September 19, 1970: A Visit With Dr. Kim in Seoul; Namsan Mountain
	September 5, 1970: A Trip to Camp Blue Lancer Valley
	Return to the Index for 1970

Today, a group of us are going to Seoul to investigate getting contact lenses, which are very cheap here. I've never thought about getting them, but we have a lead on a reputable doctor who can do the exams and let us try some to see if we are comfortable with them. As is true most times I go to Seoul, I have my camera with me.

We have come into Seoul via the usual route, again prevailing on the Finance Office driver, PFC Kim, to check out the jeep and ferry us down into town. Along on this trip are LT Granville, myself, PFC Kim, and SP4 Chapman, who was the one who clued us in about the contact lenses. All three of us want to investigate them.

At left is a map of the central area of Seoul, and we are coming in from Camp Howze, northwest of the city. All of our stops today, and all of the pictures I took, were within the red square- a particularly bustling area of central Seoul.

I have focused in on that area with the map at right, and I have marked the stops we made and many of the locations I photographed this afternoon. Basically, we just visited the eye doctor, who had his office in a cluster of low-rise buildings near the old city hall, and then drove around for a bit. We got as far south as the Shinsegye Department Store (the main branch of which is the city's largest), but we also went by the new Chosun Hotel- the newest high-rise structure in the city and actually not even open yet.

I will be honest and say that we got totally lost. All Mark Chapman had was the address of the doctor, and we misread the section of town he was in. So we ended up first all the way down towards Yongsan Eighth Army post, pretty far south of our intended area.

Note from the present:
Some of the structures I photographed are still in existence, so I'll be able to draw some parallels between my pictures and the way things look today. But most of what I photographed has long since been torn down and rebuilt.

The first two pictures I took were while we were trying to find our way from Yongsan up to the area near the new Chosun Hotel where we needed to be.

This is a typical street scene in the business area of Seoul. We are south of Yongsan Army post, in a relatively nice area, but at the moment we are quite turned around.

We are working our way north through this busy new intersection. One of the big changes in Korea in recent years has been the upgrading of the highways, both in and out of town. There is a new expressway between Seoul and Pusan, and this particular access road is part of it.

We finally got close to the area where we needed to be, and came through a major intersection where we found a large store of some kind.

In the picture at right, you see a picture that is current to the 2020s; it shows the exact same building that I took a picture of today in 1970. It turned out to be the main branch of Shinsegye (new spelling) is the oldest department store in Korea, and the picture I took of it is below:

The store was opened in 1930 as the Gyeongseong branch of Mitsukoshi, a Japanese department store franchise; Korea was occupied by the Japanese Empire at the time. The store was acquired in 1945 by the late founder of Samsung group, Lee Byung-chull, and renamed Donghwa Department Store. After the Korean War (1950–1953) began, it was used for several years as a post exchange by the American army. In 1963, the store was given the name Shinsegye, and, for the last 60 years, the building has functioned as a department store.

As you can see in the current picture (above right) there is a fountain in a traffic circle adjacent to the department store. I took a picture of that same fountain in 1970, and that picture is at left.

It appears that the fountain has been changed a fair amount since I was there in 1970, and of course all the neighboring buildings have probably changed as well. The actual department store seems not to have changed at all. (Well, the orange bunnies have been taken down, but that's about it.)

As we were making our way a bit further north, we passed another landmark- the brand new Chosun Hotel.

The original Chosun Hotel was built during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Constructed in 1914, the European-style building was unique among its distinctly Asian counterparts. Designed by German architectural firm Goetheland, the Chosun was known for opulence and imported luxury goods from Europe and North America: a crystal chandelier from Tiffany’s in New York, silver dining utensils from Germany, and linens from Ireland. The hotel was also the first in Korea to build an elevator, host a ballroom dance, and serve ice cream. It is the oldest hotel in Korea.

The hotel changed hands in the late 1960s as new, more modern hotels were being built worldwide in the post-war period. (Note from the present: The hotel is now part of the Westin chain.) The new owners wanted to retain the charm and the luxury of the original, but needed a new physical structure so as to provide the amenities that world travelers were beginning to expect.

Beginning in 1968, hotel operations were scaled back and partially moved to adjoining buildings, and pretty much a total renovation of the hotel began. The old building was almost totally demolished, and an ultra-modern new building was rebuilt in its stead.

The new hotel was built in a three-pointed design to take advantage of the views that the Chosun had always had, overlooking not only the picturesque Hwangudan Temple (“Temple of Heaven”), but also most of Seoul's business-oriented central core. Every room could claim an almost unique view, as the three sides of the hotel were each curved, as you can see in my picture.

Note from the present:
Here is another of the rare cases in these early years of my photo album that I can actually draw a parallel between one of the pictures I took and the way things look today. The original Chosun Hotel existed for over a half-century before it was replaced; the new hotel finished in 1970 has also lasted now for over a half-century.

At right is an aerial view of the current Westin Joson Hotel. As you may be aware, in the last quarter-century there has been a movement to get rid of old, Western-established, colonial place names. Bombay has become Mumbai; Peking has become Beijing; and so on. While these are the two most notable examples, there are many others. (Close to home, Bongilchen was modified to Bongilcheon.) Another reason was to render more accurately in the Western alphabet the actual pronounciation of the place name. Even here, "Chosun" has become "Joson". I am pretty sure that my picture was of the side of the hotel to the right (east). In my picture, the building is entire lit; there are no shadows. This rules out the south side of the building, and the fact that we were in Seoul in the morning rules out the west side of the structure.

Anyway, I think it's interesting whenever I can find things I saw in 1970 still essentially unchanged in 2020.

Well, we finally found the intersection we were supposed to be at, at the southeast corner of the Deoksugung Palace grounds, right near the old Seoul City Hall. It was a busy intersection with another fountain, and the three-story building where the doctor was located was right there. I took a couple of pictures as we were coming out of the building.

I don't think this fountain commemorates anyone or anything in particular, but it is nice. It is adjacent to the palace grounds across the intersection. Note the ever-present buses; there are more of them in downtown Seoul than once can count. Kim and LT Granville.

This view looks in a different direction. Seoul rarely looks this clean, but when it does, and when the air is clear, most areas of town are quite nice-looking. You can see all the different styles of architecture.

We had a pleasant drive back to Camp Howze. If you are curious, all three of us got eye exams and were measured for contact lenses. They are much cheaper than in the States, so we are all three going to try them. They will be ready in a week or two, so we will have to return to get them.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	September 19, 1970: A Visit With Dr. Kim in Seoul; Namsan Mountain
	September 5, 1970: A Trip to Camp Blue Lancer Valley
	Return to Index for 1970