Clarence Spohn, has shared many of his photographs in previous posts on this blog.
Today we feature a group of his favorite Taipei photographs, taken on or around 9 April 1969. Clarence was stationed at CCK.
Today we feature a group of his favorite Taipei photographs, taken on or around 9 April 1969. Clarence was stationed at CCK.
If you were in Taipei and went out to see the sights, you probably visited most of the places in these photos.
Here's Clarence standing on the street steps leading to the National Palace Museum. Lots of additions since this photo was taken.
Looking out at the farm lands in the front of the museum.
Longshan Temple. Today, the temple has it's own Metro station.
The main entrance court yard of the temple. Inside, the temple would have been packed with visitors.
The wheeled small temple looking cart is at Longshan on April 9th each year.
It is used in special ceremonies where people of this temple can use water to wash small Buddha figures representing a cleansing of themselves.
A worshiper carries an idol representing health and good fortune into the temple.
Ceremonial pigs are displayed on wooden stands.
Two here and I count at least one on the right side.
The Presidential Office Building, or some may remember it as the MND Building.
If we could remove the old vehicles and surrounding buildings, maybe the street lights,
the building and area would look about the same today.
Clarence took a 180˚ turn to photograph the East Gate
The Taipei Guest House in 1969, opened in 1901 during the Japanese period.
It's owned today by the government of Taiwan and used for receiving state guests or celebration activities.
This postcard courtesy of Taipics.com
This old photo, circa 1908, looking east.
In the front, Taihoku Park, farther east, Taihoku Governor's Residence and East Gate to the right.
On the opposite side of the museum the street runs north to the location of the old Taipei Main RR Station.
The garden was built in 1896; it began as a nursery and in 1921 became a botanical garden. The garden takes up approximately 20 acres, (8 hectares.)
I was not aware this garden existed until 2005.
Photo courtesy of Foxy Who.
A look at the area today. 
Taipei Municipal Chien High School, south, across the street, from the Botanical Garden.
A rarely seen photo of the Grand Hotel from this location.
Across the Keelung River, it looks like Chung Shan North Road improvements.
Clarence turned around and took this photo from the Zoo area looking toward the HSA East Compound.
I can't make out anything on the east side of Chung Shan N. Road.
Today, the only building standing in the immediate area on the west side of Chung Shan North Road would be the old Police Station, the white building just down the hill from the tall palm tree.
Thank you Clarence Spohn, your Taipei trip photos bring back many happy memories 42 years later.
Comments, corrections or whatever, please.
6 comments:
Great photos! Nice to see these photo of 1960s' Taipei.
But there's a little mistake...The building which had a dome on the top is not 228 Memorial Museum. It is Nation Taiwan Museum (or Taiwan Governor Museum in Japanese era). And it is still used as museum today.
The 228 Memorial Museum is another smaller building.
http://goo.gl/QUSfD
This building was also built in Japanese era as the radio station.
Thank you, I have made the correction to the blog. Kent
The 1st photo: National Palace Museum was built and operated in 1965. That's just four years before this photo was taken.
That's why it looked so simple and without additions.
The 5th photo: on the far right side of this photo, there's a man with only half face. This guy with flip-flops is taller than others and has a stick-out nose and curve orbits. I wonder if he is a caucasion?
The 8th photo: The four-story building beehind East Gate（東門）was Central Headquarters of Kuo Ming Dan（國民黨中央黨部）. About 15 years ago, it was demolished and a new high-rise took its place. Some years later, that high-rise was sold to a big company.
The 15th photo: Building with round dome was built imitating Temple of Heaven in Beijin（北京天壇）. So far as I know, it was deserted since late 1990's and become a ruin-like place. I don't what happened to it now.
The 17th photo: The name of the high school is Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School （建國中學）. It's been Taiwan's best boys senior high school for more than 60 years. President Ma was graduated here in 1968.
The last photo: Most likely, that white building is a military police station. But I'm not 100% sure.
Wang Chun
Clarence has taken so many wonderful shots of Taipei, not only here, but before.
Imagine how truly beautiful they would look if he had popped for color film back then.
He definitely had a gift for photography.
John
Sorry, the school is Taipei Municipal "Chien Kuo" High School. Nice photos! Bring me back to the years that Taipei was a much more beautiful place.
Lovely pictures. I remembered most of them. My familylived in Taipei and Tien Mou 1962-1972.
Small correction: on the Grand Hotel photo, I beleive the river is the Tam Hsui River or its canal. The river itself was closer to the base of the hill where the hotel was located. So maybe this was a canal that ran parallel to Chung Shan Pei Lu at this point.
In 1962 pr 1963 we lived on Nung An Ji, which intersected Chung Shan Bei Lu where the Japanese embassy was. Just blocks from the PX and Officer's club. a Typhoon came at the high tide of that river and the whole neighborhood surrounding the PX compound including our house was flooded over our 8 ft high wall. Then we moved to Tien Mou way up the hill behind the circle and police station.
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