Post #625356 by tikicoma on Thu, Feb 16, 2012 10:25 PM

Name:Drifters Reef
Type:bar
Street:
City:
State:
Zip:
country:Wake Island
Phone:
Status:unknown

Description:
This place isn't strictly tiki but I can't resist posting this pre-tiki tropical bar. The first reference I've found to Drifters Reef was for 1949 but since it's in Spanish about all I got from it was the date. Next up are these images from 1955 that sucked me in.

The middle black velvet painting below was bought by the man who posted the photos, he paid a fair amount of money (255.00 or 300.00 plus? I'll have to find that site again) after a good night of poker, it's by Bill Erwin. Can't tell if those two guy's are wearing aloha shirts or cammo.

Next is a pic from 1962, I don't know if this is the original place or a second building, they seem to get destroyed by typhoons.

Another remembrance said that guys would drag stuff to to Drifters to add to the building to expand it.

In 1967 a typhoon hit the island wiping out Drifters but it rose again in 1970.

And again people dragged stuff from the beach to add the inside and outside of the new Drifters

The interior around 2000 is a let down compared to 1955 but they do have a tradition of taking the hat from anyone who enters wearing one, nailing it to the ceiling and making them buy a round of drinks.

In 2005 or 6 another typhoon hit Wake and damaged Drifters Reef closing it. I've seen no word of it reopening.
All week I've been waiting for any Airforce pilots to come to were I work to ask about it's current status but, for a change, not one showed up. Well there's always next week.

Going back, past the battle of Wake Island, to 1936 we find...

Pan am's China Clipper. From 1936 to the 1940's Flying boats used Wake as one of the landings on it's route from San Francisco to Hong Kong.

So long from Wake Island.

population approx. 300+ US military an contractors.

aloha, tikicoma

[ Edited by: tikicoma 2012-02-17 00:23 ]