Mystery Photo 1959 Tiki Bar

I found this over on the Lotta Livin'Board and no one has an answer for the guy. I know someone here knows!

"So here's a slide I picked up recently. The eBay info reads Vintage color slide of a man posing in front of what appears to be a Nightclub. The sign above reads Room. This was probably in the Los Angeles area. I had other slides with this man in the same clothes at Disneyland. Slide stamped May 1959.

So, who has some idea where this was/might have been? My first thought was South Main, since that's where all the more interesting places liked to congregate. But the way this bay is set up doesn't seem to quite jive with the Burbank/Burlesk theater facade (which if its neighbor is 544, would make this 546 SM)."

.i'm almost positive it's the bamboo room in seattle....i have another photo i can post later which i actually pulled from here, but i forget wht thread it's on....it shows a palm tree on the sign and i see a hint of the bottom of it in your slide...plus, the buildings architecture on both side of him also looks like it was from that place..i'm sure this is the same place...

This image?

that's the one...but now that i see it i may be wrong...

..and furthermore...who the hell takes a picture of themselves in front of the place they want to remember and fail to include the sign??

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2008-07-29 12:29 ]

Ther eis just enough to say, could be. Sign is at the right height and place. The facade on th ebuilding to the left looks about right, but the front of this building doesn't quite look right. If only the first picture were just a little further away, we'd know.

That image is from Tacoma ather than Seattle.

There was a bar called the Islander in Tacoma, on A and S 11th street. There's another thread running around here that had a picture of the menu, and the illustration was somewhat similar in style as the storefront.
Whoops - re-reading the first post, I now see the reference to Los Angeles. Sorry - never mind.

[ Edited by: Ekomomai 2008-07-29 15:41 ]

Just an observation - If you look at the lower left hand corner of the 'next door' building (544, the blue building) there is a small wall, along the sidewalk, with those green Asian tiles (like Trader Vic's & Mai Kai have). Then look at the bottom portion of the wall with the mural. Under the mural there appear to be more of those same tiles embedded into the wall. Makes me wonder if the blue side of the building is a part of the same business?
So, maybe he's not standing in front of the actual entrance? Maybe there's more to that building than just the section with the mural?
Curiosity peaked...

Makes ya wish you had one of those fake computers you see in the movies. Then you could just zoom into a window, see a reflection of a TV store across the street, then zoom into the reflection of one of the TV's and read the reflection of the sign!

it looks like it's somewhere in china town..that would explain the tiles, plus i think the store to the left is selling kimono's or robes and it looks like chinese characters written vertically up the white column in the store window...but which china town?? and what town?

I did a search of "544" here on Tiki Central and came up with this Woofmutt thread ~
Tiki Past: Seattle, Wash

Which features this -

and this

and an awesome matchbook, click the link and check it out. Could that be the Tiki Hut?

Maybe one of you Seattle Hipsters should get off your ass and check it out.

looks like it might be it....the shell room could have been a bar next to the restaurant with it's own separate doorway so you could enter from the street if you didn't feel like having a meal...not an uncommon feature on most bars back in the day...

a quick google search reveals that the place is still open and it's called chen's village...same town, same address....queen anne neighborhood....let's roll seattle tiki people...we have a mission!!

" measuring destroys art!!"

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2008-07-29 18:11 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2008-07-29 18:12 ]

"Welcome to chensvillage.com! Our site is under construction, please check back soon!"

Anyone up there know?

Edited because Tipsy beat me to it! Bah!

[ Edited by: Bora Boris 2008-07-29 18:14 ]

..nothing on ebay either....

Chen's is still on Elliott.. i've passed by many times. but havent stopped in ~ i'll put that on my "to do list".. but it looks nothing like the pic posted.

oh and in Seattle.. the N W S NW SW SE designations are critical as are the Ave, Way, Circle etc modifiers. i must use a GPS to find my way around, even after 6 years here. i'll check 'em both out.

"To do list"!! You'll do it NOW!

or at your earliest convenience.

I guess.

Thanks.

On 2008-07-29 18:20, dogbytes wrote:
Chen's is still on Elliott.. i've passed by many times. but havent stopped in ~ i'll put that on my "to do list".. but it looks nothing like the pic posted.

..none of them ever do.....ya gotta get inside it...all the decor is probably long gone and remodeled in some chinese theme..but it's the history we're after..they may have an old timer on staff with stories or even better - pictures, postcards, a menu - who knows....

this chen's is a stand alone building, and has never been part of a downtown type area..

im renaming you BossyOris. heh.

oh.

..the plot thickens....shit!!!

On 2008-07-29 18:51, Tipsy McStagger wrote:

..the plot thickens....shit!!!

I know! It looks like that is a poster advertising a floor show or something on the right of him. So it must be larger than an old man dive bar.

