Street Party in Boyztown Pattaya ..

[vinapu]

13 hours ago, gerefan said:

Get out of your chair, move towards the kerb and take pictures of them. They get REALLY  embarrassed!

no, they don't bother me , I don't chase them away either. I usually smile and wave at them but most often there's no reaction back

[kokopelli]

I wave at them and motion them over to sit with me.  Even got some smiles from the younger males.

[williewillie]

I’ve now heard from 2 boys that Boyztown will probably close down in two weeks.  I’m referring to Boyzboyzboyz,

Ambiance Hotel and restaurant, Ambiance massage, Panorama, and Castro.  
Boyzboyzboyz renews it’s lease and pays 6 months rent in advance 

twice a year.  This agreement ends this month and speculation favors the probability of lease not being renewed.

Without Chinese Female and male tourists, Boyztown (Pattayaland soi 3) is comatose.  
This info doesn’t include Scandic Massage or A-Bomb 

Boys club or the two remaining boy bars on Pattayaland soi 1 ( Dream Boys and Xboys).

The Chinese tourists favored Boyztown, Pattayaland soi 3 and it was standing room only at Boyzboyzboyz nightly .

As it’s very unlikely tourists will return before mid 2021 or later, it’s looking like the ‘fat lady will sing’.

 

[vinapu]

8 hours ago, williewillie said:

I’ve now heard from 2 boys that Boyztown will probably close down in two weeks.  I’m referring to Boyzboyzboyz,

 

that would be disaster but not unexpected considering circumstances. 

That story is repeated world over for many businesses , particularly those in tourism and hospitality sector.

But most of them will rebound as soon as normalcy or something resembling it, returns 

[Guest]

On 12/18/2020 at 11:33 AM, williewillie said:

The Chinese tourists favored Boyztown, Pattayaland soi 3 and it was standing room only at Boyzboyzboyz nightly .

There is the issue.   Chinese tourists favoured Boyz Boyz Boyz & there are hardly any in Thailand.   Don't expect many of them when they need to do 15 days quarantine in Thailand and another 14 days time when returning to China.

From what we read here, on the other hand, some of the bars in Jomtien are just about surviving on the flow of business from expat farang and the trickle of tourists who have made it to Thailand.  

Whilst some gay westerners might be BBB customers, quite a few of us are not interested in paying high prices to watch lads in jeans, particularly when they are too large for our tastes (in some cases).   So if a bar has an offer that's of little interest to the few potential customers in the country, they don't deserve to get any customers.

[vinapu]

6 hours ago, z909 said:

   So if a bar has an offer that's of little interest to the few potential customers in the country, they don't deserve to get any customers.

that's too Darwinian but unfortunately, about right in current circumstances. BBB business model served them well for good while but now turned against them due to dearth of Chinese girls fancying Thai hunks. 

[Guest]

I can't say I'm in the least bit concerned about a bar that caters for female Chinese tourists.    On a scale of 0 to 10, 0.  

Places like Cupidol matter much more, but this is all a matter of personal taste.

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, z909 said:

I can't say I'm in the least bit concerned about a bar that caters for female Chinese tourists.    On a scale of 0 to 10, 0.  

Places like Cupidol matter much more, but this is all a matter of personal taste.

You are  right,  I'm almost exactly opposite, Cupidol 0, BBB , say, 7.5 out of 10 and I'm NEITHER Chinese nor female

[williewillie]

Some older gay men cannot grasp the concept of ‘boy bars’.

They persist in thinking of boy bars as gay bars.  Women and lady boys/men have always been welcome in boy bars.

Asians socialize differently than older gay men and go to boy bars in groups.  Many older gay men are lone hunters.

Asians often buy bottles of whiskey and set up while most lone farangs sit with a bottle of water or a soda,asking for more ice,

complain about the air conditioning and the loudness of the music.  Most Asian groups buy drinks for the boys and tip.

The older gay men are dinosaurs and are tolerated by the boy bars but the money is from Asians.

Clearly, I’m generalizing and there are big spender farangs who buy boys drinks and tip generously and lone Asians who are cheapskates.

Some boy bars that feature slim young twinks do cater to older gay men but welcome females with open arms.  
Sunee plaza

used to have many such bars but times have changed and even before Covid, almost all of the Sunee Plaza boy bars are gone

as well as many that were in the Boyztown area, especially on Pattayaland soi 1 many years ago.

 

[Guest]

I understand the concept of "boy bars".     I don't have a problem with female customers in the more respectable bars, as long as they are quiet & well behaved.  Such as the young Japanese lady who once asked my advice about short time hotels in Classic Boys.

