MIDNITE HOUR - Bangkok Eyes

Perhaps because of the readily available and 'affordable' specialists in plastic surgery, Bangkok is one the world's forerunners of that special class of gay bar generally known as the "Ladyboy Bar". Whether the all-male entertainment workers of these Nite Spots are just cross-dressers, or whether they are also on female hormones and starting to get breasts of their own, or whether they are just at the stage where they have had only their testicles removed, or whether they have gone the whole magilla and sport female breasts, padded derrieres, shaved Adam's-apples and surgeon-made vaginas, they have been lumped into the general category, "ladyboy". And it appears that Nana Plaza is emerging as the 'leader of the pack' in Bangkok for this type of Night Entertainment Venue.

NANA PLAZA

Midnight Hour readers will regularly ask us about various gay areas or gay bars, including specifically Ladyboy Bars. Most of them (they say) are not interested in wasting valuable holiday time visiting such places, however, other writers-in are seeking these places out. Up until recently, Nana Plaza has not been known as a "gay area", however, as readers have observed, there is now a significant number of Ladyboy Bars, and other bars with more than one ladyboy on the payroll. As we have a rather complete history of the Expat Nightscene going back decades, it now appears timely and appropriate to do some research into the history of Ladyboy Bars in Nana Plaza.

NANA PLAZA

Going back twenty years or so, Nana Plaza's 2nd floor Casanova Bar was the first "kratoey bar" at that Night Entertainment Area. The term "kratoey bar" has faded in popularity in recent years they and are now called either Transgenderite Bars or, most commonly, Ladyboy Bars. The Casanova Bar is now the longest running Ladyboy Bar in any Expat Nightscene Area in Bangkok. (And, for the life of us, we have never seen any customers coming or going - nevertheless, they have stayed the distance.)

NANA PLAZA

The third floor Cascade opened, at least technically, in February of 2002, but was plagued for several months with construction faults and water leaks. When it finally opened, it wasn't long before it was plain it would be another NEP Ladyboy Bar. Meanwhile, one floor down, the Spider's Web, which had a number of ladyboys, was closing down. After a brief renovation period, it reopened as Temptations (November of 2002). It didn't take it long to drift into a one-hundred percent Ladyboy Bar.

NANA PLAZA

On the ground floor, the original Private Dancer (ahhhh... if we could turn back time....) changed names a few times, becoming the inside-outside Hot Rods Video Arcade & Bar. The inside portion was then leased out separately in November '98, becoming Obsession. However, Obsession was not immediately a Ladyboy Bar - the transition was slow in coming. Nevertheless by the early years in the Millennium there were already four "kratoey bars" in Nana Plaza.

NANA PLAZA

For some time there seemed to be a leveling off of Ladyboy Bars in Nana, but last year saw a new flurry of activity. Another long-time 3rd floor bar, the Carnival, which first opened July '99 decided virtually overnight to become a Ladyboy Bar. It didn't last very long - and that may have been due to the number of complaints by customers being 'monstered' at the door if they decided not to go in for a drink. Nevertheless, they moved their ladyboys downstairs to the Voodoo, and went back to being 'straight'. The Voodoo, which opened in Oct '94, had been becoming, step-by-step, ladyboy-by-ladyboy, a Ladyboy Bar for several years - this just made it official.

NANA PLAZA

Three months back, word was out on the street that G-Spot would become half-ladyboy on a trial basis, and if it appeared financially sound, they too would become a Ladyboy Bar. But that didn't happen; honors fell to the Lollipop (same owners), so we will have to wait and see if it is going to end up a 'half-and-half' mixture, or if it will go all the way Ladyboy Bar.

NANA PLAZA

Lastly, yet worthy of note, in addition to the remaining bars at Nana Plaza that have one, or more than one transgenderite employed within - either as dancers, DJ's, khon serbs, or whatever, perhaps Bangkok's largest prowling pack of ladyboy prostitutes is the group of street walkers who have planted themselves in the entranceway to Nana Plaza - not even seeing the need to have one of the NEP bars as a cover for their activities. This group should rightly include the large number of ladyboys working in the all-night streetbars wrapping around the corner onto Sukhumvit Road. It has become nearly impossible for someone to go into, or out of Nana Plaza or Soi Nana late of an evening without some Close Encounter of the Third Kind. Nana Plaza's reputation as a growing ladyboy area is based in fact.

