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Bangkok's Night Scene In Review
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Bangkok's Night Scene In Review
Sukhumvit 1 Plaza 'arrives'
- CRITICAL MASS AND VARIETY
- CRITICAL MASS AND VARIETY
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Archives
Archives
Bangkok's Night Scene In Review
Sukhumvit 1 Plaza 'arrives'
- CRITICAL MASS AND VARIETY |
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  Soi Eden Breaks Out
Too Sexy For My Shoes
Goodbye, Woodstock
Rumor Of The Month
APRIL's Follies in review
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Late last July, MIDNITE HOUR noted a hand-painted banner stretched across a building under construction near the top of Sukhumvit Soi 1. The sign was advertising (in English) "Bar-Beer for Rent", and they were calling themselves "Sukhumvit Soi 1 Entertainment & Plaza" (subsequently shortened considerably to it's present Sukhumvit 1 Plaza). And while we touted it in our August 2004 edition, we didn't have much faith in it actually developing into a 'draw' for the night prowler crowd - it not having that magical 'location-location-location'. Our lack of confidence was proven unwarranted - and gladly.
Sukhumvit 1 Plaza first opened it's doors officially on 01 November 2004, however by that time, five bars had opened early - the leader of the pack was the Sports Bar 2, which opened on 14 October 04 - and lands the kudos as the seminal bar. (It is still there today, but has changed it's name to Beaver's.) Other bars that opened in quick succession in the week that followed, were there at the 01 November kick-off celebrations - they were: Chemo 01 Go Diva (Godiva) The One Bar Oasis However, five bars does not a Night Entertainment Area make. They were still just 5 bars, not really enough to form a nucleus of Nightspot Venues capable of attracting sufficient custom - not large enough to be considered a 'destination' by Bangkok's night-revellers. Or to say the same thing another way, Sukhumvit 1 Square was still quite far away from attaining critical mass. But over the last five months, occupancy has gradually and steadily increased, some bars changing hands, some new bars. With the opening of Mini Bar, the Night Entertainment facility saw it's first upstairs bar come to life. This month, there are no less than four Night Venues in operation on the second and fourth floors. (The third floor, rumored to become the next late-nite Thermae-style coffee shop will not come to pass, however, as it is being put to other uses.) This surge in new openings on the upper floors pushes Sukhumvit 1 Plaza comfortably into that (essential for survival) state of critical mass. The lineup of players on this date (for you history buffs taking notes) is as follows. Beaver's (Seminal bar) - from 13 Night Market Chemo 01 -from 13 Night Market and Sukhumvit Square. Go Diva Bar (Godiva) Oasis Night Night Joop Joop Mae Mai Karaoke & Kitchen Mini Bar Junk Pub Sexy Bar - formerly Bar Bie at Asoke Plaza Smile Bar - formerly Chid bar Asoke Plaza Josephine's Bar, Pool, Seafood Morning Night II - a branch-off of Morning 2 Night, Nana Plaza. The volume of business, however, still leaves a lot to be desired, as there are a lot of folk that have not yet heard of Sukhumvit 1 Plaza, or don't know where it is. To this end, we have provided the below locator map.
Sukhumvit 1 Plaza has a variety of lounges, Pool Bars, restaurants, bar beers, and a karaoke to keep resident expats and tourists entertained, and as construction on the upper floors continues, we can expect to see additional Nightspots opening in the near future. And while they are still struggling to "make a go of it", business is starting to pick up - last weekend, while not swamped, they looked quite busy. Sukhumvit 1 Plaza is Bangkok's second made-to-purpose Night Entertainment Area (following only Queen's Park Plaza on Soi 22) - and a break from normal 'procedure' in that it is our Capital's first Bar Beer Nightspot Area not to be "opportunistic" - i.e., built for short-term gain on land earmarked for further development in the near future. MIDNITE HOUR wishes both the Nightspot management team and the individual Night Entertainment Venue owners at Sukhumvit 1 Plaza a prosperous future.
 Follies begin here
MIDNITE HOUR presents the NEWS on the Bangkok Night Scene; - the 'history-in-the-making' for all major Night Entertainment Areas - for the month ending 1 APRIL, 2005 :  MAP
The Madrid, the Pong's longest surviving Night Entertainment Venue (1969) has an eager and deep-pocketed suitor knocking on it's door. The object, on acquiring the Madrid (and the upstairs Madrid Apartments), would be another disco. But all you old rummies that hang out there mornings and afternoons playing "Old Asia Hand" need not worry - at least for the near term - Khun J. intends to "keep it in the family", and has told the would-be buyers to take a hike. Status quo ante.
