Living In Yangmingshan, Taipei, Taiwan, 1968-69

Since we were so lucky to rent one of the 12 units in our 3-building complex, we decided to jump right in and become part of the community. Some merchants, like the propane guy, we contacted. Others made a steady stream to our door and many contracts were made.





Here is a public bus chugging up the 10 miles from Taipei to Yangmingshan. Kent Mathieu had it on his web page. It's one of my favorites since the Taipei bus system certainly didn't lack riders. Many were overcrowded and many guys used the public buses to go downtown or come back up the mountain.

There were plenty of bus stops along the way.  How about the concrete block barrier! There were many places to pull off and admire the view, but at night only headlights lit the road. Later, President Chiang had vapor lights installed, lighting the road all the way from Taipei to his summer villa in Yangmingshan.

  

Seen from the road to work, our three-building complex of 3 stories each can be seen at the upper left of this picture.

Mr. Light not only brokered the apartment lease, he arranged for us to rent a refrigerator until our Whirlpool arrived. He sent us a Christmas card and eventually bought our Whirlpool as well as other items.

Our landlord's wife was a sweetheart. Each month she took the bus up from Taipei and got off at the stop right bedside DaHeng Road. Since we new she would be coming, our helper assisted in waxing the floors and washing everything else including the screens.

The routine was always the same. We greeted her at the door as she said "hello." She then removed her shoes, counted the $60 dollars (NT $2400) rent and said "thank you."  She then put on her shoes and we all said "goodbye."  It went that way for 11 months.                                    



This was our encounter with extortion. Paul ran the guard service which we figured was a necessity. If we had declined, then what? So, we paid our monthly fee of $3.75 and we had dark until dawn protection in the form of a guy with a stick. This led to other protective measures on our part.

Yep....joining the MAAG Rod and Gun Club was my method of obtaining a pistol. Notice the affiliation with the NRA.

Still in our possession after 40+ years is a .22 calibre Ruger semi-automatic pistol. We had no ammunition!

We bought 2 propane tanks from this guy. We had a gas burner for cooking and a gas- fired hot water tank for heated water. A bath or shower took planning since the water tank had about 30 gallons. The propane tanks always seemed to run dry too quickly.

After reading his business card, we decided to have my fatigues and khakis done by Johnson Laundry. Other laundry was cleaned elsewhere.

The Westinghouse laundry was located on Chung Shan North Road, Section 2 on the west side of the road. These young women washed, dried, and wrapped our clothes. The location gave my wife yet another reason to drive down the hill to Taipei.

Our 1100 cc, 4-speed 1968 Toyota was our freedom from the hill. Bought and sold later for $1400.00, it would be on the recall list today. Yet we still managed to put over 10,000 km (6,000 + miles) on it in one year. Just like most everyone else, our insurance came from Taiwan Fire and Marine.

An officer had the exact same car as ours. He told me of the parts place on Nanking West Road and the Toyota service headquarters. So, after the head gasket blew, we drove about 15 miles down the mountain without any water in the radiator. All the water was mixed with the oil.

Turning west onto Min Chuan Road took us over Taipei Bridge. Above is the toll receipt which for some reason, we kept. Shortly after crossing the bridge, we arrived at the garage. The Taiwan manager had been trained in Germany with BMW. Fixed in one day, the cost was $12.00 which was gladly paid.   







The bamboo for the furniture and curtains was grown in southern Taiwan, we were told.





Our apartment furniture was mostly made from bamboo and wasn't very comfortable. The man from whom we bought it said to lightly spray the end tables, chairs and other furniture with a water spray.

This was to keep it from drying out and becoming brittle. So we followed his directions and ended up with quite a bit of mold. So, then we sprayed with Clorox in the bottle.



Never before or after did we have a view like this from where we lived. This was taken from our back room.



Looking from our third floor balcony, we had an excellent view of our neighbors' house. With underground parking and a study surrounded by glass, it was an architectural delight.

We became friends with the two youngest sons who brought us oranges from their grove. They had a Great Dane named Jack. Papa owned the Far East theater in Shimending among other holdings.



Until we saw him applying his skills, we thought this man sold fish. In reality, he was a cobbler on wheels, shouting "soles and heels" as he arrived. It sounded like he was saying "sole and eels".

Finally, here's my wife standing at the entrance to the library of the Chinese Culture College.

The library as it appeared around 2006

A more up-to-date picture

Bank Of Taiwan, F Housing, Shantzuhou, Taipei, Taiwan

My final housing area to be viewed is the one nearest to our former apartment on DaHeng Road. The F-Housing area is also unique in its own way. Clay tile roofs and concrete block enclosures isolate this site.

The individual housing areas are the most neglected and most interesting. Much of the area consists of dormitories to be renovated. In 1969, there were no U. S. military folks living in the barracks to my knowledge. 

Back then, they may have been barracks for ROC soldiers or dormitories for Chinese Culture College students. They look to be over 2000 square feet each.

Again, LTC Scott Ellinger has taken photos of this area. They were posted on Don Wiggins' USTDC blog September 13, 2010. To view them, click HERE

An October  6, 2010 post on Kent Mathieu's Taipeiairstation. blog, indicates the purpose of renovating these dorms in Section F Housing. Just scroll down the page until reaching the 10/6/2010 post.

As you can see in the upper right of this picture are the coordinates of DaHeng Road. Just southwest of this would be the present-day location of F-Housing.

Here again is LTC Ellinger's enhanced housing areas back in 1969. Thanks again to Don Wiggins USTDC.blogspot for his post of this photo on September 17, 2010.  F-Housing is clearly seen.

