What makes a street interesting?
An excerpt from the final chapter
Dear Friends,
Last week, CNN posted an article about the “World’s Coolest Street.” The world’s coolest street, should you care to know, is High Street in Melbourne Australia. At least for this year. I was interested and happy to see that coming in number two on Time Out’s List of the Coolest Streets was Hollywood Road in Hong Kong. Some of you may remember I spent some time in Hong Kong this past January. I’m no expert, but I am can confirm Hollywood Road is indeed very cool!
It has giant trees, shops, stalls, restaurants, a temple, street art, coffee shops...
Time Out’s description of Hollywood Road mentions the Mid-Level escalators, which feature prominently in Wong Kar Wai’s movie Chungking Express (1994). The escalator (which I’ve been on…. numerous times!) is the longest outdoor covered escalator in the world covering 2600 feet! It’s quite an experience. Those who have read You are a Tree, might remember that I mention the monologue in In the Mood for Love in which Mr Chow. I really enjoy Wong’s films and Chungking Express portrays the interesting nature of Hollywood rather well. It tells two completely separate stories, one dramatic and one largely comic, taking place around Hollywood street a comic and lively depiction of how a street can contain many stories and lives passing through it all at once. Maybe I’ll write a longer post about Wong Kar Wai on another day…
(I love his first English film My Blueberry Nights)
Apparently Quentin Tarrantino absolutely loves Wong Kar Wai!
Thinking of interesting streets that can contain many life stories made me think of the final chapter in You are a Tree: Life is (not) a journey. So I thought I’d end today’s post with a little excerpt from the book. :)
Order your copy of You are a Tree today!
Life is (not) a journey… (an excerpt)
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Joy Clarkson to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.