Doesn't the dude look like Dan Hadeya??

[ Edited by: sputnikmoss 2008-07-29 19:31 ]

this is it:

but i'll go check it out anyways.

Ive always thought that this Chens was a former tiki type establishment. But everytime I bring it up I get poo pooed! I wanna know. as far as the original photo if it is in Seattle Im guessing that the location may be Pioneer square area

lets get a poo-pooh platter. honest to god, if its not raining, im headed over and then walking at the sculpture garden. wanna go, dawn?

um yea. I wanna walk AT the sculptures after getting poo pood

Well, I'VE been in there and it's NOT Tiki - it's a crappy run-down Chinese restaurant with greasy carpets and even greasier food! I would propose that the buidling in the original picture is somewhere in Occidental Park or Pioneer Square - if it's even in the Seattle area. Tacoma would look like that too.

You know, it looks like that area in Belltown where the Roq la Rue gallery is - not there exactly but around that area. The building and slant of sidewalk look familiar. There's a bar down the street from there that is Tiki-themed - looks like a hangout for the tougher crowd though.

So far it is only a theory that the photo of the Unknown Bar was taken in Seattle.

Tipsy McStagger said he was "Almost positive it's the Bamboo Room in Seattle." based on his memory of a photo of that property. But when later reviewing the photo he said "Now that I see it I may be wrong."

Swanky who re-posted the Bamboo Room photo said "Sign is at the right height and place...But the front of this building doesn't quite look right."

I agree the building front doesn't look like a match. I also think the sign style isn't a match either.

BoraBorris did a Tiki Central search for 544, but 544 as seen in the photo is on the awning of the building next door. The Unknown Bar would probably be a 542 or 546 if it had its own street address. The Unknown Bar may be attached to a restaurant with a completely different address.

The quote that sputnikmoss posted from the original thread on Lotta Living said "This was probably in the Los Angeles area. I had other slides with this man in the same clothes at Disneyland."

The only hard evidence connected directly to the photo of the Unknown Bar is other slides of the same man in the same clothes at Disneyland.

The Chinese elements on the 544 building is probably the strongest evidence for placing the Unknown Bar in a China Town somewhere. The 544] address in the picture and the street grade gives one more to work with if you know your local China Town.

The photo does look like Seattle's China Town/Pioneer Square/Belltown area but those are all older areas of the city and as such look similar in design and construction to most American cities from that period. (Though a 544 address could be found in Seattle's China Town.)

Other than the Unknown Bar I was happy to see this:

I've driven by Chen's literally thousands of times***** and must have gotten the same vibes as Sophista-Tiki because I always thought the place would be a great candidate for a Tiki face lift. I never made the address connection with the Tiki Hut.

Chen's village doesn't have any signs of former greatness inside. It looks like a heavy remodel hit it in the late 70s/early 80s. Chen's Village is popular with people in the Magnolia/Queen Anne/Interbay (it's actual neighborhood) area, but I've never had anyone get all that excited in their comments about the food.

*****I used to pass it 20 times a day for almost 2 years...So I use "literally" literally.

woofmutt

[ Edited by: woofmutt 2008-07-30 09:39 ]

On 2008-07-29 18:05, Bora Boris wrote:
I did a search of "544" here on Tiki Central and came up with this Woofmutt thread ~
Tiki Past: Seattle, Wash

Which features this -

The 544 address is next door. Notice that it is on the awning for the "dress shop". The address for the bar might be 542 or 546.

Thanks Woofmutt, well get if figured out but I insist that Dogbytes still has to go to Chens. :)

On 2008-07-30 10:52, Naneki wrote:

On 2008-07-29 18:05, Bora Boris wrote:
I did a search of "544" here on Tiki Central and came up with this Woofmutt thread ~
Tiki Past: Seattle, Wash

Which features this -

The 544 address is next door. Notice that it is on the awning for the "dress shop". The address for the bar might be 542 or 546.

Oh thanks, we already knew that but were hoping it still might be a part of the same place.

Ok..I think we should focus on California. I found more slides of him on Ebay.

No date on this one other than 1959 in photo

no date..in front of a mall O'connor& Goldberg is a shoe store

this one is stamped July 1959

On 2008-07-30 10:53, Bora Boris wrote:
Thanks Woofmutt, well get if figured out but I insist that Dogbytes still has to go to Chens. :)

what? you're not the boss of me!

On 2008-07-30 12:01, dogbytes wrote:

On 2008-07-30 10:53, Bora Boris wrote:
Thanks Woofmutt, well get if figured out but I insist that Dogbytes still has to go to Chens. :)

what? you're not the boss of me!

Yes I am and you're about to get fired!

