BARB WIRE· SAI GON ·

The sign, the wall, the climb

One floor up on Hai Bà Trưng, open from 7 PM. The sign is the first thing you see; the room is what its red becomes.

The owner’s own words
“A friendly hostess bar at 95 Hai Ba Trung, one floor up, stairs next to Silk’s entrance. OPEN FROM 7PM. 100% scam free.”

The neon sign

Red tube, amber letters, pistol outlines — the sign on the street, rebuilt here in type and glow. It is the first thing you see from Hai Bà Trưng after dark.

The room under it

White brick, a painted mural wall, electronic dartboards with neon rings, big screens glowing over the dark room, and beer on the table. The serve is beer and darts and football, not a dish.

The room, as photographed

Seven women in red tops against the white-brick wall, the world map poster behind — The room’s own wall — red tops, white brick, the world map.

Guests at a table with beer mugs, football on the big screen, dartboards with neon rings behind — Beer on the table, the match on, darts behind.

Friends at the bar counter, tan stone top, brown leather stools — The counter — stone top, leather stools.

A group in front of the big painted mural — a blonde woman with a gun, barbed-wire tattoo on her shoulder — The mural — the wall that watches the room.

Three men at a table, the world-map poster and a big rainbow sombrero behind black mesh — The map, the sombrero, a 333 in the foreground.

A woman in a red top and a guest at a table with beer glasses, the world map on white brick behind — Red tops and beer glasses under the map.

A group under the big football screen, a dartboard at the side — The screens, the dartboard, the room gathered.

Friends on the entrance steps under the red light and the Barb Wire sign — The steps — the door at the top, red light every night.