Yep, it's here, folks: The biggest, grandest, most spectacular Starbucks on the planet, right down the road from where we live in Shanghai, on the corner of Nanjing and Shimen Roads. It caps off the recent opening of a grand new shopping mall called Taigu Hui 太古汇 which has been in the making for a few years now. Located above the fairly new subway station on Line 12, the mall and office complex opened up earlier this year. The new Starbucks R opened earlier this month.

The Lao Xi Men 老西门 or Old West Gate area of Shanghai is full of homes, temples, and treasures dating back to the Qing Dynasty if not earlier. Recently, Tina Kanagaratnam and Katya Knyazeva co-wrote an article on the demolition of this area for SupChina. Katya is a real expert in this part of town and its history. I've been on her tour which she runs for Shanghai Flaneur. It was a while ago, but I remember we visited several homes that dated back to the Qing Dynasty.Since I'm on Christmas vacation now in Shanghai, between ferrying my daughters to their various appointments and engagements, I had a window of opportunity today to visit the area and see for myself what is going on there. I spent around two hours today plodding through the cold rain amongst a warren of alleyways and passages. I've been to this area before, many times over the past twenty years or so, but the impending destruction forced me to look at these alleys and homes with new eyes. 

Two years ago I visited the original Disneyland theme park in Anaheim California with my wife Mengxi and our two daughters Hannah and Sarah.  This year on Christmas Day, we visited the new Disneyland theme park in our hometown of Shanghai. These two visits gave us the chance to compare and contrast the oldest and newest Disneylands. Here are some observations.

Last night I led my final night tour of the Bund for the year 2017, and possibly the last tour involving the Astor House. As usual, my tour was organized by the Shanghai Flaneur company, which I highly recommend to people looking for a more substantial tour of the city's historic and contemporary cultures. The Astor House is rumored to be closing down for a major renovation after which it will become a museum for the Stock Exchange.

When I first visited Shanghai as a college student in 1988, I stayed at the Pujiang Hotel (浦江饭店) located just north of the Bund. Back then it was serving as a youth hostel. I remember sleeping in a large room with rows of beds filled with travelers from all over the world. Little did I know that I would be spending much of my adult life in this city researching its history. Perhaps my stay there kindled my desire to learn more about the social life that once romped in the hotel back in the 1920s. Perhaps the ghosts of famous residents from decades past whispered in my ear, begging me to preserve the memory of those glorious, decadent, daring, and dangerous times.

A review of a night at the new Jazz at Lincoln Center club near the Shanghai Bund