Tiki Central / Locating Tiki / Samoa, Cocoa Beach, FL (restaurant)
Post #607356 by TikiTomD on Mon, Sep 19, 2011 2:39 PM
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Mon, Sep 19, 2011 2:39 PM
In the summer of 1970, the Samoa was sold to an energetic veteran of the Space Coast nightclub scene, Johnny Esposito. He renamed the Samoa to Johnny’s and operated it as owner-manager... Florida Today August 20, 1970 Johnny’s featured quite an array of entertainment and was unique in hosting the first female topless pool shooter at Cocoa Beach. This article also states that Johnny Esposito brought Louis Armstrong and Tiny Tim to the Space Coast... Florida Today April 15, 1971 By 1972, Johnny Esposito had evidently moved on, as Johnny’s disappeared from the weekly entertainment guide. In early 1973, this tax delinquency notice appeared... Florida Today April 24, 1973 All subsequent articles referenced the Samoa in past tense. Here’s a retrospective on the way things were... Florida Today December 6, 1972 Though it was the 1970s and Tiki devolution was clearly well advanced along the Space Coast, Poly pop still had its allure, as evidenced by this 1974 Florida Today ad for a Titusville mall sales celebration that included a Polynesian Revue and a Wayne Coombs’ Tiki carving exhibition... July 12, 1974 Johnny Esposito passed away in April of this year at age 79. After leaving the Space Coast to return to Atlanta, he started Johnny’s Hideaway in 1979, a successor to his popular Cocoa Beach nightclub of the same name. Over thirty years later it evidently remains an Atlanta icon. Here are several memorial articles by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution... http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/johnnys-hideaway-founder-dies-899810.html http://www.ajc.com/news/john-esposito-sr-79-905152.html?cxtype=rss_news_81960 Johnny Esposito -Tom |
