Wondering what it’s like living on Hollywood Road in Hong Kong? It’s always good to talk to the neighbours! In this instalment of our regular Street Talk feature, we get the inside scoop from SUSAN LAVENDER about the best things to do in this corner of Sheung Wan!
The specifics
Where are you from?
When asked, I usually say “Hong Kong” because I’ve been here so long (32 years!), but I was born in Clapham, South London, to a Cockney father and Italian mother from Bologna. I learnt Italian with my mother before English and I feel I am very much both English and Italian and also a Hongkonger.
What do you do here?
I trained at the Drama Studio London in Ealing, West London, before doing degrees in languages and law. I’ve performed in various theatre productions and commercial films and videos in Hong Kong and have been an RTHK newsreader. I do voiceover work and I’m an official translator of Italian and English at the Italian Consulate General in Hong Kong.
I also write poetry and prose, my latest piece being a chapter in the recently published Tales from a Barren Rock about how I came to Hong Kong and what it has meant to me. I’m currently writing my first full-length novel.
I’m a lawyer, too – a former member of the Quebec Bar and subsequent member of the Hong Kong Law Society, having practised law for many years here.
Where do you live?
Hollywood Road in Sheung Wan. My building also has an entrance conveniently located on Queen’s Road Central.
Why here?
There’s a good mix of historical interest, local colour, all forms of art, eccentricity and modern vibe on the Hollywood Road side and convenience for supermarkets and other amenities on the Queen’s Road Central side.
Living on Hollywood Road in Hong Kong
What transport is available near your home?
Every type of transport is available in Sheung Wan! I often ride the “ding ding” (tram) or the Star Ferry to Kowloon, and you can take a ferry to Hong Kong’s outlying Islands, too. Sheung Wan MTR station is also close at hand and there are many buses on my doorstep.
When you walk out of your house, what’s the first thing you see?
A birdcage hanging in the branches of the tree outside my building where the bird’s owner has left his pet to get some early morning fresh air.
What’s the closest store to your front door?
An antique shop on Hollywood Road and a supermarket, just downstairs by the Queen’s Road entrance – super convenient!
What’s the unofficial uniform of your neighbourhood?
Artistic and/or sporty, flowing bright colours or sports gear with perhaps a yoga mat slung over the shoulder and carrying a backpack.
Where do you go when you’re in need of a dose of culture?
Tai Kwun, the renovated old police station and prison on Hollywood Road in Hong Kong. I’ve performed my poetry there during past Hong Kong Literary Festivals. You can just pull up a chair and watch whatever is on offer
PMQ, the renovated former colonial Police Married Quarters building on Hollywood Road, has a large courtyard hosting cultural events. It’s also home to small boutique shops and F&B outlets.
There’s also the Blue Lotus Art Gallery, a gem tucked away up in Tai Ping Shan’s Pound Lane, offering interesting and unusual exhibitions.
What’s a mandatory thing to do in Sheung Wan with out-of-town guests?
The temple across the road is Hong Kong’s largest Man Mo temple and a good example of Chinese traditional architecture. Then there’s Cat Street (Upper Lascar Row), with stalls selling colourful trinkets and antiques. The name derives from its early use as a location for selling stolen goods; shoppers would cautiously eye the stalls for items, rather like cats stalking mice!
My first choice for visitors, however, would be Graham Street Market, with its stalls selling fruit, vegetables and flowers and more. This traditional and still functioning market represents a true slice of the real Hong Kong.
What’s a common myth about your area?
That it’s a suburb! Sheung Wan is a seamless extension of Central, while maintaining its own cool artsy vibe. Hollywood Road is actually partly in Central and partly in Sheung Wan; and Sheung Wan was originally part of the old city of Victoria, early Hong Kong’s colonial capital and one of the first British settlements.
What might wake you up at night in your neighbourhood?
Summer black rainstorms with rain pounding almost vertically against my bedroom window panes. I don’t mind, though, as I generally have a good view of lightning strikes illuminating the darkness of the night sky.
What might a massive late-night rager in your suburb involve?
On the last night of August’s Hungry Ghosts Festival, I might stay up to attend the colourful festival activities in the “30 Houses” Kai Fon on Bridges Street, just above Hollywood Road, which go on far into the night and include lots of spooky fiery activity!
Some neighbourhood highlights
What is hands-down your favourite neighbourhood joint?
CLEAN Coffee and Laundry combined on Queen’s Road West is my favourite Sheung Wan joint! You can drink a delicious dairy-free coffee while literally being able to watch your clothes getting washed at the same time! It’s a perfect example of multi-tasking. If you ask to meet me for a coffee, it would be here!
Where’s the best local food?
If you’re a meat-eater, Sheung Wan’s Kau Kee is a truly authentic Hong Kong-style noodle eatery, operating on Gough Street since 1930. There are queues for its signature braised beef noodle soup and it’s cited in the 2024 Hong Kong Michelin Guide as a “Bib Gourmand” for providing good food at low prices.
For a grassroots local snack, there’s French toast and Hong Kong milk tea at Shui Kee Coffee in the Sheung Wan Market and Cooked Food Centre.
What’s the strangest thing you might see in your neighbourhood?
One strange thing in this essentially urban environment is the variety of birds you can see. There are the usual sparrows and pigeons, but I’ve also seen the little red-whiskered bulbul, with its black punk hairstyle crest, jumping around the garden that surrounds my building, and yellow-crested cockatoos outside my high-rise windows. The cockatoos are immigrants to Hong Kong – we now have the largest population of these birds outside their native habitat of Indonesia and East Timor.
Perhaps most fascinating are Hong Kong’s black kites, enormous birds of prey that fly in pairs in wide circles outside my windows. The pigeons disappear as soon as the circling begins!
What are the best bargains in your neighbourhood?
I’ve been buying my fruit from the same vendor at Graham Street Market for over two decades. She always tells me what’s sweet and what’s good or not good to buy.
One of the interesting things to do in Sheung Wan is to visit the traditional herb and spice shops. I take my own herb jars to be filled at Yuen Heng Spice Co on Tung Street. The shop is a delight to the eye with its display of large sacks of different coloured herbs and spices, and its charming Buddhist shrine.
Surdham Amano of Flowbooks on Jervois Street has been my friend for years. He loves to chat with customers about books, Buddhism, philosophy – everything under the sun. He says the name “Flow” derives from the notion of recycling books so they’re never thrown away. I return the books when I’ve finished so they can flow on to someone else. I wrote a poem about Flow for a Peel Street Poetry event when Surdham had to move his shop to a new location a few years ago.
What’s your guiltiest local pleasure?
Stopping at the fruit stall on Hillier Street after exiting Sheung Wan MTR station to get a freshly squeezed large carrot juice to drink as I walk home. I usually finish it just as I reach my building. It’s the perfect refreshing aperitif before dinner and costs far less than bar happy hour prices!
What’s one thing you’d never change?
The special character of Sheung Wan and particularly Hollywood Road and Tai Ping Shan Street and its tributary narrow lanes and characteristic step streets.
If the city gave you HK$5M to soup up your area, what would you do?
Open more small theatre venues to be rented out to community theatre groups at reasonable rates, make Victoria Harbour more accessible and user-friendly from Sheung Wan, increase pavement space to assist restaurants, cafés and bars in having more outdoor seating, and protect the neighbourhood’s ancient trees – I feel sad every time I see one cut down or radically cut back, like some of the beautiful wall trees on the Hollywood Road side of PMQ.
This article about Hollywood Road in Sheung Wan first appeared in the September 2024 edition of Expat Living. You can purchase the latest issue or subscribe so you never miss a copy!
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