Heart of Nightlife, Artery of War Available to Purchase

Chapter 2 turns to Thailand in the 1950s. Thailand’s development during this decade was marked by deference to the United States, which was behaving more and more like a neocolonial power, both influencing and financing Thailand’s growth. Among the new features of Bangkok were bars and roads, both of which would prove integral to the rest and recuperation (R&R) nightlife scene in the 1960s. The chapter explores one bar (the Bamboo Bar in the Oriental Hotel) and one road (New Phetchaburi) in careful historical detail, as a means of examining how development would afford a massive new nightlife economy in the coming years.