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The best Thai style food awaits you at Harbor Villa.
We are also known as “seafood city” – it’s our specialty! |
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 Shortly after the Japanese occupation of Taiwan in 1896, the land around Kaohsiung Harbor underwent extensive reclamation from 1908 to 1912.Part of this reclaimed area included a railway and a small railway station, both of which are now in disuse, although efforts have been made recently to revive these for tourism purposes.This railway used to run along the waterfront from the harbor to the fish market for the daily deliveries of fish, but the market itself has now become a restaurant.This “fish rail” route was known as “HAMASEN”, and residents in this area were mostly Japanese. |
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| Kaohsiung Harbor and Ji Lung Harbor in the north of Taiwan were both developed by the Japanese to be the main exporting zones of rice and sugar in Taiwan, and the intention was to turn the “village” of Kaohsiung into a city, industrial zone and a transportation hub for southern Taiwan.By1920, HAMASEN district streets were laid out like a chessboard in a grid system, with many piers interconnected by the railway with parking lots and schools, and these all gave Kaohsiung many “firsts” in Taiwan.“Firsts” such as the first canal system, the first public street lighting system, the first telephone system, and the first household electricity system, making Kaohsiung a “modern” metropolis of the early 20th century. |
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| Kaohsiung as a metropolitan and seaport gateway to the world helped promote Japanese business and the economy, both in Taiwan and Japan.As business expanded, the HAMASEN area was found to be too restrictive in size, so the railway station was moved to Jian Guo 2nd Rd. in 1942 and expanded (this historic building, built in traditional Chinese architectural style modeled on the letter “Kao” , became the Kaohsiung City Vision Museum when the new Railway Terminal was commissioned in 2006, and was moved back from its old location).The original equally historic City Government building has now become the Kaohsiung History Museum, and can be found on Chung Cheng 4th Rd. on the west bank of Love River, with the new Music Museum immediately behind it, also on Love River. All of these buildings are valued cultural assets of Kaohsiung city.By mid-2008 in conjunction with the completion of the MRT subway, development of the waterfront promenade and cycle lanes had also taken place in the area of what is now the Ferry terminal to Chi Jin Island and AMY’s Harbor Villa. |
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| This historical building was originally built in 1932 on reclaimed land for the Tsai family, wealthy landowners involved in the fishing industry. In its heyday, the building was a landmark, but was eventually left unoccupied for many years when family members grew up and moved away, and was allowed to become derelict. Since 2004, it has been leased and lovingly restored by AMY’s Restaurant Chain (at a cost of $50 million NTD) after representations from the Kaohsiung Historical Buildings Preservation Society, which wished to see the somewhat dilapidated structure restored to its former glory (before and after restoration pictures can be seen on our website at: http://www.amy.com.tw/Harbor/harborvilla_5.html.Amy’s has sought not just to recreate this building and turn it into a restaurant, but has expanded the interior design to include Chinese artwork to preserve a literary atmosphere as well. |
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