Post #591911 by TikiTomD on Thu, Jun 2, 2011 1:20 PM

At its opening, the décor of The Tropics as described by the May 26, 1950 article posted earlier was apparently Caribbean tropical, dominated by a huge pirate mural and ship's wheels serving as chandeliers and signs. That was evident in this 1951 ad...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal March 19, 1951

In his February 13, 1955 travel article on Ellinor Village that appeared in The Baltimore Sun, Horace Sutton stated, “For anybody tired of eating home there is a sultry, candlelit bar and restaurant called The Tropics.” Well, it was a time in Florida before air conditioning was prevalent.

At some point, Julian Lopez and The Tropics were influenced to sail from Caribbean to Polynesian seas, abandoning pirates and embracing tiki... it would be fascinating to know how that came about, but DustyCajun’s matchbook cover is clear evidence...

DustyCajun

We also have the statement from the June 23, 1962 article posted earlier that “Polynesian décor and Chef Julian Lopez’ cooking helped keep Philip Colodiy’s Tropics in the spotlight as a popular dining spot…,” additional evidence that The Tropics had been reborn as tiki somewhere along the way.

Obituaries can be a great source of information for the urban archaeologist. A life’s story is told in as few words as possible to keep the newspaper’s charges to a minimum (having recently written one for my father-in-law, I can tell you that every added word and photo carries a high premium). I learned through one that a Cuban émigré cousin of Julian Lopez, Maria Rodriguez, was owner of The Tropics and sold it to Julian Lopez circa 1960...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal December 16, 1975

I learned through another that Julian’s brother, Raul Lopez, a Cuban émigré like Julian, came to work at The Tropics and then moved on in 1967 to help his brother open up and run Julian’s as a Chef who did much to establish the restaurant’s reputation for fine cuisine...

Daytona Beach News-Journal January 31, 2011

I had wrongly presumed that Julian Lopez gave up The Tropics when he started Julian’s Dining Room and Lounge; not so. The following article indicates that he held onto The Tropics until selling it in 1974...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal March 30, 1974

Julian apparently held the mortgage to The Tropics, and foreclosed on the new owners within a year...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal March 9, 1975

And so he sold it again...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal October 24, 1976

It seems Julian was a Trustee with the Cuban Foundation that established a Cuban Exhibit at the Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences. Here we have a reasonably good photo of Julian along with Fulgencio Batista, the son of the former President of Cuba, and also a Trustee...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal September 9, 1971

In the following article, Julian Lopez describes how he continues to survive and thrive in the restaurant business, caught between escalating food and drink prices and the fixed incomes of the retirees who constitute his business base...

Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal April 7, 1973

-Tom