A Little Bit of Hollywood Exists in Hong Kong

Hollywood Road here is one of the world’s best and biggest Oriental antiques and curios markets. It is haute antique to flea market funky.

A crowded, narrow, twisting street that winds for about two miles through a hilly neighborhood of Hong Kong Island, it’s not far from the Central District’s posh Landmark Shopping Arcade and exclusive Lane Crawford Department Store.

From beginning to end, Hollywood Road is a perpetual tangle of pedestrians, and one-way traffic is frequently bumper to bumper and at a standstill. But the overwhelming hustle and bustle is worth it; just duck into the antique and curio shops that line both sides of the street.

The street has two distinct sections with the division somewhere near mid-distance, landmarked by the Man Mo Temple, one of Hong Kong’s oldest, built in 1848. Its facade is ornately carved and painted in bright blues, reds, yellows and gold. When you face the temple, the more expensive shops with lower street numbers are on your left. In them, you’ll find beautiful objects displayed by spacious surroundings and spotlights.

Hollywood Road’s higher street numbers belong, for the most part, to less-expensive shops. Though pieces are not as carefully selected or as neatly displayed, the shops are fascinating. You can spend hours debating the merits of two similar blue-on-white porcelain vases, pulled from innumerable other similar vases, each of which is different and exquisite.

Jade and ivory items are randomly displayed in glass cases. There are pots for flowers, plants, soup, and legions of smiling goddess statues, variously sized, and herds of ceramic dragons to ward off evil spirits or help you celebrate your anniversary.

Piles of Furniture

Blackwood and rosewood furniture--entire dining room sets, cabinets, screens, many with lacquer or inlaid panels--are clumped together, piled in a jumble, seeming to spill out of the shops onto the sidewalk.

Get to Hollywood Road by walking from the Central District shopping area, or you can take a cab. The walk up Pottinger Street is so steep that the asphalt gives up in favor of stone steps. Not good in high heels. But walking delivers you to the low-numbered end of the street, which is where you may prefer to start.

One-way traffic regulations dictate that taxis reach Hollywood Road at the high-numbered end. There you have the option of getting out and walking the entire length or being stuck in traffic until you’re midway to Man Mo Temple. Consider the slow ride an unusual way to window shop.

Hollywood Road has been the place to buy Chinese antiques and curios since the 1950s. During and following the 1949 Revolution on mainland China, people who fled to Hong Kong converted family treasures into hard cash. They flocked to pawn shops on Hollywood Road with their possessions, some of which were valuable, some interesting curiosities.

Business boomed and pawn shops became bona fide antique shops. In the past dozen years or so, antiques from Japan, Korea and Thailand, among other Asian countries, have found their way into Hollywood Road shops, although some of the shops still sell only Chinese objects.

Many shops give you business cards that offer a “sketch” of the Chinese Dynasties, along with the shop’s name and address and a blank space titled “notes.” The Dynasties range from Hia (2205-1765 BC) to Hsuan-Tung (1908-1911, the last of the Ching Dynasty, which began in 1644 and ended when China became a republic in 1912).

Fun to Look at List

It may be fun to look up the dates on their list when a salesperson tells you this is a Tung-Chih so-and-so or a Kwang-Hsu such-and-such. But the list won’t help you to determine quality or authenticity. Hollywood Road is a good place to be taken for more than a slow taxi ride, unless you’re careful, which means going to a reputable dealer. Be assured if a shop displays the Hong Kong Tourist Assn. (HKTA) quality symbol, a decal of a red Chinese junk.

HKTA regularly sends out undercover field inspectors to check on shops, and they strictly enforce their standards. It is a criminal offense to display the red junk without official HKTA approval.

Even so, on all purchases, protect yourself by getting a detailed sales slip, which gives specific information about the item’s origins, material it is made from, physical description including dimensions and weight, the shop’s name and amount of the sale. If you have a problem later, this sales slip gives you recourse to HKTA adjudication.

Eastern Dreams (No. 47A) isn’t too pricey, and the merchandise is carefully selected and attractively displayed on two floors. You’ll find dolls, screens, chairs, cabinets, Buddhas, kimonos, bowls, bottles, vases, some antique jewelry and lots of boxes. The lacquer chests are exquisite, especially a 90-year-old treasure with seven variously-sized drawers (measuring about 26 by 18 by 12 inches and costing about $700).

Leather Head Rest

Among unusual items is a 100-year-old log-shaped leather head rest (hollow, to hold valuables while you sleep; about $150).

Chung Wing Curios Shop (No. 167) and Wing Shing Curios Shop (No. 169) are related. Both provide a great selection of gift knickknacks: snuff bottles ($3-$7), enameled jewelry cases ($10-$25), cloisonne pill boxes ($4-$5), and blue-on-white porcelain vases and jade statuettes and bowls.

Larger items include immense cloisonne vases and ornately carved rosewood furniture. A 120-year-old cabinet from Shanghai, covered with lacquer and fold ornamentation, was $240; ivory and silver or jade and silver bracelets for $20-$30.

Altfield Gallery (three locations: No. 1, No. 1A and No. 42A) has one of the best and most expensive collections on the street. It’s museum-like, with special exhibitions of the finest Chinese art and furniture, all documented, pedigreed, in excellent condition, and astronomically priced--but less than you’d pay at home. Manager Amanda Lack is knowledgeable and generous with her information.

Some of the shops are specialists. Kim’s Gallery (No. 5) has antique and reproduction chests, many made of elm wood, with brass fittings. Chests dating from the 1890s range in price from about $760 to $3,000. K. Kunizaka’s shop, Silk Road (No. 20), has five floors of fabulous Japanese screens, scrolls and lacquerware. More scrolls and screens are at Hanart Gallery (No. 40).

Nearby, and curiously out of place in the pricey end of the street, is the Low Price Second-Hand Centre (No. 47), a series of stalls where you’ll find great junk (no red Chinese junk displayed here). There are musty old Chinese books and ancient records that have survived the years unshattered if not unscratched.

Dusty bottles still display their faded labels. Some clocks work, others don’t, but they all have interesting faces. It’s a collection of merchandise you’re not likely to find anywhere else. For that reason alone, it’s worth investigating.

Prices quoted reflect exchange rates at the time of writing.