Saying hello

Hi everyone, how’s it going?

I haven’t done a single post for almost a week and I have found two challenges interesting to partake in (I cannot submit my Hk-jp-sg challenge entry). Don’t get confused if you have found my tagging this post to two challenges. This is a duo submission to @kona music challenge and @kimzwarch architsteem, sort of “killing two birds with one stone”, sorry guys, I’m not saying I’m to kill you but this is a good metaphor to describe how time-poor I am currently.

Cinemas in Hong Kong

When I was a kid (some 30 years ago) stand-alone multi-stoery cinemas were here and there in Hong Kong. Hong Kongers did not have much entertainment back then, as opposed to diverse choices of entertainment we can have now, going to cinema was probably the most wanted thing to do.

Cinemas seating was split into ordinary and deluxe classes. The ordinary class was on the lower floor with narrow seats but the deluxe class was on the upper floor or terrace with wider and softer leather seats.

Perhaps you may have a fading memory of The Palace cinema 碧麗宮 in Causeway Bay, probably the most upscale cinema in Hong Kong.

99% of cinemas of the day are no longer standalone, they are attached to shopping centres. You can imagine if a shopping centre or a cinema can get more financial returns to a landlords? It is no wonder. Urban planning in Hong Kong, in black and white, lawfully intends to define a shape of each local district to try to give self sufficiency to residents of the district. This is why landlords of shopping centres are lawfully obliged to have some cinemas embedded to their shopping facilities.

I had an evening out in North Point for a get together with a friend early last month. She was late and I had to wait almost 30 minutes (woe was me!). But this gave me a rare opportunity, once in a blue moon, to take some pictures of a cinema there.

The cinema is standalone and multistory, I guess this probably the one cinema like this on the Hong Kong island. And I guess the landlord might not have had financial pressure, so the cinema has been kept intact.

The cinema is a spot for Cantonese opera fans to get together and socalise. You may find indoors of the cinema is quite busy or may be unorganised. An obvious mismatch between those avant-garde ceiling lights and the tradtion of Cantonese opera. This contrast somehow gives a distinct impression to people who can remember the place. Another thing to notice is that what you can see around the cinema maybe probably older than me, look at those wall clocks, they may be some good vintages.

I’m dedicating “everybody wants to rule the world” to this post, the song is so 80s and 1980s was probably the best era of the cinema business in Hong Kong.

Source

Text and photos are original unless stated otherwise.