The return of Super A

[floridarob]

How about the disco in that area...Bank Studio?

Was my favorite.......

[Patanawet]

18 hours ago, billyhouston said:

Khun Sweet Cigar?

 

Sweet Cigar was notorious for youngsters. Surprised if it wasn't closed by police.

[PeterRS]

16 hours ago, Londoner said:

I suspect this subject may be boring some readers and so, as a final comment dragged unwillingly from  memory, I recall that the name of the  bar in question was related  to that of  Super A. You know, like Super B......

I visited all three bars in that soi. I am pretty certain now that Super Lex was the much bigger bar at the end of that soi with curtians around three sides of the stage that looked like they had been taken from 1950s cinemas! Lex was a Japanese named Lex Matsuda. I have an inkling that the bar opposite Super A was named Lucky something - Lucky S or Lucky 5.

I have tried to find information from on line copies of the old free magazines that used to be given out in many of the venues. The ones I can find only have Super A in that location. Something tells me that Out In Thailand which was run from Chiang Mai had maps with at least two bars in that location but it died many years ago.

I did find this from Janary 1999 which might be of interest to some (quite a number of typos in it!).

[floridarob]

That brings back memories, was my 1st time in BKK. Stayed out on Sukhumvit at a hotel that was recommended by Utopia.....had a hell of a time finding Babylon. How spoiled we are with GPS and Google maps and translate now.

Luckily , a local at Babylon took me for a tour of all the gay bars in the Silom/Suriwong area, otherwise I probably would've stayed in the Sukhumvit area and host bars there.

[Londoner]

Yes, me too. It occurs to me that our younger posters will look at the map and turn green with envy when they see what was available. long ago. What the map doesn't show of course is that the hosts in the bars were more eager and welcoming and that the go go dancers actually danced. I agree with floridabob that we are fortunate to have better technology now- not that I am able to use it- but, bluntly, it doesn't compensate for what has gone for ever. 

[PeterRS]

Merely for interest, Le Bouchon was a popular if somewhat dingy French restaurant on Patpong 2 that seemed to have been there for decades. Always seemed to be packed with French guys. It has now moved into the original Babylon building at the top of Soi Mozart/Nanta off Sathorn Soi 1. The prix fixe lunch is always packed. Had dinner there recently. Certainly recommended.

On the other hand, I so much wish the original Babylon was still there!

[billyhouston]

Did not 'Khun Bar' morph into 'Alek Bar' across the Soi where SuperA is now? Thought it was 'Alek Bar' downstairs and 'SuperA' upstairs but that may have been the other way around.

[thaiophilus]

I've had a look through my collection of ancient guides and have unearthed these maps from 1994-1997 (those are the publication dates, so they may already have been obsolete by then.

Apologies for the unclear text on some - it's difficult to scan pages that won't lie flat.

In that little alley the 1994 map has Khun Bar, Golden Cock, Super A, Lucky S, Super Lex Matsuda and Mama Sun (which was karaoke bar)

 1994 (Thai Scene/Notcutt),

1995 (The Men of Thailand 5/Allyn)

 

1996 (TMOT6)

1997 (Thai Scene)

1999 (TMOT7)

[TMax]

With so much choice it's such a pity I wasn't into cock back then, Bangkok must have been a blast then. 

[PeterRS]

Looking at those excellent maps, i think I was close to the mark in suggesting the bar across from Super A was Lucky S which might later have morphed into Mama Sun before closing. Interesting that in 1996 Soi Twilight only had the Twilight Bar.

[GWMinUS]

On 10/18/2022 at 7:51 AM, Londoner said:

I suspect this subject may be boring some readers and so, as a final comment dragged unwillingly from  memory, I recall that the name of the  bar in question was related  to that of  Super A. You know, like Super B......

Continue please!! Great to read your recollections...

And yes the Super Lex I went to was at the very end of the Soi from Super A. You could also enter from the Soi off Soi 6.

[reader]

18 hours ago, floridarob said:

That brings back memories, was my 1st time in BKK. Stayed out on Sukhumvit at a hotel that was recommended by Utopia.....had a hell of a time finding Babylon. 

Tried but failed to find it on first trip in 2002. It was only on second trip that I succeeded. In its heyday, it was practically addictive.

[Boy69]

2 hours ago, TMax said:

With so much choice it's such a pity I wasn't into cock back then, Bangkok must have been a blast then. 

Sadly Patpong BKK , Boyz Town & Sunee Pattaya and Paradise complex Patong are a gloomy shadow to what it used to be at the early to mid 2000's where the choices of gay venues was vast so many attractive genuine gay boys eager to please you and  to know you better then just short time session, no matter how many recently trip reports saying how wonderful time they had it certainly can't match to what it used to be. Nowadays most of the boys are straight with business like approach ( 'you cum I go' ) and their heads buried at cell phones . I don't want to look like nostalgic fart but that's how I see the current things in Thailand.

