(Photo: Gary Kay)
Above: Suthisarn 39 from Suthisarn Road in 1963.
Below: The entrance of Suthisarn Soi 39 in 2006 (compare to the dirt road on the left side of the above photo).
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
Above: Suthisarn Soi 39, east-west (this is the road that runs from left to right in the 1963 above)
Suthisarn Road 1963/2006
- January 21, 2006
Gary Kay writes: I just found a page on your web site, 2Bangkok.com,
from your September 2004 edition "News and Views" section
regarding a photo taken in or around 1963 of Suthisarn
Road. You compared a building shown in that photo with that same
building shown in a photo taken in September 2004. I am the person who
took the "old" photo, probably sometime in 1963.
I was delighted to find this photo and comments from your site. The
change in that area from my time of over 40 years ago is simply astounding!
I took that photo standing in a road or street that led from Suthisarn
Road down to a house I rented at that time. This dirt road led to a
dead end at or near a klong. Your web site identifies the location of
the building in the old photo as being across from Soi Inthamara 27
and at Inthamara 24. I have an old map of Bangkok whose date of publication
is not known, but it was certainly published after I left Bangkok. I
say that because it shows a "superhighway" called Mittaphap
Road between Soi Inthamara 31 and 33...
My house was located in an area and on an apparently unnumbered street
between Soi Inthamara 27 and Soi Inthamara 29. This road is clearly
shown on my old map. I took the photo of the old building on Suthisarn
Road while standing in the entrance to this road, which led down to
my house. As information, this road went a short distance before taking
a sharp right turn, and then another quite short distance before taking
a sharp left turn. The road then led to a dead end. My house was located
on the left side of the road about four or so houses down after that
sharp left turn.
(Photo: Gary Kay)
One other photo that appears with the "old and new" photo described above was also taken by me (above). It is actually a combination of two photos that I took from the balcony of my house. Your site incorrectly identifies this road as Suttisarn Road. In fact, it is that dead end road described above. The house on the far left belonged to my neighbor, a man I knew only as "Don" who worked at Don Muang Airport for--I believe--Thai Airways. As I was leaving Thailand in April 1964, Don met me at the ramp leading up to the aircraft and gave me a Thai silk tie, which I treasure to this day. It was an act of kindness and remembrance that was typical of the Thai people of the early 1960s...
Above: 1963 Below: 2004
Earlier: Suthisarn
Road 1963/2004 - September 18, 2004
When we saw the above photo on the Seri
Court website from 1963, we immediately recognized the old-style
two-story shophouse near the present-day Vipahwahdee intersection. It
is on Suthisarn Road at Inthamara 24 and directly across from Inthamara
27. It was recently gutted and repainted after years of being in a dilapidated
and unpainted state. Strangely, it is now back to the same color it
was in 1963. Across the street, there is wooden construction in the
1963 photo and a 30-story building in 2004. However since the present-day
street is lined with shophouses, it is impossible to get the edge of
the high-rise into the photo.
(Photo: 2Bangkok.com)
Also: Last glimpse of Saphan Kwai Market and Saphan Kwai in 1968