the lost chapter: Hop Louie and the Stockton Islander (image heavy)

When the town of Stockton, California is mentioned, one usually conjures up a mental image of a lonely dusty town with a port and many crime sprees. The news media perpetuates this thought since they always choose to interview the strung-out man with three teeth for “breaking news” pieces. With this imagery in place, would anyone believe that Stockton has strong ties to Hawaii and the Polynesian-Pop movement?

The first notable Hawaiian tie to Stockton was musician Don McDiarmid. This Stockton native authored the hapa-haole songs “Little Brown Gal” and “When Hilo Hattie Does the Hilo Hop” in 1935. However, it should be mentioned that Don lived the majority of his life in Hawaii playing with Harry Owens’ orchestra at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. He did not stick around in Stockton long enough to see the birth of Polynesian-Pop.

The individual who brought the wave of tiki to the Central Valley is a man named Hop Louie. His first venture into tiki was opening up the restaurant “Minnie’s” in Stockton in 1952. The restaurant was named after his wife, Minnie Woo. In 1954, another “Minnie’s” was opened to the south, in Modesto, California. Both restaurants were outfitted by Oceanic Arts and served tantalizing Cantonese food and featured Polynesian cocktails. In the late 1950’s, the Stockton branch of Minnie’s was sold to Gong Lee and his wife, Yuen Toy. The restaurant still exists, but is known as “Gong Lee’s” and no longer contains a trace of the hawaiiana décor. The Modesto branch of Minnie’s was sold in 1960 to K.N. Mah. Mr. Mah’s sons, Peter and Stuart, are keeping the tiki tradition alive today with Minnie’s in Modesto.

Hop Louie’s next business venture was one of a grandiose scale. He hired architect Warren Wong to design a building to resemble a shipwreck on an island of sand. In March 1963, builder Tony Meath starting working on the project, which had a price tag of a whopping 70,000 dollars. In May of ’63, the tall Islander sign by Ad-Art was raised. And in June, a mezzanine was constructed to house diners upstairs, overlooking the sunken dining room. Oceanic Arts was called upon to decorate the interior with thatching, matting, float lamps, tiles, and of course, tikis. The Otagiri Company was called upon to supply tiki mugs and bowls imprinted with the restaurant’s name. The Stockton Islander was officially open for business.

original menu hop louie from the opening

~ sugar packet

*hop louie chopsticks courtesy of kohalacharms

Over the next two years, Hop Louie continued to expand the Islander. By the end of 1965, the Islander was a tiki-mecca measuring 10,000 square-feet. Housed within the Islander was a nightclub called Latitude 20. The name “Latitude 20” provides a little foreshadowing into Hop Louie’s future endeavors. Apparently, the Latitude 20 was the hottest meeting and drinking spot in Stockton. Many musical acts performed at the Islander, which drew people old and young (think: prom dates!).

In 1966, the Islander was “sold” to Tommy G. Lee. Now, the reason why “sold” has quotations is due to the urban legend that Hop Louie lost the Islander in a crap game. Unfortunately, this rumor cannot be completely confirmed nor denied. One thing that is certain is that Hop Louie regularly gambled with a group of other Chinese immigrants in Stockton. As you may have guessed, some of the players in the group went on to buy Hop Louie’s restaurants (review “Minnie’s” paragraph for names). It can be confirmed that Hop Louie lost something BIG through gambling in Stockton. As to if that big loss was the Islander, well I guess it is up to the reader to decide.

~ Tommy Lee Islander Menu

As recently uncovered over the past month on tiki central, Hop Louie went on to open up many more Polynesian restaurants. Some of the restaurants he owned were Latitude 20 in Torrance, Tradewinds in Oxnard, Latitude 20 in Las Vegas, and Hop Louie's Jade Pagoda—which is the youngest landmark structure in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. Later on in life, Hop Louie landed a dream job as a Senior V.P. at Caesars Palace for Foreign Relations. Apparently, his job required him to travel to Asia to lure the big wigs over to gamble at his casino. In his own right, Hop Louie truly was a pioneer of tiki for California.

~the Hop Louie Pagoda in Chinatown, Los Angeles, Calif.

