I had never beforehand heard of The Garage. I just found on the internet a 262 page scholarly survey of gay sex in Thailand titled "A Night Out With The Boys" about bar-based male sec work in Bangkok. As usual it is hard to get into but the writer also mentions The Garage.
He arrived in Bangkok in 1979 where he spent the better part of the next 15 years. He concentrates his discourse on the bars near Suriwong and Saphan Kwai. Where he discusses bars prior to 1979 he depends on information from friends.
Near the start, he mentions that he was with friends in Rome Club on Soi 4 when some left to see the sex show at "The John". I never heard of this bar either and don't recall seeing mention of it. He adds that The John was the first of the commercial sex venues to feature male-male sex shows and "became an overnight success." Anyone else heard of this bar?
He also mentions a large bar north of Lumphini Park. This must have been the infamous Stockholm Bar in an old Thai house where I had my first experience of Bangkok's bars.
There is reference also to "Big Boy" which seems to have been a later bar. Another is Mandrake. I don't recall either, He also interviews 55 bar boys about their experiences. The age range was 18 - 33 with the majority aged 18 - 22. He adds that boys working in the Saphan Kwai Bars tended to be on the whole younger than those in the central district. But that research took place much later - between 1994 - 1999
http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/fapi/dat...CE01?view=true