From:  Steve Sevits

     Date:  January 9, 2016

Subject:  Rex Hotel

In 1963 when AFRS was on top of the REX Hotel it didn't look like anything like the exterior photo.  I never saw any of the guest rooms.  At the time the REX was kitty corner from Saigon City Hall and sort of kitty corner across from the National Assembly building.  Somewhere I remember reading that the National Assembly building had once been an opera house.  The photo makes me wonder if it is actually the same building. 
Steve Sevits AFRS News 1963
 


(The) Rex Hotel Today

January 2016

This is where AFVN (AFRS) got its start in August 1962.

    From:  Jim White

     Date:  January 9, 2016

Subject:  Rex Hotel  

Did the Rex Hotel look like this in the 1960's and 1970's?  If so, no wonder it was a BOQ and not a BEQ.   Click here.

 Jim W


    From:  Mike Jackson

     Date:  January 8, 2016

Subject:  Rex Hotel

Hardy, Har, Har, Har.  We still love all you do for us.

Mike Jackson


    From:  Steve Sevits

     Date:  January 9, 2016

Subject:  Rex Hotel

On second thought it could well be the REX as in the extreme right hand side of the picture there appears to be part of the Saigon City hall.  It would appear that the REX in the photos has undergone very extensive rebuilding and modernization. 
Steve Sevits AFRS News 1963


    From:  Ann Kelsey

     Date:  January 9, 2016

Subject:  Rex Hotel

IIt's the same building. I stayed there in 2001 and ate and drank on the roof in 69-70 and 92, 94, 99, and 2010, so I've watched it transform.  The exterior photo is the current incarnation.  It's on the corner of Nguyen Hue and Le Loi.  The National Assembly which was the opera house and is again is down Le Loi  on Dong Khoi/Tu Do between the Continental Palace and the Caravelle. The whole area is completely changed now because of the subway construction on Le Loi. 
Ann


    From:  Ann Kelsey

     Date:  January 9, 2016

Subject:  Rex Hotel

Not hardly, except for the bar/restaurant and the swimming pool on the roof.  Although fancier, there is still a strong resemblance to what it looked like then.  This latest renovation of the Rex has really transformed it. It is also much bigger because they took over the movie theater that was next door during the war and was often a target for VC satchel charges, at least that was what I heard. 
Ann


AFVN Group Conversations

    From:  Rick Fredericksen

     Date:  January 9, 2016

Subject:  Rex Hotel

I like the [Rex Hotel's] website's "Overview" paragraph, informing guests of "compulsory" Xmas eve and New year's eve gala dinners ($69 and $89). You veel go and you veel have a good time!