MIDNITE HOUR - 01 February 2026

After the war's end (WWII, not the movie), these French nightclubs, these 'discoth�ques' became ever more popular - all the while maintaining that wartime underground mystique. But with money in short supply, the nightclubs would continue to entertain with recorded music most of the time, and, rarely, when they could afford it, with a live band. These smallish almost-private nightclubs were the sort where the patrons put their names on their own bottles of cognac, returning regularly to join their "in crowd". This was the beginning of Paris' own 'La Dolce Vita' era. Before the end of the year (1947), one such new discoth�que opened in Paris, and, inspired by the movie, called itself 'Whiskey A Gogo'. As the Nazis had been driven from the land, dancing returned - an increasing number of French nightclubs provided for customer dancing, albeit the dance floors remained small and personal.

The Whiskey A Gogo enjoyed great success, and in 1958-1960 it revitalized, and began marketing the wartime term "Discoth�que" - and, well, I think we can lay the blame for the 'Disco Revolution' directly at their feet. They are credited not only with opening the first modern discoth�que, they are also credited for redefining it; now meaning specifically "a nightclub where the featured entertainment is dancing to recorded music" (rather than an on-stage band). It was then that the 'Discoth�que' moved away from the small, more private word-of-mouth 'record library' style nightclub to something grander, generally advertised to the public, with a larger, dominating dance floor. So great was its success, it generated myriad imitators (Caf� A-Gogo, etc), and many other "Whiskey A Gogo's" around the world, both franchised & copycats.

In 1964, a new Whisky A Go-Go opened in Hollywood (note the alternate spelling of 'Whiskey' without the 'e', and the now-hyphenated 'Go-Go'). Little did anyone know that history was about to be made. The Whisky A Go-Go nightclub was billed as a discotheque, but soon started featuring a mix of recorded and live performances. Singer Johnny Rivers headed up one such live band there, As the owner couldn't find a female disk jockey to work his DJ booth (a suspended cage at the right of the stage), he conscripted his cigarette girl, Patty Brockhurst for the task at hand. When Miss Brockhurwst wasn't spinning records, she would pass the time in her 'bird cage' dancing to the music of Johnny Rivers and crew. Customers thought this was part of the gig, and the concept, and name 'A Go-Go dancing' were born. And Miss Brockhurst will be remembered in Nightlife history as the first A Go-Go dancer.

Quick to spread overseas, Nitespots featuring A Go-Go dancing could be found in virtually all large cities. Bangkok being no exception. Although Bangkok was relatively slow to adopt A Go-Go, by 1966 there were three Nitespots featuring regular A Go-Go performances, two of the more popular Venues were the Naturist A Gogo on Sathorn Road and the Oasis on New Road. There was also a number of nightclubs such as the Cafe de Paris that brought in entertainment from outside the country which occasionally included A Go-Go dancing, exotic dancing, etc. Bangkok columnist Bernard Trink summed up the early years of A Go-Go in Thailand as but one of a number of 'gimmicks' employed by Nitespot owners to attract custom. But that was about to change...

Barely three years later, in 1969, Rick Menard of Patpong's Grand Prix Disco became the next to introduce A Go-Go as a regular feature. The A Go-Go dancing was, at first, a carbon copy of the 1966 Oasis presentation - a single fully clothed dancer behind a beaded curtain. His first A Go-Go dancers were English lasses, as Thai ladies were, at first, quite difficult to recruit. The Grand Prix is often credited as the Venue that brought A Go-Go to Bangkok (and Thailand), which of course, it was not. That misconception was further strengthened when the Bangkok crowd loosely interpreted Alan Dawson's book Patpong - Bangkok's Big Little Street - his actual quote, "..first successful Go-Go bar.."

Around about 1980 a small open-sided lean-to beer bar, Lucky Lukes opened outside the entrance to the shopping center that would soon become Nana Plaza Night Entertainment Area. It was located against the main building where the exchange booth is now located. No one could have known it was the seminal bar for the now-most-popular A Go-Go bar area in Thailand. Early on, it gained notoriety for its hand-painted sign which explained that it respected the religion of Islam, therefore would not be serving Muslims. Later, it moved inside Nana Plaza to its current location, and later than that, expanded its name to Lucky Lukes Tiki Bar. In a later renovation, it became a cannabis shop (same name). When we passed by this month, it was closed down and darkened. No indication as to temporary closure for renovations, or other. We'll be checking back for any change in status... -File Photo

Traces of Bangkok's Early Years

This month Midnite Hour continues to review Bangkok's Nightlife Scene offering live entertainment, both foreign and local, as found in the bigger hotels, expat Night Entertainment Areas, and other Venues within the City.

The Dino Club (or just Dino's) was different things in different years. In the late '60's it was Dino's Hawaiian Cocktail Lounge, with a separate bar. Later dropping the "Hawaiian" section, replacing it with the "Dirty Old Man's Club", keeping the bar / lounge. Lasting more than 2 decades, Dino's made the transition to A Go-Go (without the Dirty Old Man's Club) before finally closing. During the A Go-Go era, Mukda (Shake it, don't break it) got her start there as dancer / mamasan. In the early years, Dino's was a favorite of the US forces radio research crew (in-country, not R&R).

September 1969

The Cafe de Paris were featuring the Six Coins from Korea that month. Although no record of them exists on the internet, it is interesting to note the name"six coins" refers to the six coins of various denominations of Korea's currency.

September 1969

Bernard Trink entertainment insert

That month (Sept 69) marked the opening of the Crystal Palace Bar on Patpong 1. It closed years ago, however its namesake reopened in June 1997 on Patpong 2 - and is going strong today;

September 1969

Bernard Trink entertainment insert

This Trink photo captures the then-recently opened Grand Prix door with its famed "steering wheel' handle. Historians note : that month was also the closing date of the Aladdin Club - one of Patpong 1's earliest bars.

September 1969

The long-in-coming reopening of the New Champagne Room had finally come to pass. It was located near the Oriental Hotel on 'Former Customs House Lane' in the now extinct New Road Night Entertainment Area.

September 1969

The Red Blue was the first popular 'psychedelic' bar in Bangkok. They gave their location as 'Opposite Siam-Inter Hotel' - which was Siam Square by any other name.... The Honeybeats were a popular 'all-girl' rock band ifrom Germany the mid-'60's. They sang in German, Italian and English. The group disolved shortly after their Bangkok tour, the lead songstress Norma Green continuing on solo.

September 1969

A little hard to tell by looking at their ad above, the then-recently-opened Rose Discothique was located on Silom Road close to the Rama Hotel..

September 1969

The Sani Chateau was the most popular nightclub in Gaysorn Night Entertainment Area.

September 1969

The Rama Hotel (by Hilton) continued to present expat entertainers in its two nightclubs : Tropicana, and Ramayana. Located deep in Silom Road, near New Road.

September 1969

Bernard Trink entertainment insert

Honey Club was ' located on Surawong Road between the Patpongs and New Road.

September 1969

THE 1969 KOSHER-SOUL FOOD WAR

It seems there was a quiet 'war' between kosher food and soul food that many were not aware of. Considering that Kosher Kitchen was offering chopped liver sandwiches and Nam's had the gamut of soul food, I think I know who won....

This is way too much of a coincidence. Nam's soul food just off Soi Ekamai went out of business about the time Mitch & Nam's soul food opened at the top of Soi 16 Sukhumvit....

September 1969