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Tiki Central / Collecting Tiki / Trader Vic and the Copycats

Post #558177 by Dustycajun on Wed, Oct 6, 2010 6:04 PM

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I know, you were probably thinking - What a great name for a band, but why is this thread listed in Collecting Tiki instead of Tiki Music?

In honor of the 10th anniversary of the Book of Tiki, I thought I would expand on a fun little topic that Sven included on page 94 of the BOT - the rash of copycat Trader names that sprung up from the success of the Trader Vic's empire.

Here the list of copycats that I have compiled so far.

Trader Dick's - Sparks, NV
Trader Frank's - Tiki Gardens, Indian Rocks Beach, FL
Trad'r Sam - San Francisco, CA
Trader Nick's - Pismo Beach, CA
Trader Eng's - Various Locations
Trader Syd - Luau Restaurant, Miami, FL
Trader Vince - Niagara Falls, Canada
Trader Mort's - San Diego, CA
Trader Dick's (Number 2) - Topeka, Kansas
Trader John's - Biloxi, MS
Trader Jake's - Elmira, NY
Trader Ade's - Guam
Trader Royal, Alamo, CA
Trader Jack's - Oklahoma City, OK

Added
Trader Bill's - Las Vegas, NV
Trader Pang's - Hilo Hattie's Mythical Tiki Bar Mug
Trader Joe's Trade Winds - Inglewood, CA
Trader Vic's Used Cars - Los Angeles
Trader Bob's - Hayward, CA
Trader Ku's - Birmingham, Alabama

Now, on to the pics.

Trader Dick's.
Probably the most well known of the Trader knock-offs, named after the owner Dick Graves.

Trader Frank's
The name of the restaurant located at Tiki Gardens, named after the owner Frank Byars.

Trad’r Sam
The first of the copycats having opened in the early 1940s.

Trader Nick's
One of my favorites, located not to far from my hometown of Santa Barbara.

Trader Eng's
Various locations in the south.

Trader Syd - Luau Restaurant, Miami, FL
Trader Syd was from the Luau Restaurant located in Miami.

Pa'akiki posted an article with a photo.

and he added his name to the bottom of this drink menu.

Trader Vince
Only info on this one is the matchbook posted by Uncle Trav that pops up now and again.

Trader Mort's - San Diego, CA
The original Tiki liquor store near Shelter Island in San Diego. Still going strong.

Trader Dick's (Number 2)
A matchbook from another odd Trader Dick's located in Kansas City. A reciprocal private club?

Trader John's
Postcard from Biloxi, the matchbook from Trader John's is in the BOT.

Trader Ade's in Guam, matchbook from Mimi Payne's website.

Trader Jake's Polynesian Room
Looks like an Irish version of the Trader copycats brought to you by the Oleary's.

Trader Royal
Again, just the matchbook to go on for this mystery place in Alamo, CA.

Trader Jack's
Postcard from another Trader Jack‘s tropical fruit juice stand at the Hawaiian Village located at the Windsor Hills Mall in Oklahoma City.

Victor Bergeron must have looked down on all of this Tom foolery and thought:
Ah, it's good to be King.

Anybody got any others? (Note - I'm skipping Trader Joe's on this one).

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2010-10-17 09:32 ]