Tommy Lee truly lucked into the timing of owning the Islander. Tommy Lee’s Islander was a staple of Stockton’s late-night entertainment in the 1960’s and ‘70’s. It was considered Stockton’s version of the Tonga Room in the Fairmont Hotel, or Trader Vic’s in San Francisco. The only day it closed during the year was on Christmas day. Tommy was well-respected in the community due to his gregarious personality, work ethics, and generosity. He often employed many new immigrants and rented an apartment for his employees. Tommy was responsible for really promoting the Islander through advertisements and booking many lounge acts from the Reno/Tahoe circuit. Some of the more notable acts were the Hawaii ’69 Review, The Back Porch Majority, Randy Sparks, and Frankie Fannelli. When interviewing longtime Stockton residents about the Islander, most only recall that “it was really dark” and the large potent tropical drinks in take-home tiki mugs. Also, the steak and lobster dish appeared to be a crowd favorite. Pictures of the interior have yet to be discovered.

In 1980, Tommy Lee retired and sold the Islander to restaurateur Dick DeGrande. The name was changed to “DeGrande’s Surf & Turf Islander” and advertised that they featured fresh sea foods, as well as veal, chicken, crepes, and beef. It closed with a big party on New Year’s Eve in 1982. The building then sat vacant for over three years.

Even though the Islander was acknowledged as being near-landmark status, the Lincoln Center South Shopping Complex gave up on finding a suitable tenant for the humongous building. In 1986, Neil and Tracy Pollard purchased the building to replace their restaurant, the Chicken Kitchen. Two days before Christmas in 1984, the uninsured Chicken Kitchen, located within Pollardville Ghost Town, was destroyed by fire. However, to make things a little more complicated, the Pollards bought the building to move it to Pollardville, which is approximately 8 miles away. The building was cut into three pieces and hauled to the new site to be put back together.

the chicken kitchen

the outrigger beam is significantly shorter

where the bar was, shows overhang with lone piece of bamboo

sunken bar, now gone. slate still marks pathway

Needless to say, the Pollards made many changes inside and in back of the building. However, little hints of the old Stockton Islander still remain. Remarkably, the roof has been untouched and still contains the original shingles. The outrigger beams had at least 10 feet cut off on each side of the building. The sunken dining room still remains, even though it is slightly smaller since the Pollard’s added a wall. The mezzainene is walled up, and the sunken bar was taken out just a couple of years ago. Slate still carves a walkway along where the bar used to be, and a overhang above this area still contains a lone piece of bamboo. The most exciting discovery is a tall tiki, obviously produced by Oceanic Arts. Sorry collectors, do not get your hopes high, Neil Pollard reported that this tiki is to remain.

last remaining tiki

tiki from stair rail to the sunken dining area

float lamp from islander, many hung over the sunken dining room

If anyone does happen to have interior pictures or other artifacts from the Stockton Islander, please email me at [email protected], and definitely add it to this thread!

cheers! :drink:

[ Edited by: tikicleen 2009-02-22 15:39 ]

[ Edited by: tikicleen 2009-07-07 09:51 ]

Excellant work tikicleen!
I enjoyed the story and pictures so much. Thank-you for sharing such an interesting history with us.This is the kind of thing I really love about TC!

Nicely done.
I think Big Bro should award you an honorary degree!

That was very informative and entertaining. That must have been fun researching. Good work!

Very nice work Tikicleen! It's amazing to see the (de)evolution of such a great place like The Islander.
Aloha,
:tiki:

Wonderful post, tikicleen ! Thanks for sharing all that great info and research. I recently got an old dinner menu from Minnie's in Stockton, with Gong Lee mentioned as the owner. It may be from early on after he bought, (the prices on the menu seem to be late '50's era), still has a Polynesian style cover. I'll get a photo of it hopefully later today or tomorrow and post it.

[ Edited by: puamana 2005-07-12 08:49 ]

YAY! Cleen, you're getting a great big hug and a smooch from me the next time I see you, whether you want it or not. Thanks for sharing all your hard work with us, this is so absolutely fantastic!

Wow Tikicleen - this is exactly the kind of post we need more of here on TC - thank you so much for all of your work!

