What Historic Bangkok Bars Do We Have Left?

[yang123]

What happened to The Living Room bar on Sukhumvit (not the same name joint in the Sheraton)?

[dddave]

On 1/5/2021 at 2:19 PM, GrandPapillon said:

TQ??? no way, wasn't it the first gogo ever open in Pattaya or some other historic artifact? great rock music there, girls in the other hand

Wasn't "Marylyn Bar" the 1st Pattaya Go-Go?

[1FinickyOne]

On 1/5/2021 at 4:38 PM, Nout said:

Not a bar, not historical.

but still a Landmark - eh? 

[1FinickyOne]

On 1/6/2021 at 10:46 PM, joecoolfrog said:

owner was Jah.

Jah, the half Vietnamese lady? whatever happened to her? real pretty face and quite attractive until she overdid it in another area... that Jah? 

[rott]

On 1/6/2021 at 2:06 PM, GrandPapillon said:

Did anyone mentioned "Woodstock" back in the late 90s in Nana? great place for drinks and food

Yes that had a mention. Nice relaxing gaff. Shame they moved to Ekamai and completely restyled it. Took the Mrs there for a meal in it's early days but never went back. 

[rott]

21 hours ago, Kalorymetr said:

Do you know any good bars, where locals go? This is what I usually do, when in foreign country, but here it seems you are posting bars that were specifically set up to serve tourists and expats.

Their idea of a bar is not ours. Generally either karaoke or a beer garden / eating house type. 

[OneMoreFarang]

3 hours ago, dddave said:

I happened to be spending that night with a girl who had a room on the roof of the Miami Hotel.  We heard a commotion about 3AM and watched the demolition from below the big rooftop "Miami Hotel" sign.  It was an unbelievable scene, about 150 "irregulars": some troops in uniform, forestry police and whoever else Chewit could hire acted like Genghis Khan sacking a city.  Not a single chair, table, countertop or partition survived, virtually everything was smashed.  Nobody was killed AFAIK but several business owners who came and tried to protect their businesses were beaten up pretty badly. It took a day or so for the site to be walled off and it looked just like a town hit by a tornado.

Chewit did one year of a two year sentence: not for the demolition but for some fraudulent transactions acquiring the property.  Not long after release he ran for governor of Bangkok, plastering the city with posters of himself, Colt 45 in hand. Chewit was known then as the massage parlor king as he owned most of the large "Soapies" along Petchabury Rd and Ratchada.  He paid for the soi 10 plot to be made into Chewit Park and dedicated to the King as a way to buy some respectability.   He was forbidden to ever personally participate in developing that parcel of land though I'm sure he's got a workaround in mind. 

I live in that area since forever but I have to admit I was never in the Miami Hotel or on their roof. But it must be definitely one of the oldest hotels in town.

 

Chuvit park doesn't exist anymore. I am not sure in Covid times but otherwise I would expect a new building site sometime soon.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, Salerno said:

3 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

 

 

I have to admit I don't know Lucy. But I saw Kangaroo bar in the background. We always called it Australian Embassy. 

[rimmae2]

3 hours ago, Salerno said:

 

  

 

Could be worth a few Bht now:

Priceless cap. No way would I think of selling it if I owned it.

[moe666]

On 1/4/2021 at 9:12 PM, seancbk said:

 

Cheap Charlies is in On Nut and in a much nicer spot.  

It maybe called cheap charlies but that isn't cheap charlies

[moe666]

31 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I live in that area since forever but I have to admit I was never in the Miami Hotel or on their roof. But it must be definitely one of the oldest hotels in town.

 

Chuvit park doesn't exist anymore. I am not sure in Covid times but otherwise I would expect a new building site sometime soon.

That was my r and r hotel in 1970 and 71, do not remember a roof top bar but a few fellas jumped off the balconies into the pool. Sukhumvit was only 4 lanes wide no center medium. They would take 3 lanes of traffic coming into the city with one going out in the morning. In the afternoon repeat except 3 lanes out and one lane into the city. The big action was on Silom. 

[Damrongsak]

18 hours ago, bangkok19 said:

I remember the scene in the Mississippi Queen Bar in PP1.  I don't remember a band though....  just Christopher Walkens' character, the girl and her screaming baby.

My mate was in the scene at the Military Hospital, you could just see the back of him walking with another doctor.  ...

