nana plaza back in the day

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

7 hours ago, chiang mai said:

 

Sorry but I don't immediately see a reference to your first generation quote but perhaps that's academic anyway. If you are trying to suggest that the ancestry of the Nana family is Indian then I'm OK with that and you may well be right (it's a bit like me being refered to as Celtic or Saxon so who really cares). The fact is however  that Lek Nana was Thai and his death was referenced by the royal court: "Lek Nana died of a heart attack in a Bangkok hospital in 2010 at the age of 85. He was buried at Ban Somdej Mosque in Thonburi, with royal representation from HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej. ", ergo, there's not much left to debate on this tangent!

I know this is off topic, but check the origin of Thai names. You might find it interesting how the Chinese and other immigrants got their second names, and how common Thais finally had to adapt to not just using a given name; Hence many Thais have shorter names and Chinese-Thais have multiple syllables to theirs.

[HooHaa]

On 1/13/2017 at 3:54 PM, Toronto said:

Original thermae entrance was from rear of building thru unisex horng nam. Heaps of girls and few foreigners. Fantastic place. Freelancers everywhere. About 1985. Ahhh...nostalgia.

 

I do beleive the unisex, and fragrrant toilets were at thermes second incarnation.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

10 minutes ago, HooHaa said:

 

I do beleive the unisex, and fragrrant toilets were at thermes second incarnation.

Can you remember where the girls toilet was in the old bar? Please remind me.

The entrance was between a trough urinal on the left and kitchens on the right.

When the new one first opened you had to go up a flight of stairs to the toilets for the building. Now the toilets are down a few steps directly out the back to the left, sit to the left and urinal straight ahead.

Still hardly fragrant!

[MyFriend You]

On 1/12/2017 at 2:49 PM, Fabricus said:

 

Wow! What a superb post.

 

Can you remember the Belgian guy's name?

 

Also, do you remember when Soi Zero opened?

 

Soi Zero started out as "Buckskin Joe's Village"  There was a tall American guy that worea buckskin jacket complete with frills on the sleeves and cowboy hat & boots.  Not to be confused with "The Cowby" taht opened the first bar on Soi Cowboy, don't know what that was called before they renamed it.  All the Girls in Buckskin Joe's Village were freaked out when they renamed it Soi Zero, that was a sign of bad luck and sure enough it was forced to close...........Emu Bar run by an Aussie Construction Engineer, Det Five opened by a couple of Army Guys and 'others' Best Hamburgers in Town back then, it reopened on Soi 8 and is still going strong - there was a Cambodian Bar in the very front, Thai Chicks need not apply, all the girls were Khmer, good place to throw darts.   A number of girls were murdered in in that area after they changed the Name, they will always say 'Pee Lok', could have been Buckskin Joe himself, who knows...........

[MyFriend You]

On 1/12/2017 at 3:16 PM, Fabricus said:

 

I definitely remember the name Three Roses. Wasn't that Nana Plaza?

Nana Plaza, still have the Hat - all three were Pilots of various aircraft, Rotor and Fixed wing, flew for Air America, as was the American guy that ran DC-10 - Three Roses was the first bar at the top of the stairs as soon as you entered Nana.  Two of the owners were named Steve, one died of Cancer, one was murdered on second floor of Dynasty Inn, the other just faded away  -  another favorite Khmer Bar, most of the girls were Cambodian.

[bandito]

20 hours ago, GBK said:

 

I've never seen an Arab in the Nana Hotel. 

 

In Soi 4, yes, but not in the hotel. 

 

Soi 4 was, before the Arab sex tourists came to Thailand and used the Nana Hotel, just that a soi and Nana hotel was a short time hotel also and so was Grace Hotel and both also catered to the sex tours.

 Soi 4 led to The Tobacco Monopoly of Thailand and was a cigarette factory at the end of the soi.

The owner, at the time, of the Grace Hotel was Thai-Chinese.

And I have never seen an Arab in the Grace Hotel but I'm talking of over 40 years ago.

