Bangkok Gay Dance Clubs

[PeterRS]

One or two members here post about too much attention being gven to the "old days". We live in 2026 and should just enjoy what is on offer for gay men today. To a certain extent I agree and disagree. Enjoy the moment should be everyone's motto. But we should never forget that the "old days" for those of us who were around then were quite amazing and surely worth the occasional reminiscence. For had we not had the "old days", perhaps there would be little to enjoy today.  

[Patanawet]

Recently, I was talking with a friend and referred to D.J.Station as a 'disco'. His response --"my god, How old ARE you?"

P.S. I'm actually SO old that I think of a club as something one has to be a member of.

Edited Monday at 06:31 AM by Patanawet
P.S.

[mauRICE]

1 hour ago, Patanawet said:

P.S. I'm actually SO old that I think of a club as something one has to be a member of.

AA? 🤔

[vinapu]

15 hours ago, Enchanted_Elixir said:

Ah those days, and Soi Twilight 🕯️

me and Olddaddy remember parties Nero and Caligula were throwing in soi 2 when, what was then called  Siam,  was part of the Roman Empire. You youngsters don't know what you had missed !

[mauRICE]

46 minutes ago, vinapu said:

me and Olddaddy remember parties Nero and Caligula were throwing in soi 2 when, what was then called  Siam,  was part of the Roman Empire. You youngsters don't know what you had missed !

I read somewhere there was a Rome Club in that soi many years ago but it had burned down or something.

[thaiophilus]

2 hours ago, mauRICE said:

I read somewhere there was a Rome Club in that soi many years ago but it had burned down or something.

According to The Men of Thailand circa 1997, it was in Silom soi 4, but "in late 1993 the owner of Rome Club began refusing entrance to patrons thought to be gay" and the action moved to soi 2.

[mauRICE]

16 minutes ago, thaiophilus said:

According to The Men of Thailand circa 1997, it was in Silom soi 4, but "in late 1993 the owner of Rome Club began refusing entrance to "patrons thought to be gay" and the action moved to soi 2.

Patrons thought to be gay? How very dare they! Why that's like 90% of our forum members who can be spotted sashaying from a mile off!

Thank god I'm in the remaining 10%. 😉😎

 

 

[daydreamer]

17 hours ago, Patanawet said:

Recently, I was talking with a friend and referred to D.J.Station as a 'disco'. His response --"my god, How old ARE you?"

There are a few clubs in Bangkok and Pattaya that currently use the word Disco or Discotheque in their name.  The second photo below shows the Lucifer Disko sign on Walking Street in Pattaya.

Just tell your friend that you remember the New Screw Boys A Go Go Bar & Discotheque.

[PeterRS]

10 hours ago, mauRICE said:

I read somewhere there was a Rome Club in that soi many years ago but it had burned down or something.

Even before Telephone Bar, Balcony Bar and Sphinx, Soi 4 had one of the great dance clubs - Rome Club. Originally named the Siamese Doll Bar, by 1975 it was the 'in' place in Soi 4. I don't think it had discotheque in its title but it certainly was a disco and played great music. And how gay men of all ages thronged to it - and some girls as well! It was packed many nights of the week. It ran very successfully for many years until the owner decided for some reason to change the name around the end of the 1990s. I think it's name changed to Roxy and for a time around 2003 it hosted the group of professional dance students which had originated in Soi Twlight's X-Treme Bar. But the Club very quickly went down hill and then closed.

There was indeed a somewhat mysterious fire in the building in 1996 but the building certainly did not burn down. I think @mauRICE may be thinking about the ghastly disco fire in the Santika disco in Ekkamai in 2009 when 67 were killed and a further 222 injured. 

Discos were hugely popular in the mid-1980s and 1990s, and then with few exceptions the fad seemed to die off. Who now remembers the massive Ministry of Sound, a disco that lasted little more than a year, or the much more fashionable upmarket Bed Supper Club which closed in 2013?

[Keithambrose]

1 hour ago, PeterRS said:

Even before Telephone Bar, Balcony Bar and Sphinx, Soi 4 had one of the great dance clubs - Rome Club. Originally named the Siamese Doll Bar, by 1975 it was the 'in' place in Soi 4. I don't think it had discotheque in its title but it certainly was a disco and played great music. And how gay men of all ages thronged to it - and some girls as well! It was packed many nights of the week. It ran very successfully for many years until the owner decided for some reason to change the name around the end of the 1990s. I think it's name changed to Roxy and for a time around 2003 it hosted the group of professional dance students which had originated in Soi Twlight's X-Treme Bar. But the Club very quickly went down hill and then closed.

There was indeed a somewhat mysterious fire in the building in 1996 but the building certainly did not burn down. I think @mauRICE may be thinking about the ghastly disco fire in the Santika disco in Ekkamai in 2009 when 67 were killed and a further 222 injured. 

