Post #35819 by Selector Lopaka on Sat, May 24, 2003 11:02 AM

Back in 1990 I was hired by an interior designer friend to help him gut an old Greek restaurant on 2nd Ave in downtown Seattle that was to be turned into a music club. That club opened in the spring of 1991 as The Crocodile Cafe. Along with the gutting came the collecting of decor that was to go into the club. Trader Vic's in the Westin Hotel had recently closed, and the owners of the Croc had bought a bunch of stuff in an auction selling the contents of the restaurant. I actually participated in the sinful act of pulling bamboo off the walls and ceiling, dismantling tiki hut booths and loading up a truck with furniture, lamps, rattan, and other restaurant stuff. I know the lamps hanging in the show room are definitely from TV, as well as much of the bamboo throughout the club, and, I think, the bathroom signs. I'm sure there's more, and could ask my friend for more details if folks would like me to. You can still find remants of the Trader Vic's auction around Seattle. There's a tiki in the men's room at the 5 Spot on Queen Anne Hill, and another in the hall to the bathroom at the Coastal Kitchen on Capital Hill.