Where are all the old timers? Bangkok

[PeterRS]

Inspired by @Olddaddy's thread under Gay Pattaya, I wonder if those who have visited Bangkok or lived here have memories of people and places in the city.

I have written in other threads about bars in the 1980s and 90s. One character I recall was the Englishman who ran X-Treme Bar in Soi Twilight for a couple of years or so in the early 2000s, a man with a full head of white hair. There was a rumour that he had been associated in some way with the Church of England! His bar never had many customers, but at least he tried something different. In addtion to a small number of actual gogo boys, he hired about 8 dance students to present a proper show with sort-of semi professional-level dance numbers. The problem was that show desperately needed a producer. The pauses between eaeh dance number were far too boringly long. I can no longer recall his name. What I do remember is that his student boyfriend would occasionally come to sit in the bar and he was drop dead gorgeous! When X-Treme closed, the dancers moved across the soi for a while to the German's (can't recall his name either) downstairs bar. I last saw the Englishman in Roxy in Soi 4.

I wonder if anyone remembers Khun An who was one of the original lovely bar tenders in Telephone. I met up with him when he went to London for a few years to help a friend with a Thai restaurant. Then he came back and some will recall he became a partner and Head Waiter in the lovely little French restaurant off Soi Saladaeng, La Table de Tee. Sadly this became a victim of covid. Lost track of him now.

[Olddaddy]

I remember that english man who ran that bar 

I brought a boy from Pattaya with me in my trip to BKK ,he was 19 

The english owner 🇻🇬🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿in BKK told me he must be 20 to enter and kicked us both out !!

I think he would be meeting his maker by now✝️ ,he looked old then 

 

[macaroni21]

13 hours ago, PeterRS said:

When X-Treme closed, the dancers moved across the soi for a while to the German's (can't recall his name either) downstairs bar.

I knew that downstairs bar across the soi from Xtreme as "Boys Bangkok", but the name varied a bit depending on which signboard one was looking at. The overhead signboard said "The Boys" pairing it with Dream Boy. This photo was from March 2010:

In the above photo, if you look at the extreme left edge, you will see yet another version of its name on a white signboard: "The Boys Bangkok".

Another photo, from December 2010:

Below is a post I made about Boys Bangkok from a visit in September 2010. Notice the huge numbers of stage boys and customers mentioned in the post. And it wasn't even high season.

Boys Bangkok surprisingly enjoyable

Boys Bangkok is the overshadowed sibling of Dream Boy Gogo Bar. Its chief purpose seems to be to stop the patrons of Dream Boy from drifting to a competitor bar after Dream Boy’s main show is over. A voice, in thickly German-accented English, tells customers at around 23:30h as the show ends, that they are free to take their drinks with them and go down via the back stairs to Boys Bangkok on the ground floor.

“We offer you two shows for the price of one,” the voice says. “And that is vhy ve are the best gogo bar in the vorld.”

And so it was that for several years now, each time I stepped into Boys Bangkok, it was via the back stairs, only to stay in the lower bar for a few more minutes before leaving.

This trip I decided to do it differently. I went directly to Boys Bangkok at around 23:15h while Dream Boy’s show was still in progress upstairs. And what I found was a bar that was really what gogo should be about.

The bar was mostly empty when I entered. There were no more than three or four other patrons who could not have been there long. Boys Bangkok does not open its doors until around eleven o’clock.

On stage were ten boys, slim, young and mostly fresh-faced, dancing energetically in their underwear. Doing this every night had resulted in lean athletic bodies that only added to their appeal. From time to time they looked at the few of us in the audience with broad smiles, like they were truly enjoying themselves, though I knew of course that they were mainly hoping for an off.

Nevertheless, dancing away, they were far more interesting to watch than the one-knee shuffle more often seen in other gogo bars.

At around 23:35h, a surge of people came down from Dream Boy. All the seats in Boys Bangkok were quickly filled (including extra chairs set out beforehand; the waiters had known it would be a big crowd) leaving the last 8 – 10 patrons with nowhere to sit. With so many people in the bar, and many moving about, it was difficult to estimate numbers, but it would have been something like 80 – 90.

This implied that Dream Boy must have had a very good night, with perhaps as many as 100-120 people for their show if we assume that only 3 in 4 chose to proceed down to Boys Bangkok after the show.

—

The ten gogo dancers made way at 23:45h for the full complement of boys. There were about 35 – 40 of them packed onto the stage, and as is always the case with Dream Boy/Boys Bangkok, most of them were rather appealing. There was considerable variety, from twinks to muscle guys, but virtually all were in good shape, with masculine demeanour. In other words, those who prefer fem boys will need to look elsewhere.

They shuffled around for about 25 minutes (a bit too long), during which time I counted at least 6 boys being called down to sit with clients, with perhaps more that I didn’t spot. At this late hour, one can assume that if a client asks for a boy to sit with him, an off would almost surely follow.

