Post #632580 by TikiTomD on Mon, Apr 16, 2012 11:49 AM

On 2012-04-15 19:59, Club Nouméa wrote:
And Dr Funk came to Wanganui in 1901! The Rutland Hotel (rebuilt in brick circa 1910) burned down in the 1990s, but the Rutland Arms stands on the same spot.

Club Nouméa, do any of the Wanganui bars offer a Doctor Funk cocktail?

I’m guessing that Tahiti, being a French colony, was the perfect place to introduce and create a legacy for an absinthe-containing drink, given the French national predilection for this spirit. Doctor Funk, the cocktail, may have been introduced to any of a number of other locales where it ultimately failed to catch on due to the absinthe content. It took the French expatriates in Papeete to elevate it to popular drink status and, of course, Frederick O’Brien to spread the word and record the particulars for all time in his book.

On 2012-04-07 17:08, TikiTomD wrote:
The Wanganui Herald March 18, 1901

**Sullivan's Rutland Hotel, corner of Ridgway Street and Victoria Avenue, Wanganui, [ca 1910]
Reference Number: 1/1-016918-G**
Sullivan's Rutland Hotel, corner of Ridgway Street and Victoria Avenue, Wanganui, with men and horse drawn carts alongside. Photograph taken by Frank J Denton, circa 1910.

The Wanganui Chronicle March 24, 1898

According to this article, a principal reason for Governor Solf’s visit to New Zealand in 1901 was health, maybe the reason Dr. Funk was his co-traveler of record...

Morning Oregonian February 11, 1901

Could it be that the Governor was there to see visiting specialists from the Dr. Langston Institute?

The Wanganui Herald July 15, 1904

-Tom