Tacky tiki

[randy_byers]

It appears that a Trader Vic's is opening in Bellevue in March. (Warning: the linked story is a nauseating puff piece that made me want to stab my eyes out with little cocktail umbrellas.) I'm kind of surprised to hear that Trader Vic's still exists, since it vanished from both Seattle and Portland over a decade ago, and I always figured that meant the company was on the rocks. Is there still one in San Francisco? Isn't that where athenais and others (alces2?) used to hang out in legendary days of yore? There was some tiki place that I remember going to with a bunch of fans in 1987. It had a lagoon in it that would occasionally have a rainstorm over it. That was some pretty high class tiki, if that's not an ironic oxymoron. It was probably someplace totally hipper than Trader Vic's, which was, after all, your father's tiki.

The re-advent of Trader Vic's locally may require a fannish expedition. That's probably the only way I'll get motivated to travel to that far away land beyond the lake. Mmm, rum drinks the size of your head. Who wants to be the designated driver? Hm, perhaps I'll have to look into bus routes ...

Comments

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

That was the Tiki Lounge in some hotel or other - but Trader Vics seems really fannish to me cos I've ben taken to it in Seattle!!!

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I hesitate to confess that I don't think I ever made it to the one in Seattle, although I went to the one in Portland a couple of times. As a veteran of Micronesia, I sneered at the cultural imperialism of tiki lounges. Now I'm flirting with becoming a tiki pimp!

[daveon.livejournal.com]

This is weird. There is a Trader Vic's in London but it is a rather trendy bar in the "dot com" area of Clerkenwell and was used as the bar in the movie _Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels_.

I was a little confused by the post until I followed the link.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yes, well, Bellevue pretty much fits the bill of trendy dot.com area, so all is well.

[voidampersand.livejournal.com]

You're thinking of the Tonga Room in the basement of the Fairmont Hotel. It used to be the hotel swimming pool, which is why they can manage the rainstorms.

Trader Vic's was gone completely for a couple of years. The new Trader Vic's in San Francisco is in the space that used to be Stars, Jeremiah Tower's restaurant, which was very popular until he went nuts and drove everybody away. But I digress. There is another Trader Vic's in Palo Alto.

I miss Tiburon Tommie's. That was my original hometown tiki shack. It's gone now, but it will never be replaced in my heart. I particularly liked the stairs to the upper floor with the tropical stream running under the steps, the big windows overlooking the harbor, and the classy way they disguised the upstairs fire escape with an outrigger.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Huh, I had never heard of Tiburon before, but now I learn that 'Tiburon ("Shark") lies eight miles east of Sausalito on Raccoon Strait. Its village-like Main Street is a blend of Cape Cod and early California. Its colorful harbor shelters the venerable Corinthian Yacht Club and a cluster of open-deck restaurants.' Didn't know that you were a Bay Area native!

Hm. This discussion has me yearning to open a tiki lounge in Fremont, perhaps with a giant gorilla named Joe imported just to confuse the faux ethnicity of it further. (Also to go on a rampage and save a tiny orphan en route, of course.)

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

If Trader Vic and Trader Joe had a contest, who would win? How would they compete?

(And why wouldn't LJ let me post a minute ago? Will another version of this comment show up hours from now?)

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Maybe they could compete on best mai tai mix? Trader Vic would have the cunning of long experience, but Trader Joe would have fresher legs. (And we know the importance of fresh legs to mai tais!)

[karenb2.livejournal.com]

There's still There was a Trader Vic's in Chicago, in the Palmer House Hilton--but it closed on Dec. 31. It always surprised me to notice that it still existed, but I guess they got enough tourist and office and suburban didn't-know-better business in that location (heart of downtown) to keep them going. They plan to open a new one in the city next year, but the news reports say nothing about why TV didn't renew its lease, or where they hope to build the new one.

The restaurant's Web site lists one in Atlanta, one in Bellevue (WA), and four in California: Beverly Hills, Emeryville, Palo Alto, and San Francisco.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Maybe they're going to open a super-duper Trader Vic's, four stories tall with an atrium inside and a four-storey volcanic-rock waterfall (and water slide) in it. Then again, probably not.

The newspaper article indicates that there are still Trader Vic's in London, Taipei, and Bangkok.

tiki stuff

[anitar.livejournal.com]

get your tiki on this weekend at Potlatch! Friday night especially. I think those tiki heads look like aliens, don't you? That's how I'm justifying it to myself, anyway.

Re: tiki stuff

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Works for me! I don't imagine you'll have tiki torches in the consuite, however.

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I'll drive.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Okay, but did you read the part of the newspaper article about the guy who got so drunk that he fell face down into his large rum drink and almost drowned?

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Don't do that.

(No, I didn't read the article, because of your description.)

[voidampersand.livejournal.com]

The key thing is almost. And it isn't like he was driving at the time. I would strongly recommend against large rum drinks while driving because they spill easy and the rum is sticky. The last thing you want is to get ants in your car.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Nothing worse than drunk ants, too true.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Trader Vic's was a fixture in Beverly Hills for as long as I was in LA. Judging by the Trader Vic's website it's still there, too. I never went in (unlike the Hamburger Hamlet in Beverly Hills, which I have eaten at), but I always thought of Warren Zevon whenever I drove by it. I'd be up for joining an expedition when the Bellevue venue opens, though I do not promise that my hair will be perfect...

Funny (though not surprising) that Trader Vics are so big in the UAE -- two in Dubai alone. Wonder if Trader Vic is behind this whole port security sale debacle?

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to the website. Wow, the Beverly Hills branch has been there since 1955 -- but I note that the opening of the (defunct) Portland and Seattle branches weren't considered worthy enough to make the brief history. I really had no idea that Trader Vic's was considered upscale, with an "ability to cultivate affluent, discriminating customers," although part of what I found nauseating about the Seattle Times puff piece, I now realize, was the sense of class entitlement it exuded. But now that I know that "Trader" Vic Bergeron was the inventor of the mai tai, all is forgiven. That is a heritage to reckon with!

Do you think they'll let us in if our hair isn't perfect?