Post #596791 by Trad'r Bill on Sat, Jul 9, 2011 9:08 PM

I found this cool article about the move from Oakland to Emeryville November 23, 1972... They talk about a the $135 per person fundraiser they are having on the last day the Oakland location was open.

Interestingly, the salty dog turns out to have a soft side:
"The Trader, Victor J. Bergeron, didn't attend the closing of the "mother church," because, he said, "I'm a very emotional man. I didn't want to get a lump in my throat the size of a roadapple. It's part of my life that finished. I didn't want to get a tear in my eye."

Here's a great recollection of the true beginnings of Trader Vic's:
"The original small building included a bar, two booths, two pinball machines and two restrooms. Vic acted as bartender and cook. In 1938 the name was changed to Trader Vic's after a visit to Don the Beachcomber's in Los Angeles. "I looked over his place for a week, and decided I could build a better mousetrap," says the Trader. "When I changed the name I told everyone they'd be fired if they didn't call me Trader."

The whole article is great, it's really a summary of the life accomplishments of the Trader, and the history of the Oakland location. Let me know if anyone wants the whole text.

I'm always watching for pictures of the front doors of this location, so our buddy Mai Tai can have a pic of his doors in situ.

The pic in the bottom right of the above newspaper article seemed to be promising at first, but still too hard to see the doors. Here's the clearest shot I could find (from microfiche):

A little closer, and lighter, still can't see much detail:

Now the negative... I think I can stat seeing the pattern from Mai Tai's doors here:

I definitely see different planks that make up the doors, and can see the concentric circles, just like on Mr. Tai's doors. Call me crazy, but I think this is pretty good evidence!

Trad'r Bill