Discos were hugely popular in the mid-1980s and 1990s, and then with few exceptions the fad seemed to die off. Who now remembers the massive Ministry of Sound, a disco that lasted little more than a year, or the much more fashionable upmarket Bed Supper Club which closed in 2013?

I assumed that was a reference to Nero fiddling (sic), while Rome burned.

[t0oL1]

Mostly DJ Station from what I can recognize. 

 

[mauRICE]

22 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

I assumed that was a reference to Nero fiddling (sic), while Rome burned.

Any reference to fiddling only applies to Sunee Plaza.😏

[Patanawet]

On 3/9/2026 at 2:36 PM, mauRICE said:

AA? 🤔

no, I  don't drive😁

[mauRICE]

1 hour ago, Patanawet said:

no, I  don't drive😁

That's good; never drink and drive. 👍👌👏

[vinapu]

5 hours ago, mauRICE said:

That's good; never drink and drive. 👍👌👏

yes , have a drink before  driving, otherwise it may spill in the car

[Patanawet]

On 3/9/2026 at 11:30 PM, mauRICE said:

I read somewhere there was a Rome Club in that soi many years ago but it had burned down or something.

I used to frequent Rome Club in the days.
My boyfriend at the time was a waiter there and one night, overnight, all the gay staff were given he sack. The two gay owners decided they wanted it to become a straight disco probably due to it's amazing mixed success and fame  all over S.E. Asia.
Sadly (for them) it immediately flopped ----  they tried it for about a year but it never recovered. So, they turned it gay again. Only to be boycotted by the gay staff and customers who remembered the way they were treated earlier.
The two owners retired to an island somewhere and were both murdered.
Later, under new ownership it was being renovated and the structure was so bad, the front and side walls collapsed taking down some of Balcony's left hand wall and stairs.
Well, that's what I recall over the eons some of which may have been coloured by last night's Leo, cheese and walnut nightcap and vivid dreams.

Edited 5 hours ago by Patanawet
bar

[PeterRS]

My memory is slightly different. After it dispensed with the gay label, it soon changed the name from Rome Club. But it never reverted back to it. I believe it had two other names, Roxy being one. I cannot recall the other. I do not recall the joint wall with Balcony being damaged nor of Balcony closing. But the new Rome Club venue was never the same after it changed to a straight disco. Why the owners wanted it to become a straight disco has always mystified me, if only because it as already attacting quite a mixed crowd. 

[mauRICE]

3 hours ago, Patanawet said:

I used to frequent Rome Club in the days.
My boyfriend at the time was a waiter there and one night, overnight, all the gay staff were given he sack. The two gay owners decided they wanted it to become a straight disco probably due to it's amazing mixed success and fame  all over S.E. Asia.
Sadly (for them) it immediately flopped ----  they tried it for about a year but it never recovered. So, they turned it gay again. Only to be boycotted by the gay staff and customers who remembered the way they were treated earlier.
The two owners retired to an island somewhere and were both murdered.
Later, under new ownership it was being renovated and the structure was so bad, the front and side walls collapsed taking down some of Balcony's left hand wall and stairs.
Well, that's what I recall over the eons some of which may have been coloured by last night's Leo, cheese and walnut nightcap and vivid dreams.

Interesting bit of gay Bangkok trivia @Patanawet. The owners were gay and wanted to change a successful gay-themed disco into a straight one. 🙄 Hmmm, I don't suppose they actually banned gay customers - how would they screen them? - but used themes and advertising that would appeal to straights. Still didn't make sense as according to you the disco was already drawing in straight customers. Or was this during the time when the AIDs epidemic was coming to the surface and seen as the gay man's disease? 

[Patanawet]

43 minutes ago, mauRICE said:

Interesting bit of gay Bangkok trivia @Patanawet. The owners were gay and wanted to change a successful gay-themed disco into a straight one. 🙄 Hmmm, I don't suppose they actually banned gay customers - how would they screen them? - but used themes and advertising that would appeal to straights. Still didn't make sense as according to you the disco was already drawing in straight customers. Or was this during the time when the AIDs epidemic was coming to the surface and seen as the gay man's disease? 

Yes Maurice, It was a mystery about changing to straight especially as they were a bit weird. It was certainly popular with a mixed crowd from Hong Kong, Vietnam etc and advertised on radio as "the most popular and famous disco in S.E. Asia "(no orientation mentioned).
And yes Peter, it certainly went through a few names though I'm almost sure it was still called Rome after it's metamorphosis to 'straight'. Maybe it was nameless at he time of it's collapse into Balcony. I was referring to the property.
I'm sure that Stuart at Balcony would remember clearly all the history of soi 4 from his Telephone and Balcony 30+ years.
Now, if only I could remember where I left my copies of Men of Thailand ...................................