NANA PLAZA

Sometimes in researching a story (this one took us 2 months), we find more than we are looking for. From the mouths of people we know directly (and thought we knew well), we hear that expats wanting true S&M (not the bar-show imitations found in Demonia or Bar Bar) find it almost impossible to find female sadists to help them make it through the night. Take a wild guess where they are turning to......

We were asked directly if we thought Nana Plaza would sooner, rather than later, turn into an exclusive ladyboy Night Entertainment Area. We have no crystal ball, but statistically, we would have to say no - the upward creep percentage-wise of Ladyboy Bars is small, and from a 'chartist's' view, it would take decades at this rate of ladyboy expansion. That, and the fact that there is no precedent for anything like that ever having happened. We do see Nana's reputation suffering, perhaps more so from the rather aggressive crowd hanging around outside, but the prognosis is things will stay status-quo-ante.

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This lovely bartendee on Soi Dead Artists is more than deserving of this month's Thai Smile....

? Old
BANGKOK NIGHT SCENE
PHOTOS ?

Any old PHOTOS of
Bangkok's Nightlife ?

Please CLICK HERE and send to us for publication.

Many Thanks,
William R Morledge

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Historical Minutiae Dept.

Negotiating Massage Services

- CHAWALA 2, AND OTHER
'AMBIGUOUS' MASSAGE PARLORS

Sirs,

Where I can get beautiful girls in the massage places in the area of Sukhumvit 7/1 or close to Sukhumvit 7/1? How much the total cost should I spend for having sex two to three times? Please explain in detail the costs.

Because I read on some website some advice to go Chavalla 2 on Soi 34 near the Rex Hotel where there could be more than 2 shot even more than 3 shot + full service sex.

Do you have info about Chavalla 2?

Thx,

D.H.
Malaysia

Greetings, D.H.,

Thanks for reading and for writing in. As you may have gathered from reading Midnight Hour we are a Nightlife historical site, and not a sex-guide site. As you say you already have information from another website on Chavala 2 - you should try it yourself - and if you have any further questions about it, you should return to that website. We can verify that the Chavala 2 is where you describe; the Chavala 1 being located on Sri Ayuthaya Road near the Chao Phraya 2 massage parlor.

Regardless of where you go for advice, your idea of "beautiful girls" and everyone else's will be different. Never depend on third party descriptions of same. Also, only you know whether or not you are going to be up to "3 shots", or whether or not you are even able to get it up. And as we are most certain you are not one of those people who likes to write letters in order to express his sexual fantasies, we further suggest that you come to Bangkok and find your own massage parlors, where the girls, prices and services are to your expectations and capabilities.

Regards,
'Boge' Hartman

? ASK US (ALMOST) ANYTHING !

Email bangkokeyes@gmail.com and "ASK" - - Click Here

	We can answer virtually any (reasonable) question on the Expat Night Entertainment Scene in Bangkok - be it Historical or very recent. Send us an e-mail and we will do our best to answer you soonest.
'Boge' Hartman Historical Research

* Zootramp Publications

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Let the March 2012 Follies begin...
BANKOK EYES' Expat Night Scene.

PATPONG I
MAP

The Club King's has yet again improved their neon, as the following pic will illustrate. Wish them constancy.

PATPONG I

PATPONG II
MAP

The Pink has, for decades, played cat-and-mouse with the Sign Gestapos trying to fob themselves off as the Pink Panther. Once again we are seeing some of their signs reading thusly. How long before the next crackdown? Shake it, don't break it, gang.....

PATPONG II

The Strip's lovely hostesses wait outside to coax passers-by in for a drink or three, or perhaps to rollick in a private booth..... May they continue to rock and roll.

PATPONG II

The Pat Pong 24 has, it seems, opted out of the neon circus - locked down in total darkness.....

PATPONG II

SOI COWBOY
MAP

Door Art Of The Month
Award

The Cockatoo was just readying to open about this time last month, and already we could see it was heading for the Door Art Of The Month Award. Congrats to a job well done.

SOI COWBOY

The Dollhouse has introduced some kerb-side coyote - perhaps to limited effect, however. We suspect this might be a limited experiment.....

