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Re: History of Soi Twilight
The following venues were open some time between 2013 and 2017 (from memory).
At the end of that soi (West of Wall Street Tower) was a massage place where you went upstairs.
On the right (West) side of that soi was a gogo bar Heart Beat Club that didn't last long.
In the basement of Wall Street Building was a bar (gogo or host?) that didn't last long. I went once or twice, but when I was refused to have a look inside and told to order a drink before entering, I left.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Heart Beat Club - that's the one!
Thanks, Christian. Always reliable!
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
a447
Heart Beat Club - that's the one!
Thanks, Christian. Always reliable!
Bingo! Heartbeat Club. Thanks Christian.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
a447
I only visited the bar once and if I recall correctly, I was taken there by that ex-gogo boy who had a book written about him. He accosted me on the street outside the Kasikorn Bank near Soi Twilight. We crossed the road and after a very short walk ended up in the soi where the bar was.
I assume that you are talking about Chai Pinit, who wrote Bangkok Boy. It is a good book and anyone who wants an insight into the lives of the bar boys in Bangkok and Pattaya may want to take a look at it. The publishers have added a rather dramatic sub-title; the reviews on Amazon are more balanced.
https://www.maverickhouse.com/books/bangkok-boy/
https://www.maverickhouse.com/wp-con.../ChaiPinit.jpg
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It is also available on Amazon and all the other usual places in both hard copy and soft copy.
Pinit later ran a bar beer on Soi Twilight.
https://foodsexandart.files.wordpres...870.jpg?w=1400
On a tangential note, talking about bars that have remained in the same location throughout, the A Go-Go bar that has been in a single location for the longest time anywhere in Thailand is Safari on Patpong 1, which is also Thailand’s oldest operating A Go-Go bar, having opened in the mid-70s and is still run by Khun Ning. It’s a shadow of what it once was, but the interior hasn’t changed in decades, so it definitely worth visiting when the opportunity arises.
The oldest A Go-Go in Pattaya is the Tahitian Queen on Beach Road, which has been in the same location since it opened in 1978. It announced its closure late last year, under the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, but was rescued after an online fundraiser by its fans. Whether it will survive the continued travel restrictions remains to be seen.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Bangkok Boy is certainly an interesting book. It's a long time since I read it but I recall that It seemed like a composite of more than one guy's Bangkok story, so varied and sometimes contradictory are the experiences.
Anyone who knows Soi Twilight will be fascinated.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JayToff
The oldest A Go-Go in Pattaya is the Tahitian Queen on Beach Road, which has been in the same location since it opened in 1978. It announced its closure late last year, under the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, but was rescued after an online fundraiser by its fans. Whether it will survive the continued travel restrictions remains to be seen.
I remember seeing the Tahitian Queen bar on Beach Road the first time I visited Pattaya in the early 1980's. The sign on Beach Road still looks the same today as it did 40 years ago.
The property is owned by the Patpong family, and is leased to the bar operators. Yes, that's the same Patpong family from Bangkok that owns Patpong 1 + 2.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
I am not going to BUY the book...wonder if somewhere it is printed to read freely?
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Blueskytoday
I am not going to BUY the book...wonder if somewhere it is printed to read freely?
Perhaps it's available at your local library?
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
I met Chai Pinit in his ? beer bar in Soi Twilight several years ago, actually I think someone else owned the bar and he was there simply trying to cadge drinks from fairing more just perhaps ? Either way he went to great lengths to tell me he had written this book ( which was it seems actually ghost written by a farang writer on the request of a farang publisher who figured the "story" might sell books I guess). So after he pointed out the book up on the shelf in the bar ( perhaps trying to sell me a copy ?) I so I just politely congratulated him on his literary success and left it at that.
Later when back home in the UK I bought the book and whilst it was interesting I guess I seem to recall that it certainly didn't paint us Farang in a particularly good light (funny that eh, I cant think why !? :)). But I do remember thinking to myself that I wished I'd read the book whilst still in Thailand as I might not have been just so congratulatory to him after me reading some of his ( the ghost writers?) comments and thoughts and stories about farang ( some of which no doubt were true though no doubt ).
