USTDC

Photo of USTDC courtesy of Les Duffin

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Top of the Ambassador -- Conclusion

These are the rest of the outstanding photos that Les took from the roof of the Ambassador Hotel during the 1960s.  It's funny how we sometimes do things that don't seem terribly significant at the time but that gain importance as time passes.  In this case, we're fortunate to have a remarkable record of the city of Taipei as we knew it years ago.

 
 
 
 

11 comments:

Misty said...

The second picture down is the back of the Mandarin hotel on Tun Hwa Bei Lu (Dun Hua on Google maps, I wish they'd stop messing about with the English spelling).

Picture 5 is a puzzler but I'll go with the back of the Hilton Hotel near the train station. That's a guess though.

Pics 3 and 4 I have no idea. I can see where it should be because of the train line.

George said...

The first photo brings back memories. Was that large round building in the first photo the National Sports Arena? It really stands out. I remember attending basketball games there with my shipmates. Thanks again for the photos.

Sarj Bloom said...

I can't recognize any land marks or buildings. I also don't seem to have any hint of direction or location, But I can tell you this ...This is how Taipei looked when I was there. All the local houses and no tall buildings at all. The ambassador was opened after I had left in Sept 63 so I don't remember it. The First Hotel was the only tall building at the time as I have pointed out before. Although I can't recognize or locate any buildings I still love seeing them. I keep hoping that some day a photo of the apartments that a lot of us lived in just south of the compound will show up on here. Someone must have taken photos of them. I'm surprised that I never took any.?
Thanks to all for sending these in.

FlyingName said...

First photo is the original Taipei Gymnasium.

I was touched by those old photos, they led me back to my precious childhood.

Bill said...

Picture number three could be
looking towards the NW with the railroad going from Taipei to Tam Shui and the Tam Shui river.

Sarj Bloom said...

Yes Bill I did notice picture no. 3 because of the smoke stacks. They showed up in one of my photos that I took from the zoo.
http://ustdc.blogspot.com/2008/06/view-from-zoo.html#links

Victor said...

In the link, http://ustdc.blogspot.com/2008/06/view-from-zoo.html#links Mount Ta-Tun in the second picture and Mount Seven Stars in the third.

s said...

It seems everyone has nailed the locations on these photos. Number one is the sports arena, two is the Mandarin Hotel, and I believe three and four were aimed northwest. One minor quibble though: the building in photo five can't be the Hilton; the shape is wrong. I wish I could tell you what it actually was, but the memory no longer holds that information. Too many years have passed, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Misty, I woldn't bet the farm on picture number two being the back of the Mandarin hotel on Tun Hwa
Pei Lu as between Chung Shan N rd
and Tun Hwa are the major streets
of Lin Sen, Hsin Sheng, Sung Chiang and Fu Hsing, so I would think the camera would need a telephoto lens.

Anonymous said...

Bet the farm. As I said in my earlier post, it was the Mandarin and it was shot with a 200mm or 400mm telephoto lens.

Les Duffin

Anonymous said...

Good thing I don't have a farm to bet. Could the water tower to
the left and further back be for the small base that was a little
past the airport on the right and
was for property disposal?