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Far East Imperial, Pompano Beach, FL (restaurant) |
Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 4251
From: Santa Barbara, CA
|  Posted: 2009-06-05 3:39 pm Permalink
Name:Far East Imperial
Type:restaurant
Street:
City:Pompano Beach
State:FL
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct
Description:
The postcard showing the Kon Tiki Bar at the Imperial Lounge in Harris' Far East Imperial Restaurant was THE image that struck me with \"Tiki Awe\" when I first opened The Book of Tiki. The full page shot of this bar was amazing with towering rock wall and the floor to ceiling Tikis!
I finally got the card a while back.
The back of the card provides a good description of the restaurant, with the Cuban stone wall, Tahitian Idols and the Imperial Luau happy hour from 4-6 on weekdays.
I also have a couple of postcards that show the outside of the building. The majestic neon sign and lots of eastern style artifacts. There is even a lone tiki on the grounds.
Many of you will remember Basement Kahuna's grand archeological score of finding the tiki columns from the bar from this thread.
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=1705&forum=1&hilite=imperial%20luau
DC
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 4251
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2009-06-06 07:52 am Permalink
Here is another amazing postcard from showing the Imperial Lounge from Mimi's website.
DC
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 11104
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2009-06-06 11:44 am Permalink
What a fabulous place! I was always grateful for it providing one of the key images of the Book of Tiki. That first bar shot (and its caption) says it all! And now the exterior, it's so Asian Modern.
I wonder if the owner was American, or as is the case sometimes, was an Asian who americanized his name. If "Surfer" is still checking in here, he could answer that question:
Quote:
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On 2008-05-13 13:33, Surfer wrote:
WOW, sadly I hate to report Sam Harris, a good friend of my dads passed away some years ago. This post brings back memories, went to the "Imperial House" many times as a kid. I still live very close by, but alas the building was leveled and dirt is all that's left.
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The name "Far East" is intriguing, because it is not outright Chinese, so he absolutely could have been a WWII-generation American (like a Pacific veteran, or foreign envoy) that came up with an Exotica/ Ports of Call concept.
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 4251
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2009-06-06 11:57 am Permalink
Bigbro,
Interesting thing about the name - it appears that the Far East was dropped at some point as the back of my postcard has Harris' Imperial as the name.
DC
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pa'akiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 26, 2005
Posts: 70 | Posted: 2009-06-06 12:47 pm Permalink
Here is the dinner menu from far east imperial and the dinner menu from imperial house. these menus have simmilar prices but layout changed around. imperial house drink menu and inside. sorry not near a scanner.
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tikiyaki
Grand Member (7 years) 
Joined: May 18, 2004
Posts: 2706
From: The Exotic Port of REDONDO BEACH, CA
| Posted: 2009-06-06 1:09 pm Permalink
Wow, awesome juxtaposition of Classic Chinese Menu and Tiki aesthetics.
Looks like my kinda place.
Pass the egg rolls please !
_________________
http://www.tikiyakiorchestra.com
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 11104
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2009-06-06 1:38 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2009-06-06 11:57, Dustycajun wrote:
Bigbro,
Interesting thing about the name - it appears that the Far East was dropped at some point as the back of my postcard has Harris' Imperial as the name.
DC
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Ha! Maybe my hunch is right, especially judging by the "crest" logos on the menu covers: The eagle with the arrows is American, right? Maybe "Imperial" really was the unabashed motto, an attitude that later when the Vietnam war went awry acquired the negative connotation of being "imperialistic".
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1961surf
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1919
From: Newport Beach, Ca .
| Posted: 2009-06-06 2:47 pm Permalink
What a killer place.How does such a cool place like this get leveled is beyond me.
Could you imagine this place are one like it, up and operating today with that
incredible interior.Oh the humanity of it all !!!!
Another xlnt post by da man himself DC .
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1961surf
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1919
From: Newport Beach, Ca .
| Posted: 2009-06-06 6:14 pm Permalink
Based on Basement Kahuna and Geoff picking up two even sets.There are still three
more sets of tikis floating out there .The post card showing a total of five floor
to ceiling tikis.I would give my right *&*** @ for one of those complete tikis!
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 4251
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2009-06-08 10:46 pm Permalink
So it was the Far East Imperial, The Imperial House, and The Imperial.
Would have to agree with Bigbro on the military influence with the crest logo.
Here's another great early Far East Imperial menu from Mimi's website.
Check the description for the Far East Imperial bowl - sounds like espionage!
DC
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Tipsy McStagger
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 21, 2004
Posts: 3513
From: HELL
| Posted: 2009-06-09 05:31 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2009-06-06 18:14, 1961surf wrote:
Based on Basement Kahuna and Geoff picking up two even sets.There are still three
more sets of tikis floating out there .The post card showing a total of five floor
to ceiling tikis.I would give my right *&*** @ for one of those complete tikis!
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actually there are more of those tikis floating around if you consider that they were all half tikis with the inside cored out to fit around the support poles in the bar....odds are good you may find just one half somewhere out there if you can't find a whole one containing both halves....
_________________
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GatorRob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1770
From: 3 hrs 33 mins to paradise
| Posted: 2009-06-09 11:16 am Permalink
Thanks for this great post, DC! I've wondered what the rest of this place looked like.
It's interesting to note that the cocktail menu DC posted features the Derby Daiquiri. This is a Mai-Kai drink. Even the graphic of the cocktail glass with the jockey stem is the glass that was designed specifically for the Derby Daiquiri and the Mai-Kai served thousands of them in that glass over the years. I think the menu drawings and the font used is the same as the Mai-Kai menu too. These two places were only about 5 miles apart, so maybe the Thornton brothers had their hands in it in some way? Either that or they were blatantly copied, which was a common practice.
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 4251
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2009-06-09 11:32 am Permalink
Gator Rob,
Nice catch on the menu graphics comparison to the Mai Kai. Here is the Mai Kai menu with the Derby Daiquiri from Mimis website.
DC
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 5015
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2009-06-09 1:02 pm Permalink
Actually, BK had more than the ones he ended up with. I can't recall now, but I know at least one more set of 2 of the carved poles was sold before Dave went home with his pair. They ended up at Geoff's place. He may have seen 6 of them, but at least 4 carvings.
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FLMeg
Member
Joined: Jun 10, 2009
Posts: 3 | Posted: 2009-06-10 6:40 pm Permalink
omg.Just randomly searching about my grandparents and I came across this. Sam Harris was my grandpa. So funny to read about other people talking about the Imperial. I hardly know where to begin. First, the one postcard with a solitary man in the background, that's Sam. Then, the one at the bar, my grandpa is the 4th individual from right. Kind of shadowed. Sam was from Crete, Stamatis Huardikas,(sp) off the boat, and began bussing tables without knowing word one of English. So fascinating knowing someone has or knows whereabouts of Tiki's? I used to swing around them when I was little. I would dearly love to touch one someday. Just knowing they were a part of people that so long ago left and were so precious to me. If I could answer any questions, I would be more than happy to.
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