Tiki Bars
Trader Vic's - Shanghai
Jingan Qu, Shanghai, China (Closed)
This Trader Vic's location opened on December 31, 2006, and it was the first in China -- where one has to wonder if the famed Chinese ovens were advertised as such in this new location, and whether they had the same exotic impact.
The location was on a corner in the Jing'an district, at the heart of Shanghai. The entry of the location was flanked by two large Maori-inspired tikis, and the interior was light and airy, but did have an assortment of flotsam & jetsam hanging from the vaulted ceiling.
The location closed @ February 15th, 2008.
*NOTE: Their drink menu was a standard Trader Vic's style cocktail menu which has remained much the same since the 60s, but prices were listed in Chinese Yuan. Nowhere on the actual menu did it actually say "Shanghai, China" but it did have a list of all the international locations on the inside cover -- so was probably just the standard template for several international locations at the time.
Hula Hula - Queen Anne Hill - Seattle
Seattle, Washington, United States (Closed)
This was the original Queen Anne location of Hula Hula, which re-opened in a new Capitol Hill location in April 2017. The tiki-kitsch bar and limited restaurant was located at the base of Queen Anne Hill near the Seattle Center. It opened in December 2006, and closed ten years later in March 2017, due to planned redevelopment of the site. Before becoming Hula Hula, this space was Watertown, and for many years before that, it was a nightclub called the Romper Room. Hula Hula was managed by the same group that owned the neighboring martini bar, Tini Bigs, which also closed.
Hula Hula served tropical cocktails and a short menu of pupus. The drink menu was filled with the expected names, like the Mai Tai, Zombie, Navy Grog and Shark's Tooth, but the recipes seemed to have little relationship to the names (the Navy Grog, for instance, had pineapple juice). The walls and ceiling were lined with lauhala and bamboo, and some of the seating was in poolside-style lounge chairs. Karaoke happened nightly.
Sugar Cane
London, United Kingdom
This tiki bar in South London's Clapham Junction, with decor by Cheekytiki, opened in 2007. It has an impressive amount of decor, including an A-frame style entrance, plenty of tiki carvings, a cave-like area, ceilings covered in netting and glass fish floats, and a series of individual huts with booths for patrons.
Mahiki - Dover Street - London
London, United Kingdom (Closed)
Mahiki opened in November 2006 in London's Mayfair District. Mahiki was designed and decorated by London-based tiki outfitters Cheekytiki, with menus designed by Tiki Racer. More of a nightclub than a simple lounge, Mahiki quickly became a celebrity destination once word got out that Prince William and Prince Henry were semi-regulars. Rihanna celebrated her birthday here in 2009.
In late 2011, a second Mahiki location opened in Dubai, located at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, and closed in 2018, due to “unforeseen circumstances during the renovation” of the hotel, as stated by the owners at the time.
In 2017, Mahiki's owners further expanded and franchised the brand. In the course of that year, Mahiki Clubs opened in Marbella, Spain (Mahiki Beach/closed and renamed in 2021), in the Forte Village Resort in Sardinia (now closed), in Manchester in collaboration with Gary Neville's company GG Hospitality Management Ltd. (closed in 2018, but re-opened in 2019, and closed again in 2020) and at a second London location (Mahiki Kensington, closed in 2019). There was also a Mahiki club in Gothenburg, Sweden (closed).
This flagship location in London's Mayfair District closed in July 2021, due to COVID shutdowns.
Tiburon Tommie's
Tiburon, California, United States (Closed)
Tommy Cox purchased an existing bar called Rossi’s. After purchasing, Cox reopened it as the Quarterdeck and then renamed it Tommy’s Pier 41 a year later.
It became "Tiburon Tommie's Pier 41" in December of 1958 when it was re-opened and expanded into a Polynesian style restaurant (a partnership between Tommy Cox and Johnny Won who was a former chef at Skipper Kent’s).
In 1963 it was renamed "Tiburon Tommie's Mai Tai" for its famed apricot-brandy version of the drink (equal parts lemon, orange and pineapple juices, gold and dark rums and the apricot brandy).
The building was large, and situated on the water on historic Main St. in Tiburon, across the bay from San Francisco. Its upper level was the "Maori Sky Room," used in later years only for storage.
Tommy Cox retired in 1976. The Won family bought out his half.
Tiburon Tommie's lasted longer than many of the grand tiki places, closing in 1995 when Alice Won (wife of the then sole owner, Johnny Won) suffered a stroke. When it went out of business, many of its items were reportedly found in a dumpster, and then sold at auction. Many members of the then-burgeoning San Francisco tiki scene were able to purchase items from the decor. In the early '00s, the building was torn down, and now condos are on the spot.
Trader Vic's Mai Tai Bar - Estepona
Estepona, Almería, Spain (Closed)
This location opened in 2006, and was the first of a new concept from Trader Vic's: Trader Vic's Mai Tai Bars. It was a stripped-down Trader Vic's location, without a Chinese oven, and with a stronger focus on the drinks.