My buddy was right outside the bar entrance dressed as a GI, grinning and talking to a bar girl.  Clearly visible for a couple seconds.  He witnessed the scene where they storm the embassy gates.  He said the Thai extras went wild with that, LOL. 

[josephbloggs]

7 hours ago, dddave said:

INot long after release he ran for governor of Bangkok, plastering the city with posters of himself, Colt 45 in hand. 

I think your memory is playing tricks on you - that never happened.  He has never had a poster of himself with a gun - nor would that be permitted.

Angry pointing, yes. Posing with a pitbull, yes.  Raising a sledgehammer, yes.  Shaking a fist, yes.  But with a gun in hand, don't be silly, never happened.  With such a colourful character there is no need to make things up.

He's an easily (and rightfully) criticised man and has done a lot wrong but I like the fact he is / was not a hypocrite.  When he got sentenced to jail he turned up with his toothbrush, did not appeal, and went and did his time.  More honour than most.  Not defending his past which is reprehensible, just found him a breath of fresh air as he took on the establishment in a comical yet admirable way in his later years.

[VBF]

9 hours ago, Salerno said:

 

  

 

Could be worth a few Bht now:

I remember Lucy's Tiger Den well. My second trip to Thailand from Saudi in 1985, I discovered it and loved the place. There is a recurring scene of a lady in a white shirt sitting on "Santa's" knee.  Unless I'm very much mistaken said lady was an intimate acquaintance of mine.....or maybe it was her identical twin sister ????????

[bangkok19]

9 hours ago, dddave said:

Jah; the bionic bar girl.  She had more surgeries than Evil Knevil, most paid for by the oil workers who used to hang in WS.  

 

I was in Silver Dollar one day (anyone remember their free Sunday dinner?).  A bunch of oil workers were partying with the girls, a girl named Mint among them.  She was sweet with a beautiful face but flat as Kansas. They started joking about buying her implants and next thing, they took-up a collection among themselves and handed Mint about 40K...told her to get implants.  She did.   She ended up at Wild Country after S$ closed.

Jees, there was a MINT in the '52 in QPP right up until they closed the joint last year. Not very common for a Thai name so could be the same person. Many of the Washington Sq staffers hung around the area after the Square's slow dismantling.

[bangkok19]

Re:  JAH ,,,   During the slow closing down of WASHINGTON SQUARE...  the only remaining bars still operating were the group along the road that had TAFFY'S BAR. Next door was the EASY BAR... Jah was the boss/cashier. 

One afternoon we'd attended a birthday party at the MOONSHINE in QPP.  The bar started to fill up with regulars, and friends of regulars, and of course the usual balloon chasers. We decided to 'kick on' so went to the last remaining part of WASHINGTON SQ that hadn't been closed down yet.  Ended up in the EASY BAR next to TAFFY'S place.

I remember it getting late and I was having too much fun...  went home.

Next day after a Burger in NEW COWBOY BAR I walked down to the EASY (like returning to the scene of a crime) and there was JAH (always wearing a singlet)..  She told me I owed the bar Bt 3,000 from last night...   I thought  "..that all".

When the last lot of surviving bars closed down in WASHINGTON SQ she opened up the B52 in QPP.  Most of her staff were ex-Square girls.  That made it hard to just walk past the '52 because there'd be a girl sitting at the table out front that knew you from THE TEXAN or BOBBY TOOMS...  she'd reel you in!

Jah and the girls worked as 'team'...  one in, all in, so to speak.

If you were in the '52 at night on your lonesome surrounded by the girls..  Jah would sit outside the front door acting as a security guard.

I stopped going there about a year before they closed QPP..  it was getting too expensive.

 

I then started going to a little 'hole in the wall' Bar on 22 down the Soi past Buddy's and some massage parlours.

You were virtually just about sitting on the footpath. Sitting on a stool at a bar running parallel to the footpath looking down on the passing parade. I think it was called CHILL. They had no toilet..  you had to get escorted down 22 and around the corner past TOO EASY and MODERATION (think it's gone now) to their other bar at the end. You'd always bump your head walking into the bathroom. Ring a bell?

 

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎1‎/‎3‎/‎2021 at 7:42 PM, IvorLott said:

There are still a few knocking around, but most have been blitzed in the name of 'progress'  mainly for sh*tty poncey 'finger food', ' craft beer'  'hipster/flashpacker' (really!) places, I doubt few bars in Bangkok now, would make those old 'best bars in Asia' lists which were the staple of many an expat/travel/ forum back 'in the day'.

