While I was doing yesterday's article, I realized I have never mentioned The Fringe Club, one my favorite places in Hong Kong. Sitting at the corner of Wyndham and Lower Albert Streets, it is located in a 95 year old building that was once a storage warehouse for ice brought down from Manchuria in the winter and dispensed throughout the summer.
It is the most retro, 60's-like location in Hong Kong and maybe in all of Southeast Asia. I love it. The club offers theatre, music, art and photography exhibits, a rooftop bar and restaurant, a meeting place for clubs like the local "Philosophy Club", a ceramics workshop, classes, seminars and lectures, and a ridiculously expensive but incredibly creative restaurant named "M at The Fringe."
The building also hosts the "Foreign Correspondents Club," a Hong Kong icon where many important visitors deliver speeches to large groups of inebriated journalists and their guests. I jest. Anyone can join and patronize both the bar and restaurant plus attend the speeches and seminars.
The Fringe Club, itself, is also available for parties. I recently went to a wonderful going away party on the roof top. The club has rooms for meetings which members and others can book.
The theatre is very intimate and small with first come, first served seating on tiered benches. There isn't a bad seat in the house, though. The biggest problem is getting tickets. He/she who hesitates is doomed to spend the evening in the bar outside the theatre. Actually, that's not such a bad thing, since, right after the play is over, bar patrons are often entertained by a musical group and early drinkers get the best tables.
While it is highly unlikely that visitors would want to become members, for Hong Kong residents, membership is a great deal. Basically it costs HK$300 (US$39) a year to be a member, less for students and seniors, other family members and groups. Membership entitles members to discounts at all events plus 10% off on all food and drink except at "M at the Fringe". One can easily, though, get on the club's free e-mailing list to be kept up to date on all the club happenings.
I appreciate the Fringe Club, not only for it's activities, but also because it is one of the best places in Hong Kong for expatriates and local Hong Kong Chinese to interact. At least half or more of the events are Chinese in nature from plays to music to the exhibits.
Did I mention that it is less than a city block from my flat?