storm clouds loom for trader vics chicago

went to the traders on friday night to get my mai tai fix...cornered some of the staff to find out the fate of trader vics...from what i gather, they will be fine up till the first of the year and thats when the other shoe drops and no more trader vics...I guess all the decor will be shuffled off to their other stores as well...so based on that, you have until the end of the year to party down at the traders..in fact, if you go, it's best to drink like it will be the last time they will be open cause soon it just might be!!

Adios Chi-town Vic's.

As other Vic's locales are opening or in the planning stages... phooey! Chicago did remain open this past decade as so many other Vic's closed. It was one of my favorites, and with it goes a big reason for us to visit Chicago. Been there every year for the last four or five. Everytime we went the dining room was rather desolate. Oh well, there's always the chance to watch bad baseball at Wrigley.

Perhaps I can swing out one last time before the end of the year. Chicago Vic's, all the well-known negatives considered, was a great one.

Crap!
midnite

ps I still like Crab Rangoon, no matter what!

Horrors!

Oh well.

It will be missed... but without AJ and the friendly staff we are used to it seems an empty shell with wonderful decor.

Thanks to AJ and JT it almost went out with a bang... we had some very good times last year and the beginning of this one...

Hold on to the good memories.

There is certainly no way in hell that I would ever get involved with planning any sort of closing party, and I would strongly warn any other members of our ohana against even considering getting involved with those shifty bastards at the Palmer House.

But that said: maybe we should pick a date in December and have an off the record, unofficial gathering at TVs - no bands or hula or vendors or anything, just a few dozen of us invading the place for one last shindig.

that blows!
I go there everytime i'm in chicago, at least i got to go one last time while I was in ohio and chicago for the hrhh.
I'll miss the cool framed picture of the 59 cadillac in front of bev. hills traders that is in the lobby. DRATS!!!

What a loss for Chicago downtown...now it's all white collar pub wasteland down there. I will just head straight to River Grove when there next time.

Especially painful because this is the second oldest T.V. location left, from 1957. Well, the bar area had been renovated, but the Beverly Hills Traders (1955) is even less of what it once was.

Among my fondest memories of the Chicago Vic's, one is from when I was on my research trip for the BoT, in the late 90s:

S.F. headquarters had called ahead and announced me as a VIP- Me and Jeff Berry were not only compted on dinner and cocktails, but after dessert I pointed at the original Coffee Grog mug I had used and said "..and I'd like to take this one home". The waiter looked slightly taken aback, went over to the manager (both old timers), whisper whisper,...and came back with a box and paper to wrap it in! Sort of a Tiki dream-come-true (especially back when T.V. was generally giving you the haughty treatment).

This did/does NOT happen at every Tiki location I documented...i mean it SHOULD, jeez! :D

The second favorite was that Thursday evening at Exotica 200(3?), when I got there with Naomi and the whole gang was there, we owned that whole section, it felt like home away from home. Sigh. Sniff.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2005-10-03 11:51 ]

Very sad news, indded. I lived in Chicago for a year and spent many a happy evening at the TV. I organized some large gatherings with the people I worked with and they got to be very popular with my coworkers and we would often get 20 or more people attending.

I was there Friday night as well. Took a thousand pictures to document the place as best I could. Had a good talk with Exec. Chef Paul, who will be heading out to Emeryville next month.

Anyone needing their AJ fix can head to SF to say hi to the man before he's off to Scottsdale in 06.

Shame about the Palmer House management- the loss of TV Chicago will be huge.

Yup this is bad. SVEN... that Thursday night, my 34th birthday, as I sat between you and Duke and thumbed through "Tiki Quest" (before it came out) was the exact moment I became a glued and screwed tiki fanatic. I thought I'd been everywhere man, but I had never been to Chicago's TV and that night at that place will remain a treasured experience of my life. I may have to return to give it a final pakalolo smudging;)

It's all happening so fast.

a big RAZZ!!! :(

On 2005-10-02 20:14, tikibars wrote:
But that said: maybe we should pick a date in December and have an off the record, unofficial gathering at TVs - no bands or hula or vendors or anything, just a few dozen of us invading the place for one last shindig.

Yea, I have to make one more trip to Chi-town TVs before it closes. Sure would be nice to do it with a bunch of other TC members. How does December 10th sound?

OK, just checked airfare to Chicago from D.C. on Flyi.com , Maybe a system glitch, but flights from Monday December 5 to Thursday December 8 are FREE! Returning Monday December 12 to Thursday December 15 are FREE! I booked my flight for $20 in taxes! Good Karma? System Glitch? A sign from the Tiki Gods? I dunno, but if it doesn't get canceled, I am going!

