The Top Hat, I remember. I spent most of my time at the 7 Club in An Jong-ri. Mr. Kim was the manager and he was a great guy. I spent two years at the Field Station, staying through the Olympics in '88. Interesting times indeed, but had a lot of phone. We got on great with the locals and also met a lot of friendly and hospitable Koreans in Seoul and around the country. I'd be interested in what others experiences are now. Seems like the mood has changed, maybe even hardened. Sad that they ignore the brutality and evil of the North.
Do you remember Mr. Lee's McDonalds in the alley going to all the clubs. Just a hole in the wall of a building, where he cooked up imitation American chow. He had the best egg burgers. I went 16 years without an egg burger, until a trip to Central China in 2002, where I got an egg burger at a real McDonalds. Wasn't as good as Mr. Lee's.
If I recall, the Top Hat was on the left (west) side of the Club Alley, almost directly across from the 7 Club. There was another club with a pool room just past the Top Hat, but I can't remember the name.
not sure they had Lee's McDonalds in '83, although a guy named Lee served up yakimandu (sp?) right on the strip...I remember the 7 Club- it had a dance runway, if I recall...I spent most of my time in Duffy's, on the other side of ricochet alley, or in the Folly Club, run by twin Koreans, Cherry Boy and Pinnaple...and who can forget the Maxium Club upstairs and downstairs- Korea had changed quite a bit when I returned 10 years later, stationed up on the Z, and it had changed even more after that, when I returned 5 years after that...