PATPONG I
Appropos last month's comments re the Twilo Live's influence in keeping street vendors away from both the side and the front of their establishment, it seems that they conveniently park vehicles in Soi Superstar (at the side) day and night, as a sort-of 'proof-of-claim'. Nevertheless, the rest of Patpong 1 may be following suit later this month - see our Rumor Of The Month this month, just above.
PATPONG I
MAP
Gone, but not gone, King's Lounge reopened mid-March - with an all new format (-it has dropped the 'A-Go-Go' from the name). Gone are the cabaret shows and the A-Go-Go. Gone is the sub-zero air conditioning, and gone is the need to send your bill downstairs to King's Corner for payment. All this has been replaced with live music and song, and hostesses in long evening gowns. Soda is one-hundred baht all night long. While indeed pleasant enough, MIDNITE HOUR remains unconvinced that they have a winning combination - we wouldn't be really taking long odds if we said we expect it will not last for 6 months We hope we are wrong, and welcome them back home. (Second floor, Soi Bookstore, above King's Corner.)
PATPONG II
Both the Bua Luang Target, and the upstairs IT Room closed down for renovations this last month (March). The Bua Luang Target is back, full-throttle, but the renovations on the IT Room won't be finished until the 4th of April, at the earliest. Pool Bar remains the modus operandi for both Nightspots.
PATPONG II
MAP
Big Dogs, the open-sided day & night bar beer at the entrance to the Plaza didn't even miss a beat as it changed hands. We at MIDNITE HOUR, however did go into temporary cardiac arrest when we heard that $750,000 changed hands in the deal. No, there are no typos, and yes, that's US dollars...
NANA PLAZA
The Morning 2 Night, as earlier rumored, will have it's current lease expire in the very near future. One embellishment to the rumor has it that they are having their rent raised from 100,000 baht/mo to 300,000 baht/mo, so they are not going to renew, and will move over to their new Morning Night 2 in Sukhumvit 1 Plaza, lock, stock, and barrel. But our "person-in-the-know" at the Plaza says that this is probably not the case - in that they gross over a million baht a month at Nana, the rumored increase in rent only represents a bump in the road. The more likely scenario, says he, is that the owner wants it back so he can make the cool million + every month. Hey, if you were the owner, what would you do.....?
NANA PLAZA
Opening only last October, Pussy Cat's Bar has been shut down for sign and licence 'inconsistencies'. While they were shut down, we noted that they had their rap samak duan signs taped to the front - usually indicating an impending reopening. And that is exactly what happened - just as we were getting ready to write them off entirely, they opened on 31 March, but with a different name. They are now called, in both Thai and English the Farang Connection. If that name sounds familiar, it should -the original Farang Connection closed in April of 2001, selling out to the Angel Witch. But apparently the licenses in that name were 'kept alive', and are now finally being reused. The owner apologized for no A-Go-Go, and said he would have his chrome poles back next week, as well as the girls' bikinis (they were dancing in skirts and shirts last night). Another way of saying his dancing license would be reinstated next week. Shake it, don't break it, guys, you know how Bangkok's Men In Too-Tight Uniforms can get, even for the smallest infraction...
The woodstock Pool Bar & restaurant did in fact consummate it's sale to Rainbow Group (MIDNITE HOUR's first Rumor Of The Month to come true). They also very quietly bought the next door bar (Rosemary Bar), so they could combine the premises into a very large bar - a tried-and-true procedure in these parts. The deeper story was that they would be able to use the small bar's A-Go-Go license for the combined premises. This of course, begs the question, what happened to woodstock's original A-Go-Go license? It wasn't that many years ago that the woodstock was one of the big draws at the Plaza: -the best sound system, -the best Rock'n'Roll, the best A-Go-Go dancers. Whatever happened to all that, we wonder?
The above mentioned single-shophouse Rosemary Bar deserves special mention. Back in 1982, before Nana Plaza was Nana Entertainment Plaza, and there was only a small bar beer in the driveway (Luck Lukes), three bars from Sukhumvit Soi 16 closed down due to road construction and moved in. These three were the Three Roses Bar, the Rainbow Bar, and the Rosemary Bar (-which combined the Rosemary 1 & 2 bars). These three seminal bars set the tone for what was to follow in the coming decades. Yet it was only in January 2002, after a run of 20 years (and a couple, three owners) when the Three Roses closed it's doors for the last time -- selling out to Spanky's, which opened in March of that year. Now that Rosemary Bar has been bought by the Rainbow Group, that leaves only the Rainbow Bar as the remaining seminal bar.
 We at MIDNITE HOUR would like to wish them a final 'adios' -- and hope they find things more to their liking a little further on down the road a piece.
