Shanghailander… Cafe and bakery

Having lived for years on former Route Kaufmann (today Anting Lu), my daily routine took me to the Zhao Jia Bang lu metro station. It located at the intersection of Route Dufour (today Wulumuqi Nan Lu) and Route de Ziccawei (today Zhao Jia Bang Lu). This area is also the location of the newly opened Shanghailander Cafe & bakery.

Shanghailander cafe

Having spent a lot of time in cafes in many places including France, Hungary or even Malaysia, opening my own would surely be quite some fun. Unfortunately, I have no link with this fine establishment, but a number of friends and readers have asked about it. Since I pass in front of this place nearly every day, I tried it and can recommend both the pastry and the coffee. The link with Old Shanghai does not stop with the Shanghailander name. The Chinese name 聚付 is also significant, as it was the Chinese name of Route Dufour, former name of Wulumuqi Nan Lu where the cafe is located.

(Route) Dufour in Chinese

Route Dufour was constructed between 1918 and 1921 and was named after a French employee of the Standard Oil who was killed in WWI. Most buildings in the bottom stretch of the street are not original, but they kept the right style. A notable building on the same street is the former Shanghai Nursing Home, that is now hidden in the trees and hosting many families. Before it became Shanghai Nursing Home, that building was known as Blue Hospital, built by the emigre architect Boris Krivoss in 1929 (see post on Building Russian Shanghai blog on this topic). It was turned into residential under the name of Krivoss apartment in 1934.

Former Shanghai Nursing Home

Much more visible is the Dufour apartment building, one of the lesser known Art Deco wonders of Shanghai. Russian designer of Dufour Apartments, W. A. Fedoroff, was rather big back home in Vladivostok, where he had worked on circa 200 buildings.

The location of Shanghailander Cafe has only become popular for cafes and bars in the last few years, with the transformation of parts of the Former French Concession in a trendy area.  Starting to be inhabited in the 1920s and 1930s, this area was residential and quiet, considered like the suburb of Shanghai.

JingAn Coffee House

As show on this advertising for the long gone Jing A Cafe House, Cafe culture is nothing new to Shanghai, and coffee have spread everywhere in the last few years. When I wrote the post “Shanghai Coffee Culture” in 2010, Shanghai Coffee drinking was all about coffee chains and some old timers like Deda Cafe. In the meantime, independent coffee shops have opened up everywhere… and some have already disappeared (see Boona Cafe and Citron Cafe post for more details) in the fast pace of Shanghai business. In new Shanghai, cafes have become trendy again, just like in Old Shanghai. Update from 2023, the Shanghailander Cafe at the location has also disappeared, although another location remains.

Reading “The Shanghailander”

The Shanghailander magazine
The Shanghailander magazine

The word “Shanghailander” was used to for the foreigners living in Old Shanghai. As written in the “Why is this blog called Shanghailander.net” page, the Shanghailanders were the foreigners that had already spent more than a year (and a bit) in the city. I had heard these stories and read them in books about Old Shanghai but I had never seen the actual word written during that time… until I bought the June 1937 of “The Shanghailander”.

Just like many of the English magazines in today’s Shanghai, “The Shanghailander” was a monthly guide to Shanghai, “A monthly magazine devoted to interpreting Shanghai and China to vistors – and residents”. This issue of June 1937 is Volume V, No 6 thus I guess publication started in January 1932. This must have been one of the last issues as the attack on Shanghai by the Japanese army from August 1937 and the fierce battle of Shanghai that followed saw many foreign residents start fleeing away and surely drastically reduced tourism to the city.

There is practically no information about this magazine on the internet, this copy must be one of the few survivors. It was published by Carl Crow’s company, who introduced advertising in China and whose biography was written by Paul French. The magazine was surely a good support for selling Carl Crow’s books as the recommended reading list includes 2 (out of 12) of his books (“Handbook for China” and “Chekiang Highways”) as well as the full back cover as an advertising for 400 million customers, his most famous book.

The magazine content is very similar to today’s equivalents including a feature article, business directory, facts about Shanghai and a map of the city center. The last page is devoted to “Places to see in China”, listing Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Beijing. The only unusual part is the almanac, listing events related to Shanghai that happened on the same day years before as the genre is gone out of fashion long ago

Just like today about half the magazine is advertising, for the international and famous local brands including famous hotels of the time, Astor House and Palace Hotel (now Swatch Peace hotel) from the HongKong & Shanghai hotel company (today’s owner of Peninsula), Broadway Mansions Hotel and Park Hotel. Entertainment places like the Canidrome (the gone flower market between Maoming Lu and Shaanxi lu) and the Hai-Alai at the auditorium on corner of Avenue Joffre (today Huai Hai Lu) and Avenue du Roi Albert (today Shaanxi Nan Lu).  Drinks were also advertised such as Ewo beer and White Horse whisky, both brands of Jardine, Matheson and Co, as well as Martell Brandy and Sandeman’s Port, distributed by Gande, Prince Ltd.

Items necessary for the travelers of the time were also advertised including “Grays Yellow Lantern Shops, Specialists in the finest linen, lingerie, pyjamas, novelty  with shops in the Astor House hotel and the Cathay hotel Lobby. Finally, another provider of travelling accessories was Macbeth Gray and Co, 142 Nanking Road (today PENGJIE CLOTHING CO. BRANCH N2 on 142 Nanjing Dong Lu), supplying “panama hats, English straw boaters, American Washing ties, Tropical helmets and English sport sweaters”… though I don’t think they supply these article anymore.