OUR MUSEUM
TIMELINE
1881
Tun Phu, founder of the Patpong dynasty, is born in Hainan, China. His family moves to Siam (Thailand).
1900
Tun Phu changes his name to Poon Pat and marries a Thai woman in Bangkok.
1916
Birth of the fourth child of Poon Pat, a son called Udom.
1913
Poon Pat co-founds Siam Cement Company.
1930
King Prajadhipok of Thailand bestows an honorary title to Poon Pat, who becomes Luang Patpongpanich.
1936-1938
Udom attends the London School of Economics and later the University of Minnesota from 1940-1945.
1945
Udom Patpongpanich receives training by the OSS first at Fort Benning in Georgia and later in Sri Lanka by Jim Thompson before being deployed to Thailand.
1946
The Patponpanich family buys a banana plantation on Silom Rd with a teak villa on the edge of Bangkok for 3000 US Dollars .
1950
Luang Patpongpanich passes away. Udom takes over the family business and starts constructing shophouses & office buildings in the area.
1950
Udom persuades major foreign companies to move into the Patpong area. Caltex, Shell, Air France are just a few of them.
1950
1950
Jim Thompson founds the Thai Silk Company on the nearby Surawong road.
1953
Tony Poe (Anthony A. Poshepny), from Long Beach,Ca. joins SEA Supply, a CIA front company in Bangkok, supplying arms to Chinese Kuomintang Nationalists in Burma.
1954
Mizu kitchen, Patpong’s first restaurant, opens.
1959
Tony Poe is awarded the Intelligence Star medal for his training and inspiration of Asian paramilitary troops.
1964
Patpong becomes the Central Business District of Bangkok – by day. By night, it morphs into an entertainment district
1965
The Vietnam war results in the first American soldiers coming to Bangkok for R&R. Air America and other CIA operations set up shop in Patpong.
1966
Rick Menard leaves the US military after fighting in Vietnam and moves to Thailand, where he is introduced to Udom Patpongpanich.
1969
The Madrid bar opens, quickly becoming a favorite haunt for C.I.A agents & Air America pilots.
1969
Tony Poe is training Hmong tribesmen to fight the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao communists. Poe and his fighters begin cutting off ears of killed combatants.
1969
Rick Menard opens the Grand Prix Lounge + Bar as a sports bar with dancers in Patpong – Bangkok’s (and Asia’s) first Go-Go Bar.
1970
Air America (allegedly) helps smuggle opium out of Laos. Tony Poe, disillusioned, is extracted from Laos and stays in Thailand, to train more fighters.
1972
Patpong spills from Patpong Soi 1 (today’s market) to Patpong Soi 2. The upstairs bars start offering naughtier shows, including nudity – and soon more.
1972
People from all around the world start coming to Patpong, among them many celebrities.
1973
The Mississippi Queen Go-Go Bar opens in Patpong, followed by many others in short time.
1974
Tony Poe retires and stays in Thailand with his Hmong wife. His story becomes part of the Colonel Kurtz character in “Apocalypse Now”.
1975
Charles Sobhraj and his fiancé Marie Leclerc live in Kanit House on Soi Sala Daeng, and frequently visit Patpong and it’s bars, on some occasions even with their victims.
1977
Patpong features prominently in the Oscar-winning movie “The Deer Hunter”. All street signs were painted over in Vietnamese for the shoot of the famous bar scene in the “Mississippi Queen”.
1978
Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken starred in the Deer Hunter movie. The bar scene was filmed in Patpong’s legendary Mississippi Queen.
1983
David Bowie visits Bangkok to hold a concert. He films his “Ricochet” video in Bangkok, including a scene in the Superstar Go-Go bar in Patpong.
1988
Jean Claude Van Damme films the introduction to his “Kickboxer” movie on Patpong Road.
1988
The Encounter Bay Ship is seized and 72 tons of Thai marijuana is confiscated by the U.S. coast guard. The owners of Patpong’s Superstar bar are arrested and pleaded guilty.
1989
The musical “Miss Saigon” is released.
1989
The Night Market opens up in the evening hours on Patpong Soi 1.
2003
Parts of the movie “Beautiful Boxer” about the transgender kickboxing (Muay Thai) champion Parinya Charoenphol are filmed in Patpong.
2004
Patpong becomes one (of three) designated “entertainment zones” in Bangkok, allowing its bars to stay open longer.
2011
The opening sequence for the documentary “Whores Glory” by Michael Glawogger is filmed in Black Pagoda.
2019
The Patpong Museum opens its doors, celebrating the long history of one of Thailand’s most iconic places.
2021
Patpong Museum wins the Museum Thailand award as best local and community museum
Patpong Museum wins TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice Visitors Award as top 10% attraction worldwide.