Fascinating - how on earth did you track the building down & figure out the history? I'm still hoping someone out there has more photos of the exterior of the original building - that one postcard just isn't enough...

Thanks again - great job.

Neat neat neat!
Thanks for posting all the cool info and pictures Tikicleen, very cool!

-Tw

This is why I love Tiki Central. Thank you! Keep up the good sleuthing.

You two get an Doctorate in "ZAZZ"!!!!!

Yay! Thanks Tikicleen for posting this! I was very eager to read it when you mentioned about it. I've printed up a copy, and I'm going to show my dad. I'll see what other information I can gleen from him about Hop Louie.

To those who haven't read my thread titled "My dad is part of tiki history"
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=15483&forum=1&14
and someone else's thread "save a tiki from lat. 20"
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=15398&forum=1&40
while I knew that my great uncle Hop Louie (my dad's uncle) owned a Chinese restaurant, I through these threads I discovered that he actually founded several historic tiki restaurants in California.

[ Edited by: paranoid123 2005-07-12 12:04 ]

This is a super high quality post. Wow!

Reminds of TC in 2003 or so.

Very cool Tikicleen!

i just wanted to thank everyone for their positive comments toward this post. it was a lot of work!
researching the islander was something i've been wanting to do for years, but never really had the block of time to do it. the hat and i put in a lot of hours researching this baby.

tang~ to answer your question, i highly recommend visiting the local library of where the place was located and finding the directories. old directories are so fascinating, and so different from today's yellow pages. they had advertisements, business listings, AND listings of where people lived & worked & business ownership! so we could always back-track to see who owned what and where someone was working. we also visited the microfilm section quite a bit in looking at old articles, old advertisements, and obituaries. another place full of information was the county building department. this is where we could review building permits and such. in the case of the islander, the permit office unfortunately purged all of their blue prints from this era. the final step was tracking down people who worked or went to the islander and interviewing them. we also were a little lucky in that the building still exists and neil pollard still runs the place. so he was able to provide a lot of information.

but trust me, when you commit to research something like this, you get sent out on A LOT of wild goose-chases! we had our share, which put us in some awkward situations at times. :)

puamana~ yes! definitely take a picture of that minnie's menu and post it on here. too bad there isnt a date....i never could get a firm answer as to when gong lee took it over.

if anyone else has stories, rumors, pictures, postcards, matchbooks, etc, that relates to the places mentioned, or were once owned by hop louie, please share with us by posting it on this thread.

mahalo again everyone! you guys are great! :drink:

I have been away for a few days and just caught this thread.
Cleen, this is a perfect thread of why I come here.
Thank you for the inspiring info. You never let us down.
Unga

Did you learn anything about the Islander that was in Los Angeles? Was it opened by Hop Louie, or by Tommy Lee (or someone else entirely)?

(Man, I've got a lot of Critiki updating to do now!)

Critiki - Hundreds of tiki bars, Polynesian restaurants, and other sites of interest to the tiki traveller, collector or urban archaeologist

[ Edited by: Humuhumu 2005-07-14 13:52 ]

Hey Everyone,

I showed my dad Tikicleen's article, and asked him a lot of questions. But I left my notes at my parent's house, so I'll post what information I have later.

But anyway, it's no longer a rumor or urban legend, my dad confirmed that Hop Louie did indeed lose the Islander through gambling. But he said it was either through poker or pai gow.

Oh, and my dad said that Hop Louie didn't have mob ties. Darn it. That would make it only more interesting :)

humu~ the LA islander had a different owner. but as to who it was i have no idea. ask bob at OA he'll know the name of the person for sure.

paranoid~ that's what we had thought! did your dad know if he lost minnies in stockton and modesto the same way?

A+ for you and a :)
Perfect spelling, grammar and delivery. I will have one gumdrop for you the next time we see each other.

Chongolio

Hop louie what a cool name

What a perfect post! Great research Cleen & Hat. Now Nina & I really must make the trek to Minnie's. Sorry we couldn't make it out on the last trip. Thanks for sharing all of your most excellent sleuthing!

Aaron

Just wanted to I really enjoyed your historical research, it made for a very enjoyable read.