I do remember that a few of the other bar boys I met and mentioned him / the book too hadn't very much nice to say about the guy. They all knew of him and his book and weren't it seems that happy with him for "writing" a book at all ( he wasn't very complimentary about some Thai's too from what I recall? ) and they also felt that he was perhaps giving away some details of their trade that would have been better kept private for fear it might hurt their trade / other Thai people may look down on them ( even more) than they (already) did.
But also I seem to recall that with the other Thai boys he just wasn't very well liked for other reasons and their main view was more that he was just full of shit ( or whatever the Thai expression for that may have been!).
So, whilst I've no doubt that much of the book is probably true and Im sure more sex workers could relate similar horror stories and I'm sure the guy did have had a hard life ( as had many guys there do without feeling the need to bare their soul to a farang publisher) the Thai bar boys reminded me that he DID get paid for telling his / A story to a farang ghost writer / Publisher - and we all are already well versed I'm sure on just how talented Thai boys can be when it comes to telling / embellishing a story when they feel the need to for "whatever" reason !
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
the Thai bar boys reminded me that he DID get paid
He told me the publisher had ripped him off and he only got a pittance from the book. Apparently that's why he still had to work.
TIT. Who knows what the truth is?
Somewhere in between, I expect.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Actually now that you mention it I seem to remember being told the very same thing - but at the time wondered was that just the usual Thai embellishment in order to aid an off / drink etc, but when you think about it it is also the most likely outcome of any deal that he might have made so I wouldn't be at all surprised. But as half of what he told them was probably made up anyway perhaps it all sort of balanced out in the end.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Is writing a book with niche appeal and presumably corresponding low sales volume something one should expect to fund retirement ? I doubt it.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
goji
Is writing a book with niche appeal and presumably corresponding low sales volume something one should expect to fund retirement ? I doubt it.
We’re all waiting for your autobiography
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
On looking up on Waterstones ( large UK book seller) I see the book is out of print just now it seems ( I'll have to go look for my copy in case it's worth a million ! :-)
I did see the one and only review that someone left which I felt summed the book up fairly well, it went as follows :
"The book appealed to me as I was interesting in reading why child prostitution is still occurring and how that situation is. The more pages I read, the more I knew that the book was not going to give me an answer to that. The book is written by a male prostitute that ends up in go-go bars because of his own decisions and mistakes. It is not a story of a stolen childhood. It is a story of a male prostitute and his motivations to be in this industry. Because I got a wrong image of the book when i bought it, it was really disapointing. However, if the cover of the book was honest, I would still have found it interesting. I have been in Thailand for quite a while yet and the cultural differences and barriers that occur to me, are being discribed from the Thai perspective. Therefore, I found it nice to read. A thought the story would be about a boy, not about a man that is 22 when he first sells his body and at age 44 discovers that he has taken the wrong path in life"
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Read it via the Kindle App
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nirish guy
On looking up on Waterstones ( large UK book seller) I see the book is out of print just now it seems ( I'll have to go look for my copy in case it's worth a million ! :-) . . .
I bought a copy of Bangkok Boy at Kinokuniya bookstore at Siam Paragon Shopping Mall in Bangkok. On checking the back cover, I see that I left the price tag on and note that I purchased it for the princely sum of 525 Baht. :)
Attachment 10832
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
You can find a copy to read on Archive.org
Go to the site, click on advanced search and search for title “Bangkok Boy” - they have a scanned PDF copy available.
If you create an account on Archive.org you can then “rent” it (for free) in chunks of one hour at a time. Just keep renting it out again and again until you have it read. Don’t know exactly about the copyright implications of reading it this way, but I leave that to your own conscience...
Incidentally, that search also brings up a book called “Bangkok oh boy!”apparently about the adventures of a middle-aged gay American on the boy bar circuit in Bangkok, which could perhaps be a more entertaining read.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Inspired by this thread, I re-read the book a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure many of us will recognise the descriptions of Soi Twilight a decade or so ago and the portrayal of some- some- of the go go boys. Very different, I have to say, from the few I got to know well in Pattaya whose lives were more relaxed....and more fun.. Not so sure about the sections which deal with village life. Some of it sounds like life in Dodge City.
Nevertheless, certainly worth a read.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
This "walk" has to be broken-up into four posts because of the number of pictures. This is Part 1 of a 4 part post.
