Crocodile Cafe in Seattle

I don't know if I've posted about it before, I think I haven't, but the Croc in Seattle has a number of interesting almost-tiki style lamps. Some birdcage lookin' things. They also have the rear soundbooth decked out tiki-barish, with a thatched roof & a string of moai lights. The women's room is labeled 'Wahines'. It's way beyond pathetic by normal tiki standards, but in the tiki desert that is Seattle, I thought that it was perhaps worth finally remarking upon.

[ Edited by: Humuhumu on 2003-05-24 11:43 ]

Humuhumu,
It sounds to me like your taking a second look at Seattle and asking yourself "do I really want to leave and move to someplace I don't know anything about".

[ Edited by: Shipwreckjoey on 2003-05-24 03:13 ]

Back in 1990 I was hired by an interior designer friend to help him gut an old Greek restaurant on 2nd Ave in downtown Seattle that was to be turned into a music club. That club opened in the spring of 1991 as The Crocodile Cafe. Along with the gutting came the collecting of decor that was to go into the club. Trader Vic's in the Westin Hotel had recently closed, and the owners of the Croc had bought a bunch of stuff in an auction selling the contents of the restaurant. I actually participated in the sinful act of pulling bamboo off the walls and ceiling, dismantling tiki hut booths and loading up a truck with furniture, lamps, rattan, and other restaurant stuff. I know the lamps hanging in the show room are definitely from TV, as well as much of the bamboo throughout the club, and, I think, the bathroom signs. I'm sure there's more, and could ask my friend for more details if folks would like me to. You can still find remants of the Trader Vic's auction around Seattle. There's a tiki in the men's room at the 5 Spot on Queen Anne Hill, and another in the hall to the bathroom at the Coastal Kitchen on Capital Hill.

Thanks for the info, Selector Lopaka. I'd wondered if the Crocodile's lamps came from TV's (which was a couple blocks away) or from an old bar that used to be in Belltown ______'s Hawaii West. I was never in the Hawaii West, so don't know if it had any actual Hawaiian thing going on. The men's room in the Crocodile once had a whole bunch of the big wood forks and spoons all over the wall. I don't recall seeing them last time I was there, but I wasn't thinking about decor at the time.

Here's a tip for your next show based visit to the Crocodile...If the opening band sucks, get your hand stamped and go a few doors north to Shorty's where the beer's just as good but cheaper and you can play pinball or video games (my choice is Galaga) until your drunk or the next band is on at the Crocodile.

"The men's room in the Crocodile once had a whole bunch of the big wood forks and spoons all over the wall."

I bought a giant black Tiki spoon at a flea market. I could not imagine what it was for, but I bought it, anyway.