It was located in the Laguna Village complex just outside Estepona in the Costa del Sol, at kilometer marker 159 of the CN 340. It was not far from the Marbella Trader Vic's (owned by the same franchisee).
It closed sometime around the end of 2008 or early 2009.
Beachbum Burt's
Redondo Beach, California, United States (Closed)
Beachbum Burt's was the short-lived 1970s tiki restaurant opened by Burt Hixson, who also owned The Warehouse restaurant chain in Southern California. The oceanside restaurant had an open-air courtyard in the center.
The building is gone, and in its spot today there is a Cheesecake Factory.
Trader Vic's - Oakland
Oakland, California, United States (Closed)
This Trader Vic's location is the original. It started out as Hinky Dink's, opened by Victor Bergeron a few years earlier in 1934 and had its name changed in 1937. Hinky Dink's had some great atmosphere and cocktails, but wasn't Polynesian until Bergeron was inspired by a visit to Hollywood, where he experienced Seven Seas and Don the Beachcomber.
In 1949, Bergeron opened a second location, initially called The Outrigger but later becoming Trader Vic's, in Seattle. In 1951 a location opened in San Francisco that was considered a powerhouse in the restaurant scene for decades. From there, it exploded into a number of restaurants that still pepper the globe today.
Bergeron is credited with being among the first to incorporate actual tikis into a tropical bar/restaurant concept. Bamboo bars and tropical restaurants had been around for a long time, and folks like Eli Hedley and Don the Beachcomber had created a more gritty, flotsam & jetsam inspired "beachcomber" look, but Bergeron took that a step further into look that was both refined and primal at the same time. But most of all, he brought in the tikis. He also brought a focus to the food, innovative for its time, blending the exotic tastes of many ethnic cuisines and presenting them for the still-developing American palates.
In the mid-1990s, many Trader Vic's locations in the United States closed, including the San Francisco and Seattle locations. International locations, including many in the Middle East, continued opening. In more recent years, the number of Trader Vic's locations in the United States have been growing again, with mixed results.
The original Trader Vic's location closed in 1972, when the company shifted its flagship location to Emeryville.
Hinky Dink's
Oakland, California, United States (Closed)
Hinky Dink's was Victor Bergeron's first restaurant; in 1937 it was renamed Trader Vic's, and became the launching point for a group of restaurants that heavily influenced the world of Polynesian Pop.
Bergeron opened Hinky Dink's in 1934 when he was 32. Advertisements for Hinky Dink's declared it the "Home of the Frankenstein." Hinky Dink's had great cocktails and unusual decor, but it wasn't the tropical paradise we think of with Trader Vic's today. Menus were printed on wooden cigar boxes.
Inspired by a trip to Hollywood, where he saw the tropical Seven Seas and Don the Beachcomber, he came home and upped the ante, coming up with the "Trader Vic" persona and developing the food & interior design.
Trader Vic's - at The Valley Ho Hotel - Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Arizona, United States (Closed)
Newer Trader Vic's location, a freestanding building on the grounds of the newly renovated vintage hotel, Valley Ho. The restaurant opened in Summer 2006, and closed in 2011.
Trader Vic's - Bellevue
Bellevue, Washington, United States (Closed)
This new Trader Vic's restaurant opened in March 2006. It was located within the new Liberty Square complex, adjacent to a Westin hotel. The space was nearly 8,000 square feet, with a main dining room and two private dining rooms. The restaurant had lots of tapa cloth, and a large outrigger canoe, but was an example of the newer, modern, disappointingly sparse Trader Vic's.
The Bellevue Trader Vic's closed in August 2008.
Eli Hedley's Home
Los Angeles, California, United States
At White Point, in Royal Palms beach in San Pedro, Eli Hedley made his home with his wife and four daughters. Literally made it -- mostly out of driftwood. They started in the fall of 1945 and the two-bedroom English style driftwood cottage took two years to build. They combed every cove from Palos Verdes to Portugese Bend for timber and most of it came from broken up barges. In addition to the two bedrooms, there was a bunk room, galley, dining deck, poop deck, living room and a hold. Hedley used nautical terms to describe the house. Their furnishings were made of driftwood, they used a fire guard hood from a ship's engine room for a fireplace, and bamboo strips from a Japanese ship were used for an interior door. Numerous live palms gave the homestead a secluded tropical feel.
Hedley was largely responsible for creating the "beachcomber look," by collecting items from the beach and reusing them as home items and decor for his own family and to sell to others. Hedley became a major name in the Hollywood set for decorating, and was responsible for the decor in bars, restaurants, hotels and apartment buildings in the 1940s through the 1970s. He built his home on land leased from the military (the military had control over this land since World War II, as White Point juts out into the Pacific). The land today is a public park, and a plaque can be seen giving the history of the spot, including the Hedley residence. The home is now gone, but the foundation remains.