NANA PLAZA
While we are on the subject of Lucky Luke's, it also has a new owner (yes, the individual it was rumored to be), and if the other night was any indication, business is looking good, indeed. It's new owner confirms that not only do they not have any affiliation with the New Lucky Luke's on Tobacco Road (Soi Zero), he didn't even know of it's existence.... Hopefully, that will settle the outstanding discussion on this one.
NANA PLAZA
Now back in action, last month the Hog's Breath Saloon was arbitrarily singled out by Lumpini's Men In Tan for a 30-day 'holiday' (an alleged previous month's display of various shades of pink on the dance floor).The Powers-That-Be just don't seem to understand that this egregious dispensation of street-justice is an affront to Rule Of Law, and an order of magnitude greater than any of the perceived 'sins' they are 'cracking down' on.These arbitrary closures do not require that the Men In Too-Tight Uniforms provide any evidence, nor are the alleged violators offered the opportunity of appeal, and until this changes, these Rambo cops will continue to take the law into their own hands...
NANA PLAZA
MAP
The single-shophouse New Crazy Cats wheezed it's last this last March, succumbing to the inevitable competitive pressures from the 'big bars', and a lucrative offer from the owners of Spice Girls, and, perhaps even a little 'bar fatigue' on the part of the owner after all these years. Some may remember that Crazy Cats was helmed for a while by Mukda of the "Shake-It-Don't-Break-It School of A-Go-Go Dancing " fame - which is an irony in itself - nowadays, you wish there were a way to get some of these up-country shufflers to shake it like they were going to break it. Ah, well.....
And now the other shoe drops: - the Naughty Girls-to-be also will be absorbing the next door neighbor, the Five Star II, becoming the Soi's next two-shophouse-wide bar. The Five Star II intends to keep on operating, however, even when they tear down the wall between them and the former New Crazy Cats - this we gotta see...
MAP
While the official closing date of the 13 Night Market was 28 February 2005, the B.B. Bar bar beer very quietly stayed open on 1 March, and as a goodwill gesture, was giving free beer to it's regular customers, and those who came to say goodbye, and even those, like myself, that came to gawk. In that MIDNITE HOUR is primarily an historical website, it is our 'duty' to make a footnote of this in this issue. So here's to the B.B. Bar, the last soldier standing, and may we wish you greener pastures. As noted last month, the 13 Night Market was built, literally, on the ruins of the original Thermae Coffee Shop; the grounds being absorbed by the adjacent hotel-under-construction as we speak. We also take advantage of this opportunity to publish a last, unusual photo of this now extinct Night Entertainment Area.
MAP
The Venus Club opened a few days ago, where last month stood the You And Me Club. Cocktail lounge remains the prime agendum - tilted slightly toward the average Japanese customer... We welcome them to the wolfpack.
Opening right about ...now ! is the Karaoke Sakura 33, just upstairs from the Oliver reeDs cluB. If the name wasn't enough to give you the hint, orientation: Oriental, although the comely lasses below say gaijin also are welcome. Welcome to the night circus, orientation be damned.
The venue furiously abuilding last month between the Monet Club and the Santana Club was a restaurant (Akado Restaurant), and not a Night Entertainment Venue, per se. And while we will not be carrying them on our rolls, we wish them prosperous night-adventures, just the same.
SOI DEAD ARTISTS
MAP
There is a quiet expansion project underway in the Soi, and virtually all the downstairs bars are contributing. Previously, each evening at opening time, the various Night Venues would bring some tables and chairs (and cushions) out onto the sidewalk and set up in front of their establishments (...and in the case of The Balcony, in front of Helene's and the old Rome Club). Recently, however, the nightly expansion continues out onto the roadway, so that the bars have tables on the sidewalk and out into the soi. It seems that more tables translates into more income, plain and simple. Tapas, the Xantrix, the Cafι 4, and Bobby's Arms, and Noreiga's, as well as Pharaoh's, the Roxy, the Balcony, and Speed now have waiters stationed full time outside, ready to serve those tables on the sidewalks and in the soi. When the Soi is crowded on the weekends, navigation from one end to the other can get a little less than convenient. Being a dead-end, privately owned soi, the nightly encroachments will probably not be disturbed. SOI KATOEY
Historians note: the Cafι 4 has at last nailed their 'final' neon shingle up -- and it reads, "Cafι 4 Bangkok". So be it. All else remains unchanged. SOI KATOEY
MAP
As if following the Soi Katoey bars' leader, the Hideaway Pub now has some outside tables next to their large front window. We hope it works as well for them, but when we passed by on the weekend, the empty tables out front made the place seem only that much more forlorn (although, in fairness, they had a few customers inside). Keep on keeping on...
