Bora Bora - San Francisco

San Francisco, California, United States

Opened in 1964 or 1965 and closed in 1967.

This location was home to Skipper Kent's until at least June 1964.

In 1965, the Bora Bora Club was owned by SF nightclub tycoon George Lavery (43). After a night of hard drinking, a violent fight broke out between Lavery and his newlywed socialite wife, Gail Woodfield Lavery. The young wife shot and killed her husband during the altercation - the deceased had apparently threatened her with bolt cutters during the fight.

The Bora Bora club survived this incident long enough to host the one and only Don Ho in his first mainland appearance(!) in November of 1965.

The Bora Bora was also notable for two giant Barney West tikis on premises:

1) The first one, we have no photos of it on premises at the Bora Bora, but several photos from after the Bora Bora closed and it made its way south to the Redondo Beach Pier (see photo below). Eventually it would come to have a reputation as a "Bad Luck Tiki". The Bora Bora used this as their logo tiki and it was featured on their menu cover.

2) The other Barney West tiki we have photos of being used as a stage decoration at the Bora Bora for live performances. It was famously displayed at Barney West's Tiki Junction in years prior (see photo below).