OPULENCE CENTRE
1987
OPULENCE CENTRE
1961
Schematic rendering of the bungalow that stood here, according to the footprint indicated on the 1961 fire insurance maps.
We do know that Roddy Mah operated his Thunderbird Travel Agency here.
Interview
WITH TERESA WOO-PAW (CHINATOWN ACTIVIST)
+ Who owns this building? Who developed the building?
I believe the Mah family (Roddy Mah’s family) still owns this building.
+ You mentioned that it used to be the Thunderbird Travel Agency. What was there before?
I just remember it was an old house. Before it was the Thunderbird Travel Agency, there were probably 3-4 old 1-story bungalows on the lot. It was probably re-developed in the 1980s.
+ How have you seen this property transform over the past decades?
When the current building was built, the shops were owned primarily by people from Hong Kong and Vietnam. There was once a restaurant on the main floor that was very popular. The tenants dwindled over the years but the herbalist shop, the Diamond Bakery and the HKSB have been there since the opening. The building has one of the earliest bubble tea shops in Chinatown.
BUILDING PHOTOGRAPHS
Photographs taken in 2020.