SOI COWBOY

NANA PLAZA
MAP

The Las Vegas, up on the 3rd floor has some interesting -and attractive- LED signage. We may have mentioned before; LED lighting may be the way of the future, however we like the good old fashioned neon MUUUUUCH better. This pic to update our archives.....

NANA PLAZA

Idle Hands....
- FLOOR-BREAKS TODAY & YESTERDAY

There was a time when the A Go-Go dancers finished their floor and went down to talk with customers, and earn money for themselves and the bar by cadging drinks. That paradigm has long been busted. Now the girls' salaries and the barfines and short-times are at such an outrageously high level that the girls no longer need to waste time with customers. Nowadays, once their set is finished, they are out on the balcony smoking cigarettes and talking on their muu tuus.

NANA PLAZA

SOI KATOEY
MAP

The B.B. House Pub & Restaurant only lasted a little over 7 months before being consumed by the machine. An example of 'Bright City Light's' dark side. The sign reads, "Pit Khrab", or "Closed."

SOI KATOEY - (SILOM SOI 4)

SOI DEAD ARTISTS
MAP

Not gone, but gone, Hookers has mysteriously closed up shop after having just renovated. We hope what ails them is soon rectified. Let's hold off on removing them from the roll-call - and see what happens.

- File photo

SOI DEAD ARTISTS - SOI 33

The Garden Club Karaoke opened as scheduled early last month, and in the ensuing time, have beefed up their neon - and it's looking good. Keep on keeping on....

SOI DEAD ARTISTS - SOI 33

The Chip In Club, after having just reopened the month before, has closed shop and sold all it's chattel to the soon-to-be Tsubaki. (Look for them to open next month).

SOI DEAD ARTISTS - SOI 33

WASHINGTON SQUARE
MAP

The Happy Pub and the Cheers Pub have both called it a day. No use fighting the inevitable - Washington Square has become a dark and dreary shadow of it's former self. A person not knowing the area would be afraid to venture in alone at night. Next time, if there is a next time, hopefully Fate will show them both the other side of it's face.... The below file photo shows a happier time when they, and their neighbor, The Puss Inn Pub, were keeping mugs and chit cups full.

- File photo

WASHINGTON SQUARE

QUEEN'S PARK PLAZA
MAP

Gone, but not gone, it looks like the Sin Bin has reopened again, and they seem to be doing very well, thank you very much. Welcome them back to the briar patch.

QUEEN'S PARK PLAZA

The Dirty Deez has taken over the reins from the Mash Pool & Darts Bar, which up and vanished into the night..... Modus operandi of the Dirty Deez, in spite of anything alluded to on the sign, appears to be unchanged : a Poolbar. May they fare well as they cast their dice against the pitted wall of Fate....

QUEEN'S PARK PLAZA

SOI EDEN
MAP

The Sweetheart bar sign, while not new, is another pic we shall add to the archives. One of two ladyboy venues on Soi Eden.

SOI EDEN SUKHUMVIT SOI 7/1

SOI TWILIGHT
MAP

The Bangkok Boy bar beer now has a sign - of sorts, and a face to go with it. Business as usual.

SOI TWILIGHT

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A PAGE FROM BANGKOK's NIGHTSCENE HISTORY....

Bangkok Eyes jumps back in time to have a look at who was new - and who was through. We'll be willing to bet that many of you "Old Bangkok Hands" will be reminded of some bars you'd almost forgotten. (We also will be willing to bet you WON'T EVEN REMEMBER an even greater number....)

10 YEARS AGO :

March

      Ten years back, Cleopatra reopened its doors after having been shut for almost three months.   Before that, they were calling themselves "King's Cloud Cleopatra" (for some strange reason).   The Club King's is currently at that location.
PATPONG   2 - March 2002

      A decade ago, the upstairs-downstairs combo Bua Luang Swing + Pub and Bua Luang Bar & Restaurant closed down for renovations.   They were located where today's The Strip is now doing business.
PATPONG   2 - March 2002

      Ten years ago, the Dollhouse opened in the old New Hare & Hound digs.   Dollhouse is still there today.
SOI COWBOY - March 2002

      A decade past, the Suzie Wong reopened after having been mysteriously closed since the previous August (2001).   It is still there today.
SOI COWBOY - March 2002

