Bars in Angeles City

Ronnie Oldham
Angeles City, Philippines Bars and Nightlife

Off-base activities were a key part of life at Clark. There were probably a hundred bars within walking distance of the main gate and they continued up Perimeter Road to the other gates (Friendship and something else). Most of the bars were dives, but the beer was cheap and there were pretty bar girls in all of them that were specifically recruited for your entertainment. Even with this many destinations, it seemed like the whole base was there on Friday and Saturday nights. Our MO was to hang out there weeknights and go on roadtrips on weekends, which allowed us to travel and experience much more of what the PI had to offer.

Louis, Bob, Tom & June at the Brew

Andy backstage

One of our regular hangouts was the Asian Brew ihaw ihaw. It was not as much a bar as it was an open air BBQ restaurant and folk music venue. It was located right on MacArther highway just a few blocks from the main gate. June Tanwakio (sp), whose family ran a very successful construction business in Tarlac, was the owner of the "Brew". June turned out to be a good friend and a great guy to know in sticky situations. His right hand man was Andy, a former local DJ and all around good dude. These were some really great folks and they took good care of us when we drank a little too much Asian Brew or Max (the first of Lucio Tan's Asia Brewery beers to compete with San Miguel).

I don't tell too many stories about what went on in and around those bars. Suffice to say that whatever stories you've heard, they are probably true.