Those Great Old Bars of Asia What Happened to Them ?Prepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
Whatever happened to all those old bars and saloons that flourished in Asia a couple of decades ago? We are reminded of them every time we see an old movie or when we read accounts by writers who roamed Asia back then. We are in luck. A few are still around but, of course, they are not exactly like they used to be.
Sometimes we wonder when we hear tales about all those drinking establishment of the old days if they were only rumours.
Let me assure readers that they were real. I remember them well dating back to when I was a young US Marine in China after World War II. In those freewheeling days all the ports in China had their share of rambunctious waterfront bars—Shanghai, Tsingtao, Tiensin. In any one of these ports you were certain to find an ABC Bar (American—British—Chinese), a New York Bar or a Little San Francisco.
Some were doozies, run mostly by white Russians, with swinging doors, taxi dancers and live music. They served White Horse Whisky and Hubba Hubba Vodka by the bottle, without ice. It would cost you 10 cents a ticket to dance, or a dollar for a lady to sit at your table for an hour. Then you didn't have to pay her to dance. Fights constantly broke out when Marines and sailors fought over the taxi dancers in their long slit dresses and high silk stockings. They all wore their hair in bangs and had gold teeth. But they were lovely.
After the war China's days were numbered, and so were the bars. Sailors, expatriates, war profiteers and an increasing number of foreign travellers, called tourists, found watering holes elsewhere, mainly in Southeast Asia. Hong Kong, Manila, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and, of course, Bangkok, all in time took their places and added sparkle to the lure of Asia.
The age of bars and saloons reached its peak during the Vietnam War; it ended when the war ended.
When it comes to bars, Asia is a strange place. In Europe and America bars and saloons have a knack for survival. I can think of hundreds of establishments that have flourished for decades, and they'll be around longer than most of us. Harry's New York Bar in Paris is one. It's an institution where Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald chug-a-lugged in the roaring '20s and where you can still have a stein of beer and a hotdog, right in the very heart of Paris. There's another Harry's in Venice, and Hussongs in Ensenada, Mexico, and Buena Vista in San Francisco, to name but a few.
But in Asia bars do the disappearing act. Only a few, a very few, manage to linger on. Occasionally imitations will spring up* bearing the name of an old establishment, but they're only bad copies. It's much like Bugis Street in Singapore. That infamous Bugis street (one of the few tourist attractions Singapore had left after the city decided to go modern) was torn down, and in it's place today is a "Bugis Street Centre," a "Bugis Street Restaurant," a "Bugis Street Square," and a half dozen more Bugis Street Something-or-other. But they are all fakes, none which can even remotely compete with the old place.
Some of the modern-day bars we find in Asia are like meteors. They appear suddenly, glow brightly for a short spell and then fizz out in a flash. This often seems to be the case in Bangkok. There was a time, not so long ago, when the city had some great bars where everyone went to meet friends and drink. No one thought the era would ever end. But it did. And Sam Scott and Maurice Rocco are only memories.
One of the best bars in Bangkok 20 or more years ago was the Bamboo Bar at the old Oriental Hotel. The most popular place in town, it was located in what they call the Author's Wing today. After working hours the place was jam-packed, a gathering spot for expatriates, journalists, tourists and GI's seeking a respite from the war in Vietnam. Sultry Australian songstress Shirley Simmons sang there for years and entertained thousands of homesick GI's with "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."
A bar that has survived the ravages of time is Club 99 on Silom Road. Thus, I have to make it Number One for Bangkok. There are others that I like equally in town but most of them haven't been around long enough to be placed into the "enduring bars" category
But let's go beyond Bangkok and on to Singapore.
Singapore had a longtime reputation among seaman as a "good port." But when independence came in 1966, the new leaders were keen on creating a new image. Rowdiness was out, along with all traces of colonialism. They succeeded and, as a consequence, they destroyed Singapore's biggest tourist attractions.
A bar in Singapore that reached world fame was Bill Bailey's Coconut Grove off Orchard Road. (The pre-war Grove was on the East Coast but Japanese bombers used it for practice and Bill took up residence in Changi Prison for the duration.)
The war ended and Bill Bailey didn't go home. He opened another Coconut Grove, off Orchard Road. Times were hard but he never gave up, and no amount of singing— "Old Bill Bailey, won't you come home"—could make him change his mind.
The second Grove was in an old Chinese mansion, with piano and fanback chairs. Hotelier Franz Schutzman, when he was GM of the Raffles, told how he took clients from Raffles to meet Bill and to listen to his yarns. In latter years the Grove became the unofficial foreign correspondents’ press club. Then came urban renewal; bulldozers leveled it to the ground and in its place today is a 14-storey high-rise.
Until just a few years ago, the Pub on Orchard Road had all the prerequisites for a good English pub, with heavy wooden panelled walls and brass rails but, like Bill Bailey's, it had to come down to make room for glass and concrete high-rises.
There were others too, like the Boots and Saddle, a real Western bar, with the occasional barroom fight to give it authenticity. But the government didn't care for rowdy Western bars, no matter how many tourists and oil men it attracted. They not only closed the doors but they bulldozed the building flat to the ground.
What remains in Singapore today is the Raffles Hotel, one of Asia's oldest hotels. Nightly, the Long Bar is jammed with tourists who come by bus loads for a quick Singapore Sling and a look at what Singapore used to be.
