Post #536147 by Dustycajun on Mon, Jun 14, 2010 9:01 AM

Tipsy,

Nice find on those mugs. Quinn's was an infamous bar in Papeete that was frequented by Edward Leeteg.

Here is a better scan of the postcard.

It closed in 1973. I found this cool story in the LA times archives that attributes Quinn's to Leeteg's death.

As the most notorious bar in French Polynesia, Quinn's was where the painter Leeteg belted one too many one night, then climbed aboard his moped and spun off on a trip to eternity, colliding head-on with a tree.

When they tore down Quinn's it was like disassembling the Eiffel Tower. Or uprooting the cable cars in San Francisco. Quinn's was a tourist attraction, an institution, the watering hole of Tahitians and tourists, French sailors and foreign legionnaires.

Nearly every tourist who ever set foot in Papeete rushed headlong to Quinn's to kick back and join the wicked who made Quinn's their home base. Well, the timorous did a detour, maybe, but the adventurous were fascinated with the motley crowd that kept the cash register ringing.

Without a doubt, Quinn's was the most shameful bar in the entire Pacific. Customers ducked flying beer bottles while Suzy No Pants danced with the legendary Bali Hai Boys.
Papeete

There's never been a bar like it. Ever. It roared day and night. It was a bamboo jungle, a grimy, stinking, crowded waterfront joint that smelled of stale beer and disinfectant. In the old days, after closing time at Quinn's, everyone revved up their mopeds and roared off to Lafayette's whose reputation was every bit as lurid as Quinn's.

DC