Tiki Cove, Mecca Bar, Fairbanks , AK (bar)

Name:Tiki Cove, Mecca Bar
Type:bar
Street:549 2nd Ave.
City:Fairbanks
State:AK
Zip:99701
country:USA
Phone:456-6320
Status:unknown

Description:
Another location with not allot of information out there to go on. The Mecca Bar is still around but I think the Tiki Cove is long gone. Apparently it was located in the basement of the Mecca. Here is a pic of a matchbook from my collection and some more info can be found in Tiki Road Trip on pg.24. Also the matchbook in orange is shown on pg. 51 of the Book OF Tiki.

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2009-09-05 11:06 ]

I found a few tidbits, nothing grand. Opened around 1958 owner was Wally Burnett. No references to it being Polynesian, only mentioned as a Chinese Restaurant or Oriental Restaurant. In one case, the chef who was Chinese was referred to as Japanese. Gotta love the info in newspapers.

There were a few grainy pics from the early 60's. Saw some tapa cloth designs on the wall, and a fish net, but nothing that showed the interior, at least yet. I'll keep looking.

Wally purchased an interest in another building and opened it up as a hotel. The Tiki Cove was relocated there in 1977. That hotel was named the Polaris and is now either torn down or soon will be.

Side note is that the original chef stayed with the Tiki Cove until his death in the mid to late 70's. And 2 bartenders were found by Wally inside a fake wall in the Tiki Cove. Guess they were hiding there until the place closed so they could rob it. They had welding equipment, who the heck knows what that was all about. Maybe there were some awesome Tikis bolted to the floor!

On 2009-09-04 18:00, savage sissy wrote:
And 2 bartenders were found by Wally inside a fake wall in the Tiki Cove. Guess they were hiding there until the place closed so they could rob it. They had welding equipment, who the heck knows what that was all about.

!!!??? Aaah, the dark secrets and perplexing mysteries of Tiki culture!

Good digg'n Sis. I'm a little confused as to the location though. The Matchbook states the place at the Mecca Bar and the info you found put it in the Polaris Hotel. Where was it first or last? Hope to find some more info on this one. Thanks for posting the ad.

OK. A little more on this one. Tiki Cove was first located at the Mecca Bar. Owner Wally Burnett sold his stake in the Mecca and in the early 70's and along with investors purchased the Polaris Hotel. This is where I got confused. Wally opened the Tiki Cove on the op floor of his hotel with commanding views of the area. The restaurant was very popular for many years. After the boom of pipeline building in the late 70's and the hotels location along with it's age (built in 1952) Things began to go downhill. Savage Sissy covered most of this but I thought I would time line it a bit. So we have Tiki Cove at the Mecca first and the Polaris Last.

Nice research. But wait, there's more! There was a second Tiki Cove in Anchorage.

Found this menu cover on the net. Very interesting.

DC

I think I posted this in the flatware thread before, but here is my lil' soy sauce dish:

From a time when Tiki was linked with Chinese junk sails...solely because of the food, not because of any actual cultural link, mind you. :D

Visited Mecca Bar in Fairbaanks tonight.

Visited the AMAZING Captain Cook Hotel (see small print in above photos) last week.

Full report imminent (when I get home from roaming in Denali the rest of this week).

Can't wait to hear your report, James. Hope you can find traces of the old South Seas Club too.

Tiki Cove got jazz in the early 1980s.

Chroma Zone!

And another matchbook variety.

DC