I found the numbers interesting. I knew that at the start of an evening’s work, there would be 50 (perhaps even as many as 60) boys working. If they were down to 35 – 40 by 23:45h, with 6 to 8 more called out by 00:15h, this suggests that on a night like this, about 20 to 25 boys got an off, giving an offing rate of about 35 – 40 percent. It’s not bad at all, especially considering that the off fee for Dream Boy/Boys Bangkok is now at 500 baht.

The short show began at 00:15h; it would reinforce my belief that 30 minutes is the ideal length of a show. Too many bars stretch a show to one hour which tends to make it dreary.

There were only four acts:

A big cock parade by eight boys;
A choreographed fast dance item by six boys, with a mix of ballet and hiphop;
The “Titanic fuck” – see more below;
The Pepsi douche by two biggish guys, the same act I saw a year ago and which I have described in an earlier blogpost.

The “Titanic fuck”, judging by audience reaction, was the most enjoyable one. The scene opened with two characters on a bow of a ship in the iconic pose from the movie. Wind and waves came crashing and the couple drowned. The body of the male character, played by a rather macho guy, was washed away. Some time passed.

The body is later discovered by three mermaids, waddling onto the stage. These three were played by the bar’s team of resident ladyboy performers. Curious, they poked at the body, and stripped him naked.

Aroused, the ladyboys flipped open their fish skins revealing hard cocks, to much nervous laughter from the audience. They then fought over who would get to fuck the macho corpse. It was necrophilia and gender reversal rolled into one; it was Leonardo di Caprio fucked hard by gatoeys.

Perhaps it fulfilled a secret wish of many in the audience?

[macaroni21]

I forgot to add that in that Sept 2010 visit, the drink price was 260 baht.

[macaroni21]

Oh yes, I mentioned the Pepsi douche - one of the numbers in Boys Bangkok's show. Here's a description of it from a visit report from December 2008:

--

Boys Bangkok had an innovative new act this week. I shall call it the Pepsi Douche. Two muscular guys come on stage, totally naked (with erect cocks, needless to say). They dance a bit, they wrestle a bit, and then one forces the other onto the floor. The top then grabs a 1.5-litre bottle of Pepsi, agitates it and forces the fizzy liquid into the rectum of the other.

Naturally, most of the Pepsi sprays all over the bar, dousing the customers in the front two rows. I think the idea is for the bottom guy to take up some of the Pepsi into his rectum and then spray it out, but if that was the aim of the act, I didn’t see any successful performance.

But wait, there’s more. Customers are invited to buy/contribute a bottle (or two) of beer, to be used in a similar manner by the top on the bottom. The whole idea may appall some people, but hey, I thought it was great fun.

Drinks: 250 baht.

[Olddaddy]

7 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

Naturally, most of the Pepsi sprays all over the bar, dousing the customers in the front two rows.

I don't know if that would be popular with the current generation of "woke" customers 😂😁

 

 

[bkkmfj2648]

9 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

the off fee for Dream Boy/Boys Bangkok is now at 500 baht.

That off fee was in 2010, and in many places now in 2025, it still remains at 500 baht.  Incredible value, considering our inflationary world after 15 years.

[PeterRS]

16 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

I remember that english man who ran that bar 

I brought a boy from Pattaya with me in my trip to BKK ,he was 19 

The english owner 🇻🇬🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿in BKK told me he must be 20 to enter and kicked us both out !!

I think he would be meeting his maker by now✝️ ,he looked old then 

With all respect, I do think you must be confusing the bar and/or the owner. He was the most pleasant of guys. After dinner at Dick's, a friend and I used to go almost every Sunday for around 18 months until the bar closed. We got to know him well and we never saw him stop anyone from visiting that bar - or even raise his voice at anyone. There was never a show - apart from the semi-pro dancers - so there was no nudity and the bar rarely had more than ten or so customers, some occasionally with cute young boyfriends. We also never once saw him asking for ID cards to prove age.

10 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

A voice, in thickly German-accented English, tells customers at around 23:30h as the show ends, that they are free to take their drinks with them and go down via the back stairs to Boys Bangkok on the ground floor.

The German owner certainly owned/managed two or three bars. I think I only visited the upstairs one. This was usually packed at the weekends with lots of chairs being added. and certainly had lots of gogo dancers. We all assumed at the time that he was making a mint of money with those bars.

Does anyone recall Classic Boys near the end of Soi Twilight? More of a twink bar with a large water tank behind the stage filled with pretty murky water. I felt sorry for the two or three boys who had to swim in it. It was rumoured this was owned by a cop. For a few weeks it had to be closed after a fire in the apartment above. The owner then farmed the boys out to other bars for those weeks, one of whom we met in Solid bar - a lovely young man, beautiful face and body and extremely good English. We assumed he was around 25. Later I learned that he was about 34, married with two kids. Yet he was a fantastic off - as I can attest!  

