Need Help Identifying The Location Of This Old Photo

[jcbangkok]

Long story but am trying to help somebody track down their biological father and need help identifying where the location of this old picture was taken.

I cannot read Thai but the billboards appear to be Thai. I do know the billboard on the left is from the movie "The Valachi Papers" which came out in 1972 in the US.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Just knowing the city would be helpful. Thanks Again!

Edited August 1, 2010 by jcbangkok

[zzaa09]

Just a guess. Looks like it might be the fountain at 22nd July Circle, looking towards Maitrichit Road, in Amphoe Pathum Wan.....Bangkok.

[jcbangkok]

Thanks, my gut tells me it is BKK but was hoping to get some confirmation from one of the signs. Not sure if this will help anybody read the signs but here are a couple zoomed in images ...

[Forethat]

The left billboard is a movie ad for a cinema on "Sukhumvit"

[otherstuff1957]

The upper part of the first sign reads "Sukhumvit 2 theaters(or maybe 2 projectors) & --tens (I cant make out the first couple of letters

[jcbangkok]

Thanks a bunch. A good friend of mine who tracked down her biological mother & father a number of years ago is now helping a friend do the same who just found out he had "other" parents out there. Not really sure how the picture comes into play here but she asked me to look at it knowing I have traveled Asia. She had thought it was Korea. So, I am guessing narrowing it down to the Bangkok area is going to help a lot. But I tell you, I am now curious to know where this is at. Maybe an old timer from the Vietnam days will recognize this. The building with the pink sign looks very familiar to me but then again when you can't read the language a lot looks familiar.

THANKS AGAIN!!!

[PattayaParent]

looks like a sign for the Rajah Hotel in the back which would put it on Sukhumvit Soi 2 or 4.

Wasn't the old Sukhumvit cinema where those American bars are (were) can't remember the name now, think one of them was the Texas Lone Star bar?

Washington Square, but the photo reminds me of the junction of Phetchaburi and Soi 3 (Nana Nua)

Edited August 2, 2010 by PattayaParent

[Boksida]

The sign in the right background looks the sign that used to be on the old First Hotel in Petchburi Road, Bangkok. That would make the traffic circle in the foreground at the intersection of Petchburi and Phya Thai Roads.

The cinema at Washington Square was called the Washington, hence the name. The Sukhumvit Cinema was on the other side of Sukhumvit Road and burnt down around 1972, but this is only an unconfirmed recollection. It was well reported at the time because of the bizarre way the fire started.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

You might want to share the story with the guy, former USAF here, who does this www site. He has made such connections in the past. When I run across a Thai-Luk Kung looking for dad, or vise versa, I refer them here: http://amer-thai2001.tripod.com/gspresearch/id10.html

Mac

[PattayaParent]

The sign in the right background looks the sign that used to be on the old First Hotel in Petchburi Road, Bangkok. That would make the traffic circle in the foreground at the intersection of Petchburi and Phya Thai Roads.

The cinema at Washington Square was called the Washington, hence the name. The Sukhumvit Cinema was on the other side of Sukhumvit Road and burnt down around 1972, but this is only an unconfirmed recollection. It was well reported at the time because of the bizarre way the fire started.

I think you might be right, what I thought was RAJ could be a very blurry HOTE and there looks to be a word before it obscured by the lower sign.

In the first picture there even seems to be the full word HOTEL if you squint a bit.

[katana]

Reading a bit more from the billboard, the writing is a bit indistinct, but it appears to say that the film is showing at two places, at the Sukhumwit and Athens cinemas.

Don't know if the Athens cinema still exists; looking on Google, there used to be one on Rachatewi I think.

It says the film's opening at the beginning of April and also mentions it stars Charles Bronson.

[avcomth]

Billboards and shop signs tend to change over the decades, so they're not very reliable especially if those shops have long gone out of business.

The location is definitely at the 22nd of July roundabout in Pom Prap Sattru Phai district not far from Hua Lam Phong train station, as I immediately recognise

the architecture of that fountain. Check out these links on Google Earth:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/23453679

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/13698388

[moe666]

I donot think Sukhumvit stayed at the Miami Hotel on Suk and donot remember a fountain anywere in that area years 1970-1971, but kind of drunk anyway.

[daveh]

Billboards and shop signs tend to change over the decades, so they're not very reliable especially if those shops have long gone out of business.

The location is definitely at the 22nd of July roundabout in Pom Prap Sattru Phai district not far from Hua Lam Phong train station, as I immediately recognise

the architecture of that fountain. Check out these links on Google Earth:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/23453679

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/13698388

They don't look to be the same fountain at all. The one in OPs photo appears to be round, while in the photos you've provided, the fountain appears to have more of a petal design.

[PattayaParent]

I don't even think it's a roundabout, more likely a junction.

Can you see the 'no right turn' sign just next to the red car in the first photo?

There wouldn't be a no right turn on a roundabout.

So that's a filter lane onto a main road.

[avcomth]

Billboards and shop signs tend to change over the decades, so they're not very reliable especially if those shops have long gone out of business.

The location is definitely at the 22nd of July roundabout in Pom Prap Sattru Phai district not far from Hua Lam Phong train station, as I immediately recognise

the architecture of that fountain. Check out these links on Google Earth:

http://www.panoramio.../photo/23453679

http://www.panoramio.../photo/13698388

They don't look to be the same fountain at all. The one in OPs photo appears to be round, while in the photos you've provided, the fountain appears to have more of a petal design.

