Astor House: Under Fire

Walking from west to east along the Broadway side of the Astor House block, several storefronts further along from our previous post - almost at the corner where Broadway and Seward Road merge - was the Central Pharmacy.

Here in this first photo of the pharmacy we see the window display in 1924. I have found some more detail about this store here - it was also known as the First Russian Pharmacy, run by G. M. Torjevsky.

Shanghai had a large Russian community at that time that grew dramatically all through the 1920s, with more than 20,000 Russians living in the city. Most were fleeing political oppression, torture and death as they were czarists escaping Communist Russia.

In 1937 during the months-long Battle of Shanghai between Japanese and Chinese armies across most the territory of the city, the battle lines frequently crossed the Astor House and the Garden Bridge. The buildings along Seward Road as well as on Broadway were hit by small arms fire during the fighting. Here we see a bullet hole in the window of the Central Pharmacy in a photo dated to 1937.

It looks like in the years between 1924 and 1937 the window had already been replaced at least once, as the store name now uses a different type face and a Chinese name had been added. The display in 1937 features Williams Shaving Cream - a brand that exists since the mid 1800s and still sells shaving products to this day, although their slogan "High Above All" seems to have been rather short-lived.

Apart from the bullet hole and the contents of the window display, the reflection of the building across the street is also fascinating. I'm not absolutely sure, but this should be the back of the HSBC bank on Broadway with the building facing the corner of Broadway and Seward Road.

We'll stroll to the end of Broadway and take a look at the HSBC bank in our next post.