Grass Mountain Community Center and Teen Club, Taipei, Taiwan

Just one black and white picture of a sign has blossomed into a fulfilled quest. If Larry Barton had only known.

Army LTC Scott Ellinger has been narrowing his search for the Grass Mountain Community Center and Teen Club. In the past his hunches have proven to be pretty much on the money.

In a previous posting, he marked a site where he thought it once stood. Now, its location has been firmly established.

For all of the families who lived in BOT housing, these pictures might look familiar. 

Photo courtesy of Larry Barton

Looking north, the Community Center sign is partially visible on the left (west) side of the road.

Across the road and up a hill was the movie theater and combination snack bar and bowling alley.

Today, a small triangular area is shown. It is just slightly north of the old sign.

The other side of the triangle shows a more direct route to the Teen Club on Kaixuan Road (Sometimes referred to as a Street.). 

The yellow lines show the two entrances to Kaixuan Road, followed by the direct route to the GMCC.

Original PowerPoint slide courtesy of Scott Ellinger

Circled is the community center itself.

This closeup shows not just the two huge additions at either end of the building, but also a swimming pool near the middle.

There is a huge dropoff to the south, down a hill. Others will certainly know what the place looked like in the days of the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

This is just a straight line view down the road to the end of the building.



The road from where the picture was taken is a shortcut to the community center from the F housing area. The street from which this photo was taken is Guotai Street.

To the right of these parked cars is the main entrance. To the left appears to be a guard shack.

Looking straight on, you can imagine how impressive this entrance once was.

With the Chinese Culture University in the background, we are not quite halfway to the end of the community center.

Much of the land around here is leveled as many C and F Housing units were demolished.

With this shot, the deterioration of the building is evident. Either that, or it's in the process of repair. Things change quickly and the date of these pictures might be 2005.

Efforts are being made to persuade the Taiwanese government and the Bank of Taiwan to declare the former C, F, and H housing areas near this building and others to Monument Landmark  status to ensure their preservation.

For more on this click HERE.

Looking back, one can see how wide this building is. Wouldn't you like to see the inside? Maybe not



Near the west end, the place definitely looks shoddy.



Kaixuan Road continues, but the building ends.