But one doesn't have to be a part of the tourist scene to enjoy a drink at Raffles. Across the hall is the Author's Bar, an old English-style pub without a dart board. It rings with the atmosphere of Somerset Maugham, who did, actually, sit in a leather arm chair and drink his gin and bitters nightly, according to Franz Schutzman. One waiter at the Author's Bar still remembers serving Mr. Maugham when he made his sentimental journey to Singapore in 1961.
Kuala Lumpur almost suffered the same fate as Singapore but somebody up there stopped them before it was too late. A few years back the old Selangor Club was doomed to destruction, but at the last minute the old colonial institution was given a reprieve. It would have been a tragedy to see it go.
The Tudor-style Selangor Club was built and opened back in 1884 long before there were any other permanent structures in the city. (Kuala Lumpur was founded in 1864.) It became a friendly place where members could refresh themselves, talk, read the months-old London newspapers (the club subscribed to 27 "home" newspapers), play cards or just loaf. It's still there, a landmark in the centre of town, but without 27 newspapers.
While the Selangor Club is private and you must know someone to have a drink at the bar, the old Coliseum Cafe & Bar on Batu Road is open to the public. It hasn't changed much in the past 60 years. The decor, the menu, the aging waiters, and even a few old patrons, are all the same.
The Coliseum caters to expatriates and has been their refuelling station for half a century. It's still the favourite for planters, tin miners and local officials. Occasionally a curious passing tourist will enter the swinging doors and find himself in another era.
The bar is separate from the dining room. It looks much like an English pub with dart board, bulletin board, a coat and hat rack in the corner and a brass rail around the counter. The bar also serves as front desk for the hotel rooms upstairs. Keys hang on a rack behind the bar. Old timers talk about past days when they had to hang their sidearms and solar topees on racks before ordering their drinks.
North of Kuala Lumpur is Penang, with Georgetown, the principle town, being one of the oldest towns in Asia. An unusual bar in Penang, and truly a sailor's bar, is the Hong Kong Bar on Chuila Street in Georgetown. It's a place where you literally get yourself into the picture. When you step inside and order a drink, a pretty Chinese girl will appear with a camera and flash.
First impulse is to say no, that you don't want to have a photo taken. But she will tell you that she wants your picture. What you may not know is that it goes on record. The girls at the Hong Kong Bar have photographed virtually every customer who has stepped through the front door. The albums add up to many dozens. They are carefully numbered by the volume.
The unique collection is also cross-indexed. It takes only two minutes to find any photograph, by either name or date, and for seamen, their ship's names. The idea of keeping such a record of everyone who enters was the brainchild of its owner, Tan Phoon Kee. He started the bar in 1953, and from the very beginning it was a seaman's bar, with photographs of naval ships on the wall, all signed and autographed.
Both Manila and Cebu in the Philippines were considered to be excellent liberty ports, ever since the US Navy steamed into Manila Bay at the turn of the 20th century. Many of the crusty bars were owned and operated by ex-GI's who, like Bill Bailey, never went home.
One ex-GI who did just that was Eddie Woolbright. His famous bar and restaurant is still there on the waterfront in Cebu—Eddie's Log Cabin Bar and Restaurant.
From the outside, it looks like a rundown godown. Step inside and it's what the name says, a log cabin. Wagon wheel overhead, old posters on the walls, brand marks burned into the beams, an excellent Western menu. Eddie, who married a zillion times and has nine daughters, came with the military in World War II and never left.
Another place where expats gather and drink in Cebu is the Magellan Hotel, my second favourite hotel in the Philippines. It has atmosphere.
My favourite is the Manila Hotel in Manila. It was actually built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1912 for "a place for Americans to stay." It has since been the gathering place for travellers who want something more than a place to bed down. It has class, charm and charisma.
Then we come to Hong Kong, once the night owl's paradise of the Orient. Twenty to thirty years ago, the town peaked out as Asia's best nightspot. Hong Kong got much of its fame and reputation from Wanchai District, where Suzie Wong turned her tricks and Richard Mason wrote about her.
Today Wanchai's bar scene is a has-been if we compare it to the old days. One of the latest trends in bars in Hong Kong is the Japanese style hostess bar. Unlike their counterparts in Tokyo, however, these are huge places with as many as a hundred geishas. The biggest is Club Volvo which has a Rolls Royce to transport customers to their tables.
Kathmandu is not what you would actually call a night owl's town but there is a bar there that is one of the best in Asia, the Rum Doodle. The name is a spoof on mountaineering. Nightly it's jam packed with trekkers and climbers.
What Asia needs is more Rum Doodles.
Next week I will take readers to Valentine’s Day in Asia. QUESTIONS & ANSWERSQ. Dear Mr. Stephens. I enjoy reading your stories each week, and I especially am enjoying Legends of Indo China. I like the way you bring back the past and make us all aware of it. Last week you wrote about Raffles Hotel in Singapore. Can you tell me what ever became of Frans Schutsman. I am looking forward to reading about the other hotels in Legends. Thank you, Laurel Smithers, Los Angeles.
A. Dear Laurel, Mr. Schutzman was born in 1915 which would make him 94 today. He was a good friend and I did have letters from him. He retired and had moved to Spain and then to Florida. I will try to find more information for you. I am pleased you enjoy my stories. I enjoy very much writing them and sharing my traveling experiences with the rest of the world.
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail: ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