That's because in the OP's photo, you're looking at just one of the "petals" jutting out from the side of the picture! Each of those petals appears rounded, look again on the under side. Also the surroundings of that fountain have change numerous times over the years.

[PattayaParent]

^then explain why a roundabout has a no right turn sign on it? and traffic clearly heading away from it.

Edited August 3, 2010 by PattayaParent

[Boksida]

For the OP, the Thai movie on the billboard looks like it stars Mitr Chaibancha and Petchara Chaowarat. Mitr was killed in 1970 making a movie at Jomtien so the photo predates that. I will stick to my original guess that the photo shows the intersection of Phya Thai Road and Petchburi. The first shop down the road looks like the Duangdao Hairdressing School, which is still in the same location and the First Hotel is further down the road. The big sign on top was removed in 1988 after a deadly fire where people were rescued from the roof by helicopter - I think that was a first for Bangkok.

To the best of my memory, the 22nd July Circle did not have a fountain in those days and that was a later development. I do remember that Phya Thai Road had traffic circles at most main intersections.

[tw25rw]

I don't know the area but looking at the satellite photo, there are still fountains/floral arrangements at that junction. The fountain seems to stick out further into Petchburi than looks possible in the modern photo, so maybe it was widened when the elevated road was built. The First Hotel also appears to have a shiny new roof.

[daveh]

Billboards and shop signs tend to change over the decades, so they're not very reliable especially if those shops have long gone out of business.

The location is definitely at the 22nd of July roundabout in Pom Prap Sattru Phai district not far from Hua Lam Phong train station, as I immediately recognise

the architecture of that fountain. Check out these links on Google Earth:

http://www.panoramio.../photo/23453679

http://www.panoramio.../photo/13698388

They don't look to be the same fountain at all. The one in OPs photo appears to be round, while in the photos you've provided, the fountain appears to have more of a petal design.

That's because in the OP's photo, you're looking at just one of the "petals" jutting out from the side of the picture! Each of those petals appears rounded, look again on the under side. Also the surroundings of that fountain have change numerous times over the years.

I looked very closely. The first sign that it's not the same is the radius of the edge doesn't look right. But the most obvious dissimilarity is underneath the fountain. In the panoramio pictures, the ribs under the fountain are located where each of the "petals" (smaller diameter circle segements) intersect. In the OP picture, you can see the ribs but they meet at the top where the fountain is just a regular circle segment, not where two segments intersect.

[tw25rw]

The left movie poster does mention Charles Bronson as stated, dating it to 1972 at the earliest. The other poster looks like it might be called "Mother" in Thai, but I can't find the poster on google searches for old Thai movies..

I read that when Mitr Chaibancha was killed doing a scene, they left it in the cinema version of the film..

[daveh]

Where did this photo come from? It could not have been a digital photo from back then, so if you have the original, I'd highly recommend rescanning it with a better scanner. Also, scan the entire photo, not just a cropped square from it. If possible, scan the negative because it will have more information. You should definitely be able to make out the name of the hotel in the background. But to be honest, to me it looks like it was a single frame of a video, so someone may just be having fun at your expense.

[PattayaParent]

^good suggestion about the photo.

You can ask a developer to print it 'full frame' and that will include all the edges from the negative that they usually crop out.

[avcomth]

OK, I was WRONG.

Checked out the location based on the "Duang dao hairdressing school" sign with a couple of Bangkok old timers and was able to

confirmed that this was the long gone "Rachathewi roundabout" which is now the intersection between Phayatai and Petchaburi

road. From the photo provided by the OP, it seems that the person was standing at the roundabout and looking in the direction

heading to Pratunam. The Duang dao hairdressing school was just a little distance from the department of livestock but its current location is opposite the First hotel just passing Pantip plaza. Please take a look at the link below. The roundabout was said to have been gone for at least 30 years and I think that they just moved the fountain to each corner of the junction as shown.

http://www.panoramio.../photo/37832585

Edited August 5, 2010 by avcomth

[jcbangkok]

Wow, you guys are AMAZING. Like the mini CIA here, lol.

My friend was so very grateful to you all. I would have been happy with confirming it was BKK but like you all I really got curious to know where exactly this was and it appears the mystery is solved.

[zzdocxx]

I found this thread quite fascinating, like a detective story.

Thanks!

[Boksida]

Wow, you guys are AMAZING. Like the mini CIA here, lol.

My friend was so very grateful to you all. I would have been happy with confirming it was BKK but like you all I really got curious to know where exactly this was and it appears the mystery is solved.

Give us a hard one next time.

If I told you why I was able to recognize the intersection immediately, you would be less impressed. Brought back a lot of memories though.

[MiG16]

and my good eyesight was not even needed to read all the blurry thai text on the school name! awwww I feel left out now

not that I could have added any insight, as the time period pre-dates me

[robblok]

and my good eyesight was not even needed to read all the blurry thai text on the school name! awwww I feel left out now

not that I could have added any insight, as the time period pre-dates me

Mig the young girl

[zzdocxx]

Wow, you guys are AMAZING. Like the mini CIA here, lol.

My friend was so very grateful to you all. I would have been happy with confirming it was BKK but like you all I really got curious to know where exactly this was and it appears the mystery is solved.

Give us a hard one next time.

If I told you why I was able to recognize the intersection immediately, you would be less impressed. Brought back a lot of memories though.

Come on and spill it, now you've got me intrigued! ! !