1933 Shanghai Manhole Covers

The 1933 development in Hongkou is a bit of a failure sadly. The old Shanghai Municipal Council abattoir is certainly an amazing structure – a modernist slaughter house far in advance of anything Europe had at the time. The refurbishment of it as a retail/restaurant/whatever space suits me as they’ve basically washed it down and left it largely as it was while where shop units have been put in they are fairly unobtrusive and don’t disturb the superbly functional lines of the building. However, whenever I go there it’s always deserted and empty, which is nice for me, but doesn’t bode well for its future – indeed an odd concoction in an adjacent building called Factory (I could never quite work out what that was – restaurant, bar, little shops or something?) appears to have folded completely and the space is deserted. I assume there are a number of reasons for its failure – location mostly I guess (a bit too much of a working class area for up-scale Chinese while Hongkou is firmly terra incognita for most ex-patriots who may tell you they love and know Shanghai but rarely if ever venture north of Soochow Creek).

Anyway, wandering around it tonight with a rather unimpressed group of French journalists (I’d taken them there hoping to counter the lashings of unwarranted publicity the horrible Xintiandi gets), I noticed one more thing to like about 1933 – they left the original SMC drain covers and metal ridges in place (see below). The overrated and overhyped Xintiandi would never have done that – and 1933 has seats that the public can sit on FOR FREE while Xintiandi has not one public seat where you can sit without paying to consume something. I do hope 1933 can pull it together somehow.