The Grace Hotel got sold in later years.

[jonwilly]

So many memories activated by this thread Nana Plaza.

Pleased that folks are being polite. Time takes a toll of the Grey Cells.

Khun Nana was an Indian of the Sikh religion, resident/ legal, before the laws changed in 55 so could and did own land.

I am 99% sure that Raja Tailors where family 

 

 

Good people I knew them well.

Bars and names from times gone by.

The Rose, yes a bar in a strip of 3 on Sukhumvit beyond soi 10 but before what became Asoke interchange, knew it well.

Also a Patpong bar, upstairs where one could have a hands free service, pleasant memories and the Rose Hotel Patpong's version of the Grace.

Thermae, or as some folks use to call it The Star Wars Bar, you could and did meet some specimens in there. Usually entered by the back Hong Nam, girls toilet ! hazy memory says Multi Gender,  down the stairs up the corridor and Hello Ladies. Contracted my last anti social problem there, many a year ago.

In the opinion of many residents of BKK the upstairs Massage was best value for money in town, one girl showed me inside their 'Training School', they knew their stuff !

Mr Trink, wrote the Night Owl in BKK Post, everyone followed his comments. The small soi behind the Shell Station became Soi Cowboy which he named after T.L. Edwards, The Cowboy, who really old hands assured me was the first man to introduce a Jukebox to the nights on Cowboy.

He was 'married' to 'Nong' Baluan Chantrasorn, with whom he had a daughter, Loretta, named for the first bar he had on his street or perhaps the bar was named for the daughter. She ended up Dancing on the street after Nong's business venture turned sour, a husband cleaned her out, another tale of old Bangkok.

Woodstock, Hogs Breath, Carousel, Pink Lady new them all  but I was mainly a Cowboy Boozer.

As for ExMil, Brit, there's a saying up in Chiang Mai, We have had more SAS or ex SAS then ever did selection since it was formed. Only one ever proved to have been so.

Great thread keep up the tales of times gone bye.

 

john

[chiang mai]

An interesting aspect about those bars in that day is that whilst many patrons got serious bloto'ed from time to time, there were very few fights as I recall, I can only remember two. The first involved Kuhn Dom, the manager at Hogs Breath who handed out a (very rare) beating to two Thai's he knew who had crossed a line somewhere. It started off as conversation at the bar and then escalated quite quickly, an American stood near the door closed it to protect privacy and a number of people fled to the relative safety of the store room in the back, three minutes later we were all stood at the bar again and all was forgotten.

 

The second involved two very drunken Brits who started a fist fight with each other in the bar across the way from Hogs Breath. They emerged from the bar swinging at each other, moved along the first floor balcony, down the stair well (still swinging) and finally emerged in the centre of the (then still open) courtyard, still swinging but both completely exhausted. The sound of fists hitting heads was amplified in the stairwell and as almost everyone in the Plaza watched it progress, sounds of oooh and arghhhh would rise from the audience as the sound of a particularly loud blow reverberated off the concrete walls. Eventually the two called it a day and barely able to stand or move they embraced and went off for a drink, all to the cheers and applause of the assembled crowd.

 

Edited January 14, 2017 by chiang mai

[upside]

9 hours ago, George FmplesdaCosteedback said:

I can go back over 30 years too. First, as far as I know Woodstock was owned by an American called Peter. Johnny was English, and he owned about four of the bars, "The Hollywoods" although he let out "Stars" and his son Kevin used to manage for him too.

The biggest difference is that back then only Casanova was a Ladyboy bar, not like now where they outnumber the girls only bars.

I used to know all the farang managers.

Johnny didn't own the Hollywood bars

[bualoi]

Good Topic and enjoyed reading all the comments .My First time in Thailand in 1980 and was allways frequenting Patpong back then (can we start a fresh topic of the Patpong bars of the '80s).The odd trip to Nana was enjoyable and the Woodstock Bar was great for a relaxed drink and Beer.Hogs Breath also a great buz back then .The daytimes were boring in Bangkok back then and the Snooker Hall in Nana was great to spend a few hours in .Playing pool on those large snooker tables was an experience.

