02-04-2019, 09:03 PM
I would say it is definitely Christchurch. The curved-top, recessed windows in the building behind the car are very similar to the windows shown in old photos of Warner's Hotel, though they don't show the fire escape which must be a later addition. The hotel was cut in two and one side made into the Majestic Picture Theatre. The Square was the home of the picture palace in those days. The cross at the top of the cenotaph has been cropped as has the fancy structure on the top of the interesting looking building on the top right. Bob is right about NZ being dead in the weekends. When the Americans were building their bases in Antarctica in 1957 and Christchurch was filled with American sailors, my father, who had spent the war at sea in frigates, used to say he had sympathy for these guys, wandering the deserted streets of a closed city. As time went on Operation Deep Freeze - as the Antarctic Project is called - established a club for American servicemen at Harewood Airport which, some say, was a breeding ground for NZ rock music. The ski-equipped C-130 Hercules aircraft fly from Harewood to the ice.