Kansas City: The Tropics - was it tiki?

Would any of you Kansas City folks know about a defunct lounge called "The Tropics" that used to be in the Hotel Phillips, downtown? I found a broken hula girl swizzle from the place last week in a flea market, which started me searching. A web search revealed this postcard, which is also offered as a print from amazon.com.

According to it's website, the Phillips is a 1931 art deco hotel noted for an "11-foot golden sculpture in our lobby representing Dawn, the winged goddess of the stars." It underwent rennovation in 2001, by which time The Tropics was probably long-gone.

I emailed a representative of the hotel, who was polite, but came up with no further pictures of The Tropics and no opening or closing dates. Google does not reveal much, either.

Would anyone know if KC lost a tiki bar or just a tropics-themed lounge? The address is: 106 West 12th St, Kansas City, MO 64105 (corner of 12th and Baltimore).

Wellllll, according to the Polynesian Pop Evolution Chart on p.46 of the BOT, this place would definetely be classified as Pre-Tiki. I can't see any in the postcard, either.
If it existed into the 50s/60s, it might have been updated. OA might know.

Yeah, probably pre-tiki in establishment, but the swizzle is plastic, so, statistically, would that indicate post-war, probably the 1950's or later? This made me curious about swizzle history so I (hopefully) just started a discussion about that.
Btw, I'm 240 miles from my copy of BoT with it's timeline...too bad there aren't paperback-sized versions of it, Tiki Road Trip and Tiki Quest. I'd love to have the tiki reference trilogy in versions kinder to one's luggage space.

Sven,
Can't tell you again how cool it is to have you as an active member here.

Oh well, thank you Unga!
Well, TC is my Tiki life line, invaluable especially while I am in the foreign legion here, it makes me feel connected, and needed!

Germany is coming around to Tiki too, the Tabou Tiki Room is buzzing, I did a radio interview for Berlin's Radio MultiKulti, and hopefully there will be an article in the glossy Hamburg magazine "MARE", a beautiful bi-monthly that deals exclusively with Ocean related cultural themes.
I will return home on the 30th, by the way, in time to have Halloweeen with my son. Guess where I'll be on Wednesday eve! (it has two Ts in the name)

On 2004-10-22 03:07, tikijackalope wrote:
...too bad there aren't paperback-sized versions of it, Tiki Road Trip and Tiki Quest. I'd love to have the tiki reference trilogy in versions kinder to one's luggage space.

Ha, but the Tiki Icon is ON the way! On Monday I am expecting the first sample. It will be, as mentioned before, a Reader's Digest of the BOT, a small travelsized paperback. I did have to edit out a certain amount, for example the Evoluton chart did not make it, but it will be good for a quick visual fix. It should be in the stores sometime in November, it will be called "Tiki Style", the price should be ten bucks.

In a funny development, related to my earlier posts about American Puritanism, OLD NAVY has asked Taschen to remove all nudity from the Icon for their stores. I will decide on alternate images once I have the specs. So there will be a "censored" Old Navy imprint version of the Tiki Icon. But they will also put out greeting cards with BOT images, which is cool. I am assuming that this will be for the spring season though.

I should propose to them what Trader Vic's did for a while with their classic menu cover in the 80s:
Photoshop bikini tops on the girls tatas!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2004-10-22 23:35 ]

I found (sort of) a matchbook from The Tropics. It's in a display at Kansas City's Union Station. The display features misc. items that workers left behind the walls when it was being constructed and during various renovations over the years. So that doesn't help pin down a date.

The matchbook says, "The Tropics" and something like, "A Tropical Hideaway". It has a picture of a palm tree and a monkey.

There seem to have been a lot of places called the Tropics. There was one in Reno, Chicago, Ormond Beach, Fla. and one in Miami. Seems like I've seen matchbooks and postcards for other restaurants/bars called The Tropics on the west coast and in Dayton, Ohio and New York. Perhaps there was common ownership involved in some of these places similar to Trader Vics and Don the Beachcomber. This topic is definitely worthy of more research. Good luck.
KG

[ Edited by: kailuageoff on 2004-10-26 12:32 ]

Images from matchbook.

Pre Tiki

Here is the postcard with the nice murals.

DC

On 2004-10-21 21:13, tikijackalope wrote:
Would any of you Kansas City folks know about a defunct lounge called "The Tropics" that used to be in the Hotel Phillips, downtown?...Would anyone know if KC lost a tiki bar or just a tropics-themed lounge? The address is: 106 West 12th St, Kansas City, MO 64105 (corner of 12th and Baltimore).

I was born in KC and grew up there during the 40's and 50's...

Although the hotels Phillips, Aladdin, Muehlbach, etc. were very nice -- 12th Street in general?? Ummm, not so much! I hung out as a J.D. kid at Miller's Recreation & Snooker Hall -- a below sidewalk level walk-down pool hall at 12th & Grand Avenue next to the Penny Arcade. :D

Anyway, here's a 1950's Souvenir drink menu mailer from The Tropics at Hotel Phillips.(credits/kudos: © 2006 Mimi Payne/Site design by Humuhumu)

...And a b&w photo of The Phillips as I remember it during those years.

