Every month MIDNITE HOUR reviews the "Night Scene" in each of Bangkok's major Night Entertainment Areas. In these reviews, we provide topical discussion on the Areas in general, and the Entertainment Venues within, to include coverage of those Venues that have newly opened, recently closed, or that have just changed names during the month preceding. But there is an additional underlying motive for MIDNITE HOUR's monthly updates. One of the conceptual cornerstones in the founding of Bangkok Eyes was to provide - via the Internet - a permanent, periodically updated historical record of the Night Entertainment Scene. We have taken note of our readers' enthusiasm in these historical presentations, and will continue, through this column, to provide current, independent and authoritative reporting on Asia's hottest Night Scene.
MIDNITE HOUR presents the Bangkok Night Scene 'history-in-the-making' for the month ending 30 November, 2002 :
• PATPONG II •
Midnight Hour is pleased to advise that the
Thai Room, one of the oldest restaurants in one of the oldest
Night Entertainment Areas, has reopened after extensive renovations. The
Thai Room , one of the 'mollusks' of
Patpong, dates back to the
Plaza Hotel era and when it originally closed for renovations in
September of this year, rumors abounded that had given up the ghost and would soon be transformed into
Night Entertainment Venues. The rumors were not without some truth, however, as the north end of the old
Thai Room was given up to make way for
2 new lounges (see below). Nevertheless, we welcome the
Thai Room • PATPONG II • -what's left of her- back to the fray.
The first pub to be carved out of the
Thai Room, the
Wun Pub • PATPONG II • , is still going strong, however the second, northernmost pub, which had it's soft opening in
October of this year has already closed. Never having even hung its shingle out, it shall remain forever nameless.
The
4th floor "
Songs of Life"
Bua Luang • PATPONG II • (opposite
Foodland) has reopened to join the other
Bua Luang outlets on other floors.
Karaoke remains the format. Welcome back to the (mostly
Thai) scene.
The Ramp seems to have taken a beating this last
November. The first of
The Ramp's denizens to fall was the
DOME Juniority Club • PATPONG II • . Lights out, doors locked.
The
'Jack Pub & Karaoke • PATPONG II • was the next one of
The Ramp's residents to fall. Only darkened doorways greeted night-time revellers. It even had its own
lao-kao drunk asleep on the doorstep. Surely, something can be done about that.
Meanwhile, next door at the
Royal Salute Cocktail Lounge • PATPONG II • there were signs of life, but no signs of any customers. Dust and debris had gathered on the porch area. This is not a healthy sign for a swinging
Saturday night...
• CLINTON PLAZA •
The Plaza's last a-go-go bar,
The Doll House • CLINTON PLAZA • closed this
November, entirely without fanfare. This was a long term inevitability based on the eventual closure of the
Plaza, but its early closure was purely a financial consideration - no customers due to the closing off of many of the areas within, and the
Plaza's dwindling ability to draw nighttime crowds. The owners, having foreseen this, opened its sister
A Go-Go bar,
The Dollhouse on
Soi Cowboy in February of this year.
• TOBACCO ROAD •
The front-most bar beer, the
Meena Bar • TOBACCO RD • was abandoned and littered with windblown trash at the end of
November. The tiny bar beer cum pool bar had at best a marginal run since its opening in
April under the tentative name
Rak Oi.
Bart's Bar • TOBACCO RD • , a bar beer-sized air conditioned lounge at the end of the soi, has reopened. Welcome back to the toil.
• SOI KATOEY •
The upstairs bar
g-4 Club • SOI KATOEY has reopened after renovations. Welcome back.
Likewise, the
Om Trance Club • SOI KATOEY also reopened in November. Welcome back.
Earlier bars on the soi,
Speed and
Hip Hop were assumed dead and buried, however their resurrection as
Speed Hip-Hop R&B • SOI KATOEY was completed in
November. From all appearances, the back-and-forth name changes are still ongoing, so let's wait and see how they sort themselves out.
• SUKHUMVIT SQUARE •
While some of the wind seems to have come out of the
Square's sails, this
Night Entertainment Area remains the fastest growing
Night Venue location in
Bangkok. The first of the new arrivals on the scene,
U 2 Place • SUKHUMVIT SQ • has put its barstools out and switched on the colored lights. The 'entrance' is on the
Soi 10 side. Bar beer the format. Welcome aboard
Superior Bar • SUKHUMVIT SQ • also joined the melee in
November.