I'd have been slightly less comfortable with female customers in somewhere like Eros, where almost anything would go on in the bar.

I also recognise that the long term growth market is in Asia tourists.

 

However, the key point is that I simply couldn't care less if BBB has insufficient female Chinese tourists.  I'd imagine I'm not alone.   There are more important things to worry about.

 

[firecat69]

45 minutes ago, z909 said:

 

 

However, the key point is that I simply couldn't care less if BBB has insufficient female Chinese tourists.  I'd imagine I'm not alone.   There are more important things to worry about.

 

You are definitely not alone. The Gay Bars in Pattaya that have failed over the years have no one to blame but themselves. They allowed what used to be fun places to spend a few hours ( yes imagine that) or at least an hour before taking someone back to our hotels etc, to a peek in the door to see if there were more than 1/2 a dozen boys and actually alive on stage before sitting down and paying anywhere from 4x-6x more for a watered down drink  or beer that Lady Bars sold to their customers. 

Wonder why the Apps have become so popular? There were times in the past I entered Funny Boys found a good seat and spent up to 2hours and sometimes did not leave with a boy but always called down a couple from the stage and bought them drinks and tipped them because I appreciated the management and wanted the bar to be successful . There were other well run bars that were successful doing the same thing and I treated them the same way.

I am not sure what happened to them whether there were just fewer customers or fewer managers who knew what they were doing. Using Funny Boys again as an example the long time manager whose name I forget but certainly Willie Willie will remember ,left for whatever reason and instantly the atmosphere changed in that Bar and eventually failed which most long time visitors knew would happen.  This was the same for many Bars in Pattaya . 

It is a hard job managing that type of Bar, Keeping Boys and Customers Happy .  Most fail because of bad management not because of lack of customers.

Moving to Bangkok for the discussion , there are many examples of well run Bars that survived on Soi Twilight  and were able to move across the Soi and will once again be successful  when the Virus is eradicated . Even now with no tourists they are surviving while waiting for Swampy to open again.

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, firecat69 said:

..... Using Funny Boys again as an example the long time manager whose name I forget but certainly Willie Willie will remember ,left for whatever reason and instantly the atmosphere changed in that Bar and eventually failed .....

Rose was her name I  think

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, z909 said:

However, the key point is that I simply couldn't care less if BBB has insufficient female Chinese tourists.  I'd imagine I'm not alone.   There are more important things to worry about.

 

Even if we don't patronize some venue , it's very existence enlivens street / soi and variety always helps to attract more customers which should attract more venues.

Who would visit Jomtien Center if it was there only one boy bar? Very few I guess.

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, vinapu said:

Rose was her name I  think

I believe that was the name.

 

11 minutes ago, vinapu said:

Even if we don't patronize some venue , it's very existence enlivens street / soi and variety always helps to attract more customers which should attract more venues.

Who would visit Jomtien Center if it was there only one boy bar? Very few I guess.

I suppose Boyztown would have less appeal if we were sat at Panorama, with a dark closed down premises front left.

Jomtien certainly benefits from some scale.  Even if I prefer a street full of gogo bars, where the boy offed one night can't see who you off the next day, even if he's from the bar next door.  

[williewillie]

Last night was the 11th anniversary of Xboys gogo bar on Pattayaland soi 1.   There was a good sized crowd and

it was actually cold inside as it was a very cool night with many Thais wearing jackets.

The show was nothing special as many boys have gone home.  B-Boys good as always although not as many as before.

I was told there would be a second show later as well as a cake.

Considering the COVID nightmare, it was a good show in the worst of times, like 2020 in general.

[spoon]

I was there during their 10th anniversary last year and it was a great night indeed. There were lucky draws for boys and customer alike, each drink will get u a ticket. There were so many gifts that in the end, the boss just asked who havent gotten gift yet and give them a pick of the gift haha. It was definitely a highlight of my trip, got myself a bottle of whiskey for my next visit, which was used in the next few days, with 2 other local friends.

One is bar boy but i never off him, knew him as he was offed by a friend, and another is the beach chair attendant that i really like. It was a great way to break the ice with the chair attendant and my bar boy friend was my wingman, that also thought the chair attendant is hot as well lol. Too bad i didnt have the courage to do anything more after the bar visit lol.

[Londoner]

I recognise that the bars in Boyztown had been hurting for many years....at least ten, I'd guess and that the sort of gay tourists (like me) that built the gay scene of the 80s and 90s are long gone.