All I can think of , off the top of my head,  are Chequers, the Bier Garten, Sexy Nite (Nana) Superstar (Patpong) the Huntsman, even Gulliver's (Soi 5 Suk, or KSrd), Morning /Night and Stumble Inn (Nana), which feel like 'new' bars to me, are approaching 'vintage' status,  

Gulliver in Suk 5 is no more.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Gulliver in Suk 5 is no more.

Will anybody apart from the tourists and hookers miss it?

[thedemon]

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Will anybody apart from the tourists and hookers miss it?

 

Lol. No.

[FritsSikkink]

2 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Will anybody apart from the tourists and hookers miss it?

Was dead as a dodo for a long time already before they closed it down.

[bangkok19]

BIEN'S PLACE, another old long gone Soi Cowboy Bar.

Bien and Ted (My Lady Bar) were good friends of an elderly lady friend I have known for years. (Sajee)

 

When the 'original' Cowboy opened his bar in the Soi...  Sajee opened the very first bar around the corner in Soi 23.

In the late 70's she moved up north to Fang and had the Poppy Bar, then later settled in Chiang Mai where she was the resident piano accordian player in the ANODARD COFFEE SHOP.

 

We still visit her up in the Borsang area and she has many old tales to tell about the early days of Soi Cowboy and, also quite saddened that she has outlived all those early Soi Cowboy 'pioneers.'

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, bangkok19 said:

We still visit her up in the Borsang area and she has many old tales to tell about the early days of Soi Cowboy and, also quite saddened that she has outlived all those early Soi Cowboy 'pioneers.'

A source for more old tales about Soi Cowboy, and a lot more, is Roger Crutchley. He traveled a lifetime ago with a bus from the UK to Thailand and stayed here. And recently he published a book about it. It's interesting.

Roger is also a very nice guy and he is normally a regular in Soi Cowboy. But since Covid he takes it easy.

 

[Hugh Cow]

On 1/5/2021 at 7:41 PM, Nout said:

Check Inn 99 has gone, Lucky Luke's has gone, The Golden bar has gone....dunno...Soi 33?

Didnt check in move to soi 33? I remember seeing it there after a walk down the soi where i use to regularly haunt with bars like degars and Renoir. I remember staying at the African themed hotel (forget the name). They did a decent breakfast. There was a few down that street. Sadly most have closed now. I see someone mentioned Dennys at W square. I use to frequent that bar as well. I liked the open air style.

[H1w4yR1da]

On 1/7/2021 at 5:12 AM, Damrongsak said:

Was it The Deer Hunter?  I don't remember a band, but I do remember them filming in Patpong.  My buddy was in the film as an extra, chatting up bar girls as he liked to do.  I was late to the party by a few days.  I think he got paid $20 a day.

Not the Deer Hunter. Late 80s movie.

[H1w4yR1da]

23 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Gulliver in Suk 5 is no more.

Saw a sign outside that it was being refurbished.

[josephbloggs]

47 minutes ago, Hugh Lao said:

I remember staying at the African themed hotel (forget the name). They did a decent breakfast. 

Livingstones.

[Nout]

On 1/9/2021 at 11:50 AM, FritsSikkink said:

Gulliver in Suk 5 is no more.

As an enormous backpacker restaurant, part of a chain, Gulliver never qualified as an ex pat bar...far too transient and very modern.....and full of youngsters...and rosy checked farang feminist chick's....the very ANTITHESIS of an expat bar.

[Nout]

The Thermae still exists but in name only. I used to drink there till 7 am and the jukebox was the original from the Vietnam War era.

[OneMoreFarang]

10 minutes ago, Nout said:

The Thermae still exists but in name only. I used to drink there till 7 am and the jukebox was the original from the Vietnam War era.

In a way it's good that it changed. Who would want to see the women from the Vietnam war area now?

[H1w4yR1da]

Bourbon Street Washington Sq. Moved to Ekamai and popular with Thai Yuppies apparently.

 

Lucky Luke's Beer Bar in Nana used to be run by an obnoxious Austrian in the 80s.

Had a plaque stating "No Arab sit here.."

 

Also had a sticker plastered behind the bar which strangely read "I like Austria". LOL!