2007 bye bye!!!

December is half way over, and as I mentioned back in October, the last 2 months of the year always fly by so quickly.

This is not a "Recap of 2007" post yet, but since I'm just COMPLETELY bored now, I might as well write some random thoughts down.

1. I love old pictures. Last week I bought an old vintage photo (real one, not a reproduction) for a friend's birthday. It's a photo taken in 1950 from Bowrington Road towards Leighton Hill, where he and his wife live now. It's not of anybody's interest unless you are into that sort of stuff, and since the location is so obscure (Leighton Hill was a former Government Staff Quarters site), it has never been published in any of those "Old Hong Kong" books. But I thought it was such a rare find, and my friend liked it much (or so he claimed, haha). The photo of course is quite expensive, but hey, to see that it's money well-spent, THAT's priceless. If you're ever into these old photos, reprints or otherwise, check out Picture This at Prince's Building in Central. This is where I bought that photo. I also found another similar store, but at a lesser known location, at the junction of Old Bailey Street and Hollywood Road. They seem to have a big collection, but not as "packaged" as Picture This. The name of this store just escaped me, but when you stand at that junction, you'll see its entrance at the foot of the steep decline that is Old Bailey.

2. Preservation of King Yin Lei seems to be a hot topic lately. I am for sure all for preservation of these built heritage, because most of our beautiful architecture are gone forever. That is why I like looking at old photos... you'll be amazed of what kind of buildings that once stood in HK. But then, we don't have a comprehensive policy to balance property rights and the need to preserve these places. If you think about it, these property owners, most likely investors, are "penalized" for owning a piece of beautiful architecture. There needs to be a way to create a win-win-win situation for all.

I've included a few of these buildings, still standing or gone forever, for you to check out. :)

3. The end of 2007 signals an end to many things. I really hope 2008 would be as eventful as it has been in 2007. :)

This mansion is now redeveloped into one of the most expensive piece of real estate in the world. You can own one of the 4 houses now stand here for a hefty HK$400m+.

This property, referred to as Kingslere Hotel, stood on Kennedy Road at the turn of the 20th century. I have yet to identify it exact location, but I suspect it to be somewhere near the present-day Monmouth Terrace.

Funny how we have to bring the train back to Tsim Sha Tsui after the demolition of this beautiful train terminus in 1978.

What is this today? Filippino Central: World-Wide House.

And this? You might be surprised. This is HSBC in the 1920s.

The old "Lo Chun Ting" is not the object of my fascination, it's that white humongous apartment building in the bottom right that is interesting. It looks exactly like an apartment block taken from London. This is present-day Peak Galleria.

Still one of the most classical building ever stood in Central. Don't know when exactly it was demolished, but back in my primary school days, it had already become an indistinguishable Government structure with a public car park and post office. Present-day location: part of Cheung Kong Centre where the retail space and the pubic toilet are.

Not far from the above photo, the building on the front left is now the benchmark of Central office rents and sales: No. 9 Queen's Road Central.

The future of this? Who knows?