618 Shanghai Street — Attraction in Hong Kong

So. So. BEAUTIFUL!!!

All the rustic designs and the vintage clothing stores and other vintage knick knacks, everything was so artsy and interesting, I wanted to buy EVERYTHING!

There was a vintage photography store (that also sold modern film, old pins, old photos that can only be viewed through a light box, vintage jewelry, etc), which was so interesting to look through.

Another store had a bunch of household items, designed in an old fashioned way. My mom spent the most time in this store, and as a mother, of course she would.

On the other side of the ground floor there was a restaurant that seemed very popular, but when we visited, we had already eaten. Having a glance inside, it looked like it was designed specifically with decorations of old hong kong.

Onto the second floor, there was a shop with old dolls, key chains, old styled glasses, shoes and other things that are really worth the visit. They even have an instagram!

In the middle of the second floor, there was a kind of open area shop, with lots of Chinese and English phrases written in those old styled white and red minibus plates. A lot of the products sold there had the actual artist there as well, and there were a multitude of things that was being sold, like bags, different bowtie designs, folders, all kinds of things. It was the kind of place where you'd buy the product to directly support the artist, which I think is great.

On the other side of the building of the second floor was the vintage clothing store. They had a lot of old fashioned things, and a lot of the clothes were up cycled and redesigned, which is why I can understand why the clothes could be a bit on the pricey side - a small jean bag cost 250! It was well made, too, which is why I wanted it so badly, but I wasn't allowed to, haha! The owners of the store were obviously the ones who made the clothes, which is again a similar concept to the middle open area store - your purchase directly helps the producers.

There is also a very lovely balcony on the second floor, with a brick wall backing, that I think is SUCH A GOOD PHOTO OP PLACE!! It's even advertised as such, and its just so so nice and clean.

After all this, please please check this street out and support some local artists in these trying times. I wasn't able to with restrictions of my mother, but I hope you can support them where...

618 Shanghai Street is an interesting attraction in Mongkok featuring a cluster of pre-war shophouses called tong-lau. These rare verandah type shophouses are listed as Grade 1 historical buildings in Hong Kong (2000) and in 2008 were designated by the Urban Renewal Authority for restoration work. They were then revitalised and repurposed into a local commercial, cultural and heritage venue now known as 618 Shanghai Street.

The shophouses have interesting exterior and interior architectural features and make for a decent place to visit if you want to see what the old tong-lau looked like. Within you can learn about some of the 20th-century shop occupants and visit the new, modern boutique shops and handful of eateries that currently occupy the historical premises.

In the end, this is a nice endeavour by the URA. It is good that they are making efforts to preserve and repurpose some of Hong Kong's interesting historical buildings instead of just demolishing them in order to build completely new buildings. Like PMQ and Kwan Tai (Central) and 1881 Heritage (Kowloon) and The Mill (Tsuen Wan), this is a nice opportunity to experience Hong Kong's history and heritage mixed in with a bit of art, culture...

I visited this today and was disappointed. While preservation works and mixture of old and new have been done well (for a first layman’s sight), mixture of shops is not appealing. After URA invested over HKD 200 mil, I would be expecting at least part of it as an exhibition or some heritage added value. Instead, there are just a few signs and pictures, most of outlets are design and cloth shops, cafes and restaurants not opened yet, so I cannot judge. In my view, it missed its chance to be a culture / heritage hub and I see no point of coming back, maybe saved for trying once the new cha chaan teng...