Lotus, Daytona Beach, FL (restaurant) - Locating Tiki

T TikiTomD Grand Member (6 years) Flagler Beach, FL Joined: Sep 20, 2009 Posts: 700	T TikiTomD Posted posted on Wed, Jul 27, 2011 5:10 PM Sven, glad you’re back! Some of us have been up to no good in your absence. Howlinowl, I did run across that obituary and agree, Yuk Ping Lee was not the original owner/operator of the Lotus Restaurant. I know who that was, another member of the extended Lee family. But, I'll get to that... it's just been a real busy week for me at the rocket ranch and next will be busier... It's good to know you're still hanging out with us at Tiki Central. When I first started cranking through the search engines on the Lotus Restaurant, it looked to be a successful, though otherwise unremarkable Cantonese-American restaurant except for those really terrific exterior tikis of DC’s post. Then I came across an article in the entertainment section of a local newspaper stating that Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings had once visited a “Charlie’s High Hat Bar” where the Lotus Restaurant now was. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was a famous Florida author best known for her 1938 novel, The Yearling. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939 and later was made into an Academy Award-winning 1946 movie starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman. The Daytona Beach News-Journal March 16, 1988 A few tweaks on the search engine revealed that “Charlie’s High Hat Bar” was also known as Charlie’s Grill & Cocktail Bar or Charlie’s Grill & Hi-Hat Club. The place was operated by Charles (Charlie) J. Reese and was so successful that it made Reese quite wealthy. It started in the 1930s. The Volusia County Property Appraiser’s database indicates the building at 308 Seabreeze Boulevard was constructed in 1932. This original building still stands although there have been several renovations. There is a great vintage linen postcard for Charlie’s Grill & Cocktail Bar... You can even find this as a stock image at AllPosters.com (http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Charlie-s-Grill-and-Cocktail-Bar-Posters_i6080076_.htm). Here are some newspaper ads from over the years... Daytona Beach Morning Journal July 12, 1938 Daytona Beach Morning Journal March 11, 1942 Daytona Beach Morning Journal April 4, 1946 Charlie Reese as a business promoter and leader... Sarasota Herald-Tribune June 12, 1936 Some clients of Charlie’s Hi-Hat Club (upstairs)... Daytona Beach Morning Journal July 22, 1939 A new national cabaret tax impacts Charlie’s... Daytona Beach Morning Journal March 30, 1944 But for the joint efforts of Bill France and Charlie Reese, stock car racing at Daytona Beach might have withered away in its infancy... Historic Survey Update Report for the Surfside Historic District, The City of Daytona Beach, Florida February 8, 2011 The Free Lance-Star June 21, 1977 Next, changing fortunes at the Hi-Hat Club... -Tom

Sven, glad you’re back! Some of us have been up to no good in your absence.

Howlinowl, I did run across that obituary and agree, Yuk Ping Lee was not the original owner/operator of the Lotus Restaurant. I know who that was, another member of the extended Lee family. But, I'll get to that... it's just been a real busy week for me at the rocket ranch and next will be busier... It's good to know you're still hanging out with us at Tiki Central.

When I first started cranking through the search engines on the Lotus Restaurant, it looked to be a successful, though otherwise unremarkable Cantonese-American restaurant except for those really terrific exterior tikis of DC’s post.

Then I came across an article in the entertainment section of a local newspaper stating that Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings had once visited a “Charlie’s High Hat Bar” where the Lotus Restaurant now was. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was a famous Florida author best known for her 1938 novel, The Yearling. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939 and later was made into an Academy Award-winning 1946 movie starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal March 16, 1988

A few tweaks on the search engine revealed that “Charlie’s High Hat Bar” was also known as Charlie’s Grill & Cocktail Bar or Charlie’s Grill & Hi-Hat Club. The place was operated by Charles (Charlie) J. Reese and was so successful that it made Reese quite wealthy. It started in the 1930s. The Volusia County Property Appraiser’s database indicates the building at 308 Seabreeze Boulevard was constructed in 1932. This original building still stands although there have been several renovations.

There is a great vintage linen postcard for Charlie’s Grill & Cocktail Bar...