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Re: History of Soi Twilight
This is Part 3 of a 4 part post.
11 Bar Lover
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The Bar Lover, located on the left side of the soi, immediately after Hot Male, was not one of Soi Twilight’s great success stories. It popped-up somewhere around 2004 and closed in November 2006, with the property then becoming Hot Male 2.
12 Hot Male
Hot Male opened in 2004, with its owners taking-over the original Twilight Bar. Note that it retained the phone numbers for the old Twilight, showing the continuity. Remaining in Twilight’s location, it also featured a street-level bar beer that was popular for people watching. In March 2008, Hot Male expanded into the next door premises that had been the Bar Lover, creating Hot Male 2. The Hot Male 2 sign would appear and disappear several times over the years ahead. Not that it really mattered because everyone only ever referred to the bar as Hot Male. Pictured below in 2009 with its original signage.
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Hot Male’s line-up of boys was usually middle-of-the-road and it never came close to being the dominant bar on the soi, with the new owners toning-down the sleaze for which Twilight was famous. Of course that didn’t prevent it from promising punters their One Night in Bangkok experience
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Nonetheless, it continued to do well enough to remain in business until the closure of Soi Twilight, being the last bar to leave the soi in May 2019. It has continued to thrive in its new location on Patpong 2, with a much stronger stable and having recently established the street-level Midnight bar beer below the main bar. Including its antecedents as Twilight, Hot Male has now been in operation for 55 years. Pictured below with its new signage in 2014.
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An interesting shot of Hot Male’s signage after they put-up their new awning.
13 Dream Boy
Dream Boy arrived on Soi Twilight in 2004 and quickly became the alpha bar on the street. It occupied the first floor site that had previously been Blue Star, absorbing their stable of boys. With its “more than 100 boys”, including some of the best-lookers in the business, and its army of barkers outside, this place kept reeling them in. That it did so despite the highest prices on Soi Twilight - the cover charge with first drink price had reached 550 baht in its final years on the soi - was testament to its enduring lure. No other bar in Bangkok offered that combination of quantity and quality. Fittingly, it also had the most prominent signage on the soi, seen below in November 2007.
Attachment 11231
Dream Boy moved to Soi Twilight from its previous digs on Thaniya 2, occupying what had previously been the Barbiery boy bar and, before that, the original site of the Twilight Bar. What gave the bar its unique character was its strict “only Thai boys” policy and the fact that it was farang owned and run. That old German understood what foreign customers wanted and that they were willing to pay for it. There were periods when the excitement shifted elsewhere, but Dream Boy always eventually came back. Still going strong at its new location in Patpong 2.
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Above, the entrance to Dream Boy. For some, the stairway to heaven.
14 Fresh Beach Boy
Fresh Beach Boy was one of the bars that opened during the 2004 – 2005 period as the number of venues on the street began to grow.
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Personally, I always thought that they should have stuck with plain “Beach Boys” and a proper tiki theme. Instead, in early 2012, they dropped the “Beach” and segued into being Fresh Boys, putting-up a new sign to that effect. Their tale therefore carries-on under “Fresh Boys”.
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Pictured above during Chinese New Year 2012, just before the change of name.
15 Fresh Boys
Fresh Boys has the slipperiest history of any bar on Soi Twilight and it needs to be read alongside Fresh Beach Boy and Screw Boy. The original Fresh Boy opened c.2005, occupying the ground floor space immediately after Dream Boy, deep on the left-hand side of the soi, (below the later X-Size bar venue). The early Fresh Boy was never one of the major bars on the soi and its signage was not particularly impressive either
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In May 2007, it disappeared and the venue was taken-over by Screw Boy, which lasted for less than a month before moving back to Patpong. Fresh Boy then returned to the site as New Fresh Boy, as per the signage below.
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There was nothing new or fresh about it though and it never really ignited. At the end of 2007, it became the Fresh Boy X before going over the cliff and vanishing in July of 2008. The site was then taken-over by the Siam Angel Boys.
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Of course, in the Twilight Zone, dead doesn’t really have to mean dead, just like “I do everything” doesn’t really have to mean “I do everything”. As noted above, in 2012, Fresh Beach Boy assumed the Fresh Boys name and it is as Fresh Boys that it carries-on. Note, though, that the original bar was Fresh Boy, but it carried-on as Fresh Boys from 2012.
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The bar would update their façade in early 2017, but by that point they must have already seen the writing on the wall as far as the future of Soi Twilight went. In 2018, they opened an outpost on Patpong 2 which carries-on today and following the closure of Soi Twilight in 2019, the rump Fresh Boys would move to Soi 4 as Banana Boys.
16 X-Boys
Another one of the X Group bars, this one had its moments as the hot bar on the soi.
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Opening c.2005, X-Boys usually had a decent stable of about 50 boys of different types and their shows were often quite original. Shows were usually shared with its sister bar, X-Size further down the soi once that bar opened.
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It occupied the site near the beginning of the soi, just after the Banana Bar, which had previously been occupied by the Boys of Bangkok.
