Post #637399 by TikiTomD on Tue, May 22, 2012 8:09 AM

While researching the story behind a giclee print I acquired of Roger McVicker’s Polynesian Fire Dance, I came across various articles and graphics that collectively sketched a history of the Yankee Clipper. There are other relevant graphics and narrative fragments scattered all over Tiki Central on the same subject, but this thread of Tiki-Kate’s seemed the most logical place to append the information. The Yankee Clipper, after all, was the host hotel for the now extinct Polynesian Room.

The Yankee Clipper Hotel is now known as the Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel. It first opened for business on July 13, 1956...

Miami Sunday News June 24, 1956 (page 21)

M. Tony Sherman (born 1910 – died 1999) was the master architect of the project. He is probably best known as the architect of the original Tropicana resort in Las Vegas. It was built in the same timeframe as the Yankee Clipper and opened on April 4, 1957. Sherman was one of a small group of South Florida architects who forged a distinctive mid-century tropical architectural style known as Miami Modern (MiMo). Charles McKirahan, the architect of the Mai-Kai, also belonged to that elite group. Tony Sherman designed the Jolly Roger Hotel in Fort Lauderdale (1952) and the Castaways Hotel (1958) in North Miami Beach, as well as many other hotels, restaurants and private residences in the area.

The Jolly Roger Hotel circa 1956

Here’s some publicity following the Yankee Clipper Hotel opening...

Miami Sunday News July 22, 1956 (page 16 & 17)

In the same Sunday edition of the Miami News was this...

Regrettably, one must assume that the Miami News offer has expired on requesting recipes for Chef Don Carlos Briton’s Polynesian Room specialties.

Here are portion scans from a 1950’s or early 1960’s Yankee Clipper brochure. Sabu The Coconut Boy must have this same brochure, as he previously posted the Polynesian Lounge photo with that colorful mural in the “Polynesian Murals and Dioramas - Vintage & Other” thread of TC’s General Tiki forum...

Experiencing the Yankee Clipper for the first time, this newspaper columnist wrote of her 1959 stay there...

Lakeland Ledger April 19, 1959 (page 15)

By 1960, business was so good for Yankee Clipper architect Tony Sherman that he had to build himself a new office...

The Miami News January 10, 1960 (page 112)

In June of 1960, Tony Sherman’s new office was ready for move in...

The Miami News June 05, 1960 (page 80)

Here’s a background article on Bob Gill, the developer-owner of Gill Hotels and various other enterprises. Due to his effective promotion of the Fort Lauderdale beaches as a tourist destination and playground, he was known alternately as the “Father of Fort Lauderdale Spring Break” or "The Father of Hospitality"...

The Miami News June 19, 1960 (page 56)

In this article we learn that Juan Tolentino, an aspiring chemical engineer (I’m actually one of those), came to Florida in 1956 to support the original opening of the Yankee Clipper Polynesian Room as a chef...

The Milwaukee Journal May 14, 1969 (page 42)

To be continued...

-Tom