THEY LIVE BY NIGHT
A PICTORIAL WALK THROUGH SOI TWILIGHT
When it comes to Bangkok’s night scene, one can think of a myriad of reasons to want to slap the idiots walking around with cameras, or with their smartphones at the ready. Nonetheless, there are some who capture Bangkok' s nightlife amazingly well without intruding into the fun of revellers. Stickman is by far the best of these. The pictures that he takes in the bars capture the personalities of the girls remarkably and his pictures of facades and street scenes are always atmospheric. Stick does not do gay though. So the areas in which Sawatdee’s readers play will never benefit from his remarkable eye and lens. Fortunately, however, the chaps at the Midnite Hour have diligently profiled some of these areas as part of their record of Bangkok’s nightlife, which goes back to the 1960s in some areas. Their record of Soi 4, for example, goes back to the mid-1990s. With Soi Twilight though, only to the early part of the Millennium. They have been remarkably generous in allowing me to use pictures from their archive for this post on the bars and venues of Soi Twilight. If you are going to use these pictures anywhere else, please attribute them to Bangkokeyes.com
With a dearth of photos on the bars of the 1990s though, I have had to use pictures from adverts in magazines from the 90s. The problem with that is that while I want pictures of neon signage, facades and street scenes, the bar owners would rather have bar boys in briefs in their adverts. So it is that I have been compelled to post pictures of hot young lads in skimpy briefs on here simply to capture something of the insides of the old bars. Fortunately, however, from the turn of the millennium, we get to the really exciting stuff, like neon signage.
I do think that the post would have worked better if the images actually appeared in-line though, rather than requiring readers to click-through on them. Still, that shouldn’t be too much trouble as you should have at least one hand free even while looking at pictures of hot boys in briefs.
A WALK THROUGH SOI TWILIGHT
To anchor this walk through a vanished street, I am including a map of Soi Twilight from 2006. Since the Banana Bar and Dream Boy remained in single locations from 2004 to the end of the soi, they are useful points to anchor discussions on where what was when. Right-side and left-side are based on entering from Suriwong Road. Veterans will note that a few known bars such as Sprite Boys and Boys.com are not on this list. For those, I have not been able to find pictures.
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Before jumping into the individual venues, though, here’s a sequence of street scenes of Soi Twilight from 2004 to 2018 to jog one’s memories and because you can’t have too much of good neon..
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20 Attachment(s)
Re: History of Soi Twilight
This is Part 2 of a 4 part post.
The bars and venues below are, broadly, presented according to the order in which they first opened on Soi Twilight. As it should, this walk through the historical Soi Twilight begins with the original Twilight Bar…
1 Twilight Bar
The Twilight Bar was opened in 1966 by a katoey named Khun Yosawadee, who had previously run a boy brothel in the New Road area. Twilight was the first bar in Thailand to offer off-boys. She originally opened Twilight on Soi Thaniya 2, in the location that would later become Barbiery and afterwards the original Dream Boy. Somewhere in the early 1970s it moved across Suriwong Road to a spot at the mouth of Soi Pratuchai, which would eventually become known as Soi Twilight.
Attachment 11206
Twilight would remain the sole gay venue on that soi until the beginning of the 1990s, when a number of new boy bars began to open. By the late 1980’s, it had about 80 boys in its stable and offered a degree of raunchiness that the later bars on the soi simply could not match. In 2004, after almost four decades, it was sold to new owners, undergoing a change of name and becoming the Hot Male bar, which continues today.
2 Chardonnay
The second bar to open on Soi Twilight was Chardonnay. Its name was, supposedly, chosen because the middle-letters spelled “Hard-On”. The bar opened in the first-half of the 90s and was located mid-way down the Soi, on the right as you entered from Suriwong Road, where Fresh Beach Boy / Fresh Boys would later be.
Attachment 11207
Chardonnay aimed to provide a more upscale experience than the sleaze at Twilight, with actual show routines and karaoke later at night. Pictured below are the entrance to the bar and some of the boys in 1996. The pictures are from Morakot magazine. Chardonnay fizzled-out at the turn of the millennium.
Attachment 11208
3 New Man
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The New Man bar opened circa 1995, on the right side, in the upstairs location that most recently housed the Bangkok Massage. Its immediate successor in that location, though, was the X-treme Bar in 2001. Pics from MidWay.
