Bon Voyage Panorama

[Dodger]

I was having breakfast at Ambiance in Boyztown a few days ago and witnessed a very depressing sight. Panorama had been completely gutted and a small group of workers were in the final stages of tearing out the light fixtures.

According to the waiter at Ambiance, this flag ship Boyztown gay bar has been purchased by nearby Castro bar and will become Castro II.

This was the first bar I sat in during my very first trip to Thailand and a place which holds so many great memories. I sat eating breakfast remembering the boys faces (and other parts), the fun times at the snooker tables on the second lever, and the legendary picture which graced the hung nam wall for decades showing the alligators frolicking with the baby ducks in the swimming pool.

It's such a shame things have to change.

Thank you Panorama for all the memories.

[deanagam]

I'm glad that Castro is expanding so that I will continue watching their shows in a cozy setting at reasonable prices. Boys are cute and slim.

[stkyricesf]

Even though I'm am quite sad Panorama is closing because I have fond memories like Dodger, I am happy that Castro is taking over the location. It would be totally disappointing if it just sat there empty. Good luck Castro.

[Undaunted]

My very first trip to Pattaya I stayed at the Welcome Plaza Hotel and had my first drink at Panorama.
I had heard about Sunee Plaza but had no clue where it was so I asked a waiter where it was, he told me if I pay the bar 200 baht he would take me, at which point I asked him to point in its general direction, he did and miraculously I walk and found Krazy Dragon. I had no idea what to expect as I entered K.D. ....... I couldn’t believe my eyes as I sat by something that looked like a small arena...If you knew the place back then I needn’t explain further. Nowadays people that visit the gogo bars would not have believed what it was like!

[TomUK]

On my first trip to Thailand in 2004 Panorama Pub was the first gay bar I visited in Pattaya. I quite enjoyed sitting there having a drink and watching the world go by. I went there a couple of times during my first few visits to Thailand but later never went there again. In May I was staying in Pattaya during the end of my holiday and happened to walk through Boyztown. I didn't really have any particular plan and thought why not have a drink at Panorama Pub, just for old times sake. It looked very dark inside and I first thought that it might not be open. But the lone waiter ushered me to a table and I noticed that there was only one other customer sitting inside at a table near the bar. I sat outside so that I could watch the Soi. However, there was not much going on and after two drinks I felt so depressed that I wanted to throw myself out of my basement window. Only the fact that I don't have a basement saved me. So I merely paid the bill, gave the waiter a good tip and walked into the sunshine, not knowing at the time that this would be my last visit to Panorama Pub.

[Captain Swing]

I felt so depressed that I wanted to throw myself out of my basement window. Only the fact that I don't have a basement saved me.

Um....Throwing oneself out of a basement window would ordinarily be fairly difficult--and not particularly lethal. But I know what you meant. I never went to Panorama, I think, but it is always sad to see places that figure large in one's memories decline and then disappear.

[2lz2p]

My very first trip to Pattaya I stayed at the Welcome Plaza Hotel and had my first drink at Panorama.
I had heard about Sunee Plaza but had no clue where it was so I asked a waiter where it was, he told me if I pay the bar 200 baht he would take me, at which point I asked him to point in its general direction, he did and miraculously I walk and found Krazy Dragon. I had no idea what to expect as I entered K.D. ....... I couldn’t believe my eyes as I sat by something that looked like a small arena...If you knew the place back then I needn’t explain further. Nowadays people that visit the gogo bars would not have believed what it was like!

My first trip to Pattaya, it didn't exist - a couple of years or so later, it was the Cocobanana (which had previously been located next to the Ambiance Hotel), then changed its name to Panorama. Yes, I visited often when I was doing my holidays in Pattaya and enjoyed sitting on the outside (if a table was open) - a good place to watch the street.

Of course, when I first visited Pattaya, there were only a few gay bars (69 Club, which was further south then the main area of Walking Street - there was also a bar nearby where free lancers gathered - don't recall exact name, but it had "Paris" in it and they did a drag show on weekends). As to Boyztown, it wasn't there - but up on Pattayaland Soi 1, there were two gay bars - Why Not and Gentlemen's Club. In North Pattaya, there was Adam and Eve and the Homex hotel bar.

Later, there was Boys, Boys, Boys in Pattayaland Soi 3 (Boyztown), Cockpit Bar, and a few other including Amor, which was initially a go go bar until Richard Burk turned it into his well known restaurant -- About 5 years after my first trip, I met my bf, a waiter in the Ambiance Coffee shop - recently arrived from Isaan. He told me he worked one night as a go go boy at Amor, but was too shy and didn't go back and found a job at the Coffee shop - Jeez, that was over 26 years ago when we met.

Oh how the years have passed, but the fond memories still remain.

[fountainhall]

there was also a bar nearby where free lancers gathered - don't recall exact name, but it had "Paris" in it and they did a drag show on weekends

I wonder if that was something like the Cafe de Paris? I had been visiting Bangkok for a few years and then decided on a few days in Pattaya about 35 years ago. There were few bars then. I think I am correct that this was located close to where the old Funny Boys used to be - a long narrow bar but not a gogo bar. I did take a guy out for a couple of days when the original Royal Cliff was one of the few hotels in town and before it spawned its various additions.

[stkyricesf]

This is one of the best threads, guys sharing memories of long time past. Thank you all for sharing.

[2lz2p]

there was also a bar nearby where free lancers gathered - don't recall exact name, but it had "Paris" in it and they did a drag show on weekends

I wonder if that was something like the Cafe de Paris? I had been visiting Bangkok for a few years and then decided on a few days in Pattaya about 35 years ago. There were few bars then. I think I am correct that this was located close to where the old Funny Boys used to be - a long narrow bar but not a gogo bar. I did take a guy out for a couple of days when the original Royal Cliff was one of the few hotels in town and before it spawned its various additions.

Yes, that was it - Cafe de Paris. I also took a guy from there who spent my remaining days with me on that trip. A couple years later, I bumped into him on Silom Soi 4 in Bangkok - we joined up again for a few wonderful days including a trip to the Kanchanburi (Bridge over the river Kwai fame).

Ahhh, the memories -- speaking of which, there were also a couple of bars in North Pattaya a bit later than my first trip -- Memory Bar if I recall correctly and not too far from it was the Nautilus Bar which had a large glassed in tank where they periodically had a show - two nude boys swimming.