Socially, Hong Kong was very different to Singapore. The bar life was less seedy and a number of places largely catered for a civilised clientele. All were aimed at the American navy so were equipped with the regular population of bargirls. The girls kept to their customer base and rarely troubled the civilian regulars. We civilians were made up from a number of diverse jobs. Many were service men from Australia and the UK, but also a number of the Hong Kong police inspectors. The rest were businessmen or government officials. The atmosphere was very ex-pat, but within a pub like atmosphere. We, the regulars, would accumulate about the bar and the US sailors would operate on the dance area with the girls. The two groups would be working towards entirely different ends and would mutually accept the other’s presence. Fights in the sailor area did break out and would be brutally quelled by the American Shore Patrol. We would stand by in awe of these fights, often very similar to the films with tables going over and chairs being smashed over heads. This accompanied by the bar staff yelling down the phone for help. All they did was to dial the police number and repeat the bar name over and over again. The girls would congregate in one corner, on tables, cheering on the melee.
I only realised the division between the American and non-American population in the bars when the American Navy all pulled out to Vietnam en masse for some weeks to take on a couple of Vietnamese gun boats. This was the Gulf of Tonkin extravaganza and eventually shown up for what it was, a method of bringing the Americans into the fighting in Vietnam on a more formal footing. Up until this gunboat incident the American forces were being called “advisors” and the world seemed to accept this. After Tonkin the pretence was dropped and America became fully involved on the South Vietnamese side. Initially we merely noticed on entering our favourite watering hole that something was amiss. It took us a while to finger the oddity and twigged it was the absence of the white US naval uniforms. None of us had realised exactly how the American navy presence affected the general bar ambiance. Without them it seemed as though half the furniture had been removed. The other effect was on the rather snooty bargirls who were now virtually out of business. They even had to stoop to talking to us lot in the bar area. We had great fun joshing them about their predicament and suggesting they drop their rates to accommodate their new clientele. Some were becoming a bit desperate towards the end of the period and they would come over just for a chat and a bit of TLC. The situation lasted about two months before the big battle had been won and the “white sailor suits” returned full of glory. Years later we read how much of a put-up job it had been and that it had only involved a couple of old “Junks”. It created the right effect and no doubt Mr Kissinger was proud of his work. Our bars returned to normal and our evenings with the girls came to an end.
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Remembering Wanchai's bars in the 1960s
Socially, Hong Kong was very different to Singapore. The bar life was less seedy and a number of places largely catered for a civilised clientele. All were aimed at the American navy so were equipped with the regular population of bargirls. The girls kept to their customer base and rarely troubled the civilian regulars. We civilians were made up from a number of diverse jobs. Many were service men from Australia and the UK, but also a number of the Hong Kong police inspectors. The rest were businessmen or government officials. The atmosphere was very ex-pat, but within a pub like atmosphere. We, the regulars, would accumulate about the bar and the US sailors would operate on the dance area with the girls. The two groups would be working towards entirely different ends and would mutually accept the other’s presence. Fights in the sailor area did break out and would be brutally quelled by the American Shore Patrol. We would stand by in awe of these fights, often very similar to the films with tables going over and chairs being smashed over heads. This accompanied by the bar staff yelling down the phone for help. All they did was to dial the police number and repeat the bar name over and over again. The girls would congregate in one corner, on tables, cheering on the melee.
I only realised the division between the American and non-American population in the bars when the American Navy all pulled out to Vietnam en masse for some weeks to take on a couple of Vietnamese gun boats. This was the Gulf of Tonkin extravaganza and eventually shown up for what it was, a method of bringing the Americans into the fighting in Vietnam on a more formal footing. Up until this gunboat incident the American forces were being called “advisors” and the world seemed to accept this. After Tonkin the pretence was dropped and America became fully involved on the South Vietnamese side. Initially we merely noticed on entering our favourite watering hole that something was amiss. It took us a while to finger the oddity and twigged it was the absence of the white US naval uniforms. None of us had realised exactly how the American navy presence affected the general bar ambiance. Without them it seemed as though half the furniture had been removed. The other effect was on the rather snooty bargirls who were now virtually out of business. They even had to stoop to talking to us lot in the bar area. We had great fun joshing them about their predicament and suggesting they drop their rates to accommodate their new clientele. Some were becoming a bit desperate towards the end of the period and they would come over just for a chat and a bit of TLC. The situation lasted about two months before the big battle had been won and the “white sailor suits” returned full of glory. Years later we read how much of a put-up job it had been and that it had only involved a couple of old “Junks”. It created the right effect and no doubt Mr Kissinger was proud of his work. Our bars returned to normal and our evenings with the girls came to an end.