If the little triangular area to the south of this road is the unofficial entrance to C-Housing, then the Chinese Culture University sign is the unofficial entrance to F-Housing. 

This is the general area in which houses and dorms are located. Google Earth only follows so many streets. 

A chain restricts access to these two houses.  In the background is the large hill right next to our apartment.

This is the house at the left of the chain. Don't know why the yellow car is parked there.

The house directly to the right of the chain certainly looks be to abandoned.

This house appears to be occupied. If maintained, clay tile roofs can last decades.

It appears that this dorm is being readied with materials for renovation.



Time and weather can take a toll.

In the background is the University.

Clearly, this street is off-limits.



 Whoa! This one will take much money, materials and labor to bring it back to its former glory.

These houses speak for themselves.

If the area had not been declared a cultural landmark, the University would have swallowed it up  by now.

This dormitory is typical of the ones surrounded by a concrete block wall. Who needs shrubs?

Just in case you didn't go to taipeiairstation.blogspot on October 6, 2010, here is the updated map of the Yangmingshan housing areas.

The Section F dorms are to be used to house students from mainland China.

Bank Of Taiwan, C Housing, Shantzuhou, Taipei, Taiwan

There is an effort to renovate and retain approximately 141 homes, villas, and dormitories within 13.88 hectares (About 34.3 acres) of land in Yangmingshan.

The explosive growth of the Chinese Culture University, with approximately 28,000 students is the main impetus behind this project. 

About four years ago, the Bank Of Taiwan, which owns the land on which these structures exist, had a plan. It was to auction most of sections "C", "F" and parts of section "H" in what is called the Shantzouhou (Shantsuhou) housing area.

The housing in these areas were built in the1950s for U.S. military families. With the end of the Vietnam War, and eventual withdrawal of the official U. S. military presence by 1979, the need for this housing no longer existed.

Not that these areas were completely abandoned, but the need for these housing areas was seen as mainly nostalgic. The Chinese Culture University began expansion on both the east and west sides of the main road going through the village.

Section "E" housing has been replaced with a large building between HePing Road and JingShan Road. Other areas began to shrink as well.

Now these areas have been designated as cultural landmarks. Efforts are underway to renovate the areas. The goal is to restore architecturally the landmarks as they once were.

Fortunately, LTC Scott Ellinger has been inside many of these buildings and you can see the results by clicking HERE. Some of the interiors are in decent shape, others are in ruins.

The area that will be shown below is considered the C-Housing area. It is adjacent to, and sometimes overlaps section "F" housing. Don Wiggins posted this link on his USTDC blog on September 24, 2010. Try the slideshow.

The information for this post came partially from www.taiwan-panorama.com, December, 2006 and www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw, February, 2008. The original articles came from taipeiairstation.blogspot in October 2008. 

For the latest on the housing areas in Yangmingshan, check Kent Mathieu's TaipeiAirStation.blogspot post of October 6, 2010 and Don Wiggins' USTDC.blogspot posts of September 13, 2010 and September 6, 2010. 

"C" Housing and the departed "E" Housing can be seen on LTC Ellinger's map. Again we have him and Don Wigggins' USTDC post on September 17, 2010 to thank. 

Between HePing and JingShan Roads is a large expansion of the Chinese Culture University. Section "E" housing was completely leveled.

By approaching this sign and little triangular area of land we find the unofficial entrance to C-Housing.

This gives a better view of the entrance

The 7-Eleven across the street is south of the other 7-Eleven. These stores are all over Taipei. These 2 are just a few hundred yards apart!

If the grass is mowed and the shrubs are cut, then the houses are occupied. Most of what could be seen following Google Earth are in relatively good shape.

The homes are at least 1300 square feet in space. All have metal carports. This one may be vacant.

Painted red brick and an interior fireplace are the rule with C-Housing.

This house may be on a corner lot. It has plenty of room for parking. The typical and distinctive characteristics of C-Housing can be readily seen.

The homes are all  brick and siding or stucco painted red and white with a carport. The roof lines are not highly pitched.

When a house doesn't have a carport roof, chances are it may be vacant.

Some of these homes may be where LTC Ellinger took some of his interior shots.

Taipei European School, Taipei, Taiwan

At the intersection of ZhongYong Road and JianYe Road, the street to the right shows more of H-Housing and the back road to Grass Mountain. Going straight ahead on JianYe Road leads to the Taipei European School.

The main reason these pictures are shown is that somewhere in this area once was the Grass Mountain movie theater and the grill, run by Smiley, a man everyone knew. A bowling alley consisting of 2 lanes was in the same building as Smiley's.

AFNT was also in this general area.  Our friend Jack and his family lived behind us on Daheng Road. Jack could be heard nightly on AFNT-FM. We both liked hearing Peggy Lee.

Maybe someone remembers approximately where they were located. The theater had fewer than 100 seats. There were so many theaters around Taipei where each movie made a stop. We would go to the Tien Mou theater or Grass Mountain in case we missed the showing at the East Compound theater. 




Turning right keeps you on ZhongYong Road. At the left is JianYe Road. One of the signs is for an insurance agency.

 

Turning right begins the narrow, winding back road to the Grass Mountain site. Back in 1969, we used it sparingly since it was not only narrow, but also was mostly loose gravel. As best as I can recall, we were forced to use it for a week or so when a mudslide closed the front gate road.

Proceeding straight ahead on JianYe Road, we eventually come to a fork in the road. As Yogi Berra would say, "Take it!"

Turning left at the fork takes us to the Taipei European School and several other buildings.

This busy road is a dead end.

School is out for the day, and the kids await the cars and buses to take them home.

The buses arrive and load up.