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#2 2009-05-13 15:25:22
- Decline & Fall
- Ivyist At Large
- Posts: 850
Re: Tradder Vic
Big thanks for posting these pics. I've been flipping my way through that Sven Kirsten book and I have to agree. Kirsten did an excellent job of tracking down some excellent vintage Tiki materials as well as stories on guys like Trader Vic.
Last edited by Decline & Fall (2009-05-13 15:46:25)
"I like bars just after they open in the evening. When the air inside is still cool and clean and everything is shiny. The first quiet drink of the evening in a quiet bar-that's wonderful."
— Raymond Chandler
#3 2009-05-13 15:47:43
- Decline & Fall
- Ivyist At Large
- Posts: 850
Re: Tradder Vic
Last edited by Decline & Fall (2009-05-13 15:48:02)
"I like bars just after they open in the evening. When the air inside is still cool and clean and everything is shiny. The first quiet drink of the evening in a quiet bar-that's wonderful."
— Raymond Chandler
#5 2009-05-13 16:37:57
- Natural Sole Brother
- Ivy, naturally.
- Posts: 782
Re: Tradder Vic
Can Tiki ever be Ersatz?
Or more pertinently:
Can Tiki ever be Ersatz enough?
#7 2009-05-13 16:52:39
- Natural Sole Brother
- Ivy, naturally.
- Posts: 782
Re: Tradder Vic
I believe there are plans afoot to close the Tonga Lounge at The Fairmount and I don't know how I feel about that. It rode the crest of the 'Swingers' wave for about five minutes then settled back into being a pretty strange place to go for a drink in a fairly mediocre hotel.
#8 2009-05-13 16:54:23
- Natural Sole Brother
- Ivy, naturally.
- Posts: 782
Re: Tradder Vic
Incidentally I think there's also been a major overhaul of Trader Vic's itself at the London Hilton. Has anyone been recently?
#9 2009-05-13 18:34:34
- AQG
- Member
- From: The Sticks
- Posts: 1306
Re: Tradder Vic
Ah, NSB, you do know how to pose the imponderable question. Tiki, as a style, was never intended to be a realistic depiction of Polynesia, so it must be fake. Yet, like all things, it has a balance. Too much is too much. Danny Balz was probably the ultimate example of that rule with respect to Poly-Pop.
I will lament the passing of the Tonga Room. Not the best Poly-drinks on the whole, but the Bora Bora Horror is a noteworthy exception and one whose recipe I have obtained through a small bit of industrial espionage. Yes, it is a strange place to have a drink, but that's the glory of it. Incidentally, L_P, your picture is two iterations past. The current decor is rather different though it retains the central pool and band barge.
I'd hate to see the London Trader's redone. I'm sure they won't ruin it or anything and it will probably be done very well. However, it is one of the fast-shrinking ranks of archetypal tiki-bar-in-the-basement-of-an-hotel establishments in the old style and I'd hate to see them all go. The one in DC closed when I was there in law school. Went to closing night. Chicago is gone now, too.
#10 2009-05-15 10:29:34
- SubtleCool
- Ivy, but subtle with it.
- Posts: 289
Re: Tradder Vic
I personally have a great affection for this whole thing. It was even less of thing in the UK than Ivy although Butlins holiday camps all had a 'south seas bar' for that taste of the exotic. (Our American cousins will have to look that last reference up, it's too complicated to go into.)
It reminds me of our school library which had loads of old National Geographics from the late fifties/early sixties. I used to be fascinated by the ads showing trips to Hawaii etc.
And I must admit to having a an aloha shirt in my wardrobe, with lovely coconut shell buttons.
Me? Conspicuous? Lady, I'm the invisible man.