MIDNITE HOUR - 01 October 2024

A-GO-GO CARNIVAL SIDESHOWS

(kicker)

   READER :
      Apropos the comment in your September issue, and I quote, "The traditional A Go-Go havens of the past remain as 'islands in the stream.... more as Nightlife carnival sideshows for the tourists...", I can only say I couldn't agree more.   A long time visitor from the 1970's, and now resident, I guess you could say I go back to the Go-Go age.   Where Nana Entertainment Plaza used to be the hottest place in town, I literally can't even bring myself to go back there anymore.   The place is choking on security bouncers, I counted six just processing people in and out at the now-computerized security Checkpoint Charlie in front.   What the Hell is that?   I also heard a rumbling that Nana was considering charging an 'entrance fee'.   Is there any truth to this?
      Mind you, I am not directing my disappointment at the young ladies, other than to say the average dancer is not up to par as compared to the 70s, and that's because the average is brought down by so many overweight dancers, dare I even say "fat"?   When I first came to Bangkok in 1973 we would see attractive girls on the street, or working in a department store, and the reaction was almost universally, "She's beautiful enough to be a Go-Go dancer."   Today, that has no meaning - you can pick any Go Go stage and see skinny, fat, tall and short, so I don't want to hear how the girls today are just as attractive.   As I said, I was here then, and I'm here now.   And don't invite me to leave Thailand if I don't like it, I'm a fix-it person, not a runner.   Please do not print my name.

   MIDNITE HOUR:
      You are not alone in what you are saying, many from our era are saying the same things.   I personally don't go to Nana Plaza anymore, except to take a friend visiting Thailand, or when we do the monthly surveys.   But having said that, the so-called 'A Go-Go carnival sideshows' have in recent years been reaping the benefits of international tourism's decades-long mantra that Bangkok's nightlife is unsurpassed.   As tourism numbers soar post-Covid, so do the visitors to these A Go-Go carnival sideshows.   Many will stop for a single drink, many others walk through without stopping.   While the lion's share of visitors is now Asian tourists, Nana Plaza, in spite of itself, is nevertheless busier than it ever was.
      I also have heard the rumor that Nana Plaza was considering adopting an entrance fee, but these word-of-mouth rumors, as they say, aren't worth the paper they are written on.   And there is no use holding your breath, those "good old days" are not going to be returning any time soon.   You're not going to find another A Go-Go bar like the Private Dancer on the ground floor at the rear, you're not going to find another A Go-Go bar like the early Woodstock on the second level (before it became a restaurant-pool bar).