First of the first-class

No historical survey of Thailand's movie theaters would be complete without referencing this one: the Sala Chalerm Krung was the original first-class movie theater in the Kingdom, commissioned in 1932 by the King himself, in honor of Bangkok's 150th anniversary. The following newspaper clippings on the theater come courtesy of the good people over at 2Bangkok - the best the web has to offer on Thai media analysis, politics, history and the country's infrastructure.

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The Sala Chalerm Krung as of 2009.

One of these days I'll take the camera around to the old Sala Chalerm Krung and give it its proper dues. For many years, after all, this was the creme de la creme of Bangkok movie theaters. Regrettably, it doesn't screen films that often any more. It's devoted instead to high-brow forms of live entertainment, for an audience of refined taste and polish. For that I give it a resoundingly low-brow boooooooooo!