If someone told you they were going to start building arcade machines from scratch so that they could open up a neon-noir cyberpunk Blade Runner-esque gaming bar in Phra Khanong, you would take sharp objects from that person. But that’s exactly what Todd Ruiz did when he opened Arcadia Barcade in 2022.
What happened next was just plain weird. It worked, and not just as a bar and hotel. It worked as a community. It forged “Arcadia people”. There are perhaps no more loyal patrons than those of this blue-lit spot on a Phra Khanong backstreet.
Behind the scenes Todd worked on his magnum opus: Arcadia Live. The newly opened hotel, Cinematique, and bar, Arcadia Live, are a stone’s throw from the old location, now boasting more space, better seating, more gaming, more rooms, and that 80s bespoke design that’s a little bit punk, a little bit sci-fi, a whole lot of Bangkok. You’re never quite sure if you’ve gone into the past or the future. Time is not the boss of Arcadia.
While still sporting a very “geeks gone wild” atmosphere, the new space is bigger. Much bigger. It’s more of everything people loved about Arcadia, along with a central DJ and performance booth and cocktail bar.
If Arcadia had one failing in its old location, it was food, in that there wasn’t really anywhere to make food. But now, they’re striking out with the Arcadia Cafe, a full kitchen led by Chef Arturo Villegas Rosas, who cut his teeth in Bangkok spots like Gaggan’s Ms. María & Mr. Singh and Fat Boy Izakaya. Expect cross-cultural fare; we’re talking hot dogs and Burmese tea leaf salad.
Upstairs is Cinematique, a movie nerd’s dream hotel. The boutique cinema spot follows movie themes of a “lost set” from different classic Thai film genres, including ghosts, jungle, and spies. Awash in vintage kitsch and handmade props, it’s Arcadia style writ large.
Even the hotel itself is a game. Complete with an “Alternate History Timeline”, with a cinema-centric history of the hotel on the website, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to uncover what really happened to Cinematique Filmworks. The clues are in the rooms, hidden in “drawers, behind mirrors, in the folds of old scripts.” As to the mystery's pedigree, Todd used to be the managing editor at Coconuts Bangkok (the current parent company of BK Magazine), so he knows what he's doing.
And, they’re not done. What really made Arcadia a special place is that you never knew what kind of insane thing would be going on there. You’d go one night, and people would be playing Guitar Hero. You’d go another night, and there'd be a professional wrestler jumping from a ladder. Next time, it’s a showing of “Back to the Future” or a haunted hotel. Now they have a stage. That means live music, performances, and, frankly, god knows what, because Arcadia doesn’t skimp on ideas.
There’s really only one downside to the new venue in that, now that it caters to every human need from food to booze to entertainment to shelter, we’re worried that the overtly dedicated fans of Arcadia will simply move into the hotel rooms and form some sort of cyberpunk rogue state. But that’s a problem for later.
So, look for the blue dragon, and we'll see you there.
Arcadia Live, Cinematique, 1112/91-93, Sukhumvit Plus Soi 1 Phra Khanong. 0879791634.