      Ten years ago, the Juke's New A Go Go Duck closed down for extensive renovations.
SOI COWBOY - March 2002

      Ten years ago, up on the third floor, the Cascade opened it's doors, softly, for the first time.   It would be some time before they actually got the waterfall to work, however.....   Cascade is still there today.
NANA PLAZA - March 2002

      A decade ago this month, the Nana Guest House S.T. hotel closed it's doors for good.
NANA PLAZA - March 2002

      Ten years ago, up on the third floor, the Taboo, a sometimes pool bar, sometimes S.T. hotel, also closed it's doors for good.
NANA PLAZA - March 2002

      Ten years back, the White Bar , located next door to today's Tapas, reopened.
SOI KATOEY - March 2002

      A decade ago, Suika opened it's doors.   It was located in the 33 Complex.   It is no longer there.
SOI   SOI DEAD ARTISTS - March 2002

ASOKE PLAZA / ASOKE CORNER - (previously Cowboy Annex) - 2002

Asoke Corner / Asoke Plaza
Night Entertainment Area :
-CLOSED DOWN-
( March 2000 - February 2005 )

             Ten years ago, while three other bars were abuilding in 'Lolita's Corner', two others closed down there : the V.R. Bar and the The Run Amok Bar.

             A decade ago, the Lucky Bar bar beer opened in the '8-Pak' in the old Naughty Bar digs in the Asoke Corner half.

             Ten years back, an unnamed bar beer opened in the '4-Pak' - on the Soi 23 side.

             Also ten years ago, the Ban Rim Chong restaurant reopened after a one-month hiatus.   It was located on the right side going in from the Asoke intersection.

             A decade ago, on the Soi 23 side, the Powell bar beer called it an evening.

ASOKE PLAZA / ASOKE CORNER - (previously "COWBOY ANNEX") - March 2002

CLINTON PLAZA   - 2002

Clinton Plaza
Night Entertainment Area :
-CLOSED DOWN-
( November 1998 - 7 June 2003 )

      A decade ago, the Sun Dog Diner opened it's doors in the old Tivoli digs.   It was located in the main building.

      Ten years back, the Windmill (Kangaroo) re-opened - again..   It was a bar beer located outside, against the main building.

CLINTON PLAZA   - March 2002

SUKHUMVIT SQUARE   - 2002

Sukhumvit Square
Night Entertainment Area :
-CLOSED DOWN-
( January 2002 - 26 January 2003 )

      Ten years ago, the large area across the street from Clinton Plaza attained "Critical Mass" as a Night Entertainment Area virtually overnight.   It would come to be known as "Sukhumvit Square".   The month preceding that, there were just four scattered bar beers and, in the rear, one pub :
         Sweet Home Bar   (Sukhumvit Square's seminal bar).
         A-10 Bar & Pool
         Brownie
         Casablanca
         Tippler's Tavern pub,   (the first indoor air-conditioned Nitespot
            in Sukhumvit Square).

      However, ten years ago, that current month, several new bars appeared, mushroom-like, providing all an inkling of what was to be :
         Chemo Bar - in the Happy Today 8-Pak.
         Ying's Corner - in the Happy Today 8-Pak.
         Rose Garden - in the Happy Today 8-Pak.
         Tu Bar - in the Happy Today 8-Pak.
         G-Spot - in the Happy Today 8-Pak.   (No relation to NEP's)
         Eddy's - in the Happy Today 8-Pak.
         Sport 2 - in the Happy Today 8-Pak.
         Lovely Bar - in the Happy Today 8-Pak.
         Jo Jo's Bar - facing Sukhumvit Road.

SUKHUMVIT SQUARE   - March 2002

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VICARIOUS ART CRIMES # 76

MIDNITE HOUR's

GRAFFITI - ME ?
(An "Introduction" to Graffiti for those interested
in the "Art" and the "Controversy".)

Perhaps one of the most extraneous and arcane forms of Night Entertainment is that of graffiti. Often illegal, frequently artistic, occasionally humorous, and most of the time controversial. Graffiti is not a form of 'entertainment' that all will enjoy. Many see it as vandalism - plain and simple, while others see it as an art form, or 'art brut' - a street sub-set of Modern Art. (....Continued....)

