Post #170357 by paranoid123 on Fri, Jul 8, 2005 10:09 AM

Well, a very minor part anyway. But funny how these things come around.

I've always joked around how the my dad could be one of those old Cantonese waiters at the Beverly Hills Trader Vic's. They are about the same age, same, slight build, and their English sounds like they came to the US around the 50's or so.

Anyway, my dad gave me a ride to work since I had to go to the airport after work, so I asked him if he can figure out how to get out of Torrance (Southern California for those of you not familiar). He said, "Yeah, I'm familiar with Torrance, I used to work at a restaurant there.... Latitude 20 or something". I was like, "uh, wasn't that a tiki restaurant?" He said, "Yeah, they used to do a hundred luaus a night". Holy crap!!

Apparently, my dad's uncle, Hop Louie, was a big restauranteur at the time. Some of the restaurant he owned at one time or another was Latitude 20 in Torrance, Tradewinds in Oxnard, and Hop Louie's Jade Pagoda in Chinatown (it's one of those landmark structures in LA's Chinatown). My dad was a fledgling accountant at the time, and he would help out on the weekends as a waiter or something. Growing up, I always heard about great-uncle Hop Louie in hushed, venerated terms.

I asked him, "So, I don't suppose you kept any souvenirs from those old days, you know: menus, matchbooks, mugs..." "No, those were tough times, no one thought of collecting anything! I might still have that the old waiter's uniform, though, I looked pretty sharp in it", he said with a sly grin.

LOL! I'm amused by the fact that I didn't know he worked in old tiki restaurants, and he didn't know I collect tiki paraphernalia! Well, I thought I'd share this with you guys.