The Islander, Grimes, CA (bar)

Name:The Islander
Type:bar
Street:CA Highway 45
City:Grimes
State:CA
Zip:95950
country:USA
Phone:(530) 437-2284
Status:operational

Description:
Dive bar in remote rural area of California. About an hour North of Sacramento off of I-5. The bar was closed when I stopped by but I asked some friendly locals what the bar was like inside. They said it was not tropical or Polynesian in decor, but it was just a regular bar, and that it would be open later in the afternoon. We could not wait for 2-3 hours so I phoned the bar the next day and spoke with a much less friendly woman who also said that it was not tropical inside. I asked her if the sign was from the Islander in Stockton. She said the sign was there when she started working there over 20 years ago (which does not prove it's not from the Islander). She did not understand why anyone would want to know more about her bar, even when I explained that I like visiting old bars and restaurants. Visit at your own risk.

[ Edited by: thejab on 2004-08-19 11:00 ]

wow really cool find, Jab!!! did you just happen to stumble on it>??that sure does look like the stockton Islander logo! hope someone's brave enough to grab a drink there.
T

On 2004-08-27 13:13, theronpk wrote:
did you just happen to stumble on it?

My friends in Sacramento drive vintage sports cars. They were on a road rally when they spotted the sign.

On 2004-08-27 14:25, thejab wrote:

My friends in Sacramento drive vintage sports cars. They were on a road rally when they spotted the sign.

Urban archeology with style, I say!

This pic was actually posted by Vintage Roadside today on facebook .Thought I would
post this pic since Jabs pic does not show anymore.

This place has been closed for a couple of years .

I wish I had the time to get the story on this place.

Here are some pics i got off the internet a long time ago , I'm not sure who took them, maybe they are Jabs or Vintage Roadsigns. Sorry I didn't take down the info when i got them.

They might be the pics that used to be on this thread before.

1961 Surf and Abstract,

Thanks for posting those pics, what a great sign. Look forward to hearing more about the origins of the sign.

I also love the fact that the Highway 45 directional signs are hanging on the front of the building, don't see that in the Caltrans design manual.

DC

We shot our photos last August on the way down to Tiki Oasis. The place looked pretty bare inside (through the windows) with only a few normal stools and some vinyl Budweiser advertising hanging up. No idea how such a great sign ended up atop a fairly normal looking bar...

I'll look through our photos and see if I took any of the interior.

Just got word via Flickr that the sign was removed a couple months back. No word on if it was saved or discarded though.

Vintage Roadside,

That's some bad news, maybe we can get a field agent up there to check it out and see if it can be saved.

DC

On 2010-04-08 07:41, Dustycajun wrote:
Vintage Roadside,

That's some bad news, maybe we can get a field agent up there to check it out and see if it can be saved.

DC

DC,

The person who left the comment is from the area and I've asked him for more details. His comment was "glad you got the photos before it was destroyed" so it doesn't sound good - but fingers crossed someone saved it...

Jeff

That sucks, I was considering a recon/rescue mission for Saturday.
:(

On 2010-04-08 19:13, abstractiki wrote:
That sucks, I was considering a recon/rescue mission for Saturday.
:(

There's a little store next door that I'd ask if they knew what happened to it. I did hear again from the person on Flickr and he said the person he asked told him it was thrown away. Even though we've seen it so many times I can't believe people continue to throw things like this away...

The photos abstractiki posted above are the ones I took in August, 2004 (I just found them on my computer). I'm glad you kept them abstractiki and were able to add them to this thread.

Happy to be of service Jab!

It just kills me to think this sign might be in a landfill right now. It would have been a grand treasure in any collection of Tiki artifacts.

I wonder if this place was ever a tiki bar or the owner just got this sign from some other tiki bar and decided to stick it up there.

If it wasn't originally made for this bar then where did it come from I wonder?

I've heard back, and according to the owner of the bar the sign was destroyed by a wind storm back in January...

What a bummer I wanted it !Thanks for the up date .Would like to know how a wind
storm destroys a sheet metal or galvinized sign though.

On 2010-04-15 22:34, 1961surf wrote:
What a bummer I wanted it !Thanks for the up date .Would like to know how a wind
storm destroys a sheet metal or galvinized sign though.

I think just about any of us here would have loved to give the sign a new home! I would have been perfectly happy even ending up with the pieces after the storm :) It must have blown off the roof and broken the plastic panels. I think the tiki was probably hollow so maybe it was crushed when it landed...