New York Bar, was one of Tsingtao’s (Qingdao Old Town) most popular bars in the 1940’s. Even the invading Japanese did not destroy this relic of history during World War II. Hal Stephens, a U.S. Marine stationed in TsingTao in 1945 through 1949, recalls in his book Take China: The Last of the China Marines the popularity of NY Bar. This should NOT be confused with the current Club New York Bar that is located on Xiang Gang Zhong Road.
Dear Sirs, I recently obtained a very old silk jacket with the embroidered Tsing Tao China and the Dragon on the back. It also has the Chinese characters for Tsing Tao and China embroidered on the back. I believe this is a pre war, export textile and would be a wonderful addition to a museum in Tsing Tao. Unlike other similar clothing I have seen, this jacket does not have the word “beer” embroidered on it. I am unable to send a photo at this time as I do not have an email to send the photos. If you are interested in obtaining this very interesting piece of historical clothing please send to me an email so that i can send you photos. Regards, Regina Woo.
My father Lt. Commander Philip A. “Mac” Mc Clure (USN), his wife Lorraine and their son, Philip lived in Tsing Tao sometime between 1946 and 1949. The story is that my father “ran” a hotel for the Navy. Family lore has it that they were on the last boat out before the Chinese marched in. Mac was 6’3″ and probably weighed 200+. I suspect he was larger than life, drank quite a bit and was the life of the party. Anyone remember him?
My father was in the US Navy back in 1946 in TsingTao. He was only 18 at the time. He liked to drink, so there is a chance that he drank at that bar.
I was a Us Navy airman attached to VF-11 aboard the Aircraft Carrier USS Valley Forge on a World Cruise From Oct. 1947-June 1948. Our ship and its two Destroyer Escorts put in to Tsingtao to pick up supplies from a Navy Supply depot. I believe we were removing the foods so the Rebels couldn’t acquire them. At night you could see flashes in the sky and hear artillery fire as the rebels approached the City. Sadly the provisions we took aboard had been stored poorly for so long that the flour was full of Weevils, and candy with nuts were also walking with worms. And many of the canned goods in cases had ruptured and the contents had rusted through all the cans which emptied on all the cans below, so whole piles of cases were empty. We ate bread and anything made with the buggy flour for the next 6 months. My recollection of the town was that the part we were tied up in was miserable, it was winter, no trees, nothing, no sign of life. We worked night and day round the clock handling the food, sugar, flour, by hand, passing it on to the next man, across the deck, then down the ladders to storage. Looking now at the photos on this site, the city looks wonderful, so obviously we were tied up in the poor part of town.