Okay, I’m officially obsessed with the Sun Ya Hotel. I found these two photos, one from 1961, a year before my mom stayed there, and the other from 1966. Even back then, Nathan Road was hopping with street and sidewalk traffic.
A document published in 1961 by the Hong Kong Government Information Services had this to say about Hong Kong traffic, shown in these photos of the Sun Ya:
The volume of traffic on the roads of the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong is now three times greater than anywhere else in the world. Latest figures show that 50,000 vehicles are using the Colony’s 510 miles of roads. This works out at 98 vehicles to every mile of road compared with 30 per mile in the United Kingdom, 22 per mile in West Germany, 20 per mile in the U.S.A. and 12 per mile in France.
And traffic density in the Colony is increasing rapidly, with more than 7,000 new vehicles coming onto the roads every year. If the rate of increase continues–and it probably will because the economy of the Colony is expanding rapidly–the vehicles total will pass 100,000 before the end of 1967.
This photo [left] shows Nathan Road, Kowloon, at 7:30 p.m. Because there are many entertainment and shopping attractions in Kowloon, peak traffic comes after dark and consequently is more difficult to handle.
The government’s prediction came true. By 1966, Mongkok had 156 vehicles per mile. Another document published in 1966 by the Hong Kong Government Information Services describes photo on the right.
To give him a certain amount of protection from the weather–and from the traffic!–the traffic policeman in Hong Kong usually stands on a so-called pagoda, a stoutly-constructed platform made of iron, roofed and railed and lit at night. From this vantage point he is able to control traffic approaching from four directions. What is equally important, he is able to control the pedestrians, who may approach from any direction.
This picture [right] shows a traffic policeman on his pagoda on Nathan Road, Kowloon. It is thanks to men such as he, tirelessly directing the never-ending columns of vehicles of all kinds, that Hong Kong’s traffic keeps moving at all.
This was the 1st hotel my mother stayed in when she arrived in HK to work (October 1968 – vietnam USO/R&R era), as a professional dancer duo act. Her agents had an office on one of the floors of the hotel (x2 british fellas)! Foreight artistes booked to workk, would often stay at the San Ya. She said it was nice hotel.
Her first show was at the Mirimar hotel ‘Chinese Theatre’. The showfloor had lighted glass top layer! She also perfored at the Ondine Rooms of the Mirimar too (which had a brass furnishing theme and a stage floor.) Also some USO gigs at the Mariners Club in TSS (1969) in the basement bowling alley area! The bowling alley and the all its equipment is the same as it was when she performed there (photos circa 2000)
This is fascinating! I honeymooned at the old Miramar in 1995 and could tell what it had looked like thirty years before because it hadn’t been updated much, or at least to my untrained eye. Now it’s been completely re-done and re-named the Mira. There aren’t many hotels in Hong Kong left that still have that 60s/70s flavor. I wish I had seen the Sun Ya. I’ll ask my mom if she remembers more about the details of the Sun Ya.
My grandfather owned the Sun Ya Hotel in Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. I went there several times a week to eat and to meet some of the employees. This was the period from 1964 to 1968. As I recall, the address was 635 Nathan Road. My mother worked on the 10th floor (highest floor) as a buyer. The Chinese restaurants were on the 8th and 9th floor. The 7th floor had two restaurants (a Thai cuisine and a European western cuisine). I remember paying something like $6.00 HK for a full set lunch.
Thank you so much! This is all so very amazing. I haven’t heard about the hotel in so much detail. Do you have any photos of it?
I have some color slides and b/w photos lying around somewhere in the house.
There were two lobbies on the ground floor. On the left side was the hotel lobby with the reception area. On the right side was the lobby to the hotel rooms and restaurants. I remember that the right side lobby near the 4 elevators was set up to sell moon cakes during the mid-autumn festival. The moon cakes were made in the roof top kitchen on the 10th floor. .Each elevator had a young girl sitting on a stool inside who operated the buttons. The elevator was automated so it did not require an operator, but it was a way to offer a paying job to some high school student to sit inside the elevator. Each guest as they entered the elevator (lift) would call out the floor that he or she wanted. On certain evenings there were night clubs shows on the ninth floor. The main dining room was converted into a dance floor with a small stage. Musical acts such as classical Cantonese opera, On other nights, pop music and singing was provided from Filipino and Thai groups.
The hotel clientele came from Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. Most of the Americans and Europeans would stay at the hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui or the island.
I have been meaning to organize my collection of photos and slides. Now, I have an incentive to start the project.
This is all so wonderful! When you are finished with your project, I would love to see the images from the hotel! My mom stayed there in 1962 during the water shortage. She told me that she’d fill her bathtub with water every morning before going out so there would be water when she returned later and the water had been shut off. She was with a group of American university students and had just spent 9 weeks in the Philippines. So it was probably in August, before the Mid-Autumn Festival. That’s so great mooncakes were made at the hotel. Do you know when the hotel closed?
I don’t know the exact date of the hotel closure. My grandfather died in 1977, so the hotel was liquidated around then. The building was torn down and another hotel was built. I think that it was called the Grand Tower hotel?
Thank you! I’m so sorry to hear about your grandfather. I know the Grand Tower and used to go to the food court in the lower level. I spent my 24th birthday there with a friend from the US: dinner at the food court and a movie nearby.