Astor House: Life on Broadway

From the previous photo we are moving back a few more years to around 1903. This photo was distributed by the Max Nössler company, and that series of photos stems mostly from the very early 1900s. There are several other shots on the web that are from further along Broadway by the same company and from the same era.

After our visit to T. Kishida's curios store, we simply stepped into one of the neighboring houses and we are now precariously leaning out of an upper story window? Held by an assistant? On a scaffolding? The camera is pointing in the opposite direction - east - from roughly the same spot, but from much higher up, giving us a great view of life on Broadway.

All the way on the right we see some canvas roofing with some wooden bracing, which makes me think of this being a temporary scaffold, potentially actually on T. Kishida's storefront. The location has to be close, since all the way on the left we have an additional clue...

There we see the bell tower of the Church of Our Savior. The church was built in 1853 in this spot in Hongkew and it was replaced by a building in a much more Chinese style in a different location in 1917.

This photo of the church taken from across Broadway around 1900 makes it very easy to compare the bell tower with our photo above. If you want to know a little more about the church, there is an entry for its pipe organ here. Yes, there is a site dedicated to the pipe organs of China.

Back to our original photo, there are many things to see and discover here. First of all, of course, there is the pre-automotive street life on full display, with people walking all over the place and many rickshaws in use.

Several of the nearby storefronts have signs that are almost legible, but just not at this scan resolution. If I ever find another photo of this block, we might be able to identify some of them.

On the right side of the street, coming our way, is actually a procession of some kind. There seem to be two men holding vertical signs or standards, followed by a hand-drawn cart with a structure on top. It could actually be a funeral procession, but there isn't enough detail to be sure.

In the distance we see a slightly more substantial building sticking out into Broadway from the right side. It looks like it should be easy to identify, but no other photos I've seen give us a closer look. It might be the Savoy Hotel on Broadway, which should be approximately in that location, about four or five blocks away from the Astor House. The Savoy had a questionable reputation by the 1920s, but locals seem to have been very fond of its dance floor.

We might take further excursions down Broadway in the future, but for our next entry we will turn around and follow Broadway back towards the Astor House.