[ Edited by: Bora Boris 2008-07-30 15:18 ]

Boy, that guy sure got around! Looks like a bachelor (actually, he looks like Walter Matheau (sp?) in the one of him on the park bench (did you catch those snazzy socks w/his sandals? Could be the originator of that NW "style"!) With that picture in front of the "Swiss Chalet" he might have been in Leavenworth WA too.

maybe he was a traveling salesman

On 2008-07-30 15:50, beadtiki wrote:
Boy, that guy sure got around! Looks like a bachelor (actually, he looks like Walter Matheau (sp?) in the one of him on the park bench (did you catch those snazzy socks w/his sandals? Could be the originator of that NW "style"!) With that picture in front of the "Swiss Chalet" he might have been in Leavenworth WA too.

I think perhaps a "confirmed bachelor". Found some more..

stamped July 1959

November 1959..that has to be Florida..look at the Streamline Moderne buildings in the background

Ok now he is taking the picture..it's his friend from the couch and the other dude wearing the sombrero in Tijuana

[ Edited by: sputnikmoss 2008-07-30 18:51 ]

On 2008-07-30 18:45, sputnikmoss wrote:

On 2008-07-30 15:50, beadtiki wrote:
Boy, that guy sure got around! Looks like a bachelor (actually, he looks like Walter Matheau (sp?) in the one of him on the park bench (did you catch those snazzy socks w/his sandals? Could be the originator of that NW "style"!) With that picture in front of the "Swiss Chalet" he might have been in Leavenworth WA too.

I think perhaps a "confirmed bachelor". Found some more..

stamped July 1959

"confirmed bachelor" is right even Santa Claus has to look away.

On 2008-07-30 15:18, Bora Boris wrote:

Yes I am and you're about to get fired!

you cant fire me, i quit. or something. anyways. stopped into Chens and its not as groady as Woof has stated, but there is absolutely nothing architecturally charming about the place. a fishtank of carp (pet peeve of mine: koi should be viewed from above, not the sides).. and.. no decor at all. vinyl chairs and chrome & black tabletops. meh.

here's an exterior shot, just to prove that BossyBoris can push me around from far away.

"...stopped into Chens and its not as groady as Woof has stated..." -dogbytes-

I have come to accept that many of my posts seem to get zapped with a WOOFMUTT-A-MATIC INVIS-O-RAY which renders them utterly invisible to the average eye but I refuse to have comments attributed to me which I did not make. Yes, I said REFUSE!

My comments on Chen's Village (posted in bold to hopefully counteract any zaps from the WOOFMUTT-A-MATIC INVIS-O-RAY)

Chen's village doesn't have any signs of former greatness inside. It looks like a heavy remodel hit it in the late 70s/early 80s. Chen's Village is popular with people in the Magnolia/Queen Anne/Interbay (it's actual neighborhood) area, but I've never had anyone get all that excited in their comments about the food.

Any we can see a bigger version of the image. It looks like LA to me. Maybe Wilshire or 3rd or beverly

So, I decided to email the Ebay seller, see if just maybe they knew anything about the men in the photos. I asked if they could tell me where the slides came from and specifically, did they know anything about the building in question. I got this response tonight:

"I wish I did know more about this man. These were purchased at an estate sale in Fort Worth,Texas at the first of this year. There were probably 150 slides of this man in Europe,Disneyland,1964-65 NY Worlds Fair,Wisconsin and at numerous other unknown locations. All of the slide cases were marked 'Otti'"

Don't ask me why I have a strange obession with this... Otti?

I googled otti..

.it's the "Office of Tourism and Travel Industries".....maybe that can lead us somewhere

this guy may have worked for them..which explains all the slides of various destinations...

check this out:

http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2008-07-31 21:16 ]

" I googled otti...it's the "Office of Tourism and Travel Industries"..." -Tipsy McStagger-

It looks like OTTI may have been established in 1996

More internet searching: Otti is an Icelandic variation on Otto.

woofmutt

[ Edited by: woofmutt 2008-08-01 00:14 ]

Don't ask me why I have a strange obession with this... Otti?

plural of Otto.

On 2008-07-31 23:48, woofmutt wrote:
" I googled otti...it's the "Office of Tourism and Travel Industries"..." -Tipsy McStagger-

It looks like OTTI may have been established in 1996

More internet searching: Otti is an Icelandic variation on Otto.

---

woofmutt

[ Edited by: woofmutt 2008-08-01 00:14 ]

..oh well.......perhaps otti is a distant cousin to yeti????

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2008-08-01 04:55 ]

I love this thread

I thought that it might have been The Tropics in Hollywood on Vine at Sunset since it was on the same side of the street as Ah Fong's but I'm not sure if they were there at the same time plus the addresses on that block are in the 1500’s and too high to match the numbers in the picture. Also the sign is different and doesn't hang over the sidewalk enough but it's still a cool picture.

This thread is too much fun to just let it die.