the lost chapter: Hop Louie and the Stockton Islander (image heavy) - General Tiki

A abstractiki Tiki Socialite Lodi, CA Joined: Aug 29, 2009 Posts: 606	A abstractiki Posted posted on Sun, Apr 3, 2011 8:31 AM A while back I managed to track down the son of Dick Degrande (the last owner of the Islander). He was friendly and answered my questions but the interview shed no new light on the Islander story. At least now I can check him off my list of leads and put that angle to rest. He is still in the catering/food business locally. He was involved starting his own career and family when his dad owned the Islander and only went there a few times. On another note I was asked to post this Stockton Record newspaper article by a friend and employee of Tommy Lee. Headline: Former owner of Islander restaurant dies By Audrey Cooper Record Staff Writer September 20, 2002 12:01 AM Tommy Lee's Islander restaurant and nightclub -- with Polynesian decor, thatched-roof stage, Easter Island-style mugs, waiters in Hawaiian shirts and lounge acts -- was a staple of Stockton's late-night entertainment in the 1960s and '70s. Most longtime Stockton residents at some point hid in the dimly lit club, sucking down punch-bowl-sized drinks garnished with floating gardenias. Lee, the hot spot's gregarious owner from 1966 to 1980, died Sunday of heart problems at an assisted-care home. He was 87. Just before Lee's birth, his Chinese parents boarded a freighter to start a new life in the United States. Lee was born on the ship midtrip and had to be naturalized as a United States citizen, although this country was the first dry land he ever touched. A friend persuaded Lee in 1938 to move to Stockton. In 1940, the two opened the Daylite Market, working up to 16 hours a day. That market became the Diamond D Meat Co., which was later blended into the Centro Mart chain. Lee bought The Islander from restaurateur Hop Louie, who had hired architect Warren Wong to design the building to resemble a shipwreck on a sandy beach. In 1986, four years after The Islander permanently closed its doors, the abandoned building was moved from its Lincoln Center location to a spot off Highway 99 and Eight Mile Road. It now houses the Chicken Kitchen and stands in front of the Pollardville Ghost Town, a collection of Western-style movie sets open to visitors on weekends. Tower Records sits on the old Islander site. Islander patron Jack Canote, 77, remembered having "a drink or two at the Islander." Canote said Lee had a good sense of humor and loved his business. "I don't know for sure, but I always heard that we won the place in a crap game. I also heard he lost it in a crap game, too," said Canote, a former Record advertising employee. That urban legend, though likely untrue, helped add to the mystique of the Islander, where velvet paintings of ####### Tahitian women complemented the flaming torches outside and the outrigger canoe hanging over customers' heads. Fire-waving hula dancers and Sinatra-style lounge singer Frankie Fanelli were equally at home at the adjoining club, called Latitude 20. "Oh, my gosh. The Islander. I wouldn't want anyone to know how much time I spent there," said Stockton resident Bobbie Wallinger, 60. She remembered it as Stockton's lone nightclub for several years and the city's version of the Fairmont Hotel's Zombie Room or Trader Vic's in San Francisco. "Tommy Lee was gregarious. I think he really was a showman in almost a Barnum sense. But like Barnum, he was someone who made people truly happy," she said. Harold Lee, a friend of Tommy Lee's for more than 40 years, remembered his friend as a hard worker who would take afternoon naps to rest in the middle of his 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. shifts. The Islander closed only on Christmas. The Islander, sometimes called the Camelot of Stockton, employed many new immigrants, some of whom still work in Chinese restaurants in the area. Tommy Lee, who also owned the Chinatown restaurant Shangri-Lee, rented an apartment for his employees, said daughter Valerie Acoba, a drama teacher at Edison High School. Lee was a past president of the Lee Family Association, a board member of the Cathay Club and a member of Seniors In Retirement. In addition to Acoba, he is survived by his siblings, Louis Lee of Virginia and Junna Elliott of Oregon; children Clifford Lee of San Francisco and Phyllis Lee of Wisconsin; and granddaughter, Gwendolyn Acoba-Moran of Los Angeles. Visitation is scheduled for today from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Chapel of the Palms funeral home. The funeral will be Saturday at 11:30 a.m. LEE: He was 87.

