Bottoms Up Club

Last updated

The Bottoms Up Club was a girlie bar in Hong Kong. The bar became notorious for its appearance in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. [1] [2] The interior of the club evoked the interior of the club as seen in the film.

Contents

History

The Club opened in the basement of Mohan's Building [3] at 14 Hankow Road [4] in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, in March [5] or May [1] 1971. One of its early managers was Pat Sephton, [5] [6] a former Windmill model. [7] A 1994 court ruling requested it to remove its naked-buttocks neon sign, and to have its naked dancers wear bras or negligees. The Tsim Sha Tsui location closed in April 2004. Rising rents were cited as possible reasons for the closure. [1] [5] The Club re-opened at the first floor of David House, 37–39 Lockhart Road in Wan Chai [8] [9] in May 2004, [10] this time mainly as a sports bar, with one of the original bars being recreated in a back room. [5]

In July 2009 the club closed down.[ citation needed ]

At the time of the film, the club was located in Tsim Sha Tsui, on the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbour. This gave rise to a movie blooper when Bond, played by Roger Moore, is picked up outside the club by British agents posing as police, and is told he is being taken to a police station on the Kowloon side (of Hong Kong Harbour), when he is in fact already there.

According to a former employee, while the film features footage of the exterior of the Club, the scenes inside the Club were actually filmed in a studio in the United Kingdom, where it had been recreated. [5]

The club also appeared in the 1994 Wong Kar-wai movie Chungking Express . Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin have drinks there before going to a hotel room.

The club appears also in the book Zero Minus Ten by Raymond Benson (1997) where James Bond meets Sunni Pei (consume girl and striptease dancer), a member of the Hong Kong mafia "The Triads".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kowloon</span> Area of Hong Kong

Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of 43,033/km2 (111,450/sq mi) in 2006. It is one of the three regions of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories, and is the smallest, second most populous and most densely populated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central, Hong Kong</span> Central business district in Hong Kong

Central is the central business district of Hong Kong. It is located in the northeastern corner of the Central and Western District, on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, across Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, the southernmost point of Kowloon Peninsula. The area was the heart of Victoria City, although that name is rarely used today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Star Ferry</span> Hong Kong ferry operator

The Star Ferry is a passenger ferry service operator and tourist attraction in Hong Kong. Its principal routes carry passengers across Victoria Harbour, between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. The service is operated by the Star Ferry Company, which was founded in 1888 as the Kowloon Ferry Company, and which adopted its present name in 1898.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Harbour</span> Harbour in Hong Kong

Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental in Hong Kong's establishment as a British colony in 1841 and its subsequent development as a trading centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tsim Sha Tsui</span> Urban area in Kowloon, Hong Kong

Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsim Sha Tsui. The area is bounded north by Austin Road and in the east by Hong Chong Road and Cheong Wan Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salisbury Road, Hong Kong</span> Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Salisbury Road is a major road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wan Chai Pier</span> Pier in Hong Kong

The Wan Chai Pier, or Wan Chai Ferry Pier, is a pier at the coast of Wan Chai North on the Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong. The pier is operated by Star Ferry, and provides ferry services to Tsim Sha Tsui. The pier is near the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Star House</span>

Star House is a commercial building facing Victoria Harbour in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The building is located on Salisbury Road and Canton Road.

East Kowloon line was one of the original five MTR lines proposed in the late 1970s in Hong Kong, which would have connected Sheung Wan with East Kowloon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">China Hong Kong City</span> Building complex in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

China Hong Kong City is a commercial complex that includes five office towers, a shopping centre, a hotel and a ferry terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The complex opened in 1988 on land formerly occupied in part by the Royal Naval Dockyard and the Sea Terminus. It is situated along Canton Road, next to The Gateway and the Tsim Sha Tsui Fire Station. The complex is managed by the Sino Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui</span> Ferry pier in Hong Kong

Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui, or Tsim Sha Tsui Ferry Pier, is a pier located on reclaimed land at the southernmost tip of Tsim Sha Tsui on Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. It is commonly known as Star Ferry Pier (天星碼頭) in Tsim Sha Tsui. Star Ferry operates the pedestrian ferry service across Victoria Harbour to Wan Chai and to Central on Hong Kong Island. The location is identified as "Kowloon Point" in the franchise held by Star Ferry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Star Ferry Pier, Central</span>

Star Ferry Pier, Central may refer to any of the successive generations of Central Ferry Piers in Central, Hong Kong used by the Star Ferry for its services across Victoria Harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui Ferry Pier and until April 2011, to Hung Hom Pier. The current Star Ferry pier is the fourth to bear the name in Central. It opened for public service on 12 November 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holt's Wharf</span>

Holt's Wharf was a godown terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong, in the 20th century. It was set up in 1910 and jointly owned by British Swire Group and Blue Funnel Line. It was located at the southeast seaside of Tsim Sha Tsui and the south of Signal Hill. Since it was next to Tsim Sha Tsui KCR station, it acted as a railway and freight logistics hub in Hong Kong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain Shore</span> Private housing estate in Hong Kong

Mountain Shore is a full market value development in Tai Shui Hang, Ma On Shan, Sha Tin District, New Territories, Hong Kong. The estate is one of the Hong Kong Housing Society's Sandwich Class Housing Scheme projects converted into private developments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trans Island Limousine Service</span>

Trans Island Limousine Service Ltd is a subsidiary of Kwoon Chung Bus Company. It is the main cross-boundary bus company in Hong Kong. The company was established in 1973, providing cross boundary coach service between Hong Kong and Guangdong Province, China/Shenzhen International Airport. From 2010, TIL worked with SZIA to provide up-stream check-in services for passengers taking a flight from SZIA in Hong Kong. Up-stream check-in service is available in a number of TIL ticketing centers, including Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Tong, Sheung Wan and Shenzhen Bay Port.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Kowloon Fire Station</span> Former fire station in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

The Old Kowloon Fire Station is a former fire station in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Together with the Former Marine Police Headquarters, it is now part of a commercial complex called 1881 Heritage.

References

  1. 1 2 3 AFP: "Hong Kong's most famous strip club Bottoms Up to close", Mar 22, 2004 (full article here Archived May 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine )
  2. ↑ The Boston Globe: "Hong Kong feels like a movie set because it is", July 15, 2007
  3. ↑ Mohan's Building (1963–2013) at gwulo.com
  4. ↑ traveldk.com – Around Kowloon: Bottom's Up
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 TIMEasia: "Night School", July 19, 2004 (archive)
  6. ↑ The Sunday Times Magazine: "Jittery City – Hong Kong now the party's nearly over", October 19, 1986 (archive)
  7. ↑ "DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide: Hong Kong", 2003, reproduced on Financial Times website
  8. ↑ James Bong in Hong Kong Archived October 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Smokefree.com.hk Archived October 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ "Bottoms Up toasts its new location in Wan Chai". South China Morning Post . 21 May 2004.

22°17′48″N114°10′16″E / 22.2966°N 114.1710°E / 22.2966; 114.1710

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.