He opened the Patpong Museum in late 2019 but closed it shortly after as Thailand closed its borders to combat the covid-19 outbreak. In short, Mr Messner argues, “there’s a thick historical fabric to this area that involves important people and geopolitical events, secrets related to drugs and covert war…followed by a lot of sex.” He felt there was an opportunity to enlighten people as to the locale’s dual history. The likes of David Bowie and Jean-Claude Van Damme filmed projects there in the 1980s. Tony Poe-the cia agent Marlon Brando’s Colonel Kurtz in ‘Apocalypse Now’ is based on-drank on this street.” The area has attracted creative types as well as entrepreneurs and spooks. People forget, Mr Messner says, that “the cia ran its first Bangkok safe house here, while American corporations like Pan Am turned the street into the city’s main business district during the cold war. The district lies east of the Chao Phraya river in Thailand’s capital city two parallel streets host night markets, bars, clubs and sex shows. “T here’s a lot more to Patpong than sex,” Michael Messner says.
