Chung Shan N. Road -- 1973

Dennis McNelis and I served in Taipei during the same period (1973-1974).   I don't think we ever met in those days, though it's likely that we saw each other from time to time.  Unlike me, Dennis took a lot of photos of the area in those days and I've posted several of them here in the past.  He is now in the process of scanning his collection of color slides from that period and I'll likely be posting some of them here also as they become available in the weeks ahead.

Today's image was taken during July, 1973.  It was taken from the south end of the old bridge on Chung Shan North Road.  You're facing southwest and the area behind the billboards is where the zoo was located.  Note that one of the signs is advertising Royal Crown Cola.

East Compound

Dennis McNelis sent another photo taken at the Headquarters Support Activity (HSA) east compound, sometime during 1973-74.  To your right is the Navy Exchange, which was located directly across the parking lot from the commissary.  At the far end is the library and theater.  What do you suppose they were doing with that big crane?

More on TDC's Back Entrance

Stev Pitchford annotated (in black) the map from the last post to show the route he used to take from the rear entrance to his workplace in the photo lab.  He says that there was no passageway from the main building to the building behind it at that time.  I extended his path to show (in red) the route that I took to the TDC main entrance.

I tried to figure out where my office was but I've pretty much forgotten the layout of the interior of the building, except for the main lobby  (shown below in a really rough sketch!) and the interior of my office.

If anyone would like to take a shot at diagramming the building's interior (lower or upper floor), please send me whatever you come up with.

Rear entrance to USTDC

Old friend and frequent contributor Dennis McNelis just sent me this shot of the rear entrance to TDC.  The tennis courts are to the right.

I think I used to enter that way to get to my office, but I must have had to walk around the building to the left to get to the main entrance, since the outside door to my office only opened from the inside.  I'm still having trouble figuring out exactly which corner of the building this shows.  Memories have faded over the past 37 years or so.

Below is a map of the compound.   The TDC building was #19 on the map.  I believe the main entrance to the building was just above and to the left of the #19.  The tennis courts shown to the right in the above photo are at #17 on this map.

If anyone remembers this any better than I do, or if you can identify anything else in the photo, please let me know.