RUMORS OF THE MONTH SUMMARY

1.    Washington Square will be sold and redeveloped into a mega-5-star hotel by 2007.
(May 2003)

2.    The current Dynasty now feels sure enough of its consolidated position to implement sweeping Social Order Reforms, which will include the closing of major Night Entertainment Areas such as Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza. These sweeping changes will be implemented within 60 days.
(June 2003)

3.     Structural faults in the buildings of Nana Plaza have been discovered, causing the Entertainment Complex's closure within the next few months.
(July 2003)

4.    The now vacant downstairs A-Go-Go bar in Nana Plaza will reopen next month as the 'Red Hot Chilli' - a 'pool bar - lounge'
(August 2003)

5.    The old gas station (petrol station) location at the top of Soi 1 , Sukhumvit is destined to be the next "Nana Plaza" style Night Entertainment Area.
( (November 2003) - no Rumors published in Sept, Oct.)

6.    Bernard Trink, chronicler of Bangkok's Night Scene for the last 37 years, is to be terminated from his employment at the Bangkok Post effective 14 November 2003.
(December 2003)

7.    When the current lease holder at Soi Zero (Tobacco Road) is terminated in January 2004, the Government (owners) will close it down instead of reissuing new lease documents.
(January 2004)

8.    The migration of closed-out bar beers from Soi 23 to Easy Square on Soi 22 will begin in February. This, along with the construction of a Muay Thai boxing ring, will turn Easy Square into an overnight "player" in the Night Entertainment arena.
(February 2004)

9.   The front Asoke Plaza area of Cowboy Annex will be allowed to remain status-quo ante as a bar beer Night Entertainment Area for the next two years (the beginning of 2006), despite the adjacent Subway Station opening on or about April of this year (2004).
(March 2004)

10.   Easy Square, barely creeping out of the hole of anonymity, is said to be doomed before it was born.  Rumored to have already been deep-piled for the construction of a new hotel, after the '97 economic collapse, the pilings were covered over, and the land was filled to be let out on short term to other developers.  Next year, the construction of the new 5-Star hotel will commence.
(April 2004)

11.   "A new three storey building at the corner of Sukhumvit Road and Soi 1 will, when completed this November, devote the entire second floor to a "Thermae-Style" late night coffee shop, which, we have been guaranteed, will close at 02:00 a.m., or later."
(May 2004)

12.   "The closing of Cowboy Annex has been moved up to coincide with the opening of the adjacent subway station in August 2004."
(June 2004)

13.    "The Sukhumvit side of the Ambassador Hotel, now being used for a night market, beer garden and traditional massage parlors will be converted into a bar beer Night Entertainment Area. "
(July 2004)

14.    "August 1st, being Khao Phansa, a religious national holiday, Night Entertainment Areas will be closed on Saturday, 31 July, as well as both 01 August and 02 August"
(August 2004)

15.    (Due to negligent non-action by the Benevolent Autocracy during the run-up to the August Gubernatorial Election, no one knew what the opening /closing hours for Night Entertainment Venues would be.   A flurry of rumors made the rounds - this couplet seemed to have the greatest dissemination among bar owners and their staff - as well as the Expat community.)
"          1. All bars would be able to serve alcohol up until midnight on the day preceding the election, after which they would only be able to serve non-alcoholic beverages.   All bars would be open but 'dry' on election day.

         2. All Night Entertainment Venues would be fully open the day before the Election and closed on Election day itself. "
(September 2004)

16.    "Much as Microsoft issues regular "patches" to repair it's plague-ridden Operating System, the Benevolent Autocracy will re-implement 'Night Entertainment Zones' sometime in the month of October."
(October 2004)

17.    "After last month's visit to Rachadapisek, the Benevolent Autocracy will be closing down Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy within the next 3 months."
(November 2004)

18.    "Bangkok's Finest Special Branch are installing cameras at the entrance to Expat Night Entertainment Areas in order to document which Farang are regular carousers."
(December 2004)

19.    " "The recently destroyed Asoke Plaza will be rebuilt as bar beers again, and the recent lessees will move back in and reopen their bar beers in 4 months."
(January 2005)

20.    "Several new and existing bars will be moving into Soi 7/1 (Soi Eden) in the next 3 months, bringing the total of Night Entertainment Venues to over twenty."
(February 2005)

21.    "Rainbow Group and Woodstock's Peter will finalize an agreement for the sale of Woodstock in early March. Peter will retain use of the name as he plans to reopen Woodstock on Sukhumvit somewhere.."

NOTE: THIS IS MIDNITE HOUR's FIRST RUMOR TO COME TRUE !
(March 2005)

22.    "Beginning 17 April, Patpong 1 will undergo massive renovations. In an attempt to capitalize on their "Zone" status, they will be ridding the street of most or all street vendors, and begin the first sprucing up since it came into existence."
(April 2005)

23.    "Closing times for bars in the Cowboy, and Nana, and the Patpongs will return to 02:00 a.m. in June and July.   In that this return to old closing times will not immediately become official, Bangkok's Finest will be collecting bribes nitely at 01:00, or monthly from bars wanting to participate."
(May 2005)

24.    This rumor comes up so often, it has become Bangkok Urban Legend.
"The Come Prima Coffee Shop at the Siam Hotel on Petchbury Road has become the hottest after-hours spot in Bangkok."
(The Siam Hotel, and it's coffee shop did in fact have a heyday in the mid-sixty's and early seventy's during the R & R years, when "New' Petchburi Road was referred to as the "Golden Mile".)
(June 2005)

25.    "The area where the 13 Night Market stood, and where the original Thermae Coffee Shop stood before that, will be opened back up for a new bar beer area in the near future.   Proof of this is that the hotel abuilding next door has not yet absorbed it as was originally intended."
(July 2005)

26.    Due to political unrest in border areas to the south, the Night Entertainment business there has tanked, causing Night Venue workers from those border regions to migrate to Koh Samui and Bangkok.   The more adventurous are unwittingly getting themselves involved in what is now euphemistically referred to as "human trafficking" scams in foreign countries.
(August 2005)

27.    The impending shake-up in the top brass at the Thong Lor Police District will ease the pressure on Night Entertainment Areas within it's boundaries, to include Soi Cowboy.
(September 2005)

28.    "Sukhumvit's Soi 11, already home to a smattering of Night Entertainment Venues of various formats, will become the next to qualify as a " Night Entertainment Area" by mid-year due to a rapid influx of 15 to 20 bars whose owners are disgruntled with their current locations."
(January 2006)

29.    "Several well-established Night Entertainment Venues in the Capitol are securing properties near the future Suwannaphum Airport, to include some large godowns for use as discos."
(February 2006)

30.    "Bar owners in Nana Plaza say they are getting the short end of the stick: not only do they have to cut deals with Lumpini's Finest to stay open late, they then have to deal with the Metropolitan Men In Too-Tight Uniforms.   And as a consequence - they generally do not stay open late.   They say this puts them at a disadvantage against Soi Cowboy and others, who only have to deal under the table with Thonglor's Finest.
(March 2006)

Total    "Rumor Of The Month" Awards =   30

Number of Rumors that have been accurate: =   1

Current Percent Accuracy (On 01 March 2006) =   3.33%