I agree the women back then were absolutely stunning,I am still married to one who I met in '83 and she is still stunning now at 53.

But patpong was insane Sugar Shack ,Roxy, Butterfly, Kings Castle Limelight,Pink Panther ,spot on,grand Prix, Thigh bar ,what memories and the music back in the '80s was what made it so wild.

Sri Bamphen apartments was where I would end up on occasions and there was so many patpong girls there it was allways fun times ,

I allways look back on them days with a smile ,wouldn't change it for anything.

 

 

[phuketrichard]

On 1/13/2017 at 5:50 PM, Thingamabob said:

The old Kings Castle on Patpong 1 was the best bar in Asia, if not the world, in the late '70s early '80s. Nothing has since matched it in Nana Plaza or anywhere else.

naaa, they had the best girls ( an Katoeys) but Superstar was the place to be . I used to park my Royal Enfield outside and at 2 am whe the bars closed i would ride thru bangkok with the thai doormen that owned English bikes.  Across the soi on the 3rd floor was a decent hotel but forget the name,

 

Back in mid 80's we all would stay on the 6th floor of the crown hotel ( soi 6)and leave our doors open in the daytime  and the girls all knew  each other.  

Back than ,(mid 80's, early 90's ) it was fun. mid 90's it started going down hill and the attitude of the bar girls changed.

 

Haven't been in a gogo bar for a decade

Edited January 15, 2017 by phuketrichard

[HooHaa]

5 hours ago, TunnelRat69 said:

Soi Zero started out as "Buckskin Joe's Village"  There was a tall American guy that worea buckskin jacket complete with frills on the sleeves and cowboy hat & boots.  Not to be confused with "The Cowby" taht opened the first bar on Soi Cowboy, don't know what that was called before they renamed it.  All the Girls in Buckskin Joe's Village were freaked out when they renamed it Soi Zero, that was a sign of bad luck and sure enough it was forced to close...........Emu Bar run by an Aussie Construction Engineer, Det Five opened by a couple of Army Guys and 'others' Best Hamburgers in Town back then, it reopened on Soi 8 and is still going strong - there was a Cambodian Bar in the very front, Thai Chicks need not apply, all the girls were Khmer, good place to throw darts.   A number of girls were murdered in in that area after they changed the Name, they will always say 'Pee Lok', could have been Buckskin Joe himself, who knows...........

 

 

Det 5 was owned by a belgian gem dealer named bob. He had a wife named lek.

 

Det 5 is still in ezxistsnce on soi 8, though the vibe is quite different..

[chiang mai]

Slightly odd that nobody has yet mentioned The Star of Light bar in the Pong.

[HooHaa]

Just now, chiang mai said:

Slightly odd that nobody has yet mentioned The Star of Light bar in the Pong.

 

Went in once. Wasnt reall my thing.

[HooHaa]

On 1/13/2017 at 10:55 PM, KarenBravo said:

 

No it wasn't.

The Grace hotel was mainly used during the Vietnam era by GI's on R&R. By the mid-eighties, when there was only Patpong and Cowboy, the Grace was a relic; the only people staying there were Arabs.

 

The coffe shop at the grace hotel was rammed late nineties early 2000 before it baecame almost entirely arab oriented. it was where the girls went after work and it was rsre to get out of there before 4 am. It was very much a part of the whole scene.

[KarenBravo]

My days in Cowboy and Patpong were from 1981 to 1985. What I said applies to that time period.

[GBK]

On 11/01/2017 at 3:06 PM, NickJ said:

About thirty years ago. I would guess. I remember when the Plaza was pretty much it on the whole soi. Is the John your referring to English Johnny? The guy that later came to run quite a few of the bars.

 

No, you're thinking of Johnny-the-Car, whose name was actually Eric, but he didn't like it, so used Johnny.

