tennis and tunes “Sai Kung is the only beach town in Hong Kong that has a vast amount of things to do. There’s such a diverse group of people here and countless beaches, shops, restaurants. It’s what brought me here and it’s what keeps me here to this day,” he says. Post Covid, Cumings performed at popular Macau nightclub Cubic, once a month. But spends most of his time at Ventuno. “I opened Ventuno in 2018 as a clubhouse for my tennis group and figured I could sell vinyl records, tennis gear and hang out with friends every day.” Starting out with a collection of over 6,000 vinyl records from his DJing days, Cumings wanted to downsize and has sold over 4,000 since opening the store two years ago. “I’ll sell any record for the right price but some of my rarest are Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Nirvana’s Bleach, I might have to keep a hold of them.” Cumings expanded his business to string tennis rackets, which proved popular with Asia’s top tennis pros from the Hong Kong Tennis and Golf Academy. But while the business was steadily increasing, this year has been tough for Ventuno. “Everything was great until Covid-19 started to slow things down. The tennis courts closed for over four months and that was an absolute death-blow to my business,” he reveals. Cumings had planned to open a café in the space but decided to postpone it until next year. Despite the minor setback, Cumings is keeping positive and encourages Saikungers to pop down to Ventuno for good vibes and even better tunes. Visit Cuming and peruse his record collection at 21 Sai Kung Hoi Pong Street.
Gordon Cumings has been providing the soundtrack to many of Hongkongers’ Saturday nights since 1995. Becoming a full-time DJ at the age of 16, Cumings has played private gigs for some of Hong Kong’s elite, including Stanley Ho, Michelle Yeoh and Richard Li, along with international sensations such as Madonna and Mariah Carey.
Reminiscing on his past DJing days, Cumings says performing Ghetto Superstar with Pras at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong is up there in his highlights. “As well as being the only DJ for a tribute show at the Michael Jackson museum just after he passed away.” In 2016, Cumings retired from DJing full time and moved to Sai Kung two years later,
SAIKUNG | 15
