Post #453035 by Mo-Eye on Mon, May 11, 2009 4:09 AM

I found lot's of great info on this location. First off, for more info on the hotel during it's pre Trader Vic days, please see the other thread I started:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=32126&forum=2&hilite=outrigger%20inn%20petersburg

Now, this Trader Vic's only lasted about 4 years. They opened in January 1972, and closed by May 1976. By January 1977, the restaurant was called Parker's Landing, and was completely redecorated in a nautical theme.

Here's a good article about it from the St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 21 1971:

Trader Vic's Says Suncoast Aloha

How do you change a restaurant into a nationally known, big operation with all kinds of unusual foods and exotic drinks? It doesn't happen overnight. At the Sheraton Bel Air Motor Hotel, 34th Street S., activity has been buzzing for a number of weeks. The hotel, formerly the Sheraton Outrigger, will feature a new Trader Vic's dining room and cocktail lounge when it reopens after Jan. 1. Key men from the big chain's other operations form an almost international team as they work side by side for the big day.

Chaney Wong, executive vice president of Trader Vic's said the restaurant won't be open to the public until the middle of January. Trader Vic himself - Victor J. Bergeron arrives shortly after the first of the year. He'll stay at the hotel for several weeks. Until then the action will move fast inside the Polynesian style building with the huge wooden Tiki gods out front. Slip inside the building for a quick tour with Clive Chu, vice president in charge of operations for Bel Air.

"We're dividing up the big dining room into small areas," he says. "Things seem more intimate that way. If guests have their own group, this arrangement will make it seem as though they have a private dining room." Trader Vic's Polynesian south Pacific Hawaiian touches will make good use of the Suncoast's bright sunshine, too. The skylights, large windows facing palm trees, sand and blue glimpses of Tampa Bay will offer the diner a feeling of Tahiti. Carved New Guinea planks lining the walls will transport one to the romantic isles.

Diners will be able to order by tempting names like Malagasy Steak (flavored with green peppercorns), morels with the taste of the Fast East (east indian mushrooms), tiny Hawaiian papaya, lichee nuts, kiwis from New Zealand (gooseberries), macadamia nuts also from Hawaii and plates decorated with loquats and kumquats. "If someone wants poi, we'll have that, too," says Wong. "In fact, we'll even have the true taro root from which poi is made - after it is shipped from the San Francisco Trader Vic's."

As in all Trader Vic restaurants, all decor is authentic. Pillars of ornate carvings, overheads lined with bamboo, walls of unusual woods make the visitor reach out to touch. Out in the kitchen - more hustle and bustle. Near one wall stands the big, new Chinese range. Gas burners line the big holes where woks (Chinese fry pans) will be placed to cook Trader Vic style. Polynesian, Chinese, Hawaiian - all these will be part of the blending of flavors and unusual spices used by all 19 of trader Vic's restaurants throughout the United States ( plus two overseas dining spots). "We even have a barbeque oven like those used in China," says Wong during a quick kitchen tour. "The Chinese hang the food up in such an oven. The juices baste the meat along with the sauce that way."

In another corner, the cook presides at a big range, preparing meals for the temporary dining room the hotel is using until the new room is finished. Wong, who travels to all Trader Vic's to oversee operations, brought Jeffrey Yee and Walter Frey to St. Petersburg to help form the basic food service team. Yee is from Vancouver, British columbia. He is general manager of the restaurant, boss man for all food and beverage facilities. Frey will supervise the food service. And there's the head chef, Jules Schouten from Detroit via Amsterdam. Schouten has already settled his family in a new home in St. Petersburg. Another addition to this international staff is Fred Velasco, catering manager from the south of Spain.

Trader Vic's prices are to be the same in St. Petersburg as they are in other restaurants the company owns in this country. A pake Polynesian dinner - appetizers, beef and chicken, chinese peas and rice with fortune cookies and tea - is priced at $6.75 per person when two order. Other items like shrimp, fish, chicken, duck and beef tenderloin range from $5.50 to $6.50.

