Creator: Amos, James.
Location: Brisbane, Queensland.
Description: In early 1952 Tommy Wong Young, the owner of the Café Cathay in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, spent £15,000 to purchase and transform a house at 3135 Gold Coast Highway in Surfers Paradise into the one of the first Chinese restaurants on the Gold Coast.
The façade of the Café Cathay featured two large neon dragons and was the largest and most colourful neon sign in Queensland during the period. The colourful building with its large palm trees in front rapidly became a favourite photographic spot for tourists and appeared on numerous postcards...
With Surfers Paradise becoming an increasingly popular destination for local and interstate visitors, the Café Cathay offered the first experience of Asian cuisine for many Australians throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
This Neon album was created with 16 out-of-copyright photographs displayed in the State Library of Queensland NEON exhibition, but we want to acknowledge Tommy Wong Young great achievement.
Neon explores the history of neon across Queensland from the 1940s to today, including the artists who transformed glass bending into an art form that became a symbol of urban life and popular culture across the world.
View the original image at the State Library of Queensland: hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/423881
Information about State Library of Queensland’s collection: www.slq.qld.gov.au/research-collections
Photograph is part of : 29423, James Amos Photographs.
Conditions of use: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander material is accessed and used in accordance with State Library's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections Commitments. SLQ Collections Commitment_pdf.
You are free to use this image without permission. Please attribute State Library of Queensland.