Dec. 10 sounds ok to us. Just let us know what to show up on and we'll be there. Got to get one last TV fix. This makes me so sad...

I think I'd like to go...I need to see that one. I was moving during the Kahiki party and have been eyeing which necktie to hang myself with ever since...

Tiki Goon's flight has sealed the deal.

All in favor of a December 10 invasion say "aye!"."AYE!"

AYE.

:(
I just bought tickets yesterday morning to see Aerosmith at the United Center that night - if things go late at Trader Vic's, maybe we'll catch you :(

I live in the burbs but have never been to TV's so if this deal is on for sure, then this will be my reason to go.

That's crummy news... When I lived in Milwaukee we made the trip down a few times a year to do our homemade tikibar crawl, and TV was always on the list, of course.

Quince_at_Danny's and I will talk it over with our wahine and see if we can swing it. Tentative aye for now, will confirm soon.

I, Zombie

Looking forward to seeing you guys there! My ticket seems to be good. The glitch on Flyi.com was written up in the Washington Post and they say they are going to honor the tickets that were sold during the glitch.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/12/AR2005101202028.html

[ Edited by: TikiGoon 2005-10-14 06:59 ]

we'll make the trek up, the 10th is good, anything on a weekend works for us

Finally home... catching up.

AYE for December 10th.

AYE!!

There are signs up at Trader Vic's saying that they are closing after New Year's Eve. So it is now official and no longer speculation.

I will be in Barcelona that night, so I won't be there for the final night.

I know that The Chef is having a shindig too, but I hope some of you will show up up on the 31st to say farewell to this Chicago Tiki landmark.

Less than five weeks from now, the last true Tiki bar within the city limits will be gone!

So...
As for the 10th... do we have a time set to meet?

Tiki Terrace is having show that night - I wonder if there's a way to fit both in?

I wonder if we can talk Scott into starting his show later that night so we can hit Trader Vic's for a few hours and then finish up at the Terrace?

Any ideas?

it was never speculation......but unadultered fact..

tell the fat lady she's on in 31 days........

This is very sad. I tried to go there last April before the Green Bay Fest but it was closed on Sunday. Of course, I didn't know then its days were numbered.

I'll always have fond memories of our night there on the first day of Exotica in '03.

This is really, really bad news.

Any of you old timers remember this thread from before Exotica?

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=250&forum=1&start=0&hilite=trader%20vics%20chicago

(Bigbro: Sorry, I spelled your name wrong in my old post - but I was on a true Trader Vics high that night.)

On 2005-11-29 16:35, tikibars wrote:
So...
As for the 10th... do we have a time set to meet?

I am thinking 6-6:30, unless you guys have other ideas. Do you think we need reservations?

Tiki Terrace is having show that night - I wonder if there's a way to fit both in?

I wonder if we can talk Scott into starting his show later that night so we can hit Trader Vic's for a few hours and then finish up at the Terrace?

Any ideas?

I would really love to check out the Tiki Terrace, but I will be without car, so it depends on how far away it is.

So for December 10th we have: James, BK, Hala, Exotica, Lake and Me (Tiki Goon). I am bringing a friend, is anyone else going? It would be good to get a rough count so we can make reservations.

I made my first and last trip to TV during the Exotica this summer. It probably the only good tiki bar that I have ever been too. :( Well, I have a nice picture of me sitting at the bar.

[ Edited by: teaKEY 2005-12-01 08:10 ]

On 2005-12-01 05:23, TikiGoon wrote:
So for December 10th we have: James, BK, Hala, Exotica, Lake and Me (Tiki Goon). I am bringing a friend, is anyone else going? It would be good to get a rough count so we can make reservations.

There are a lot of non-TC people coming too.

I am going to make a table reservation for dinner - but I imagine most of the people coming will just invade the bar area?

Rater than clogging up this thread, anyone who wants to have dinner at 7:00, PM me, and I'll make the appropriate sized reservation.

i informed my bartender friend that you all will be arriving on the 10th...he's worked there for 15 years....he suggested you all take over the side of the bar where the taboo tiki nights were held and he'll take care of you....

We have to make sure Eugene is working too!

Oh, hell yea!

EUGENE!

Bad news...Christmas is just going to be too costly...unless someone wants to commission my next ten carvings!!) I won't be able to make it. I just wish the Hilton would listen to the people instead of the "me me me" egos of a few numbskull executives. Old Coke/New Coke. But I've worked in the hotel industry before, and the clueless isolation of the average executive or owner in that industry from reality is staggering. Constantly seeking a richer understanding of what is already understood. Which leaves timeless, always-in-style historic landmarks like Trader Vic's in the "flavor of the day" dust.