[GBK]

8 hours ago, bandito said:

 

Soi 4 was, before the Arab sex tourists came to Thailand and used the Nana Hotel.

 

I've never seen an Arab in the Nana Hotel and I still stay there sometimes.

[upside]

14 minutes ago, GBK said:

 

No, you're thinking of Johnny-the-Car, whose name was actually Eric, but he didn't like it, so used Johnny.

 

Do you know Johnny? 

[chiang mai]

25 minutes ago, GBK said:

 

I've never seen an Arab in the Nana Hotel and I still stay there sometimes.

 

he was speaking of 40 years ago

[GBK]

19 minutes ago, upside said:

 

Do you know Johnny? 

 

No, I met and had a drink with him quite a few times, but don't really know him.  I was just another customer.

[upside]

13 minutes ago, GBK said:

 

No, I met and had a drink with him quite a few times, but don't really know him.  I was just another customer.

 

Fair enough . Just wondering how you know his real name was Eric? 

[GBK]

1 minute ago, upside said:

 

Fair enough . Just wondering how you know his real name was Eric? 

 

It must be you then.

 

As I recall, it was pretty much public knowledge, which could make it wrong I suppose.  I don't remember there being anything secretive about it. Quite a few people I know use a middle name instead of their first name.

[agudbuk]

Back issues of the Bangkok Post reading the old Night Owl column would give you some information. Sad when BP pulled the column

Sent from my Grand using Tapatalk

[GBK]

1 minute ago, agudbuk said:

Back issues of the Bangkok Post reading the old Night Owl column would give you some information. Sad when BP pulled the column

Sent from my Grand using Tapatalk
 

 

I heard at the time that the BP thought it was dated and we didn't need it anymore.

 

Journos telling us what we want.

 

Novel...

[jonwilly]

"mid 90's it started going down hill and the attitude of the bar girls changed."

I thought things started to go downhill in the late 80s.

I blamed Cowboy and his like.

When Nong was his wife from Buri Ram, she got the girls from upcountry and she was against paying them.

She was their Mama and she gave the girls a place to sleep and store their cloths. 

Frang pay girls, Girl make Frang Happy he pay. Me no pay girl or girl lazy not work hard please frang.

Now she and Thai owner/Mamasans could do that. 

But of course when Cowboy split up and opened Cowboy Bar, he could not get the girls and so he had to pay them to work for him, as did all the other Frang bar owners.

The rot set in as Frangs competed for girls and so up went the prices.

B150 was going rate back in 79 and I was assured by old hands that B50 had been barfine, if any, before inflation took off.

Last year one commentator on Social media did an report on the B5,000 girl for a night.

Back in say 82 ishI knew one girl PHd spoke good English and she told me she was studding Japanese for down the jap strret Soi Thana ? by Patpong the japs would pay a good girl B8,000 for a nights entertainment.

That always stuck in my mind for Nong used to bring Sniceuntights down from Issan and had a ready market in a local Soi Cowboy trader who paid B8K for each girl, who then went back to Mama to learn their trade in the old game.

Frangs brought Flashy bars that appealed to Tourists, never been out of their homeland and wanted excitement.

The old guard, Military, ex Military, Frangs Business men earning big money in BKK and above all the Middle East Oil Trash just wanted a place to drink and at end of play a nice warm body to take home, for even if one was not up to it that night then there was a playgirl for the morning election.

 

john

[Tony M]

Some photos from 1987

 

0001 is the bar at the entrance to NEP (on the right hand side). You can just see the stairs to the 1st floor.

0002 is  a view of the 2nd floor.

0003 and 0004  show the ground floor area, which was a car and bile park

[Tony M]

A few more

 

0008 is the VD clinic mentioned in an earlier post.

IMG_0007.pdf

[Tony M]

 and lastly :

 

 

IMG_0007.pdf

[chiang mai]

3 minutes ago, Tony M said:

 and lastly :

 

 

IMG_0007.pdf

 

The girl peering through the trellis/latis work, she looks familiar.