Warehouse Number Nineteen, Saigon,
Late last night I was paging through files of Old Saigon on a web site that is in Vietnamese. After a couple of hours I found a photograph that stopped me in my tracks. It includes the old hang out for many of the Advisors in my unit. It is the London Bar, Number 19 Tu Do St.
I have always been able to recall the street address because we called it Warehouse #19. This was a joke, as we would tell admin in the office that we were at Warehouse Nineteen. The joke was the address and the fact that there were only 7 warehouses in Saigon.
I was a member of the Naval Advisory Group in the Saigon Shipyard and traditionally this was the bar we went to. I was introduced to this place early in my year in-country. It was not one of those wildly popular places, but it was our hangout, and mainly due to the fact that it was also one of the closest to the shipyard. I have many fond memories of being there with a group of men that in most cases were fifteen to twenty years my senior. It was located beside Maxim's, which is the restaurant bar of the Majestic Hotel in Saigon. The photograph was of Maxim's but clearly shows the London. Even the street number 19 is visible.
That modern looking VW microbus is actually a 1950's VW Transporter with an advertisement for MAXIM'S Bar and Restaurant painted on the side. (photo circa 1970)
