In 1956, the octagon-shaped building was renamed the "Red Theater" (
buildings erected
To feed hungry movie-goers, more buildings were erected and more street vendors gathered to the west and south of the theater during the 1960s and 1970s.
Business for these vendors, however, has gone downhill since 1991, when the nearby Chunghua Market was demolished to make room for Chunghua Road.
In 1997, the city government designated the theater as a third-class historic relic and launched a remodeling project to make it into a movie museum.
The fire of July 22 last year, however, almost flattened the market and destroyed 129 stores to the south and west of the theater.
deeply disappointed
As Huang watched the excavator demolish the buildings opposite his florist shop, he said he still couldn't help feeling that the revitalization plan was unfair for the shop owners.
"The city claimed that their buildings were illegally constructed, but they had been around long before the KMT forces came over," said Huang, whose shop was spared because it was considered "legal."
A women by the name of Chen, who was busy emptying her shop opposite Huang's on Wednesday afternoon, said that she was very disappointed with the compensation offered by the city government.
"Ten years ago, I spent NT$3 million to purchase this place and have been paying NT$4,000 every month for the vendor's license. "The NT$1.12 million compensation is hardly enough to cover my losses.
"I don't want to move, but what else can I do?" she said.
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