HONG KONG – Hollywood Road in Central, built over 180 years ago and considered one of Hong Kong’s oldest streets, has been picked as the second-coolest street in the world by London-based Time Out magazine.

It is second only to Australian city Melbourne’s High Street.

The annual ranking of the world’s coolest streets, released on March 13, is based on local polls and the expertise of local editors, according to the magazine. 

Time Out said that Hollywood Road got its No. 2 ranking because it has many elements that make a street cool. Although it was built in the 1840s, it is still changing and offering something new, the magazine added.

The 1km street, which connects Central and Sheung Wan, is lined with a mixture of restaurants, bars, antique shops and art galleries, and provides access to other charming old streets in the district such as Wyndham Street, said Time Out.

Hollywood Road was one of the earliest streets to be built in the city’s colonial era. The street has no connection with the famous Hollywood in the United States, and was completed decades before the movie hub emerged and forged its reputation in the 1910s.

There are several theories about the origin of the road’s name. One is that many holly trees were planted near the road at the time of its construction.

Other streets in the top 10 of the 2024 list include the East Eleventh in Austin in the US; Lisbon’s Rua da Boavista in Portugal; and the Chazawa-dori in Tokyo, Japan.

In 2022, the magazine had ranked Tai Ping Shan Street, also in Sheung Wan, as the seventh-coolest street in the world. CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK