Eastern District: where art and history collide

Written by LUXE City Guides, Images by Calvin Sit

Although situated on the waterfront, Hong Kong’s Eastern District is much more than that. Here you can find everything from Eastern District’s waterfront legacy, as well as the local arts scene, and food that locals eat.

Here are some of our top picks.

Oi!

When the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club built its first headquarters on Oil Street in 1908, the Arts and Crafts-style complex was located on the shores of Victoria Harbour — as you might expect. But the waterfront is always shifting in Hong Kong and the historic clubhouse now sits a few hundred metres inland. The yacht club long ago moved elsewhere, but its birthplace now has a new lease on life as Oi! Get me there {{title}} {{taRatingReviewTotal}} {{taRatingReviewText}} Address {{address}} Website {{website}} More info , a community art space with regular workshops and exhibitions.

MOM Livehouse

It has always been tough to find space for live music in Hong Kong: although the city is a regular stop for overseas acts and there is plenty of homegrown talent, high rents and low margins make it difficult to run a music venue. While a number of new publicly funded venues are coming online in the near future, North Point’s MOM Livehouse Get me there {{title}} {{taRatingReviewTotal}} {{taRatingReviewText}} Address {{address}} Website {{website}} More info has already come to the rescue. Since opening in 2016, the 200-person space has hosted a diverse range of shows, from indie pop to hardcore, along with upstart festivals like The Gig Week.

Mount Parker

Standing 532 metres tall, Mount Parker dominates the eastern half of Hong Kong. In fact, it is only slightly shorter than its more famous counterpart, Victoria Peak. Unlike The Peak, however, a hike up this mountain will lead you to historic treasures instead of exclusive residences. Walk along the Wilson Trail and you will come across the Wartime Cooking Stoves, large outdoor kitchens built in preparation to feed the people of Hong Kong during World War II. Not far away is the Woodside Biodiversity Education Centre, whose exhibitions on Hong Kong's flora and fauna are housed inside a 1920s mansion built by the Taikoo Sugar company.

Fireboat Alexander Grantham

Few locals know about this unusual museum, let alone tourists, but Fireboat Alexander Grantham Get me there {{title}} {{taRatingReviewTotal}} {{taRatingReviewText}} Address {{address}} Website {{website}} More info is worth a stop for anyone interested in Hong Kong’s marine heritage. From 1953 to 2002, the Alexander Grantham served as the flagship of Hong Kong’s marine fire services. At the time it was commissioned, thousands of people lived in Hong Kong’s typhoon shelters, and fires often broke out in these floating villages. Today, the fireboat sits in Quarry Bay Park, where it displays some fascinating marine artefacts.

Lee Keung Kee

You can smell Lee Keung Kee Get me there {{title}} {{taRatingReviewTotal}} {{taRatingReviewText}} Address {{address}} Website {{website}} More info before you even see it — which is handy, because this diminutive stall is easy to miss. Egg waffles are the speciality here. Known locally as gai daan zai (‘little chicken eggs’) they are bubble-shaped pockets of joy, crunchy on the outside, sweet and fluffy inside. This North Point outpost is one of the best in the city — so good it even earned a mention in the 2017 Hong Kong & Macau Michelin Guide.

Para Site

For years, Para Site was a leading light in an otherwise gloomy art scene. Founded by seven artists in 1996, it was one of the few non-profit art spaces in Hong Kong. These days, the city’s art scene is finally thriving, with international attention and no shortage of local shows, but Para Site still holds the torch for progressive contemporary art. The space is known for edgy exhibitions like A Journal of the Plague Year, which looked at the cultural and social impact of the SARS outbreak in 2003. Now located in a two-storey space in Quarry Bay, Para Site has more room than ever to fulfil its ambitions.

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