Hollywood Road Hong Kong China

Hollywood Road is Hong Kong’s antique row and more. This twisting street snakes from Central at the mid-levels escalator through Sheung Wan, a more traditional Chinese neighborhood.

In the stores that line it you’ll find museum quality antiques with price tags to match. But if your wallet doesn’t allow there are plenty of shops with more affordable items such as Chinese crafts, jade, Buddha statues, embroidered silk slippers, assorted curios and of course the ubiquitous Chairman Mao memorabilia.

For antiques I recommend Arch Angel Antiques at 53 Hollywood Road. Its three well organized floors are stocked with everything from high end antique Chinese furniture, to pottery and ancient tomb figures from mainland China.

The staff is knowledgeable, helpful and not pushy. Browsing is welcome. Every antique purchased comes with a certificate of authenticity detailing age and origin.

I discovered Arch Angel on my first trip to Hong Kong in the late 1990s and stop in every time I’m in town. Asia was in the midst of an economic meltdown at the time of my first visit and I picked up these Han dynasty tomb figure heads, pictured above, for a relative song.

In the last decade a crop of mod Chinese design stores have sprung up on Hollywood Road. For affordable new designs a personal favorite is G.O.D, or Goods of Desire, which has urban chic Hong Kong centric home décor items, clothing and accessories.

The designers have transferred what is intrinsically Hong Kong to every day items. Shoulder bags, mouse pads and wastepaper baskets feature a photographic collage of letterboxes or tenement housing with hanging laundry, as seen in the photographs.

Goods of Desire is located at 48 Hollywood Road, skipping distance from Arch Angle, and also has locations in Causeway Bay and Tsimshatsui.