This is a loball glass depicting Oceania Floating Restaurant. In 1972 U.S. Senator Hiram Fong, the first Asian American in the senate, bought a 1,200-ton, $3.6 million four-tiered barge that had come from Hong Kong. He opened Oceania, a Chinese-style floating restaurant on Honolulu's waterfront. She was moored at pier 6 in Honolulu harbor and was adjacent to downtown Honolulu and only minutes from Waikiki Beach. The beautiful Oceania was once the world's largest floating restaurant. She was 280 feet overall, had a 60 foot beam and drew 16 feet. She had a crew of 225 and could accommodate 2,000 people in a single sitting. The Oceania was filled with Chinese artworks and ornate carvings valued at nearly one million dollars which would be about $5,173,635 today. After nearly two decades in business the Oceania closed its doors for good due to bankruptcy. It sat around for quite sometime after it shut down and became infested with rats. For the most part security was pretty lax and it became a good spot to kick back and drug out. After it spent some time being a rat infested crack den, it was (apparently) towed back to Hong Kong. This failed business venture all but destroyed the Fong family fortune, chronicled here in the Honolulu Star Bulletin: http://archives.starbulletin.com/2005/07/05/news/story2.html
Production
Date
circa 1972-1987
Release
Physical Characteristics
Material
Glass
Shape
Loball
Colour
Clear / Red
Imagery
Nautical
Marking
Marked: "The Oceania Floating Restaurant Honolulu, Hawaii" in yellow around top rim.