And, from a Dec. 16 1971 issue of the Evening Independent comes this great photo of the 2 newly arrived tikis for the entrance, along with manager Jeffrey Yee, vice president Chaney Wong and the architect Andre Tchikovani :down:

This article also had some great info. Here are a few excerpts:

"Two huge Tiki gods were being unloaded from the flatbed of a truck and lowered into place by crane at the entrance. Chaney N. Wong, executive vice president of trader vic's restaurants, watched anxiously as the grotesque, hand carved beauties settled into their new homes. They has arrived from San Francisco Wednesday where they had been created by the artist who has done others for the 18 restaurants in the chain."

"In the lobby walls are lined with colorful carvings from New Guinea. In the bar area, the ceiling is hung with huge lenghts of bamboo from Thailand crosslashed with sinnet rope from the Philippines. The rest of the ceilings are covered with niau matting from Tahiti. The bar and the other furnishings will be shades of green, to carry out an authentic tropical theme. There is Philippine rattan covering walls and a woven close matting, called tiger tails, around the glassed skylight over the center of the dining area. Crated Tiki gods from Tahiti are stacked on the dance floor and will serve as posts. wong says they are part of the delay in getting in the exotic furnishings for the restaurant. 'Natives don't care whether they carve or fish. If they feel like fishing, that's what they do.'

There'll be a seating capacity of 225 but the dining areas are broken up in small decks so there is not the feeling of eating in a huge open space. One, that overlooks the bay and boat slip, will be the 'Captian's Cabin' and it is being paneled as a ship's cabin. Major construction is due to be completed in a week and the decorating will begin. Equipment in now on the way in. Ranges and barbeques are built specially to cook Polynesian foods. The dishes are specially designed and feature Menehunes. They are to Hawaiians what leprechauns are to the the Irish. Menehnes are invisible to humans under ordinary circumstances. Wong says they are not mischievous but are helpful, they do good things. The china is a brand new pattern and also will be placed in the other Trader Vic Restaurants.

A Young man, Georgian Andre Tchikovani, moves constantly from one area of construction to another. This is the architect from the San Francisco firm of Chan Rader and Associates. Among the more interesting equipment expected in momentarily are the barrels of drink containers. That is the word Wong uses in connection with the receptacles for the liquid refreshments made famous by Trader Vic. Of course, there are glasses, too, with tiki stems for example. But in addition, there are the ceramic kegs that serve the Rum Kegs for four; the communal bowls for the Kava Bowl; the ornamental bowls for the Scorpions; and the earthen bowls, supported by three Tikis, for the Tiki bowls. The Wahines are still served in the traditional coconut shells - but progress has turned the shells into ceramic. then there are the containers, fashioned in the shape of a skull, for the the hot grog known as Skull and Bones."

Here are a number of ads I found :down:

And then, finally comes the demise:

An April 9, 1976 article reports that the owner of the restaurant states that the Trader Vic's franchise may be dropped. An earlier report stated that it would be closed in May, but they they said it could go either way right now. The reason for closing - the owner wanted to provide more restaurant space from conventional food with lower prices and more informality. By January 1977, the space had already under gone a complete renovation and turned into Parker's Landing, a nautical themed seafood restaurant. A review of Parker's states that not much of the Polynesian theme remained, except for the divided up spaces, and everything was decorated with whaling and sailing ship items. She states that the new nautical decorations were so interesting that it made you want to walk around and look at them, and the food got a pretty bad review...

Lastly, this August 1976 article just made me laugh:

"St. Petersburg burglary detective William B. Carroll Jr. was dismissed late yesterday after allegedly concealing a stolen antique statue in his house for the past seven months. The carved, 5 foot wooden statue of a drummer was reported stolen last December by Trader Vic's Restaurant at 6800 34th St. S. Carroll was on the force three years."