teakman

I earlier replied to a post but must have got lost in cyber space somewhere.Anyway,the gist of it was  the Brits(mostly it's youth)have earned this reputation of drunken roudiness from their own doing.It's this that when I go out in Bangkok or Pattaya,i'll stick to go-go bars(not beer bars) since the Thai bouncers in them wouldn't put up with any obnoxious drunken behaviour be it Brit or anybody.I try to avoid the riff raff which makes for more enjoyable night outs. 

in the early '80's,i used to park my bike in the patpong car park and see the Bobby's Arms place. always thought it be a strange location up in the carpark.never thought to eat there as I preferred Tip Top on patpong 1.at least there I could gaze out the window looking at the scene outside. I would have coffee at his hot dog place beside Foodland which afforded a street view. usually I'd be the only customer then. perhaps it was a livlier place earlier on. never met him but would see him on occasion.wish his family well on his passing away. 

I don't remember the Belgian mercenary's name but could have been luke like the bar's name. as for soi zero,i think a few places opened around late '87 early '88.there were always vendors under the expressway serving the community there. my partner and I made a coffee stand for a thai buddy but didn't last long.the klong got paved over for the world bank meeting in summer '86 and I had to move to my landlady's house which didn't get expropriated.

  the date of the patpong pics are correct I'm sure but in 1980,there wasn't a Nana plaza. the first gogo bar there was Woodstock which was on the 2nd floor near the front stairs then moved to the back right corner with it's restaurant below. owned by John(american from Boston),not British. as for Hollywood bar,i recall seeing it late'87 or so. 

21 hours ago, upside said:

So what year was that

I was living beside the klong at rail tracks when Nana plaza first opened. rents started at 4000baht/month and the first gogo bar was called Woodstock run by an American.after a few months he moved it to the corner of the plaza where he had a restaurant downstairs with the bar upstairs.i had my breakfast there everyday and John(the owner)and I were hockey fans so we used to watch taped games on his wall screen. after a few months,more bars started up and was giving patpong a run for it's money while soi cowboy with its few bars was ever so quiet. a bunch of us along with a bevy of bar girls used to hang out at the Nana hotel pool and one of the guys(a Belgian mercenary)decided to open the first beer bar at the entrance called Lucky Luke's.it was the only bar open during the day and remained there for years. John at Woodstock arranged the first dance contest and was won by my favorite girl at the time. too bad I still don't have the promo t-shirt which had aow(the eventual winner) in sillouette on it. beers were still relatively cheap then at 20baht at the beginning(exchange then @25b/$1) and bar fines @200b and the dancer was 200-300baht with no time restraints then like they are now. most of the time they would even wash your clothes for you and clean your place.real gf experiences then unlike now. different times indeed!

  to answer when Nana opened,I remember around late summer'85.about the same time the landmark hotel was just being finished. I was renting a small house over the klong(now paved over) and several girls from soi cowboy and Nana plaza were renting rooms opposite  my place. great fun listening to their bar tales! the American owner of Woodstock finally got an offer he couldn't refuse and opened a restaurant by same name over by thonglor. his bar at Nana became the first of the rainbow chain. on the 3rd floor of Nana was a snooker hall in which I spent late afternoons playing and had many girls working there.though most would find employment downstairs for the better money offered. 

   having not been to soi cowboy for awhile back then,i was surprised one night the change that had taken place there. they had raised the street with a winding single lane with kiosks lined on both sides making it look quite congested.that didn't last long! Nana didn't take long to catch on and went to cowboy sometimes for its chill. 

pomphuang duanchan, a really beautiful voice. early carabao,some good instrumental tracks. joey boy for some early rap stuff and thongchai McIntyre with some songs in English. these were on the radio alot from mid 80's to early 90's.