However, I continue to feel a deep resentment at what happened between (roughly)  2015 an 2019. Boyztown may have been struggling but it was still alive.  The few go go bars had loyal customer bases, as did the Ambiance Hotel, its terrace that those  of three bars in the Panorama corner.  Then a decision was made to chase the female clientele in BBB followed by the coup de grace, the purchase of LCF. Forgive the personal bitterness in what follows.

After twenty years of patronising Ambiance three or four times I year, I spent my last night there two years unable to sleep at gone 0300  due to unbearably loud music from LCR accompanied by the screaming of women.  I looked out over the balcony. There were  but a few customers but each of them  was apparently endowed with astonishingly loud voices and an infinite capacity for banshee-like screaming.  With a  plane to catch, tired and low, I sat down with P (who'd never had the sentimental attraction to Boyztown that I had) and  we decided on the spot that it was the end of Boyztown for us. And we became regulars at the Jomtien Complex.

I know for certain that I'm not the only person driven out by the transformation of a gay soi into  a very different one. And I'd add that that the change that affected me and others was that it was no longer suitable for those of my generation, nor even of my boyfriend who is nearly forty.  The new visitors to the soi were often Chinese and female  but it was their youth and the behaviours that accompany youth that eventually  lost Ambiance (and Panorama) my custom.  

I've just re-read the above. And yes; I am getting old.

[Travellerdave]

Londoner - after reading your piece above I reflected that it could have been written by myself given the sentiments you have described.

I first discovered Pattaya in 2001 when I visited in company with a gay friend from home, with whom I had spent several holidays in Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria. After finding our feet we discovered we were in some sort of heaven the centre of which was BT, with its gay gogo’s and outdoor bars. Subsequently I stayed many times at the Ambiance and came to love its querky architecture. There were usually some str guests but usually civilised m/f couples who often had been attracted by positive reports on trip adviser. The change happened after the discovery by Chinese females of BBB, turning it from a gay orientated bar to a boy bar, and contributing to the late night sleep defeating noise with their shrieks. Finally i shifted my custom to the Jomtien Complex where the noise problem does not exists and a pleasant seaside atmosphere prevails for us gays including GAY bars. In BT.I used to patronise Cupidol, after it shifted premises into BT despite the pestering mamasam, who eventually found that I wasn’t an endless source of drinks and that I preferred  to select a boy myself rather than be guided by her recommendation.  However during the last couple of trips I just found it no longer had the sort of atmosphere and boys I preferred.

when I eventually get back to Pattaya (when is the question) I don’t know what I will find in BT  (maybe nothing) I hope there are enough elderly dinosaurs like myself to provide sufficient business for a recovery to a semblance of the place we used to love. 

 

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, Travellerdave said:

.... I shifted my custom to the Jomtien Complex where the noise problem does not exists .....

 

it looks you never stay in The Venue

[Travellerdave]

The Venue is the only hotel in the Complex where I have not stayed - my favourite is the Zing Resort. I suppose I should edit my statement to something like “where the noise problem largely does not exist”

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, Travellerdave said:

The Venue is the only hotel in the Complex where I have not stayed - my favourite is the Zing Resort.

I second it for three reasons : quiet, not expensive and discreet entry as one can by-pass reception

[Boy69]

I can recommend the East Suites opposite Zing luxury rooms on very reasonable prices some with jacuzzi and you have the previluge to use Zing swimming pool . freindly staff and guests are welcome with no qeastions asked.

[Guest]

I'd have thought the noise problem in the Complex would be horrendous, if staying too close to the bars, when one of them has a loud live event on.    Zing seems safe enough, although I have managed to stay on the side furthest from the bars in that hotel.

Any hotel hoping to thrive in an area with noisy bars outside should think about some effective soundproofing.    Everything is possible. I once stayed in an airport hotel in France, where the windows were made from some very thick laminated glass.   I tried tapping it and it was like tapping on concrete.  Couldn't even hear the planes.   

 

 

[Boy69]

On 12/18/2020 at 6:33 AM, williewillie said:

I’ve now heard from 2 boys that Boyztown will probably close down in two weeks.  I’m referring to Boyzboyzboyz,

Ambiance Hotel and restaurant, Ambiance massage, Panorama, and Castro.  

I think this rumor might be correct now I see that Agoda is not accepting bookings to Ambiance after 1th February .

[Londoner]

Despite what I wrote earlier, I'd be very upset if Ambiance were to close. And Panorama , too. There are people who  worked at the hotel  for many years and  for whom I have great affection . I remember one of them being in tears when I explained that I would not be returning on that last morning as I left.

Thanks to Travellerdave, P and I have had happy times at the Agate...and I can confirm that we've never heard any noise from the Complex . My posting record reveals just how fussy I am about that issue.