiranand House owned by some Indian Merchant on Bristol) for a high rise, which also hosts the current version of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.  The project also killed a street between Hanoi Road & Bristol Avenue which I have totally forgotten its name.  I will update if I could retrieve the name somewhere, sometime.

T

Tsim Sha Tsui.jpg
Tsim Sha Tsui.jpg, by Andrew Suddaby

Hello T

Thanks. On one of my old maps (1981) the street running parallel to Hanoi Road and that was obliterated by the K11 development was called Cornwall Avenue.  It joined Carnarvon Road with Mody Road.

Best wishes Andrew.

Hi All,

sometimes its helpful to use the timeline feature on Google Streetview. Hanoi Road from July 2009 looks like this:

At that time the old tree - or at least a part of it - is still there. Possibly too old to retain.

Next entry is from February 2011:

The old tree was cut down and replaced by a young one. On the other side of the road they planted trees, too. So tngan remembered correctly!

Andrew, I created a place for Hanoi Road [????- ]. You might add it to your image.

Regards, Klaus