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Pictured above with its changing facades and signage in 2006, 2011 and 2014. With the end of Soi Twilight, it merged with Classic Boys to form the new Lucky Boys on Patpong 2.
17 Bunny Massage (Bonny Massage)
Located above Dick’s Café, the long-running Bunny Massage (Bonny Massage if you want to be Thai about it) popped-up on the soi circa 2005 during what was a quite rapid build-up of venues on the soi around that time. Its initial signage was unimpressive.
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In April of 2009, though, it debuted its classic neon, which was a definite improvement for the venue and for the soi.
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18 Screw Boy
Screw Boy had initially opened in the Soi Twilight area but quickly moved to the site in Patpong II that it still occupies today. In January 2007, however, Screw Boy moved back to Soi Twilight, opening as New Screw Boy at the back of the soi in the Five Star building, opposite Balls. Alongside Screw Boy, they also opened the late-night $BM Discotheque (Black Market Disco). The Five Star site was not a great success and they closed less than two months later, in February 2007. Pic below.
Attachment 11243
In May 2007, it re-opened as New Screw Boy X in the old Fresh Boys location, next door to Dream Boy.
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They lasted here less than a month before moving back to their old location in Patpong II, where they are still to be found today. As noted earlier, following Screw Boys’ departure, Fresh Boys then re-opened in its old location as New Fresh Boy.
19 Attachment(s)
Re: History of Soi Twilight
This is Part 4 of a 4 part post.
19 X-Size
Attachment 11245
Sister bar to X-Boys, X-Size opened in November 2006, located upstairs on the left side of the soi, just after Dream Boy, above the site of the original Fresh Boy and the long-surviving pool bar. Not very big, it often got fairly packed. Remarkably for such a small bar, they also managed to fit-in a glass cubicle for their shower shows. X-Size closed around September 2018. Pictured below in 2016 with its new signage, which was a lot less appealing than the original sign.
Attachment 11246
20 Red Massage
Some might still remember the Red Massage which opened in February 2007 deep on the left-hand side of the soi, past Dream Boy and the old Fresh Boys. It met its demise in November of 2009 and was almost immediately replaced by the Mario Massage.
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21 Mario Massage
The Mario Massage would have a decent run from the time that it opened in December 2009 until it closed in mid-2015. I can’t testify to the quality of its massage or other services, but it obviously had its fans.
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22 Maxis
Maxis opened on Soi Twilight in April of 2008, a decade after Dick’s. With it’s opening, there began the debate as to which one actually provided better food, a better atmosphere and better value for money. Opinions differed, but a bit of competition is usually a good thing. Maxis definitely won on the lighting, in my opinion.
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23 Bangkok Massage
The Bangkok Massage had only marginally more to do with massage than the Bunny Massage had to do with bunnies. The third massage parlour to open on Soi Twilight, it occupied the upstairs digs that had previously been X-Man, and had been the New Man a go-go bar before that, opening in June 2008. Pictured below at the time of its opening with its gentler look, before Soi Twilight went ultra-neon.
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And again in 2014 with their more familiar look.
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The Bangkok Massage shared ownership with the X group of bars and made the move to Patpong 2 when Soi Twilight closed.
24 Siam Angel Boy
When the original Fresh Boy (Fresh Boy X) went over the cliff in July 2008, it was almost immediately replaced by the Siam Angel Boy. Customers on Soi Twilight must have been looking for Siamese boys of the non-angelic kind, though, because the bar had failed and closed-down by January 2009. How many remember it?
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25 The Pool Bar (After Dream Boy)
The old Fresh Boy / Siam Angel Boys didn’t seem particularly lucky for the A Go-Gos that operated there. After the Siam Angel Boys returned to wherever is that Siamese Angels come from, the site was quickly taken-over in February 2009 by what looked like a temporary pool bar.
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Temporary, however proved to be a long, long time. The nameless pool bar, alone out of all venues, would make a success out of that location, staying until the end of Soi Twilight, closing in February 2019. It even, eventually, sprouted a small bar out front. It was a good place to meet boys of a certain type.
Attachment 11254
Seen above in May 2017, with the entrance to Dream Boy in the background.
26 Balls
Balls, The Sports Bar, which stood at the rear of the soi as it veered right towards Rama IV, was never really a hot spot. Owned by the same chaps who owned Dick’s, it was eventually taken-over by Hot Male in 2015, becoming the Hot Male beer garden.
Attachment 11255
27 Ocean Boy
Ocean Boy opened in the old Future Boy location in October 2010, picking-up many of the old Future Boy staff. Its stable of boys, though, was nothing too exciting and it kicked the bucket somewhere around March of 2012. Their signage was an odd mesh of the best and worst elements of the old Future Boy signs. Pictured below in November 2010.
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And again in November 2011 after the bar beer opened on its veranda
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28 Blue Man
Some will remember the Blue Man bar beer that opened on the Rama IV end of Soi Twilight in 2011.