[ Edited by: Basement Kahuna 2005-12-01 20:33 ]

I just don't get this. AFTER Trader Vic's is re-flourishing, opening in so many locations...I mean if THAT does not get the hotel's execs to see the light, what will. I was so confident that the continuous stream of Tiki Temple closings would come to an end these days, but to see the oldest existing original T.V. go makes my hopes vanish. They have a jewel there!

End of useless rant. I know, James described the situation, but...sigh!

I still can't believe Trader Vic's is closing it's doors... what will they put there instead, a sports bar? That said, the service has been awful the last few times I've been there, and the music really unbearable (why don't they play exotica/tropical/lounge-y stuff to go with the decor?) BUT... think of all the memories people have of that place over the past 50 years... and soon Trader Vic's in the Loop will only be a memory too... wow...

... here's my own blog post upon hearing the news: http://serenadeingreen.blogspot.com/2005/11/last-call-for-mai-tais.html#links

[ Edited by: funks 2005-12-01 14:48 ]

On 2005-12-01 13:13, Basement Kahuna wrote: Which leaves timeless, always-in-style historic landmarks like Trader Vic's in the "flavor of the day" dust.

Well put. What is really ironic is that tiki seems to be the flavor of the day. That just shows how out of touch the Hilton management must be.

Sorry to hear you can't make it BK. I may have been able to go if it was open one month longer (I could afford it better in mid-January). Still, maybe it's better to remember our last visit during a happy occasion instead of a sad one.

On 2005-12-01 14:36, funks wrote:
what will they put there instead, a sports bar?

One of the bartenders told me the plan was to put a gym down there.

But that's just his own hearsay.

...at least it's not a Walgreen's!

..I heard they are going to make way for more shops and fine dining to boost the downtown scene...anyone who lives here knows that they roll up the sidewalks in loop about 8.p.m -there really is nothing going on downtown....it's the outlying neighborhoods where it all usually happens....they want downtown to offer more as a destination.......whatever.....no amount of cosmetics and shopping is going to change the lame ass scene down there.....no matter how big the city gets, it will always be just another small town....

.. tiki was on it's last breath till the whole tiki revival brought it back from flat-lining in the 80's....sure, it's infortunate to lose historic places like trader vics....chicago has lost so much already it hardly bears mentioning at this point....but what's been happening lately is nothing new...it's all on borrowed time. the best we can do is support the old hold-outs as well as the new upstarts and quit cryin' about it....life goes on. what makes tiki interesting and energetic is all the new energy pumped into it by all you folks.... remember, though nostalgia is great and we'll miss alot of places dearly, it's YOU folks that are the scene...not a pile of bamboo and bricks.....and it's because of this that tiki and all things related will find new and timely expressions on all of it's fronts for future generations.......

some vaguely hopeful news from the TikiTalk blog:

http://tikitalk.astropad.com/archives/chicago-trader-vics-to-close-new-years-eve/

"UPDATE: Word is that the Palmer House location is closing, but the decor will be packed and stored until another Chicago location can be secured. They hope to reopen in 2007."

Yup, this is terribly crummy. I'm only grateful that over the past few years I've saved away many a memory from TV (I had my last two birthday parties there).

However: a glimmer of good news!

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-vic03.html

Please, let it be true! It won't be the same as the original. But if it's done decently (and the Harry Carray's in Chicago is a well-run establishment) it could still be pretty cool.

Anyhow, Thursday night after work I'm heading over to TV for some fun. I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to sample every cocktail before closing time!

That would be great, but for the urban archaeologist it won't match the feel of a 1957 original location.

But then again, during the renovation craze of the 80s, many of the fish trap and shell lamps (mentioned in the article) already got tossed out, along with other jetsam and flotsam that created the classic pre-Tiki Devolution clutter.

I am wondering how they can salvage the ceiling beams? They make for a great effect, because en masse they make the place look intricately carved, yet they are made from molds and actually all the same. I could not figure out if they are lacquered plaster or some plastic compound painted like wood.

In any case, they seem quite fragile and I wonder if whoever dismantles the place will make the effort to save them...?

Somehow, the Chicago Reader got wind of tonight...

http://www.chicagoreader.com/listings/static/daily.html

A few pics from the gathering... sad, the drinks were the worst ever consumed at this Trader Vic's... you never knew what kind of glass you were going to get it in, whether or not you were going to get whole ice or crushed ice... the menus were a piece of paper with words mispelled...

We made the best of it, though... and toasted goodbye to a friend... with waters... it was the only thing that came to our tables consistently...

Eugene did his best to take care of us... when I aksed him what he was going to do after 30 years at Trader Vic's he said "My wife told me to take a vacation."

Goodbye old friend...