Here's pics of the Minnie's Stockton menu :

And Minnie's Modesto menu :

[ Edited by: puamana 2010-01-02 20:55 ]

What, no Oysta Beef on the menu?!

puamana~ awesome! that cover of the gong lee's menu looks eerily similar to the matson lines menu cover for hawaii. i also like the note to the diner on the inside cover talking about how minnie's "takes justifiable pride in being listed in Duncan Hines' latest edition 'Adventures in Good Eating'." if we only knew the year!! i'd love to track down that duncan hine's book.

paranoid~ thanks for clarifying and confirming the loss of the islander to gambling. keep looking for some pictures of your uncle hop! :)

Cleen, thanks so much to you guys for this thread. It just keeps getting better and better! I can't believe that Stockton Minnie's info. My strange, semi-inexplicable fondness for Stockton nurtured anew! Ahhhh. :wink:

Seriously...East Harding...I think that's about where some good thrift stores are now...yum, skid row(s). Always interesting, at least until gentrification destroys everything nifty. Dang, I'm jonesing for Stockton now. Not to mention Modesto.

Thanks again and see you soon I hope!

xo tikivixen

Aloha,

This comment was lost in the change from fake name to the real name.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2011-11-29 22:57 ]

Filslash, you've just helped fill in a HUGE Chris Isaak missing link for me. Neato! Thanks! I'd love to hear any of his or Kenny's reminiscences...

filslash, I know it's a long shot but it would be very cool if Chris or any of his bandmates could meet us sometime at Minnie's. He could show up in a disguise,...or not,....and I promise we wouldn't reveal his true identity. uh-huh, really.

I am one of Hop Louie's daughters, and I just signed on this forum yesterday.

FYI: Hop did not lose the Islander to gambling.

I am checking with my other sisters about some of the things we might have left from any of the restaurants since the 1950's.

Please understand that that I am not a real computer/internet savvy type and it will take me a while to get a hang of this and I will try to post interior shots of Hop's restaurants when they were happening.

Mahalo ...

Welcome to Tiki Central. We look forward to hearing about the history of your father's contributions to our cultural history.

On 2005-08-15 00:30, Hop Louie's wrote:
I am one of Hop Louie's daughters, and I just signed on this forum yesterday.

FYI: Hop did not lose the Islander to gambling.

I am checking with my other sisters about some of the things we might have left from any of the restaurants since the 1950's.

Please understand that that I am not a real computer/internet savvy type and it will take me a while to get a hang of this and I will try to post interior shots of Hop's restaurants when they were happening.

Mahalo ...

Now if your name was only Louise, you could be "Hop Louise"... :D

If you have any trouble posting images just ask & most of the members'll be glad to help.

welcome "hop louie"! :)

i think i can speak on behalf of all of tiki central in saying that we are really excited to hear of your experiences with your father and his infamous polynesian restaurants. thank you for contacting me and taking the time out to join tiki central. your father was truly an amazing visionary of the polynesian-pop movement.

since you helped out at all of the restaurants, did you have a personal favorite?

Each restaurant was unique; as many of you know.

I can't recall the name nor the type of motif of my parent's second restaurant in Lodi, CA. (I will check with my family).
Next, they owned a restaurant in Sacramento, CA. which had a Chinese cafe-style decor with leather booths. Then came the Minnie's in Stockton,CA.

Tikicleen did an excellent job in her research of Hop's restaurant career.

I have many fond memories of Minnie's in Modesto, CA (haven't been their since the family moved to open the Islander in 1962-63) but recently, someone did give me a golf shirt from there.

Favorite?? I would have to say that it would be a toss up between the Islander and the Latitude 20 in Torrance, CA.(great outside luaus, dancing, etc.). BTW, the Islander was the only restaurant that Hop had built from scratch. He saw to every detail. From the architectural design of the building, to the design and the selections on the food & drink menus, getting Richard to carve the Tikis, and even going to Hawaii to book the Hawaiian entertainment!! Minnie ran the restaurant and Hop was the bartender.

Enough...

