On May 13th, 1942, Yachtsman and Bay Area Restaurateur, Frank "Skipper" Kent, opened Skipper Kent's Zombie Village in Oakland, California, right across the street from the original Trader Vic's on San Pablo Avenue. Like his predecessors, Donn Beach and Trader Vic, Skipper Kent wanted to create a South Seas inspired hospitality where patrons could be transported to paradise. Together, with his fellow host, Lucille "Hafe" Hafer, Zombie Village offered typical-of-the-time pseudo-Polynesian Chinese food, but the real star was the drink menu. The restaurant was South Seas-styled both inside and out.
Skipper described the Zombie Village in a letter written in 1953:
"...through massive driftwood doors, with huge Easter Island idols on either side, with a pause to inspect the unusual gifts from all corners of the earth which are for sale at the curio corner, then the beauty of the tropical dining room unfolds before you. Palm trees, Philodendrons, Marantas, Calatheas, and everywhere colorful Anthuriums and overhead the exotic orchid.
...In the Malayan, African, and Garden Rooms, the dining tables are made of selected Koa and Monkey Pod woods. Spears, shields, and Kris, from Africa to Malaya and the South Seas, all collected by the skipper on his many voyages, explorations, and travels, adorn the walls....."
Over the course of two decades, Skipper Kent's Zombie Village would become one of Oakland's best known tiki establishments, and he would go on to open a second outpost on Columbus Avenue in North Beach, known just as "Skipper Kent's". In 1967, a three-alarm fire destroyed the Oakland restaurant, putting an end to its 25 year reign as a Bay Area Landmark and a favorite among those who longed for a temporary escape to a tropical island paradise.