A while back I managed to track down the son of Dick Degrande (the last owner of the Islander). He was friendly and answered my questions but the interview shed no new light on the Islander story. At least now I can check him off my list of leads and put that angle to rest. He is still in the catering/food business locally. He was involved starting his own career and family when his dad owned the Islander and only went there a few times.

On another note I was asked to post this Stockton Record newspaper article by a friend and employee of Tommy Lee.

Headline: Former owner of Islander restaurant dies

By Audrey Cooper Record Staff Writer
September 20, 2002 12:01 AM

Tommy Lee's Islander restaurant
and nightclub -- with Polynesian decor, thatched-roof stage, Easter Island-style
mugs, waiters in Hawaiian shirts and lounge acts -- was a staple of Stockton's
late-night entertainment in the 1960s and '70s.

Most longtime Stockton residents at some point hid in the dimly lit club, sucking down punch-bowl-sized drinks garnished with floating gardenias.

Lee, the hot spot's gregarious owner from 1966 to 1980, died Sunday of heart problems at an assisted-care home. He was 87.

Just before Lee's birth, his Chinese parents boarded a freighter to start a new life in the United States. Lee was born on the ship midtrip and had to be naturalized as a United States citizen, although this country was the first dry land he ever touched.

A friend persuaded Lee in 1938 to move to Stockton. In 1940, the two opened the Daylite Market, working up to 16 hours a day. That market became the Diamond D Meat Co., which was later blended into the Centro Mart chain.

Lee bought The Islander from restaurateur Hop Louie, who had hired architect Warren Wong to design the building to resemble a shipwreck on a sandy beach. In 1986, four years after The Islander permanently closed its doors, the abandoned building was moved from its Lincoln Center location to a spot off Highway 99 and Eight Mile Road.

It now houses the Chicken Kitchen and stands in front of the Pollardville Ghost Town, a collection of Western-style movie sets open to visitors on weekends. Tower Records sits on the old Islander site.

Islander patron Jack Canote, 77, remembered having "a drink or two at the Islander."

Canote said Lee had a good sense of humor and loved his business.

"I don't know for sure, but I always heard that we won the place in a crap game. I also heard he lost it in a crap game, too," said Canote, a former Record advertising employee.

That urban legend, though likely untrue, helped add to the mystique of the Islander, where velvet paintings of ####### Tahitian women complemented the flaming torches outside and the outrigger canoe hanging over customers' heads. Fire-waving hula dancers and Sinatra-style lounge singer Frankie Fanelli were equally at home at the adjoining club, called Latitude 20.

"Oh, my gosh. The Islander. I wouldn't want anyone to know how much time I spent there," said Stockton resident Bobbie Wallinger, 60. She remembered it as Stockton's lone nightclub for several years and the city's version of the Fairmont Hotel's Zombie Room or Trader Vic's in San Francisco.

"Tommy Lee was gregarious. I think he really was a showman in almost a Barnum sense. But like Barnum, he was someone who made people truly happy," she said.

Harold Lee, a friend of Tommy Lee's for more than 40 years, remembered his friend as a hard worker who would take afternoon naps to rest in the middle of his 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. shifts. The Islander closed only on Christmas.

The Islander, sometimes called the Camelot of Stockton, employed many new immigrants, some of whom still work in Chinese restaurants in the area. Tommy Lee, who also owned the Chinatown restaurant Shangri-Lee, rented an apartment for his employees, said daughter Valerie Acoba, a drama teacher at Edison High School.

Lee was a past president of the Lee Family Association, a board member of the Cathay Club and a member of Seniors In Retirement. In addition to Acoba, he is survived by his siblings, Louis Lee of Virginia and Junna Elliott of Oregon; children Clifford Lee of San Francisco and Phyllis Lee of Wisconsin; and granddaughter, Gwendolyn Acoba-Moran of Los Angeles.

Visitation is scheduled for today from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Chapel of the Palms funeral home. The funeral will be Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

LEE: He was 87.

Post #583170 by abstractiki on Sun, Apr 3, 2011 8:31 AM