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Celebrating classic and modern Polynesian Pop

Tiki Central / Locating Tiki / Billingsley's Outrigger, Laguna Beach, CA (restaurant)

Post #583076 by TabooDan on Sat, Apr 2, 2011 12:33 PM

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Ask and you shall receive!! Thanks alot Sven! That's exactly what I was looking for. I guess it was a bit of a "Doubting Thomas" shot I had!!

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit it but, besides Sippin' Safari, I don't have the three books you mentioned by Jeff Berry so I missed the write up's about Popo. Thanks for kicking me in the ass and setting me straight!!

I guess the reason I was wondering was quite a few years ago while starting to collect things from the Tonga Room, in San Francisco, I picked up a few items from another Restaurant that was located in the Fairmont Hotel called Al Williams Papagayo Room.

Named for the many Parrots that were the restaurant's trademark, the Papagayo Room entertained luminaries from 1945 to 1961. Guests included Frank Sinatra, Mae West, Jack Benny, Marilyn Monroe and Nat King Cole, as well as politicians, dignitaries and ordinary people. Al Williams was the son of a pioneer aviator who fought with Pancho Villa.

Nelson Rockefeller, who had a taste of Al Williams cooking while on a trip to Mexico, prodded Al and his wife, Katharine to open the Papagayo Room in 1945 and it was not long before the likes of Judy Garland, Clark Gable and Bob Hope turned the Papagayo Room into a San Francisco destination.

One of the items I picked up from the Papagayo Room was this rare mug:

It's almost identical to the one posted earlier from Kelbo's.

Here's the side with the name POPO:

Maybe he did a stint here as well?

This is why I was asking a little bit about Popo. Maybe this was his exclusive mug design and where he went it went with him? I wonder if there are any other mugs out there from other establishments he worked in?

Thanks again!!
TabooDan