Trader Vic's, Oakland, CA (restaurant) - Locating Tiki

MT Mai Tai Tiki Socialite Exotic Isle of Alameda Joined: Mar 21, 2004 Posts: 1438	MT Mai Tai Posted posted on Mon, Jul 11, 2011 4:03 PM Super cool detective work, Trad'r Bill! I recently dragged the doors outside, and took good pictures of them in natural sunlight. It will be a good "before" presentation, as the finish is pretty much all worn off of the exterior, there is some minor weathering along the bottom foot or so (but luckily the tool marks still show there, as well as everywhere else), and the doors have been tagged up nicely with graffiti. Hopefully I'll have them refinished and installed in the ol' home bar, next to Boris' rain window effect, by the end of the summer. Until then, here are some pics. Close up Are you looking at the doors, or are they looking at you? Blank space meant for door handle. There's one of these blank panels on each door. Evidently the right door never had a handle installed, and there is a cheapy handle installed on the left door, but I'm going to install nice door handles once I find something really cool. Bottom of doors, where weathering from exposure to the elements has occurred, and the finish is pretty much completely worn off. Close up of bottom of door. Luckily the tool marks are still very prominent and visible. Iron wood is tough! And the spots by the hinge where there are some missing chunks of wood (probably broken off when the doors were hastily ripped out of their location either at Trader Vic's in 1972, or at Cabel's Reef in 2007) will be hardly visible at all once the doors are set into a door frame, and once installed in the location that I have picked in Casa de Mai Tai, those spots won't be visible at all. Top of doors, where they were most protected from exposure to the elements, and part of the original finish is still intact. I don't know how "original" this finish is, though, as the doors are at least 50 years old and have been on two different establishments during their life. Looks like I'm going to have to take a trip down to the Oakland Library, and make a few copies of that article! Thanks again for your research, Trad'r Bill! Stay tuned for more about the doors, probably most likely as a resto project in Creating Tiki.

Super cool detective work, Trad'r Bill! I recently dragged the doors outside, and took good pictures of them in natural sunlight.

It will be a good "before" presentation, as the finish is pretty much all worn off of the exterior, there is some minor weathering along the bottom foot or so (but luckily the tool marks still show there, as well as everywhere else), and the doors have been tagged up nicely with graffiti. Hopefully I'll have them refinished and installed in the ol' home bar, next to Boris' rain window effect, by the end of the summer. Until then, here are some pics.

Close up

Are you looking at the doors, or are they looking at you?

Blank space meant for door handle. There's one of these blank panels on each door. Evidently the right door never had a handle installed, and there is a cheapy handle installed on the left door, but I'm going to install nice door handles once I find something really cool.

Bottom of doors, where weathering from exposure to the elements has occurred, and the finish is pretty much completely worn off.

Close up of bottom of door. Luckily the tool marks are still very prominent and visible. Iron wood is tough! And the spots by the hinge where there are some missing chunks of wood (probably broken off when the doors were hastily ripped out of their location either at Trader Vic's in 1972, or at Cabel's Reef in 2007) will be hardly visible at all once the doors are set into a door frame, and once installed in the location that I have picked in Casa de Mai Tai, those spots won't be visible at all.

Top of doors, where they were most protected from exposure to the elements, and part of the original finish is still intact. I don't know how "original" this finish is, though, as the doors are at least 50 years old and have been on two different establishments during their life.

Looks like I'm going to have to take a trip down to the Oakland Library, and make a few copies of that article! Thanks again for your research, Trad'r Bill! Stay tuned for more about the doors, probably most likely as a resto project in Creating Tiki.

Post #597053 by Mai Tai on Mon, Jul 11, 2011 4:03 PM