Kennedy Town

Kennedy Town has undergone a transformation from a low-key neighbourhood at the end of the tramline into Hong Kong's newest hipster hood. It's called gentrification, but what does it mean? What happens when fancy pencil shaped apartment blocks and cool coffee shops land in streets that once belonged to cheap housing, markets and warehouses?

Catchick Street has always been a residential area. Fox Theatre was a favourite neighbourhood cinema. The 1,200 state-of-the-art theatre opened in 1972 with the Chinese film Boxer from Shantung, a popular Kungfu movie produced by Shaw Brothers.

This characteristic corner building stands as a memory of an almost forgotten past. The name "Hong Kong Live Pig Trade Merchants' Association" is the only reminder of the days when K-town was still one of the most remote places on the island and this was where the colony's pig slaughterhouse was. Not just pigs, this was the city's supply line for chickens, ducks, geese, cows, fish, shrimps, vegetables and fruits.