Bangkok's Top Ten Entertainment Zones
Hollywood
Welcome to Hollywood, Bangkok. Sing karaoke at the Modern Coyote Club with Thais, Chinese, Japanese and Koreans. Or dance the night away at Dance Fever. It may be crude, it may be boisterous, it may be limited in scope and it may be a bit naughty, but it's Hollywood, Bangkok!
Updated: Thursday, February 28, 2008
Ask any taxi driver in any part of Bangkok to take you to Hollywood and he will, without hesitation or confusion, take you not to the airport for a flight to Los Angeles, but to Ratchada Rd Soi 8.
Hollywood Awards is in fact only one of about 12 pubs, discos and restaurants in this very lively entertainment area; but it is by far and away the best known. Why? Well it has several distinguishing features. Firstly it is one of only a handful of clubs in the whole of the city that has anything resembling a cabaret. It may be crude, it may be boisterous, it may be limited in scope and it may be a bit naughty, but it's definitely there.
Hollywood Awards is also one of the biggest clubs in town with a floor area measuring more than 2,000 square metres. That is big by any standards. Don't waste your time looking for somewhere to sit down, it's not that sort of place. Most patrons stand at a cocktail table and jump around to the sound of a very efficient noise dispenser that masquerades as a DJ in the early part of the evening and gives way to a live band at about midnight.
Other large clubs in the Soi 6 & 8 entertainment complex include: Dance Fever (strongly favoured by the Japanese who also like the karaoke at Modern Coyote Club); Zeed, which has excellent DJ music and where unaccompanied girls are a rarity; a gay establishment called Ratchada Soi 8 Pub, (yes, they've named themselves after the Soi); and 100 Pipers Club.
Because the bigger clubs are largely patronised by very young people, the new visitor may get the impression that oldies and baldies are not allowed in. But that is not the case. Foreign visitors are welcome everywhere here, though they may feel a bit out of place if they are wearing a suit and tie. This is definitely a place to join in and let your hair down.
The official closing time for establishments here is 2.0am, but the bigger clubs invariably stay open until 3am, thus attracting a lot of the girls and guys from the go-go bars in Nana and Soi Cowboy where they really do close at 2am or even 1am. After 3am Soi 6 is invariably host to post-closing-time street parties which might carry on until 4am or even later. The crowd is mostly Thai, but there are always a few foreigners among them.
To get to Rachada Sois 6 & 8 by public transport take the MRT (underground) to Thailand Cultural Centre and use Exit 2. Soi 6 is a 30-second walk from the exit. This area is not served by the BTS Skytrain.
