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Trader Vic's, Honolulu, HI, (restaurant) |
uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1532
From: Kalamazoo
|  Posted: 2010-06-09 2:56 pm Permalink
Those images were borrowed by the Aku Aku in Cadillac MI as well only slightly modified. Sorry for derailing the thread.
 
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3935
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2010-06-10 10:41 pm Permalink
Trav,
No worries about the thread hijack, it is always great to see how widespread the Tiki Transmission Tradition was! Hawaii to Michigan.
Now, back to our show. I found this ad on the internet from the Trader Vic's on Ward. A great rendering of the trees through the roof. I wonder what the inside of the restaurant looked like with the palm trunks?
Zombies and free parking.
DC
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3935
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2010-07-24 08:11 am Permalink
Saw this amazing mug on ebay from Vernon Kilns that was made for the Honolulu Trader Vic's. I knew Vernon Kilns made the dinner ware for TVs but this is the first mug I remember, are there others?
DC
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10566
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-07-24 10:13 am Permalink
Aaaah, the "Forbidden Fruit" mug! The first Fog Cutter generation, pictured in Vic's 1947 Bartender's Guide:
I think it hails from the years when the Trader was still in charge of the Honolulu Vic's
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Phillip Roberts
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 09, 2003
Posts: 1489
From: OAHU, Hawaii.
| Posted: 2010-07-25 11:29 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-07-24 10:13, bigbrotiki wrote:
I think it hails from the years when the Trader was still in charge of the Honolulu Vic's
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I'd say it (the mug) was after Vic was involved with this shop. I have what I think is an earlier green version of the mug in "Waikiki Tiki: Art, History and Photographs." Don Blanding designed for Vernon Kilns. It's likely that this is the vagabond poet's design.
Around December 1940, Vic and Granville "Granny" Abbott partner and create the Ward Avenue location. Bergeron mixes and serves mai-tais at the opening. There is an arguement and Vic sells his half. This seems to occur in early 1941.
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JONPAUL
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 12, 2010
Posts: 134
From: Venice, California
| Posted: 2010-07-26 12:01 am Permalink
So, you're implying that you have evidence proving that Mr. Bergeron served Mai Tais four years earlier than the until-now understood invention date of 1944? Can you please post a scan or other facsimile of your source? This new discovery could blow the roof off of all previously known history of the Mai Tai!!!
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Phillip Roberts
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 09, 2003
Posts: 1489
From: OAHU, Hawaii.
| Posted: 2010-07-26 1:32 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-07-26 00:01, JONPAUL wrote:
So, you're implying that you have evidence proving that Mr. Bergeron served Mai Tais four years earlier than the until-now understood invention date of 1944? Can you please post a scan or other facsimile of your source? This new discovery could blow the roof off of all previously known history of the Mai Tai!!!
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Yep, I can post those sources. Here ya' go...
Article 1- from the 1955 Honolulu Advertiser firmly establishes the opening date of the Ward Avenue Trader Vic's as December 18, 1940.
Article 2- from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin states Vic "introduced and served the first Mai Tai when he founded the Honolulu Trader Vic's..."
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Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
October 1st, 2010 from Bess Press Hawaii.
[ This Message was edited by: Phillip Roberts 2010-07-26 13:33 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10566
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-07-26 8:11 pm Permalink
Posted and scanned, there it is! Doesn't mean it's true though  As many others who ever specialized in any specific field have experienced, the news-printed word must often be taken with a grain of salt. Just a couple of months ago, a major travel magazine stated the Book of Tiki had been published in 2003, while it actually came out in September of 2000, and already went into its third printing in 2003.
Let's see what Trader Vic had to say in his 1970 press kit, which was published in conjunction with his court case about his invention of the Mai Tai:
Now in 2000, I published the most important page from that press kit on page 169 of the Book of Tiki, here are some closer scans of it:
This version has been accepted by the majority of cocktail historians and was quoted Jeff Berry (with a wink), who wrote a couple of fascinating pages on the various claims about the Mai Tai's origin in his newest tome Beachbum Berry Remixed.
Since Vic had a falling out with the Honolulu Trader Vic's owners, I bet they just loved to "aggravate his ulcer" with all sorts of little stories like the one above. I personally like to trust the handwritten signatures in my possession. Vic might have been an insufferable bastard at times, but no one would call him a lying bastard.
