Around the Northern External Roads

Posted: July 25th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Much is written (including by me admittedly) on Shanghai’s western External Roads – just search in the box for Amherst Avenue (Xinhua Road), Columbia Road (Panyu Road), Great Western Road (Yanan Road), Edinburgh Road (Jiangsu Road), Yu Yuen Road (Yuyuan Road), Jessfield Park (Zhongshan Park) etc. The western external roads tend to get written about as they were home to many interesting characters and, quite frankly, foreigners live there now. The northern external roads, or  extra-Settlement roads, are a very different matter – terra incognita to most foreigners in Shanghai unless they are out at Fudan University.

Th northern external roads are to the northern edge of Hongkou (Hongkew) and bordering the Chinese districts of Zhabei (Chapei) and Boashan (Paoshan) – I’ve mentioned some of the border roads before (see here) as well as Hongkew Park (now Lu Xun Park – here and here). Foreigners lived in the northern external roads, particularly up around Hongkew Park where a few old villas and nice longtangs left (just) hanging on.

One major group of foreigners that did spend time in the northern external roads were soldiers and sailors. There were plenty of places that were designated for them, targeted them and were deemed ‘within limits’ by the various national armies while both Blood Alley and the western Badlands were both deemed ‘out of limits’ invariably.

Here’s the the Hollywood Bar and Restaurant at 77 Chung Shan Road (Zhongshan Road) – conveniently with a foreign sailor standing outside looking like Frank Sinatra in Anchors Aweigh (which was released in 1945 about the time of this photo).

Sadly that building is long gone – indeed that area was among the earliest of Shanghai’s clearances, back in the late 1950s and 1960s when Hongkou was largely cleared for block style working class housing – housing that is itself being cleared now to make way for high rises. If you want to see the spot roughly where the Hollywood stood just go to the new Hongkou Carrefour on Zhongshan Road and Huayuan Road – but it’s not much fun.

However, round the corner are a few feint traces of the old style of the area.

First up here’s an old villa on Tonghuang Road, just to the north of Hongkew Football Stadium and adjacent to the new Carrefour. It’s now a restaurant called (I know, I know…but it’s Shanghai!) Petrus Mansion. No idea what the food’s like but at least it means the building remains.They may think they’re classy but they’re only a stone’s throw from the old Scott Road (Shanyang Road) where over 30 low end brothels operated in what was charmingly known as “The Trenches”, an area you went to when you wanted to trade down from Blood Alley or the Badlands!!

Just round the corner from Petrus Mansion (I know, I know…) is a rather nice remaining longtang at No.467 Dongjiangwan:

and note the original Crittall windows…

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