The Hurricane, San Francisco, CA (restaurant) - Locating Tiki

H HopeChest Member East Bay, CA Joined: Oct 19, 2015 Posts: 508	H HopeChest Posted posted on Thu, Mar 10, 2016 1:57 PM JacksGrandNephew: that is some AWESOME info and pictorial evidence!! Thanks so much for that. The original owner of The Hurricane, Bert Rovere, was a fascinating character from Southern California, an all-around renaissance man. A baritone opera singer, he opened the Paris Inn (noted on the back of Dusty's menu) on New Year's Eve in 1924, a place that has a very colourful history unto itself. Bert passed away in the late '50s. It appears that Bert only owned / operated The Hurricane for a couple of years, 1941 and 1942, which fits with the "circa 1939" date for the overall revitalisation of the street and its “International Settlement” branding. Interestingly, The Hurricane actually had two phone numbers listed in Bert’s days: GArfield 0998 and DOuglas 9459 (the DOuglas number, not printed on the ephemera, was most likely a business office line). Then in 1943 we see for the first time The Hurricane listed as "Jack Di Maria's Lure Of The Tropics", replacing Bert. As of about 1948, however, I am unable to find any listings at all for The Hurricane. In addition, after this time one finds The Barbary Coast nightclub listed at 533 Pacific. In an interesting twist, I can find nothing listing The Hurricane at the other two addresses you mention (523 or 535 Pacific). Most odd...I'll keep looking...

JacksGrandNephew: that is some AWESOME info and pictorial evidence!! Thanks so much for that.

The original owner of The Hurricane, Bert Rovere, was a fascinating character from Southern California, an all-around renaissance man. A baritone opera singer, he opened the Paris Inn (noted on the back of Dusty's menu) on New Year's Eve in 1924, a place that has a very colourful history unto itself. Bert passed away in the late '50s.

It appears that Bert only owned / operated The Hurricane for a couple of years, 1941 and 1942, which fits with the "circa 1939" date for the overall revitalisation of the street and its “International Settlement” branding. Interestingly, The Hurricane actually had two phone numbers listed in Bert’s days: GArfield 0998 and DOuglas 9459 (the DOuglas number, not printed on the ephemera, was most likely a business office line).

Then in 1943 we see for the first time The Hurricane listed as "Jack Di Maria's Lure Of The Tropics", replacing Bert. As of about 1948, however, I am unable to find any listings at all for The Hurricane. In addition, after this time one finds The Barbary Coast nightclub listed at 533 Pacific. In an interesting twist, I can find nothing listing The Hurricane at the other two addresses you mention (523 or 535 Pacific). Most odd...I'll keep looking...

Post #760601 by HopeChest on Thu, Mar 10, 2016 1:57 PM