QUEEN'S PARK PLAZA
MAP
Sometime after the end of last month, after we noted that The Prince Of Wales P & G had already closed in February, they posted a sign saying "Closed 4 March - 28 March". We don't pretend to understand the gentle misdirection, the minor deception, but we are pleased to see this old-timer back in action. It's sprucing up did wonders - and opening night (as advertised - on the 28th), with rose petals on the floor, was a pleasant touch. Their great Thai food menu, however, remains in place. Welcome back to the slugfest.
MAP
Josephine's Beergarden opened only hours after we went to press on 1 March. Visitors ascending the stairs or taking the elevator to the rooftop are greeted by a large open-air seafood restaurant, cooled by micro-fogging fans which fill the evening air with a refreshing mist. At the far front of the rooftop area, overlooking Sukhumvit Road, is a long-bar, and to one side is a glassed in Pool Room with two smallish pool tables. Certainly an interesting layout - one of those Night Venues that just might capture the imagination of Bangkok's nightcrawlers. Although it wasn't too well populated the night we were there, at least a few had found their way to the top...
SUKHUMVIT 1 PLAZA
The third floor of the Sukhumvit 1 Plaza building, once rumored to become the next late-nite "Thermae-Style" coffee shop is going to be no such thing. The entire third floor, having been divided up into individual rooms with baths looks suspiciously like a short time hotel - that is to say, they look suspiciously like what we have heard short-time hotels look like...
SUKHUMVIT 1 PLAZA
The second floor has blossomed with three new bar beers this last month, with two more abuilding.
Smile Bar, located in the next loc over, also had a couple of familiar faces behind the bar. You guessed correctly if you guessed 'Smile Bar from Asoke Corner'. They, too, have moved over, and are giving it another try. (Many of you may remember them as the Chid bar - which was their name up until quite recently.) Good to see they've popped back up out of their coffin. Let the good times roll.
SUKHUMVIT 1 PLAZA
The new kid on the block, tucked waaaay back in the back is the Junk Bar. This bar is very well appointed, and very comfortable, if a little small - but their problem is they are almost invisible - when we visited, we were looking for new Night Venues, and we almost didn't see it as we started back down the stairs. You got good neon, guys, but you need to hang it out a little. Welcome to partytown.
Downstairs, the seminal The Sports Bar 2 which recently changed to Beaver's has hung a small sign off their big Beaver's sign which reads, "Sports Bar". We thought it was the Metropolis' Sign Gestapos at work again, but this time we were wrong - the owner, now having moved full-time over from the closed Sports Bar at 13 Night Market, was fearful that some of her regulars might not get it right when they came to visit her at her new digs.
SUKHUMVIT 1 PLAZA
The rumor that three of the staff of the Chemo 01 bar beer had died in an auto accident is, unfortunately, not a rumor. Travelling upcountry to vote, the van they were in was involved in a single-vehicle accident. The driver, at least as drunk as the eleven passengers, passed out and swerved off the road at high speed, hitting something and rolling the van several times. The driver and the three girls in front were killed outright, and the other 8 passengers, while injured seriously, recovered in the hospital, and were able to recount the infinite joys and benefits of drinking while driving. Khun A, after assisting with the gruesome details, came back to Bangkok to remove her property from her already closed down Chemo 04 at 13 Night Market, and reopened the Chemo 01 on 1 March. Keep on Rockin'.
SUKHUMVIT 1 PLAZA
MAP
The Honey Bar, new last month, has some new neon - slightly larger, and ever-so-slightly more sophisticated than last month's Magic-Marker-on-cardboard one. This new sign says, "Honey Bar Happy Joint". Some of you will recall that they took over the old Linda Bar Happy Joint digs - indicating that our local sign gestapos have been out enforcing 'sign correctness' yet again. (What would these sign cops do if they were given real jobs? The mind boggles.)
TOBACCO ROAD (SOI ZERO)
MAP
While it has been several months since Easy Square has qualified as a Night Entertainment Area, we have been tracking those remaining bars that have yet to close - solely for the purpose of making a comprehensive historical record. Officially, at least, as of 31 March, it's lights out for the two remaining Night Venues in Easy Square, the Happy Karaoke, and the Hang Out bar. We have no idea how they lasted this long -- what with the entire compound reduced to rubble, and residing in abiding darkness. Neither bar has any immediate plans to move elsewhere, with costs being proportionately higher in other locations.
(No news) --- Datzit Fernow
William R. Morledge Copyright © 2005, BANGKOK EYES / bangkokeyes.com
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