Saigon Today.

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Carl Robinson

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Mar 12, 2021, 3:23:17 PM3/12/21
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Let you minds wander back to Saigon in this evocative piece from now-sorta retired travel writer John Gottberg Andreson at East-West News Service and who lives in today's HCM City.  

And what a great place to do this crazy pandemic too.

Only quibble is -- once again, dammit -- is that notion that we journalists used to hang out on top of the Rex Hotel, BOQ back then.  Sheesh!   Cut it out.  Neber happen, GI.  

Afternoons and early evenings can still get boisterous a block to the west in the Rooftop Bar of the Rex Hotel, where scores of international journalists hoisted glasses during the Vietnam (“American”) War. Imbibers now gaze down upon broad Nguyen Hue boulevard, redeveloped as a pedestrian zone in 2015. At its heart is a larger-than-life statue of city namesake Hồ Chí Minh, his right hand raised in an oath of commitment to the Vietnamese people.


Nor am I so glowing about good old Uncle Ho either.

So, cheers and enjoy the read -- and pix.

Best,

Carl




Ron Yates

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Mar 13, 2021, 2:15:44 PM3/13/21
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Yes, a good piece...lots of memories. But you are right, Carl. I think I was on the roof of the Rex maybe twice. I do recall going to the top floor of the Caravelle where you had a great view of the city. I don't like all the new skyscrapers. Looks like Saigon is trying to look like Singapore.

Ron

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Bill Lenderking

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Mar 13, 2021, 3:02:27 PM3/13/21
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Hello all – As someone who worked at JUSPAO during my second year in Vietnam after a rousing (not!) year in Pleiku (1968-69), I remember the rooftop of the Rex well but rarely went there.  When I did, I seldom saw journalists there.   Incidentally, I once asked an embassy political reporting friend which organizations did the most accurate reporting on VIetnam:  His answer in descending order:  journalists best, then CIA and Emb pol reporting, then military reporting, and worst, CORDS.  I would not disagree. 
 
Bill Lenderking

David DeVoss

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Mar 13, 2021, 3:27:24 PM3/13/21
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I thought the Rex was a BOQ. I never went on the roof. The only thing I remember about the place was that you could buy a freshly baked apple pie on the ground floor.

David DeVoss




David DeVoss
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East-West News Service
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Jim Laurie

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Mar 13, 2021, 3:29:43 PM3/13/21
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On the Rex. Can someone correct or confirm my faulty memory?
Was not the whole of the REX controlled by the military?  If you wanted to use its facilities, you had to have an invite or use your equivalent status of 'major' under JUSPAO/MACV accreditation?   Also payment at the Rex roof as well as the Brinks BOQ roof (now the Park Hyatt) was by Military Payment Certificate  MPC???  

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Carl Robinson

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Mar 13, 2021, 4:18:47 PM3/13/21
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Yes, Jim, the Rex was a BOQ and there was a sandbag revetment and round box with a US MP checking ID's, our MACV accreditation cards, before you were allowed upstairs where, as you recall properly, it was all MPC.  (Same-same with other BOQs and BEQs.)   Again, it wasn't a hang-out but some might've headed up there to meet up with officers from the field or local.  Personally, my object at these US-run places was always a slice of good old 'apple pie a la mode', like down at USO in Nguyen Hue. 

To the left of that entrance was JUSPAO, once the USIS Abraham Lincoln Library and where the original Five O'Clock briefings took place in an auditorium.  By '68, briefings were elsewhere and over at that SVN govt building across from the Caravelle.  Security getting in was not as tight as some -- eg good old Joe Fried -- basically lived at JUSPAO.    I don't think most correspondents spent much time there in any case.  Mostly just in & out. 

Item, I like Bill Linderking's comment, but as an old CORDS guy -- well, USOM, USAID, OCO first -- that depended on where you were.   We did try to see the positives in the work we were doing, but my reports were frequently pessimistic about the South Vietnamese government & military, especially their commitment to the cause (if I may use that expression) and getting off their asses and getting public support.   (Our provincial reports were also frequently watered down by MACV-CORDS before heading to DC anyway.)    Another issue is that unfortunately correspondents overlooked the pacification effort and focused too much on what the US military was doing.

Best,

Carl
 



Donald Kirk

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Mar 13, 2021, 4:24:54 PM3/13/21
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Yes, payment at Rex, Brinks, all other places under MACV was in MPC's. Like everything else, MPC's were a bit of a racket. You could buy say ten dollars worth of MPC from the Bank of India in Viet dong for a whole lot less than face value, then change them one for one dollar at TSN on leaving the country. Some, nameless here, made quite a bit that way.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/vietnam-old-hacks/CADHX3pnzH4Kpw6gnoSu8y4E0yGG041XQKd%2BUs1hje-dxsz%2ByMg%40mail.gmail.com.

Bill Lenderking

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Mar 13, 2021, 5:37:46 PM3/13/21
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Agree with Carl.  My first year was with CORDS was in Pleiku, and we indeed try and I knew many colleagues in other provinces who also tried and reported honestly.  But for many of us the CORDS experience was badly harmed by the pressure to produce good news, so bad happenings got changed as you went up the line, and sometimes by the time the story got to Washington it was not recognizable.  One day a senior guy in Saigon – we called them “cocktail party commandos” --told me I was a traitor because I said on the basis of what I had experienced we were not winning and probably would not win.
 
Bill

Donald Kirk

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Mar 13, 2021, 5:51:49 PM3/13/21
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Remember Lamarr Prosser, a PSA up there, maybe Pleiku, got real mad when I seemed dubious about some of his claims. Ditto Robert Kelly in Hue before and after Tet. He was particularly nasty, ordered me off the compound, said he didn't like stuff I'd written. I refused to leave. He disappeared back into his office.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/vietnam-old-hacks/229ED7A0D94040028261A79DEE372E77%40JamiePC.

Jack van Ommen

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Mar 13, 2021, 6:15:04 PM3/13/21
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 ​
​The REX was still an empty shell when the 200 plus 57th US Army Transportation moved in, in December 1961.  It had been leased by MAAG. The movie theater and the USIS quarters were already in operation on street level. 
The elevators, electricity, etc were not yet hooked up. It was a long climb up to the tenth floor.The USNS Core had been our home since October before our departure from Oakland "to proceed on an overseas excercise in excess of 90 days". My room mates had never seen a bidet. Our field kitchen was feeding us on the REX roof terrace. 
This lasted into the new year, when our tent city was erected at Tan Son Nhut. Hard to imagine that this all took place 60 years ago under the same Zodiac of the Ox and specifically both the Metal Ox.
My last visit to the REX rooftop was in in the last days of the OX year 2010, to take pictures of the Tet decorations and the crowds on Le-Loi and Nguyen Hue. A latin band was playing and I entertained the tourists with the band's vocalist in "Besame Mucho". 

Jack van ommen  www.ComeToSea.us
 





From: vietnam-...@googlegroups.com <vietnam-...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jim Laurie <jimla...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2021 12:29
To: vietnam-...@googlegroups.com <vietnam-...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Saigon Today.
 

NIK WHEELER

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Mar 13, 2021, 7:27:15 PM3/13/21
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The Rex rooftop bar and restaurant was a good cheap place to eat.  They also had and outdoor screen where they showed movies.  I remember seeing "RoseMary's Baby".
And the rooftop swimming pool was open to anyone with a MACV card.

Nik Wheeler
Nik Wheeler Photography
2160 Veloz Drive
Santa Barbara,CA 93108


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