The Roxy Disco
August 2018 - The Roxy was the place to be on a Friday & Saturday night in Petchaburi for over two decades. It opened in the mid 1980's & closed for good in round 2007, after spending many years as an upscale dance club, or as upscale as any could be in humble Petchaburi Province, about a 90 minute drive Southwest of Bangkok. We spoke to the owner & operator of a noodle shop across the street from the remains fo the Roxy who remembered the club fondly. The shopkeeper, now in her mid-50's, remembers going to the club with friends when she was a young woman, before she got married & had children. Her youngest son is now 28 years old, so I would gauge this to be in the mid to late 80's, when the club had just opened & stood in all it's neoclassical grandeur.
The club closed twice. The first time was due to a shooting, one 'dek-wvan' (a sort of teenage motorbike thug subculture in Thailand) shot another and killed him in the club. The club reopened some time after the bad publicity had died down, but eventually closed again for the final time due to fire damage.
At the time that we visited, it had been closed for around 11 years. Two of the four walls are completely demolished, with only the facade & left side wall remaining. There are random decorations sitting about, drink advert posters still up on the wall, chairs and shelves strewn about, and shoes & the scant belongings of a squatter or two that call this place a very ramshackle abode. The one feature that stands out, especially from the aerial views from the drone, is the coloured glass dome on the roof. It appears to be in pristine condition and stands out amongst the rubble and rust. I've been told that this skylight feature was a sort of an aristocratic trend with hi-so houses and businesses during the 70's and 80's in Thailand. I've seen it in other buildings from the time period that I've explored, notedly the 'Haunted' house in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon, where a family was murdered.
A friend of mine, another long-time expat in Thailand, knows the house well & has even enquired about the asking price if it is indeed for sale. No word on that, so the ambitions of owning the 'Scarface house' in Petchaburi will have to be put on hold. Frankly, that's not a renovation task I would want to face.
Read MoreThe club closed twice. The first time was due to a shooting, one 'dek-wvan' (a sort of teenage motorbike thug subculture in Thailand) shot another and killed him in the club. The club reopened some time after the bad publicity had died down, but eventually closed again for the final time due to fire damage.
At the time that we visited, it had been closed for around 11 years. Two of the four walls are completely demolished, with only the facade & left side wall remaining. There are random decorations sitting about, drink advert posters still up on the wall, chairs and shelves strewn about, and shoes & the scant belongings of a squatter or two that call this place a very ramshackle abode. The one feature that stands out, especially from the aerial views from the drone, is the coloured glass dome on the roof. It appears to be in pristine condition and stands out amongst the rubble and rust. I've been told that this skylight feature was a sort of an aristocratic trend with hi-so houses and businesses during the 70's and 80's in Thailand. I've seen it in other buildings from the time period that I've explored, notedly the 'Haunted' house in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon, where a family was murdered.
A friend of mine, another long-time expat in Thailand, knows the house well & has even enquired about the asking price if it is indeed for sale. No word on that, so the ambitions of owning the 'Scarface house' in Petchaburi will have to be put on hold. Frankly, that's not a renovation task I would want to face.