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Phillip Roberts
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 09, 2003
Posts: 1489
From: OAHU, Hawaii.
| Posted: 2010-07-28 1:18 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-07-26 20:11, bigbrotiki wrote:
Posted and scanned, there it is! Doesn't mean it's true though
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What was that lyric from Joe Jackson's song "Sunday Papers?" "They wouldn't print it if it wasn't true!" The second article (dated June 26, 1956) by Coby Black seems to be quoting Vic.
"Before then, the only topical drink you could buy was a Planters Punch" CONTINUED the man who..."
So if Vic told her that, he must be attributed to the information in the paragraph above it.
"I could be a liar and say I started the Polynesian trend in dining, but I won't. Don the Beachcomber was really the father of it all, and Hawaii owes him a vote of thanks for encouraging Polynesian atmosphere." Vic IS being honest here, so why would he not be honest before this point in the article?
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Let's see what Trader Vic had to say in his 1970 press kit, which was published in conjunction with his court case about his invention of the Mai Tai:
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I tend to trust newspapers more than I do press kits. Journalists seem more reliable (even then) than press kit writers. Press kits by nature are designed to get out YOUR side.
The fact that Vic has a witness to his 1944 account is good in court case, and it does make compelling evidence.
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Since Vic had a falling out with the Honolulu Trader Vic's owners, I bet they just loved to "aggravate his ulcer" with all sorts of little stories like the one above. I personally like to trust the handwritten signatures in my possession. Vic might have been an insufferable bastard at times, but no one would call him a lying bastard.
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Nor am I calling him (or anyone) a "lying bastard." I simply must agree to disagree in this case and keep an open mind.
It does not seem that the second article was influenced by the Honolulu Trader Vic's (Spence and Cliff Weaver in 1970) owners to "aggravate his ulcer." It's quite possible that the 1940 story is true. It's just as possible that it's not and Vic said it because he knew he was doing an interview with a journalist from Honolulu. Faulty memory 30 years later as opposed to 16 years later? Reliable witness in 1944 is a better story that will stand up in court in 1970?
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Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
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Grand Kahu
Grand Member (2 years) 
Joined: Jul 31, 2006
Posts: 142
From: Dallas, TX
| Posted: 2010-08-04 2:41 pm Permalink
If the buyer of the Trader Vic's Hawaii Fog Cutter mug is on TC, give me a PM. I would like to talk to you about a project which may be of interest.
Thanks,
GK
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Grand Kahu
Tied by my Mai Tai...
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aquarj
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Apr 02, 2002
Posts: 1040
From: SF bay area, CA
| Posted: 2010-09-01 12:32 pm Permalink
1971 ad for the International Market Place location.
-Randy
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naugatiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 02, 2004
Posts: 806
From: Port Angeles, Wa
| Posted: 2010-09-01 5:03 pm Permalink
Here's a colored version of that ad with other relevent venues. From This Week mag 1972 I believe.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10566
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2010-09-01 9:41 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-07-28 13:18, Phillip Roberts wrote:
I tend to trust newspapers more than I do press kits. Journalists seem more reliable (even then) than press kit writers. Press kits by nature are designed to get out YOUR side.
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I don't get it. What I posted above is not some press kit written some press kit writer. It is a statement by Trader Vic, in his words, signed by his hand in ink (not a printed signature). The article you found does not quote Vic directly, it is the writer who makes the statement "this gray haired genial host served the first Mai Tai when he founded the Honululu Trader Vic's" and only after that goes into a direct quote by Vic. It seems much more likely to me that the writer's statement is based on some miss-information or a miss-understanding, than that Vic would be contradicting himself in this matter.
By the way, I just found out that we now can add Augie Goupil as one more claimant to the invention of the Mai Tai mythology.
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Sabu The Coconut Boy
Grand Member (8 years)
Joined: Aug 20, 2002
Posts: 2784
From: Carson, California
| Posted: 2010-11-07 01:05 am Permalink
Finally found an interior shot of the International Marketplace location, from 1970.
Nice Socks, Buddy!
It looks like there are some nice lamps hiding back beyond the bamboo lattice-work wall, but otherwise it's much more bland than the Ward Ave location. They don't seem to be using any of the signature ceramics or glassware either (at least in this photo).
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[ This Message was edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-11-07 01:07 ]
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3935
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2010-11-07 08:22 am Permalink
Sabu,
Nice photo. Odd to see a Trader Vic's so low on the TIPSY factor.
Here are a few more shots of the Trader Vic's at the International Market Place from a restaurant guide I saw on ebay.
DC
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