This postcard shows what my mom saw when she stayed at the Sun Ya Hotel in Hong Kong almost 50 years ago. When I look at the jumble of signs–tall and short, vertical and horizontal, neon and unlit–I think Vegas has nothing on this place, even back in 1962.
I wonder if my mom tucked into the ABC Bakery for a scrummy piece of cake or a buttery pastry? I’m sure the bakery is long gone (I was pretty fluent in Hong Kong bakeries, and arrived in the territory after the Russian bakeries had been replaced by Maria’s or Maxim’s). Several shops down the street was the May May Department Store. My mom has raved about the beaded sweaters in Hong Kong back then (I’ve been the lucky recipient of those), so I wonder if she bought any at the May May, which means beautiful.
As old as this picture is, some things haven’t changed. The lorry (truck) in the lower left corner could still be around. I often saw vehicles like that–or more rustic–slink along the busy streets of Hong Kong.
And some things don’t make sense. Notice the street lamps in the middle of the road, lost in the glare of the neon signs. I wonder why they even bothered. The neon lights surely illuminated the streets until daybreak.
Thank you so much, Raymond! I love that information. Yes, of course I remember the energy crises in the 70s. I guess I didn’t think that it extended to all parts of the world. When I thought about that time, I remember seeing newsclips of huge American cars lining up to buy gasoline in the US. But it makes perfect sense that people in Hong Kong would also have to conserve energy. It must have seemed eerie without the neon lights during that time.
You were probably too young to remember (or realize), during the energy crisis in the 70s, all neon lights have to been turned off after 10 PM. That is when the street lights took over the role, not to mention during the 60s, when the government imposed curfew during the riots, the street lights were there to witness history.