Mahalo !!

the following photos are from the copyrighted collection of Elaine Mae Woo and the Woo family.

these are both from 1964. the first is what you saw as you walked up the "gangplank". don't you love the sign?!

the next is an interior shot of the stage area. this is the first glimpse of how grand the design of the islander truly was!

i would like to thank Elaine and the rest of the Woo family for allowing me to post these pics. i have been searching for YEARS for an interior pic of islander in all of its glory and the day has finally arrived!

happy happy happy cleen!

FYI: we have proof that Hop DID NOT lose the islander gambling. he in fact never lost the islander and was the owner of the property until the early 1980's. he actually sublet the building to tommy lee in 1966.

got tiki?

edited for larger pics.

[ Edited by: tikicleen 2005-08-23 16:57 ]

[ Edited by: tikicleen 2009-05-26 18:27 ]

Love this thread. Thanks for posting the new photos - they are priceless. Thanks for clearing up the myth of losing the restaurant gambling - wonder how that rumor got started originally?

Sabu

That's fantastic! Thanks to Elaine for sharing those, and to tikicleen and paranoid123 for making it happen!

[ Edited by: Humuhumu 2005-08-23 09:49 ]

Wow! Thanks so much to the Woo family for sharing & to Tikicleen to posting them.... Ever since I saw that one lonely postcard of the Islander, I've been wanting to see more of the building! Does the Woo family have any more photos they would be willing to share...?

I wish I knew where my picture of me in the Chicken Kitchen's (old Islander) jail was!!

nice work!!!

Wow...this is great stuff. One of the things I love about reading the tiki drinks, art, lifestyle, etc. books is the history and stories. Time to pour myself a drink in my three-face OMC mug from the Islander, and toast to all your hard work!
:drink:

in spirit of the savage renewal movement i decided to post these now. i was waiting until we replaced our scanner so they would be better images of the articles but i will replace these pics once that happens.

the first is actually a recent discovery and a great article for the opening of the add on latitude 20 (that's how it escaped our research the first time around). this is first interior shot of stockton's latitude 20!

close up of the article

this write up is just prior to moving the building to its current location at pollardville. it talks about the monetary exchange a bit. i've been told that the pollard family paid the unbelievable sum of $1 to lincoln center for the rights to move the building! compare the palm trees to the postcard.

enjoy!

Great finds! What year did those come out?

On 2005-09-08 14:35, thejab wrote:
Great finds! What year did those come out?

the latitude 20 article ran on nov. 13, 1966

the one about the move to pollardville ran sometime in 84 or 85.

don't let the bus leave without me!

[ Edited by: the drunken hat 2005-09-08 15:20 ]

Great to see another view of the building... thanks!

unfortunately, the chapter of the islander is coming to an official close.

the building the hop louie built from the ground up, and turned into a polynesian pop temple will face demolition in the spring of 2007. the pollards, which own pollardville/chicken kitchen sold the land to a developer who will most likely build housing and strip malls in the lot. they ran the infamous roadside stop for numerous years and have decided to retire and sell the land. they were responsible for saving the almost historical landmark islander building from uncertain future in the early 1980s when lincoln center could not rent it out.

there has been some questionable rumours about certain individuals who are interested in buying the building and moving it to a different location (i heard even the bay area!) but it is highly doubtful.

so cherish it while you can, visit it now before it is gone forever!

Kudos to tikicleen and the drunken hat for sharing in your research and photos over the past few months. Driving past the old place in Pollardville nearly every day for many, many years, it seemed so incredibly sad to see it decay through time. It seemed so much more impressive as a memory than to see it now. I would like to think that someone would purchase the building, relocate and restore it to its former glory, but I would venture to say that it is way beyond repair since it has been left to rot in Pollardville for 20 years. Thanks to you guys, at least there is some history to savor and remember here.

On a related note, a couple of years ago I ran into an antiques dealer in Clements that said he was talking to someone from the valley who was compiling Islander photos and artifacts for a book on the subject. Was that you guys? Just wondering....

[ Edited by: quickiki 2006-08-22 16:05 ]

Tikicleen...what a great post and so damm informative...Who said learning can't be fun?..oh wait, most of us did in high school...seriously I really enjoyed reading of the history of the Islander...I'm still up a creek if there is a test later...I hope I can buy you a drink on the Hooptylau!!!!