(New to this page? Click HERE for our full "Intro to Graffiti")

Graffiti's HISTORY <

link>

[ Check out Bangkok's dedicated Graffiti page at " BKK Graf.com" <link>. ]

GRAFFITI IN THE NEWS

Fame Early - Fortune Late
- BASQUIAT WORK UNDER HAMMER FOR �4 MILLION

         Just days ago, Sothebys auctioned Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 work "Orange Sports Figure" for over 4 million pounds (�4,073,250).    Basquiat, unfortunately, will not reap any of this long green - as he has been dead since 1988 (at the ripe old age of 28 years).   The kicker was the piece was actually signed by the artist - in invisible ink - or so claims Sotheby's.....

- Excerpt copyright Sothebys - http://www.sothebys.com - fair use restrictions apply.

Orange Sports Figure,    1982 -  60"x48" -  Jean-Michel Basquiat

         As far as doing things right artistically, Basquiat did everything perfectly.   A New Yorker of Haitian extraction, he grew up with all the necessary ghetto cred : to include running away from home and sleeping on park benches, getting disowned by his own family, smoking dope, and cruising with graffiti artists of the day - to include other well known artists such as Bildo, Otterness and Zwillinger.    He, Basquiat, and others within his crew (Shannon Dawson and Al Diaz), did all the things necessary to gain peer recognition (to include garnering the wrath of public officials), such as gracing major public buildings in So Ho and myriad subway trains in lower Manhattan with their own unique brand of graffiti.

         By the year 1976, at the age of 16, Basquiat and crew members Shannon Dawson and Al Diaz, had gained a certain notoriety with their 'signature' tag "SAMO", which the in-crowd knew meant, "Same Old Shit".   The SAMO crew were renown for their "ferocious style" of graffiti, often incorporating words and phrases.

- Excerpt source: Wikipedia / Copyright unkinown - fair use restrictions apply.

Portrait -  Jean-Michel Basquiat

         Basquiat has been proclaimed "the most well-known, the most 'significant, the most ' important' graffiti artist" of the N.Y. scene in the late '70's and early '80's.   But let's be honest.   Yes, he and crew were well known, but we read these same glorifications about whichever graffiti artist is currently in the spotlight.   Nevertheless, with creds established, it was time to move on - in 1979 the SAMO crew presented the world-at-large one final 'epitaph' graffiti, which read, "SAMO IS DEAD".   (The event well-covered in the Village Voice.)

- Copyright http://www.basquiat.com - fair use restrictions apply.

An example of "Samo" period Graffiti art.
- Jean-Michel Basquiat

         But Basquiet himself was far from dead; he was stepping up.   With new friends in the New York art world, he went "Neo-expressionist" - it was, after all, a new decade.   Through a series of collaborations and networkings with the New York 'artsies' he played in a stone rock band with actor/ director Vincent Gallo, collaborated with mentor Andy Warhol, performed in a music video with the Blondie Band and even dated the future Material Girl Madonna (to name just a few).   His time had come.   He had made it.

      And as far as doing everything right artistically, during this period he produced several canvasses before he James Deaned out - dying by his own hand at an all-too-young age - from an overdose of heroin.

- And now to Midnight Hour's own brand of Bangkok Graffiti ....

Graffiti #533
Man In Black
6 ft. high x 13 ft .

Graffiti #534
Too Much Tequila
6 ft. high x 15 ft.

Graffiti #535
Saddle Sore
6 ft. high x 3 ft.

Graffiti #536
Roll-On
3 ft. high x 2ft.

Graffiti #537
Kermit Town
6 ft. high x 17 ft.

Graffiti #538
The Describer
8 ft. high x 15 ft.

Graffiti #539
Air Shed
6 ft. high x 13 ft.

Graffiti, Graffiti , and more Graffiti - Bangkok's original graffiti Site !

   The MIDNITE HOUR Graffiti Page is prepared by Staff Contributor "Boge" Hartman.

(Boge's photo, above, is not a graffiti per-se, although there are those who have insinuated....   - Ed)

--- Datzit Fernow

William R. Morledge

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for
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BANGKOK EYES'
*Eyes logo* inspired
by Peter O'Donnell's
'Modesty Blaise', as
originally rendered
by Romero.