[Londoner]

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Looking at those excellent maps, i think I was close to the mark in suggesting the bar across from Super A was Lucky S which might later have morphed into Mama Sun before closing. Interesting that in 1996 Soi Twilight only had the Twilight Bar.

Yes.... Lucky S, that's the one.

As far as Soi Twilight is concerned, a couple of years later, it had Chardonnay, Blue Star and a couple of others opposite (New Man?) plus a short-time hotel. In that glorious, first  trip I took to  BKK, it was where I had my most interesting times. Blue Star was unique in that it had two separate troupes of gogo dancers, one very twinkish, the other more manly. They took it turns to strut their stuff, combining occasionally for a naked show. I recall that the twinks were often  shy and kept their hands strategically-placed while the other guys let it all hang-out.

Blue Star was where I dropped my wallet and was chased along the soi by one of the waiters who returned it to me.  An unexpected and significant moment because, thereafter, I was impatient with falangs who claimed that the guys we meet aren't trustworthy.

 

[PeterRS]

I'll be even more boring (!) and suggest that what made Bangkok so special was not so much the quantity as the quality of the bars and their offerings. There were many I'd go into and quickly depart. But starting with Apollo in Soi 4 in the early 1980s with its nude dancing after around 9:30 pm, Barbiery from the mid-1980s with its two stages, 100 or so boys and a cornucopia of delights every visit, Volt sauna around the same time (was it the first with Obelisk opeing soon after?) and then the crown jewel of the original Babylon. Somewhere during that time I discovered the original Twilight and just loved the place - sleaze and all.

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, Boy69 said:

 I don't want to look like nostalgic fart.... 

Not sure it worked as intended... 

[Patanawet]

On 10/17/2022 at 8:01 PM, Min said:

Here is a picture taken today

Is 'Super Boy" the same as Super A, first upstairs via  rusty, rickety  cast iron stairs and bridge, then to move down stairs with a permanent water leak and bucket just inside the door?  

[pong2]

Super A and Lucky S were related and later kind of ´merged´ into 1. The original SupA as I remember was just 1 house beyond where it is now-at least double the size. But for quite a long time I kept an off-bar regular meeting whilst in BKK with a guy working there and met first time there-he also quickly noted the un-comfort and pointed to alternative dating. This must have been the early/mid 90ies. There were at that time also f...ing shows, already then with the very slim long haired katoey. Probably only when enough customers were present.

I would like to correct some; Super LEK was not at all the tipical sleazy one-it was run as a strict Japanese style club -which also meant that any more close move to a guy working would cost money to purchase something. Name a bit similar to LUcky S=-but quite different operating.

Just around the corner was my favorite-not so much the Golden Cock but a bar that had various names, I remember King Diamond. In soi Anuman...-just beyond what is now that restrt. (or also was?)

There has also been a sauna for a few monthes on the corner just before the G.Cock.

[PeterRS]

Thanks for clarifying the issue re Super Lex. (Not sure if the name was LEK or LEX - it does seem it was run by Lex Matsuda but that would not prevent his naming the bar LEK). You are indeed correct. It was a different sort of bar. I recall the boys did often appear naked on stage but with their bodies partially hidden behind light gauzes.

[Min]

17 hours ago, Patanawet said:

Is 'Super Boy" the same as Super A, first upstairs via  rusty, rickety  cast iron stairs and bridge, then to move down stairs with a permanent water leak and bucket just inside the door?  

I'm not sure about the details but there is a big yellow "A" in the sign post and I talked to the same mamasan (or owner?), who been there before Covid.

[Shonen]

Went to Super A last night for second time. About eight boys hanging out outside until customers arrive. Got there about 11 pm and I’m only customer.

Had two boys with me, a new one and one from previous night. 
 

There was a guy there, Dee, who was on his phone and then left. The mamasan showed me his nude photos on her phone and I’ll be back to find him tonight. She has photos of some cute guys that she can call and they’ll arrive at the bar.

Also went to Nature Boys, right nearby. Only two rough trade there. What a small narrow place. The rent must be very cheap there. 

 

 

[PeterRS]

On 10/20/2022 at 11:59 AM, Boy69 said:

Sadly Patpong BKK , Boyz Town & Sunee Pattaya and Paradise complex Patong are a gloomy shadow to what it used to be at the early to mid 2000's 

To that list you can add the Night Bazaar and a vast number of gay venues in Chiang Mai, sadly.