Photos of 1970s Nathan Road offer a glimpse of old Hong Kong
Landmarks featured include the Astor Theatre, Nathan Hotel, Tai Lin Radio, Chung Kiu Chinese Products Emporium, Kwong Wah Hospital and Methodist College
The popular Astor Theatre on Hong Kong’s Nathan Road was one of district councillor Chan Siu-tong’s favourite hang-outs in childhood.
The theatre was redeveloped in 1987 and eventually closed in the early 2000s, and Chan, now 49, had almost forgotten what it looked like originally, until Wednesday, when the government released a new album of 70 photos showing the road in the 1970s.
Built in 1861, Nathan Road was the first road in Kowloon. It has become longer over the years, now stretching north-south from Sham Shui Po to Tsim Sha Tsui.
As seen in the photos, the road was one of the most robust commercial areas in the city in the mid-1970s and remains so today.
“There used to be many theatres around Nathan Road,” said Chan, a member of the Yau Tsim Mong district council. “They are all gone. These photos are really interesting. For middle-aged people like me, they remind us what those old buildings used to look like.”