Post #218614 by pappythesailor on Fri, Mar 3, 2006 6:10 AM

I felt kinda ghoulish reading thru accounts of the Cocoanut Grove Fire looking for evidence of tiki (or pre-tiki) but I gotta start somewhere. The main dining area of the Grove had seven, giant artificial palm trees but 7 palms to do not a tropical paradise make.

I found a description of the downstairs Melody Lounge in Edward Keyes, "Cocoanut Grove": ..."The walls of the stairwell" (leading to the Melody Lounge and the only public exit) "were of unfinished wood and hung with fish netting, setting the tone for a vague sort of tropical exotica in prospect below. There, driftwood was set off with strips of rattan and bamboo, simulating coastal reeds, and in each corner rose a section of stylized palm trees with fronds" (not the giant palms upstairs)" overhanging the small tables and zebra-striped settees that hugged three sides of the room. Overhead, a deep-blue satin-like material billowed like a lowering night sky" (Cool!)

"The only real illumination came from indirect lighting over the enclosed octagonal bar that dominated the room. There were pinpoints of pale light among the artificial trees--which were electrically with 7 1/2 watt bulbs interspersed among the greenery and cocoanut husks--but most of these were so artfully planted that their effect was little more than to cast a beguiling glow among the palms. This state of semidarkness was exactly what appealed to those who frequented the Melody Lounge..."

If that's not a tiki bar, I don't know what is.