A Walk on a Cool Saturday Morning in Taipei Part 5

A long look down Chungshan North Road from the Police Station area

A Photo taken in the 1960's of Chungshan North Road

looking south from the area of the old zoo

and the bridge across the Keelung River.

Can't see clearly down the street in this picture.

The HSA Compounds, the Hostels and other

US Military Facilities were just down the street.

The TDC HQ gate was just to the left of this photo,

down the road beside the river a couple hundred yards.

Another shot of the same area circa 1960's


A great shot of the taxi's waiting at the Zoo Entrance, 1960's.
The Zoo has moved to a large area southeast of
town. You can reach the zoo directly on the MRT

(Mass Rapid Transit), I visited the Zoo in 2006 and spent the day.

There is also a Gondola Ride from the Zoo area which is exciting.

Here's the Billboard no one can forget. This was taken in the mid 1960's, I remember the signage.

This was taken from the Grand Hotel within the past few

years. We see the Keelung River and I believe the old

Club 63 swimming pool.

Note the DaZhi Bridge down river.

Here is a link to beautiful photographs of this magnificent bridge

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hsuyo/195570786/in/photostream/

Another shot of the Keelung River and notice Taipei 101

in the smog distance standing tall all alone in height.

Same general area as above

Standing on an upper floor of the Grand Hotel looking south.

Looking to the extreme right side of the picture you see the old

HSA East Compound Area, probably the ball park area.

Same as above, but you we look down on Chungshan North Road.

You can see the the area where everything we once knew stood.

The tall building in the center of the photo is Shin Kong Life Tower.

Another photo of the same area, having moving the camera to the right


Another shot of the same area showing a plane on final approach to landing at Sung Shan Airport which only handles on-island Taiwan air traffic. All International Flights arrive at the Taoyuan International Airport.

The tall building is the Shin Kong Life Tower.

Everyone will recognize this picture. Taken in the 1960's.

Of course, Club 63. What a fine club, my home away from home.

I'm trying to find that Mongolian BBQ place down on the river.

I don't see it. Anyone remember just where it was located, maybe

it was behind the river bank trees?

This is an old picture taken from the area where the Grand Hotel stands.

I'm not sure if the hotel was build when this photograph

was taken. This shot could have been taken from the hill.

Look closely, you can see the zoo entrance, the billboards

and some old buildings that were there before the big

Police Station was constructed.

Construction on-going at the Fine Arts Museum. We're on

Chungshan North Road.

Flying flags of welcome to the Fine Arts Museum.

Notice the International Sign for Handicap folks.

Another current shot of the Police Station across the

Street from the Fine Arts Museum.

An early morning shot of the Police Station and Chungshan North Road.

The Fine Arts Museum has a Fine Arts No Parking Sign

with a beautiful art piece in back.

Here is a photograph of the HSA West Compound, taken early 1980's.

It was taken sometime after our departure from Taiwan.

I see this picture and I think to myself, it looks like both compounds

were maintained virtually as we left them, for some time after our

departure. I wonder why?

We're just about to the area where the entrance to the

old HSA East Compound was.

Here is another shot taken of the entrance to the old

HSA West Compound. The walkers have all but disappeared

for today. I believe they walk again tomorrow, Sunday.

Beautiful sign. I would guess this sign is just south

of the old entrance to the HSA East Compound

Continuing to walk south, there is the old book store

just in front of that bus.

This area was the land on which the Linkou Club once stood.

The club I knew in 1965 was an old house that had been converted

into the Linkou Club. The wall you see in the background was a

street, behind that wall today is kind of an alleyway.

Another shot of the same area

This looks like Chungshan North Road. Probably late 1950's early 1960's.

Update: "Flyboy" Commented that this photo taken Double 10 - 1966

Can anyone identify where this Double 10 Archway stood?

Back at the bookstore again, walking south on Chungshan North Road.

Here's an old photograph of the same bookstore, probably in the 1960's.

Notice the large signage of the left side of this picture on the top of a building.

If you walked south on Chungshan North Road from the

HSA Compounds, you ran into St. Christopher's Church.

Here is an old photo taken on a Sunday Morning, in the 1960's.

More of St. Christopher's?

St. Christopher's - Old picture

A more recent photo of St. Christopher's

This signage looks old and I assume it was placed in this

wall from a previous location on the property. There

has been a lot of building on the property since the 1960's

The entrance to the St. Christopher's Church Offices.

A few photographs ago, I asked you to notice the sign on top of a building.

Here's the same sign today. That would make this sign at least 40 years old.

A short distance past St. Christopher's Church we run into McDonalds.

This was the door menu in November 2007

Here's an old photograph on the corner of

Chungshan North Road and Minquan West Road.

The old King's Hotel was on this corner.

I turned right here and walked a block west to the MRT Station, which

was my destination earlier in the morning when I left the Howard Hotel.

But, had I arrived, I would not have done this Blog Entry.

Sometimes we need to stop and "smell the flowers."

Had I changed MRT lines at the Taipei Main Station on that Saturday morning last November, the whole day would have turned out much different.

Another photo of the King's Hotel, late 1950's early 1960's.

Ahh, at last, I've finally arrived at the MRT Station. Now it's just a short time until I can return to my hotel and relax. This photograph is the Minquan MRT Station. It was taken by my daughter in 2006 on our trip to Taipei. Our plane had arrived about 5:00 AM that morning. We were picked up at the airport by a family member and we went directly to our hotel. We checked in, freshened up and were off to explore Taipei 40 years after we left. That 1st Day in Taipei in May 2006 was very exhausting.

Hope you enjoyed your walk with me today, I had a wonderful time that Saturday morning in November 2007. I wish some of you who are interested could have been there with me. I don't like traveling alone. If you have questions on anything, post a comment below, I'll be sure to answer. God Bless.....