[Olddaddy]

1 hour ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

That off fee was in 2010, and in many places now in 2025, it still remains at 500 baht.  Incredible value, considering our inflationary world after 15 years.

Not really.

The Aussie dollar is way down 

1000 baht is $50

so I'm paying $25 

Plus the drink 

Plus the boy fee 

Cheaper in Australia 

[sydneyboy1]

35 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

With all respect, I do think you must be confusing the bar and/or the owner. He was the most pleasant of guys. After dinner at Dick's, a friend and I used to go almost every Sunday for around 18 months until the bar closed. We got to know him well and we never saw him stop anyone from visiting that bar - or even raise his voice at anyone. There was never a show - apart from the semi-pro dancers - so there was no nudity and the bar rarely had more than ten or so customers, some occasionally with cute young boyfriends. We also never once saw him asking for ID cards to prove age.

The German owner certainly owned/managed two or three bars. I think I only visited the upstairs one. This was usually packed at the weekends with lots of chairs being added. and certainly had lots of gogo dancers. We all assumed at the time that he was making a mint of money with those bars.

Does anyone recall Classic Boys near the end of Soi Twilight? More of a twink bar with a large water tank behind the stage filled with pretty murky water. I felt sorry for the two or three boys who had to swim in it. It was rumoured this was owned by a cop. For a few weeks it had to be closed after a fire in the apartment above. The owner then farmed the boys out to other bars for those weeks, one of whom we met in Solid bar - a lovely young man, beautiful face and body and extremely good English. We assumed he was around 25. Later I learned that he was about 34, married with two kids. Yet he was a fantastic off - as I can attest!  

I remember the Classic Boys!

[macaroni21]

2 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

That off fee was in 2010, and in many places now in 2025, it still remains at 500 baht.  Incredible value, considering our inflationary world after 15 years.

I had made this point somewhere else before (can't remember where):

When one watches how prices have moved over time, one can guess where customer demand is healthy and where it is not. That prices for offs have not budged in over ten years tells us that demand for offs is flat at best. Probably lower than in 2010 judging by the reducing number of boys on stage.

Yet drinks prices have doubled in the same period. So customer demand for shows is not as soft as demand for boys. What does this imply? 

There can be a separate discussion about why this divergent trend is the way it is (hint: demographics, aggressive advertising by massage parlours, bar boys' tip expectations compared to massage parlours....)

 

[Keithambrose]

5 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

Not really.

The Aussie dollar is way down 

1000 baht is $50

so I'm paying $25 

Plus the drink 

Plus the boy fee 

Cheaper in Australia 

Really. I'm in Sydney,  average price quoted for full sex, BB between A$300 and 500. Often plus uber.

[floridarob]

5 hours ago, PeterRS said:

The German owner certainly owned/managed two or three bars

If I'm not mistaken, he was from Belgium.... he was the manager back then... there was a group of owners that had the BBB Inn, Dream Boys, Boys Bangkok and a disco over where GOD is now, the name slips me...maybe Freeman or Arena?

I always thought he was the owner, then one night when I was with Hugh, the manager of the Ambiance at the time, in BKK...he introduced me to Neil one of the major partners....and he said he's only the manager.

I got along with him, the manager,  fine for many years, then one time at the BBB Inn the room had bedbugs, I reported it to him and he got all pissy, like I was blaming him for it, I wasn't...I just told him I'm changing hotels because of it.... 🤷‍♂️

Towards the end, he may have acquired ownership of Dreamboys or something that I heard in  gossip.

He looked grumpy or unhappy usually and near the end could barely make it up the stairs, but apparently he was good to the boys, they all spoke very highly of him 

[Olddaddy]

2 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Really. I'm in Sydney,  average price quoted for full sex, BB between A$300 and 500. Often plus uber.

Hit Grindr or the saunas or if your desperate I'm back on Sunday 😂 

[vinapu]

23 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 

Does anyone recall Classic Boys near the end of Soi Twilight? 

some boys from there are still in the business and can be seen in Dreamboys and even Atlas including one whom I considered too old to work in bar then and obviously I was wrong

[Olddaddy]

Ahh the BBB inn...I remember it well, 

I remember going there like 2018? And they had this Thai grunge Headbanger  type of music blaring in the reception,the guys playing pool 

They said they had no bookings even though I had booked through Hotels dot com

Had to get a refund ,never stayed there after that then it closed I think before covid

 

[reader]

Where are all the old timers?

Some nights they can be found on the terrace at G's. Other evenings on the stools at Midnight.

 

[jason1975]

I am not an old timer. I started going to gogo bars in Bangkok in 2015. I remember Classic at end of Soi Twilight well. Love the twinks line up and the interesting mermen in the fish tank. @vinapu is right. They are still working and can be found at Dreamboys and Atlas.

[Keithambrose]

On 4/3/2025 at 11:41 AM, Olddaddy said:

Hit Grindr or the saunas or if your desperate I'm back on Sunday 😂 

I'm not that desperate........