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29 Scorpion Bar
Carrying-on the growth of street-level life, the Scorpion Bar, co-owned by Chai Pinit, former bar boy and author of Bangkok Boy, opened in late 2011 deep in the soi, on the right hand side, past Ocean Boy.
Attachment 11260
And Chai Pinit being a stud daddy...
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It was the growth of the bar beers and the street-level activity that really gave Soi Twilight so much of its flavour. I think the current Twilight Zone on Patpong 2 would be much-improved by the re-opening of the Scorpion.
30 Zeus
Zeus was the last A Go-Go to open on Soi Twilight, launching in July, 2013 in the vacant Ocean Boy site, which had once been Future Boy. Whatever aspirations their name might have suggested, it wasn’t to be. They held their last shows in December of 2014, before closing for renovations. By mid-February, they had given-up the pretence. No new venue would open in that location. No further A Go-Gos would open on Soi Twilight. As an aside, their statue of Zeus was pretty bad.
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31 Hot Male Beer Garden
The Hot Male Beer Garden took-over the venue from the closed Balls Sports Bar in mid-June 2015, shortly after the two little bar beers across the soi opened.
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They carried-out some additional decoration a year later, but it never really emerged as a major hotspot. Whether or not the Rama IV end of Soi Twilight could ever have emerged as a popular drinking and dining area, we shall never know for this was the first bit of Soi Twilight to face the wrecking ball in 2019. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Here ends our walk through Soi Twilight.
Re: History of Soi Twilight
Once again, thank you.
Some may find the name "Screw Boys" a little indecorous. However, according to the first Thailand Gay Guide I owned ("Thai Scene", as I recall), the owners originally wanted to call it "Schoolboy Bar." "Screw Boys" was an improvement.
Re: History of Soi Twilight
Excellent summaries. I see you have not included the bar that was open for 2 or 3 years in the early 2000s across from and fractionally to the right of Dick's Cafe. It had a computer/internet theme and another poster reckons it was named Boys.com. t had a couple of cute doormen! Later it became a pool bar.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
I know this post has nothing to do that is directly related to soi Twilight, but I stumbled upon this business card, which I must have picked up in 1981/1982 and I thought I would share it.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Thanks. Brings back memories!
Re: History of Soi Twilight
Thanks for the lovely walk down Soi Twilight memory lane.
With Covid keeping a lot of us away from Thailand for so long now it's so easy to forget the battered boarded up Soi that it became and it's almost as if it's all still there, with it's lights and boys all TWINKling and just waiting on our return - alas that will never be again of course now - such a shame as so many happy times there drinking and partying with all the beer bar boys / friends who worked in the Soi :-(
Re: History of Soi Twilight
I was 23 the first time I visited Barbiery Coast! I was 27 the last time. I was planning on going back in 2020 but obviously COVID derailed those plans. Now I am not so sure but I wonder if memories are not best left undisturbed.
Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TaoR
I was 23 the first time I visited Barbiery Coast! I was 27 the last time. I was planning on going back in 2020 but obviously COVID derailed those plans. Now I am not so sure but I wonder if memories are not best left undisturbed.
I assume you are referring to the bar whose name was simply Barbiery. I don't recall it ever used the name Barbiery Coast. Was there another bar with that name?
Just as well you did not try to find Barbiery in 2020 because it died around 2002/3. As mentioned some months ago in this thread, for some reason it moved from its Suriwong location to the 3rd Floor of a modern building opposite Nature Boys down the soi from Mango Tree. In the move it totally changed its character. It lost all its charm. The layout was similar to many other bars with a smallish stage at one end rather than in the middle. It also seemed to change from a wide range of boys with a greater number of twinks to one with older heavier built guys. As a regular over many years at the old Barbiery who loved that place, I went twice with a friend to the new premises and we disliked the experience both times. I never returned. I heard it closed less than a year later.
And one small correction to your description of X-treme Bar which as you righty point out opened in Soi Twilight around early 2001, again as stated in post #32 in January 2021. The 'show' was not a regular show. The English bar owner had engaged a group of handsome young dance students to perform kosher dance numbers that were slightly sexy - but no nudity - for about 30 minutes twice a night. I liked that bar because it was different. These boys were excellent dancers and they were happy to interact with customers in between their routines. The bar also had a small number of gogo dancers but I never saw any offed. When X-treme died relatively quickly - certainly by the end of 2002, the dance students were taken over by the German who had the bars on the other side of the soi. That did not last long and they had a brief stint thereafter at Roxy on Soi 4.
Re: History of Soi Twilight
The dancing in X-treme was undoubtedly of a high quality though I thought it sometimes over-choreographed....that is, too fussy, too detailed. Nevertheless. I enjoyed it and at a time when much of the entertainment was "samey", it was welcome.
There were certainly a number of go go dancers who were quite separate from the troupe and I remember their being very much my type....twinks! I was sad when it closed. The owner had obviously put a lot into it. That soi, which also hosted Twilight, Chardonnay and Blue Star, was full of delights.