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4 Blue Star
Blue Star opened in the middle of the 90s, occupying the upstairs location that would later become Dream Boy. This was an early venture of the BBB Group that would own Blue Star, The Boys of Bangkok, Dream Boy, Yes! and the BBB Inn. As an upstairs bar, there wasn’t really much of a facade, so, we will just have to make do with an advert of their boys in briefs, c.1996.
Attachment 11212
In 2004, it would merge with Dream Boy to form the largest and most popular bar on Soi Twilight. Pic from MidWay.
5 Boys of Bangkok
The Boys of Bangkok opened c.1997 and offered some of the wildest shows in Bangkok in its black and chrome interior. It was originally located in the second lot on the right as you entered from Suriwong, immediately after the Banana Bar. The site would later become X-Boys. Picture below of a show in the original Boys of Bangkok location 2004
Attachment 11213
In 2005, it moved across the soi to the location of the old Yes! Music Pub, below its sister bar, Dream Boy. The new venue offered a large central stage with clear visibility from all the seating.
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As traffic on Soi Twilight eventually began to decline, Boys of Bangkok began to function as an annexe to Dream Boys, hosting the second, late show, which was less scripted, more raunchy and often a lot more enjoyable then the earlier main show upstairs. It was nudity galore downstairs. In June 2009, Boys Bangkok added a statue of Neptune to their façade, giving it the look that endured until its closure in 2019.
Attachment 11215
The bar lives-on in the current Dream Boy on Patpong 2, which has based its exterior façade on that of the old Boys of Bangkok.
6 Dick’s Café
The popular and long-running Dick’s Café opened circa 1998 as the first non-bar gay venue on Soi Twilight. It sat on the right hand side of the soi as you entered from Suriwong, towards the end of the main block of bars. Pictured below in 2007, with the outdoor seating. While the Soi Twilight branch closed in 2019, its Pattaya branch carried-on.
Attachment 11216
7 Banana Bar
The long-running Banana Bar bar beer at the mouth of Soi Twilight was a favourite place for people-watching. It was located directly across from the old Twilight Bar. Pictured below in 2010
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They renovated and redecorated several times and with the end of Soi Twilight approaching, it opened an outpost on the nearby Soi 4, where it continues today. Pictured below in July 2017.
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8 Future Boy
Future Boy, which kicked-off at the start of the millennium, was once the hottest bar on the soi. At its peak Future Boy boasted of over 100 boys in it stable, with both a large main stage and a smaller enclosed shower stage at the back. Some will recall that Noom, of Bangkokbois fame, got his start in this bar.
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Located on the right, at the end of the main block of bars,. Its reign as king of the soi eventually ended with the arrival of Dream Boy and the slew of new bars that opened-up. Future Boy closed in May 2010. The site would then be taken over by the short-lived Ocean Boy and then Zeus bars.
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Future Boy managed to have both the best and the worst signage on Soi Twilight. Its multi-lingual neon sign still ranks as my favourite on the soi. Its lower-down fluorescent sign, on the other hand, was singularly uninspiring.
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9 X-treme and X-Man
The X group of bars that became so prominent on Soi Twilight kicked-off with the X-treme bar in 2001. It took-over the upstairs venue that had previously been the New Man and would later be the Bangkok Massage. It offfered shows and A Go-Go. In late 2004 or early 2005, X-treme rebranded as the X-Man bar, carrying-on under that name until mid-2008 when the venue became the Bangkok Massage, also part of the X group.
Attachment 11223
10 Classic Boys
The long-running Classic Boys with its troupe of amphibious urchins popped-up around the turn of the millennium. Located deep in Soi Twilight, where the road curved to the right, its defining feature was the water tank in which shows were staged. Boys were of the twinkier sort, although rarely the best that the soi had to offer. Below, Classic Boys signage in 2006
Attachment 11224
In mid-2016, it rebranded as New Classic Boys. Things remained the same old, same old though, although they did put-up new signage in mid-2017. Pictured below in June 2016 as they awaited their new signage
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Following the end of Soi Twilight in 2019, it merged with X-Boys to form the new Lucky Boys on Patpong 2
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20 Attachment(s)
Re: History of Soi Twilight
This is Part 3 of a 4 part post.
11 Bar Lover
Attachment 11226
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.
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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.
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19 Attachment(s)
Re: History of Soi Twilight
This is Part 4 of a 4 part post.
19 X-Size
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Attachment 11259
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...
