Angel Witch For Sale

[Lusty]

Yes,I agree.

If there is no P4P beaver available.Why on earth stay on lower Suk?

 

[Torneyboy]

Yeah more than likely the result..

[TheCorinthian]

Can someone tell me the history of how this "indian family" got to own most of Suk...?

[Mentors]

will miss the good music there

[MooNoi]

will miss the good music there

 

At Angelwitch??

 

WHAT good music??

[bibblies]

 

Rock for 50 year olds doesn't get young Thai girls dancing or in the mood for anything. Why the fuck more bars don't cotton on to this and play at least some newer music that'll get the girls moving, I don't know.

 

You could say that they're listening to their main customers but, personally, if the girls are dancing all over the place and in the right fun mood, I couldn't care less what they play.

 

Ignore the old moaners who'd complain if they played anything Thai or new and they'd get a livelier bar and more customers, I reckon.

 

The big loss from Angelwitch wouldn't be the music, which is the same as quite a few bars. Angelwitch's unique selling point for me is in the costumes. No other Bangkok bar has costumes like it. I reckon I fancy quite a few girls there whom I wouldn't fancy in normal bar attire.

[MooNoi]

I reckon I fancy quite a few girls there whom I wouldn't fancy in normal bar attire.

 

Whaddya mean, Bibblies?

 

I thought preferred "normal bar attire" for you is completely nude! :grin:

[Gadfly]

Can someone tell me the history of how this "indian family" got to own most of Suk...?

 

I think the family is Singh. I recall reading a short blurb somewhere about how the lower Sukhumvit area is largely owned by a Thai-Indian or several Thai-Indian families. This website is largely devoted to the lower Sukhumvit area; it would be interesting to know about a more about its history. Anyone here know the history?

 

 

[Gadfly]

One of the reasons the area is popular is down to Nana Plaza. Do you think there is any pressure on them not to turn the area in to a hotel etc..

 

The Nana Plaza scene has evolved over the years into something much larger than Nana Plaza itself. The bars on Soi 8, Gullivers and other bars across the street and the bars along Soi 4 are all part of district or scene where the plaza itself seems to the center.

 

Even during the darkest days of the new social hypocrisy new bars were cropping up in this area. A lot of money has been invested in the scene - Gullivers, for example.

 

I wonder what affect converting Nana Plaza into a hotel or shopping center would have on all of the other nightlife related businesses that have developed in this area. If one family or group of related familes really does own most of the property in that area, they surely must take this into account when considering the plaza's future.

[pe7e]

Here's a condensed history of Nana Plaza I found on the web a while back, if I can find the site again I'll post a link to it.

 

In 1981 â??Nana Plazaâ?? was a mostly empty mini-mall with the standard run of Thai shops; a pharmacy, a travel agent, a beauty shop and a couple of restaurants (one of which was Lebanese). A small beer bar, Lucky Lukeâ??s was located in the entranceway, neither on Soi 4 nor in Nana Plaza.

 

In that same year, in another nearby part of town, the Rachadapisek Inner Ring Road extension was pushing through the length of Soi Asoke and into the top of Soi 16, widening both to 8 lanes. Ancillary works, which commenced in 1982, included widening Sukhumvit itself to allow for turning lanes into and out of this new stretch of Rachadapisek. This latter widening along Sukhumvit caused the shops in that area of Sukhumvit to close down temporarily while they (literally) cut off the fronts of the buildings and reconstructed new fascia several meters back from the new curb.

 

 

This seemingly unrelated event was, however, the unwitting catalyst; causing immediate distress to the small group of A-Go-Go bars on Sukhumvit Road between Soi 16 and Soi 14. Some Bangkok regulars may recognize the names of these so-called â??Soi 16 Barsâ? : Rosemary 1 , Rosemary 2 , The Three Roses , the Rainbow Bar , and the Sunshine Bar . These bars had to close almost overnight, with no guarantee as to when they might be able to reopen.

 

Unable to wait, in mid 1982 the Rosemarys (1&2) , The Three Roses and The Rainbow Bar moved into Nana Plaza . These bars are still in Nana Plaza today, however the Rosemarys combined as a single bar when they moved in, while The Rainbow , having gone through some minor name changes, is now back as Rainbow 1 . While it can be said Lucky Lukeâ??s pioneered Nana Plaza , these 3 bars -as a group-, are the 'seminal bars'; they â??made it all happenâ??; they brought â??A-Go-Goâ? to what would eventually become one of the largest A-Go-Go Entertainment Areas in Thailand. ( Sunshine was the only â??Soi 16 Barâ? that didnâ??t move to Nana Plaza ; it moved to Soi Cowboy , reincarnating as Sunshine Dee Ja , eventually selling out to the Bumble Bee in mid-1994.)

 

Growth of Nana Plaza as a Night Entertainment Area was slow but sure; on average, less than 2 new bars a year. But despite a slow start, by the year 1990 it had found its way into the Lonely Planet-type guidebooks, and, most agree, was â??standing on its own two feetâ??. It had arrived - it had reached â??critical massâ??. Many tend to forget that this was due, in no small part, to a ready-made customer base from the Nana Hotel across the street, and two always-packed-out small hotels within the premises: the Nana Guest House (while it was still really a guest house) and the Royal Siam Guest House .

 

As Nana Plaza completes its second decade as a Night Entertainment Area, longtime residents and returning visitors to Bangkok may still remember some of the earlier â??landmarkâ?? venues: the Private Dancer , the Mon Cherie , Bubble Gum , Asian Intrigue , XTC (also called for a brief period, â?? X-tacy â?? but that spelling was frowned upon by the authorities), and Slitz! A Gogo . Some may recall Nana Plazaâ??s only Japanese bar -ever- Club New Fuchicho which, in early 1993, was bought out by Madisonâ??s . ( Madisonâ??s , also long-gone, is now the G-Spot .) The Hollywood Royal (now the Hollywood Rock) was a breakthrough bar for Nana Plaza , as it was the first Patpong-style bar with 'shows' and greater nudity, and it opened the way for further innovation within the Plaza such as; carousels, 'shower shows' and erotic performance. Some may also remember Woodstock when it was a first-rate A-Go-Go with the best sound system in the Plaza, and the Lollipop Mermaidium when it had live mermaids.

 

Growth at Nana Plaza has been steady since then. Ten years ago there were 19 Entertainment venues; five years ago there were 30. Today, at 39 Entertainment Venues, Nana Plaza has, for all intents and purposes, hit a physical plateau; there are very few â??shop areasâ?? remaining in which to put another bar. Should it survive the current governmentâ??s form-over-substance â??moral cleansingâ??, it will continue to be one of the primary A-Go-Go bar Night Entertainment Areas in Thailand for the foreseeable future.

 

Richard D. Hartman (April 2002)

 

It's worth noting Nana Hotel had it's disco up and running in or before 83, aptly named the 'Love Club' it was wild back then.