🇨🇳 China - Shanghai | ISO 1980s Shanghai info

Hi, I went to China in summer 1985 for a couple weeks. In Shanghai I went to a bar, had a great evening, and for the life on me can’t recall it’s name or where exactly it was. I was hoping for a little help from any experienced travelers here.
It was not down in French Concession area. I was staying north of Suzhou Creek and walked back afterward. It was somewhere around that area. I can’t honestly recall if I have crossed over the creek, an open sewer then.
The bar IIRC had an open area outside, almost like a small plaza. You could sit out there and drink. That’s where the evening started, and it gets pretty sketchy rather quickly. :wink:
Thanks for any help.

Trying to find out a pub you went to 35 years ago. Must’ve left a strong impression! Back then Pudong district (where all the modern skyscrapers are now) must’ve been mostly farmland.

I only went to Shanghai once about a decade ago during the World Expo. I liked it okay, but found the people a bit pushy. I remember a couple great restaurants I dined in, but definitely don’t recall any bars I might’ve been to. Good luck on rediscovering your fantasy pub! Hopefully it won’t end in the heartbreak of learning it shut down eons ago!

Lol dude that place is long gone.

Even bars from 5 years ago are closing in Shanghai let alone almost 35.

Bars can do that! Last time I went to Taiwan I tried to find a beer house we used to hang out at. All I recall was that it had big, two-handed beer glasses and there was a huge gong by the door. When you left, the staff would ring the gong and shout Xie, man you. On Anhe road near Xinyi iirc. Never did find it, probably closed by now.

Good luck finding yours!

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Maybe he is just trying to find his glasses.

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LOL yep long shot to be sure. It seemed to be a foreigner hangout, not seedy, and on the first floor of a substantial building. Some old timer had to have passed through there before, and has a better memory bank. :wink:
Being at the end of the trip, after more than a week of fairly spartan traveling, it was a surreal evening. Somehow joined some Indonesian merchant marines at an outside table who got me stoned, which really threw me; doing it in newly opened Red China. We went through a lot of rounds of properly cold beer, a rarity incountry then. When I went in to use the facilities, heard a song that seemed familiar, but at some time definitely not. Took me until going out again to notice the screens with MTV playing above the bar. It was my first listen of Money For Nothing. :slight_smile:
Can’t remember after that really. lol Somehow found my way back to where I was staying. Great time anyway.
and yeah somewhere I have a photo of across the river with nothing but paddies and a couple of farm houses. I must have took it cause it looked like a bucolic Asian rural scene. LOL
thanks for the replies

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go to R/Shanghai on Reddit and Ask

Do we have a thread for “nights out” storytime like this?

I’ve never had a proper time-of-your-life night out ever, maybe my expectations are too high. Knew an Irish girl who i went out with in London once, we lost my car and couldn’t find where she was staying, still managed to be on-time for my shift at 5am though.

Perhaps this belongs in “Culture & History”? :thinking:

Judy’s?

Nah, too far into central Shanghai. Never made it into that area. Had to be somewhere around Suzhou Creek.
Interestingly, while researching the net, just before he passed, I found out Neil Peart had been in China that same summer. Big Rush fan, but didn’t know that.
Another big memory of the city, aside from walking the Bund, was the massive bicycle traffic jams in that area. Beijing and the other cities weren’t near so bad. Absolutely amazing place back then.

Did you go to the Shanghai Western Food Restaurant? That was 1984 but it might still have been there. Probably not due to the quality of the food though.

Odd thought: can you get ahold of the Lonely Planet China for that year? Most backpackers used that back in the day as there wasn’t much else that listed anything other than 5-star hotels.