Pattaya Entertainment District : A History of Urban Space and Sexual Diversities in Thailand during the Cold War Period

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  • パッタヤー歓楽街の形成 --冷戦期タイの都市空間と性的多様性をめぐる予備的研究--
  • パッタヤー カンラクガイ ノ ケイセイ : レイセンキ タイ ノ トシ クウカン ト セイテキ タヨウセイ オ メグル ヨビテキ ケンキュウ

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Abstract

This paper attempts to provide an historical outline of the entertainment district of Pattaya, a worldfamous resort city in the Chonburi Province of Thailand, with focuses upon individuals who played important roles in Pattaya's hotel, restaurant, sex and entertainment industries during its early periods. The development of Pattaya was initiated in the late 1940s by Parin'ya Chawaritthamrong, a Bangkokborn bureaucrat, who was also known for his real estate business activities in the Sukumvit area. In the 1950s, Pattaya started to become known as a marine sports destination for Bangkok elites - including the Thai royal family. The arrival of U.S. soldiers in 1959 led to an increase in hotel and restaurant developments. This increased Pattaya's attraction as a rest and recreation (R&R) destination through the 1960s. The presence of the U.S. military bases was the main factor that promoted the urbanization of Pattaya. However, despite this, and in contrast to other entertainment districts in Bangkok and around military bases, Pattaya retained a quiet beach atmosphere until the early 1970s. Tourist nationalities diversified during the mid-1970s in reaction to the U.S. military's withdrawal from Thailand. During this period Pattaya's origins as an entertainment district likely began and is exemplified by the opening of several notable establishments. During 1974, Bill Jones opened BJ Bar, the first pub in Pattaya, and Wichai Loetritrueangsin started a transgender women's cabaret show. In 1980, Suttham Phanthusak, a successful foreign exchange entrepreneur in Pattaya, invested in Wichai's transgender show. The show gradually developed into the internationally renowned Tiffany's Show. Meanwhile, Michael Burchall bought the Cockpit Bar, a go-go bar and restaurant for gay men, and reopened it in 1985. Other bars and restaurants were subsequently added to the same street where the Cockpit Bar was located, and around 1989, the bar owners decided to name the street Boyztown - the first gay town in Pattaya. Eddie Woods, an American writer who used to work for a newspaper in Bangkok, pointed out that Bangkok "was a gay-friendly city, at a time when most gay European and American professional people felt unable to come out of the closet at home. In Bangkok they could relax, be themselves. Openly." Pattaya's entertainment district, which continuously developed alongside Bangkok's capital and human network, also formed its urban space with gender and sexual diversity.

Journal

  • 人文學報

    人文學報 115 107-130, 2020-06-30

    THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES, KYOTO UNIVERSITY

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