 |
Mystery Photo 1959 Tiki Bar |
sputnikmoss
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 04, 2007
Posts: 275
From: Portland OR
|  Posted: 2008-07-29 08:54 am Permalink
I found this over on the Lotta Livin'Board and no one has an answer for the guy. I know someone here knows!
"So here's a slide I picked up recently. The eBay info reads Vintage color slide of a man posing in front of what appears to be a Nightclub. The sign above reads Room. This was probably in the Los Angeles area. I had other slides with this man in the same clothes at Disneyland. Slide stamped May 1959.
So, who has some idea where this was/might have been? My first thought was South Main, since that's where all the more interesting places liked to congregate. But the way this bay is set up doesn't seem to quite jive with the Burbank/Burlesk theater facade (which if its neighbor is 544, would make this 546 SM)."
_________________
Sputnik Housewares....Jetset Furnishings from the Atomic Age!
 88
|
Tipsy McStagger
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 21, 2004
Posts: 3388
From: HELL
| Posted: 2008-07-29 10:07 am Permalink
.i'm almost positive it's the bamboo room in seattle....i have another photo i can post later which i actually pulled from here, but i forget wht thread it's on....it shows a palm tree on the sign and i see a hint of the bottom of it in your slide...plus, the buildings architecture on both side of him also looks like it was from that place..i'm sure this is the same place...
|
Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2008-07-29 10:51 am Permalink
This image?
|
Tipsy McStagger
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 21, 2004
Posts: 3388
From: HELL
| Posted: 2008-07-29 12:26 pm Permalink
that's the one...but now that i see it i may be wrong...
..and furthermore...who the hell takes a picture of themselves in front of the place they want to remember and fail to include the sign??
[ This Message was edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2008-07-29 12:29 ]
|
Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2008-07-29 1:04 pm Permalink
Ther eis just enough to say, could be. Sign is at the right height and place. The facade on th ebuilding to the left looks about right, but the front of this building doesn't quite look right. If only the first picture were just a little further away, we'd know.
That image is from Tacoma ather than Seattle.
|
Ekomomai
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Sep 09, 2005
Posts: 32
From: Portland, OR
| Posted: 2008-07-29 3:39 pm Permalink
There was a bar called the Islander in Tacoma, on A and S 11th street. There's another thread running around here that had a picture of the menu, and the illustration was somewhat similar in style as the storefront.
Whoops - re-reading the first post, I now see the reference to Los Angeles. Sorry - never mind.
[ This Message was edited by: Ekomomai 2008-07-29 15:41 ]
|
MsSwanky
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Sep 02, 2005
Posts: 24
From: Knoxville, TN
| Posted: 2008-07-29 4:22 pm Permalink
Just an observation - If you look at the lower left hand corner of the 'next door' building (544, the blue building) there is a small wall, along the sidewalk, with those green Asian tiles (like Trader Vic's & Mai Kai have). Then look at the bottom portion of the wall with the mural. Under the mural there appear to be more of those same tiles embedded into the wall. Makes me wonder if the blue side of the building is a part of the same business?
So, maybe he's not standing in front of the actual entrance? Maybe there's more to that building than just the section with the mural?
Curiosity peaked...
|
Tiki Shaker
Grand Member (4 years) 
Joined: Jun 28, 2008
Posts: 688
From: Oceanside, CA
| Posted: 2008-07-29 4:27 pm Permalink
Makes ya wish you had one of those fake computers you see in the movies. Then you could just zoom into a window, see a reflection of a TV store across the street, then zoom into the reflection of one of the TV's and read the reflection of the sign!
|
Tipsy McStagger
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 21, 2004
Posts: 3388
From: HELL
| Posted: 2008-07-29 5:04 pm Permalink
it looks like it's somewhere in china town..that would explain the tiles, plus i think the store to the left is selling kimono's or robes and it looks like chinese characters written vertically up the white column in the store window...but which china town?? and what town?
|
Bora Boris
Mr. Unreasonable
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2401
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2008-07-29 6:05 pm Permalink
I did a search of "544" here on Tiki Central and came up with this Woofmutt thread ~
Tiki Past: Seattle, Wash
Which features this -
and this
and an awesome matchbook, click the link and check it out. Could that be the Tiki Hut?
Maybe one of you Seattle Hipsters should get off your ass and check it out.
|
Tipsy McStagger
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 21, 2004
Posts: 3388
From: HELL
| Posted: 2008-07-29 6:09 pm Permalink
looks like it might be it....the shell room could have been a bar next to the restaurant with it's own separate doorway so you could enter from the street if you didn't feel like having a meal...not an uncommon feature on most bars back in the day...
_________________
a quick google search reveals that the place is still open and it's called chen's village...same town, same address....queen anne neighborhood....let's roll seattle tiki people...we have a mission!!
" measuring destroys art!!"
[ This Message was edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2008-07-29 18:11 ]
[ This Message was edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2008-07-29 18:12 ]
|
Bora Boris
Mr. Unreasonable
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2401
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2008-07-29 6:13 pm Permalink
"Welcome to chensvillage.com! Our site is under construction, please check back soon!"
Anyone up there know?
Edited because Tipsy beat me to it! Bah!
[ This Message was edited by: Bora Boris 2008-07-29 18:14 ]
|
Tipsy McStagger
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 21, 2004
Posts: 3388
From: HELL
| Posted: 2008-07-29 6:17 pm Permalink
..nothing on ebay either....
|
dogbytes
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Mar 24, 2002
Posts: 2240
From: seattle, wa
| Posted: 2008-07-29 6:20 pm Permalink
Chen's is still on Elliott.. i've passed by many times. but havent stopped in ~ i'll put that on my "to do list".. but it looks nothing like the pic posted.
|
dogbytes
Grand Member (8 years)
Joined: Mar 24, 2002
Posts: 2240
From: seattle, wa
| Posted: 2008-07-29 6:22 pm Permalink
oh and in Seattle.. the N W S NW SW SE designations are critical as are the Ave, Way, Circle etc modifiers. i must use a GPS to find my way around, even after 6 years here. i'll check 'em both out.
|
