Gay Pattaya in the 1980s

[RonanTheBarbarian]

Originally, Dolf Riks had a restaurant at what is now the junction of South Pattaya Road and Walking Street.
It was there at the time of the 1981 Spartacus guide. In fact all the gay nightlife (which wasn't much) was there also.

Then in the early 1980's Boystown emerged as the main gay area, and another smaller area emerged in North Pattaya, around Soi 1 and Soi 2.
So when Dolf sold up his restaurant on Walking Street, he opened a new establishment in the North Pattaya area.

Boystown endures of course, but the North Pattaya gay area declined in the late 1990's , to be replaced by Sunee and Jomtien Plaza as gay zones.

Does anyone know when gay business started in Jomtien Plaza? Was it as soon as it was built?

[2lz2p]

I don't recall when Jomtien Complex started to have businesses move in. It was originally built about the time of "financial crash" (mid to late 90's as I recall) and stood empty for several years - each of those years, as I took a Baht bus to Dongtan beach, you would pass by all those empty buildings - then slowly, they started to be leased and occupied - when I moved here in 2002, I rented a house near the Hanamun (sp?) statue there were no restaurants or bars in Jomtien Complex - by the time I moved further away off Jomtien Beach Road 3 years later, there were a few restaurants and bars that had opened - since then more and more were added along with some changes of ownership and names.

[neddy3]

Maybe even built a bit earlier?

Yes, for years at Jomtien Complex there was this white elephant sitting there unused.
A real white elephant, as all the walls and the shutters of the unoccupied shops were white.
Rows and streets of them.

It sure took a while, but nowadays quite busy and lively. Big improvement.
Certainly not fully occupied however.