Pool Bar is the format. Welcome to the fracas.
Princess Bar • SUKHUMVIT SQ • has also opened; - without fanfare, but seems to be attracting its share of night-crawlers. Welcome.
October's opening of the
Square's first
A Go-Go bar never eventuated. Progress has been exceedingly slow, but they have managed to get a tentative sign nailed up out front:
Studio 54 • SUKHUMVIT SQ • . It appears that in addition to
A Go-Go, they will have pool tables out front. Denizens on the ground there are saying opening day will be closer to the end of
December. Seeing is believing.
Last month the
Green House • SUKHUMVIT SQ • was 'under construction'. This month, while activity is still evident, progress is not. We wonder when, or if it will ever open.
In the
77 Sunset bar beer area, the two bar beers under construction in
October were demolished during the month of
November, never having been completed. However at the front of the area, the new
Ninety Nine Bar (99) • SUKHUMVIT SQ • has put its barstools out and switched on its lights. Hostesses are enthusiastically welcoming passers-by.
Pool Bar is the format. Welcome aboard.
Hot Shot • SUKHUMVIT SQ • appears to have been created out of some of the area belonging to one of the adjacent bars. It faces
Sukhumvit; very accessible to passing foot trade. Bar beer is the format. Best of luck.
Also facing
Sukhumvit, the renovating
Rushour reopened in
November, but became another
Suzie Bar, sister to the
Suzie Bar • SUKHUMVIT SQ • just inside, along the west wall. Lets not etch these names in concrete, as
Suzie has been doing a lot of name changing since her migration from
Suzie & Crazy Bar (now defunct) in
Clinton Plaza.
• SOI COWBOY •
The
Las Vegas and the
Wet Lips Bar, which both closed in
October are being combined into an all new, double-shophouse-wide
Cowboy 2 • SOI COWBOY • A Go-Go to be the format. Look for it to open around the
New Year.. Another example of what goes around, comes around; the original
Cowboy 2 closed in
June of
1999 to become the
Wet Lips Bar.
In
October the
My Lady Bar changed formats from
A Go-Go to
Pool Bar. Last month, they knocked down the wall between it and the
Country Road • SOI COWBOY • , combining the two into a
4-shophouse-wide bar. Keeping the
Country Road name, they offer pool, live music and a lounge bar. Another case of deja-vu all over again; in
October 1997,
Country Road absorbed the old
Butterfly to become the
Soi's largest bar. Later, in
January 2001, the
My Lady Bar opened in the same two-shophouse area the
Butterfly used to occupy.
• COWBOY ANNEX •
The
Oasis II beer bar has changed names to
Lucky Bar • COWBOY ANNEX • . Residing in the
8-Pak, it is now one of two bar beers of that name. After reviewing the name changes in the
8-Pak over the last year, one would not be blamed for suspecting a kind of 'musical chairs' involving bar 'ownership'.
Also in the
8-Pak, the
Sanuk 2 has sold out to the new
Suay Bar Beer • COWBOY ANNEX • . Welcome aboard.
The
Ton Son bar beer at the driveway entrance on
Soi 23 has a new sign. It now reads
Ton Sone • COWBOY ANNEX • , but this name change is only an attempt to improve the phonetics. Business as usual.
The
Hole In One bar beer, which never had a sign, is rumored to become the
Sweet Home • COWBOY ANNEX • bar by the end of the year. They are even promising they will put out a sign. Keep on truckin', whoever you are.
The
Isisdur, a bar beer in the
4-Pak, also never having had a sign, has sold out to the
Honey Bar • COWBOY ANNEX • , which does have a sign. Welcome to the party.
The
Request • COWBOY ANNEX • , closed in
October, has reopened. Bar beer remains the format. Welcome back.
• NANA PLAZA •
The
Lollipop Mermaidium, closed since
August 2002 reopened this
November with a foreshortened handle: it's now called only
Lollipop • NANA PLAZA • . This reversion to its pre-
August 1996 name seems appropriate now that they have removed its once renown '
mermaid tanks'. It remains
A Go-Go indoors, but unless there are changes to the master plan, the previous outdoor bar beer area will be pool tables before the
New Year. Welcome back.
The bar that once was the
Spider's Web has reopened after a
2 month renovation as the
Temptation • NANA PLAZA • . Sporting a much improved layout and decor,
A Go-Go continues to occupy center stage, as it were. Welcome to the circus.
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