Attachment 11261
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.
Attachment 11262
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.
Attachment 11263
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.
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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.
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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.
Attachment 11440 Attachment 11441
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Thanks. Brings back memories!
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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 :-(
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
The worst part about x-treme was the indeterminate gap between each act in the show. Sometimes the gap was as long as the act themselves. Divas and their costume changes! But they definitely needed an equivalent of a circus clown between acts!
Incidentally I offed a boy from there probably in 2002. Around 7-8 years ago he hit me up on Gayromeo. He was now working as a nurse in Bangkok-Pattaya hospital, so it's nice to see that some Gogo boys end up in a career and not back on the farms in issan
(And no we didn't have a ST reunion!)
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Armando,
I shared this business card in an earlier post:Attachment 11460 Attachment 11461
Do note that in 1981 to at least 1985 it was referred to a Barbierry Coast and the only sign outside that was mounted to the ceiling overhang above the door stated "Barbiery Coast."
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
colmx
The worst part about x-treme was the indeterminate gap between each act in the show. Sometimes the gap was as long as the act themselves. Divas and their costume changes! But they definitely needed an equivalent of a circus clown between acts!
I reckon what they needed was a producer, someone to crack the whip (as it were) to ensure the show ran smoothly without all those long gaps. There was surely no reason for all the boys to dance in each number.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TaoR
Do note that in 1981 to at least 1985 it was referred to a Barbierry Coast and the only sign outside that was mounted to the ceiling overhang above the door stated "Barbiery Coast."
Thanks. My first visit must have been around 1985. I wonder why they shortened the name - and got the spelling of Barbery wrong! Ours not to reason why.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
My last visit was in 1985 and I actually spent most of my time in Phuket during that visit. I know the sign above the door said Barbiery Coast, the business card said Barbiery Cocktail Lounge, and I remember one cab driver didn't know where "Barbiery" was but when you said "Barbiery Coast" then he knew.
All I know is that I fell in love with one of the waiters my very first visit and that kind of sealed my fate for further visits. I remember when they expanded with a third floor at the same location and I never once explored that floor. I was pretty satisfied with what the second floor provided and I knew who my off was....
I wish I had paid more attention as we used to cruise all the bars but I really do not remember much outside of the Apollo Club......
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TaoR
I remember when they expanded with a third floor at the same location and I never once explored that floor. I was pretty satisfied with what the second floor provided and I knew who my off was....
I wish I had paid more attention as we used to cruise all the bars but I really do not remember much outside of the Apollo Club......
In all my many visits I never realised there was anything on the 3rd floor other than changing space for the boys. Lots seemed to go up there after their their stint in the shows and after. I expect there may have been short time rooms. If so, the waiters never advertised them to my group.
Loved Apollo. First visited in 1980 and was a regular until either it closed or I happened upon Twilight and Barbiery.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
I actually fell in love with a waiter at Barbiery and I always hooked up with him every visit from 1981 until 1985. The third floor also had a lounge area but I never went up there as I had no need. I know were always swung by Apollo as it was a great place to dance back then. There was also one other club we would visit but I cannot recall its name. The bar boys were pretty loyal to their bar....
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TaoR
I know were always swung by Apollo as it was a great place to dance back then.
Not surprising that memories are somewhat hazy that far back. Having been there many times I just do not recall Apollo ever being a dance bar! As I remember it was a small space with a small bar on the left as you entered and a sort of zig zag catwalk on which the boys did their stuff. The rest of the space was seating for customers. I wonder if you might be thinking of Rome Club which then was the famous Soi 4 gay dance club.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Bar designs/styles change, which may explain conflicting memories. My recall of Apollo from the late 70's was of it being on the first floor, with a bar on the right as you entered. I also remember that the main feature was the the customers dancing, disco style. As to whether it was a "small place" it was always a two shop house size, larger than the other bars on the soi at that time.
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Re: History of Soi Twilight
Armando, You are correct, I remember two spots both of them had names from Greece and or Rome. I remember the Rome Club because I loved to dance and we always spent a lot of time there. I also remember a bar that had a odd catwalk...so that was Apollo. Then outside of those three (including Barbiery) that is all I remember. I do not remember anything along the size of the pictures I see today of Bangkok or Pattaya! If this is "demise" (pre COVID) then I don't know what to say....