Here is another monkey-style matchbook from the Tropics.

DC

Another pre-tiki matchbook from the Tropics on ebay.

They had another Mexican themed Cabana cocktail lounge as well.

DC

Spotted this nice menu from the Tropics circa 1941. Some very nice pre-Poly Pop imagery and drink selections.

DC

Came across this postcard today. One I've never seen before. It has a nice view (unfortunately black & white) of the murals. Maybe not tiki, maybe pre-tiki? But ya know, in those days, who cared?

Classic Silver Line Boats

[ Edited by: SilverLine 2018-01-01 19:22 ]

Looks tiki to me, but probably pre-tiki. I think I see some fish floats at almost the top center of the picture.

Cool!

Chris

Silverline,

Great postcard, never seen that one before. In addition to the great mural, it looks like leopard print fabric on the booths.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2010-08-09 16:30 ]

Now that I really look this card over, I'm pretty sure it isn't a postcard. It measures 9"x4" and has nothing on the back. This may be more of a promotional card given to guests at the hotel. It mentions the "New Look Now" but there's no date information anywhere. Oh well, such is the case of historical research; often more questions are created with each one answered.

Classic Silver Line Boats

[ Edited by: SilverLine 2010-08-09 19:26 ]

I picked up a swizzle set from the Hotel Phillips.

One hula girl swizzle from the Tropics

And one Cabarello swizzle from the Mexican themed Cabana room.

Cool swizzles.

DC

Here is a postcard menu from my collection from the Tropics at the Hotel Phillips.

Some fun drink imagery from the around the world...

and the South Seas

DC

So San Francisco's beloved Tonga Room did not
have a monopoly on simulated thunderstorms.
I wonder where The Tropics put the rainfall, since
I did not see a water feature in the photos? Or
perhaps it was just lightning flashes and sound
effects? Does anyone know?

Come to think of it, does anyone know of any other
tiki or tropical bars that simulate thunderstorms?

Sure, The Mai Kai, Bob Brook's 7 Seas in Hollywood and the Original Don The Beachcomber in Hollywood. Sadly the Mai Kai and the Tonga Room are the only ones still storming it up.

There were lots of places that used the rain on the roof theme. As far as I, Donn invented it as depicted in this article:

"Then he opened a new style of restaurant, gambling that in those Depression years diners would enjoy spending a few hours in a South Seas fantasy world, amid tiki carvings, thatched roofs, bamboo furniture and rain falling on the roof.

He graciously supplied the rain, produced from a garden hose, theorizing that drinkers tended to hang around for another round if it was pouring outside."

Others that advertised the rain on the roof:

Tropics, Detroit
7 Seas, San Francisco
Tahiti, Santa Monica
South Seas, San Diego
South Seas, Lincolnwood
Pago Pago, Long Beach

DC

This tablecloth from the Tropics is for sale on etsy.com. $125.00.

Interesting, the hotel has been fixed up and made into a boutique hotel.
http://www.hotelphillips.com

From the seller:

Fabulous tropical print tablecloth called The Tropics from the Hotel Phillips in Kansas City. Bright yellow, white and green linen. Probably dates from the 1940s. Hula Dancer in center with Hotel Phillips. Palm tree in each corner.

The Hotel Phillips was built in downtown Kansas City in 1931. The 20-story, 450-room hotel was the tallest in the Midwest, and the only commercial structure with a radio receiver in every room. Most notable for the haberdasher on the ground floor — Harry S. Truman.

Many of the Art Deco details from the 1930s remain today: the elaborate bronze and nickel metalwork, lustrous walnut paneling, stylish light fixtures and black glass on the ceiling that creates the illusion of endless space. Back then, as now, gazing over the lobby is a gilded 11-foot likeness of the goddess of Dawn, known as the mother of the stars.

APPROX. SIZE: 48" x 48"

http://www.etsy.com/listing/151562193/vintage-hotel-phillips-tablecloth-the?ref=sr_gallery_16&ga_search_query=tropical+hotel&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=all

It has been previously determined that the TROPICS was a pre-tiki era establishment. But as the search for more a specific time-line of its operation is still ongoing, I did find an interesting lot of song cards recently. Before the jukebox became a cheaper alternative to live music in many entertainment spots, there were many, many live entertainers touring the country. Small acts like these were the norm for entertainment at the TROPICS. Instead of dropping a coin in the jukebox and picking your own song selection, back then you wrote a song title on the card and passed it to the waitress or the entertainer themselves. Here are a five examples of these cards featuring entertainers that you have probably never heard of. To photo these I opened them up so photo 1 is the outside cover (front and back) and photo 2 is the inside pages. I bet they had a lot of fun there at the TROPICS back in the day!

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Don Tiff was born September 7, 1910. The pianist, composer and arranger performed in the orchestras of Jan Garber, Raymond Scott and others; as well as led his own bands. In addition, he oversaw other musical endeavors, including serving as Musical Director at the Orpheum Theatre in Kansas City. Among his original compositions are Sunburst, Carmel By The Sea, and A Million And One Pine Trees. Tiff died September 23, 1998.

I once was lost.....but now I'm found.....

[ Edited by: 8FT Tiki 2015-01-31 10:59 ]