Billingsley's Outrigger, Laguna Beach, CA (restaurant)

Name:Billingsley's Outrigger
Type:restaurant
Street:1465 South Coast Boulevard
City:Laguna Beach
State:CA
Zip:92651
country:USA
Phone:(714) 494-6574
Status:defunct

Description:
Billingley's Outrigger in Laguna Beach was located in the Surf and Sand Hotel. While the restaurant has been replaced, the Surf and Sand stills stands at 1555 South Coast Highway.

Research shows that Glenn Billingsley's first restaurant opened in Los Angeles in 1946 and was called The Golden Bull. At one point Glenn had seven Golden Bull restaurants, three Outriggers and the catering business for Continental Airlines according to the article I read. The original Billingsley's is still open in LA.

Here's my Billingsley's Outrigger menu. Unfortunately, it's too large for my scanner.

This is a souvenir menu from Arkiva Tropika.

Three different matchbooks.

WOW!! Tiki-Kate you are fire. Great collection and great research.

Nice post Kate.Always wondered what their menu looked like.Great find Kate!
I have an ashtray and matches , but not that rare menu.

Yeah that blue one is a killer!
You can also find the first, abstract modern one on page 301 of Tiki Modern. Note that the "name inside the outrigger graphic" is taken from the sign on the building, BOT page 170. The menu illustrations (p.171) are taken from both, the classic Trader Vic's, and the Don The Beachcomber menus.

Wow Kate, I'm having a hard time keeping up with your new posts!

Great Outrigger menus. Been trying to find one of those for years.

I have a postcard showing the outside of the Surf and Sand Hotel and the Outrigger Restaurant.

Here is a close-up of that great Outrigger sign.

This is another postcard that shows the interior and exterior of the restaurant.

Here is yet another style matchbook I have that shows the older style logo for the restaurant.

DC

A while back someone posted a photo of the building today, and of course it was completely stripped of all lava rock and Bamboo. But the key building elements were still there, proving how "cosmetic" a lot these features were.

Trav,

Damn that is a sad sight.

DC

Sad indeed Dusty. From beautiful style to bland crap. That image is from google street views. I may be out of work at the moment but I can still pilot the Tiki Satellite from mission control here in Kazoo. :D

On 2009-06-04 11:09, Tiki-Kate wrote:
Research shows that Glenn Billingsley's first restaurant opened in Los Angeles in 1946 and was called The Golden Bull. At one point Glenn had seven Golden Bull restaurants, three Outriggers and the catering business for Continental Airlines according to the article I read. The original Billingsley's is still open in LA.

Glenn Billingsley had another restaurant in Hollywood - probably in the pre-tiki poly pop era - called the Cafe Tropics. Spotted this matchbook on ebay, that's how I know.

DC

Here is an ashtray from the Outrigger from Critiki.

I found this matchbook showing, or at least narrowing down, the location of another Billingley's Outrigger restaurant. It also mentions that the Jamaica Inn was Polynesian.

Here is a fun illustrated postcard from Billingsley's original Cafe Tropics in Hollywood I saw on ebay. Really shows that he started by following the early pre-Tiki lead from Don, Vic and Suggie and kept going later with the Outrigger restaurants.

Some great lines on this one!

DC

I found out about the Billingsley's Outrigger the other day while reading through Remixed. All I can say is wow. I drive by the Surf and Sand every day, and had NO idea of how good it looked in it's former life. I guess Laguna's still got the Royal Hawaiian...kind of. :/

So what year did the Outrigger close?

Scored an ashtray from the Outrigger Restaurant with the Surf and Sand Hotel and The Towers logos on it as well.

DC

Nice ashtray DC...

I just came across this thread... looks great. The inside was thick with decor.

Hey do you still have this postcard?

Could you post a close-up of the right side? Looks like some big Witco... Male Dancer, Female Dancer, and a shield w/spears.

Thanks
Trad'r Bill

Trad'r Bill,

Here is a close up of the Witco figures and the spear and shield.

Those Witcos must of have been huge - like 7-footers!

The spear and shield does not look like a Witco design, more of a knock of from Trader Vic's

Or even Vagabond's House.

DC

Thanks DC-

Yeah, when you zoom in, the shield/spears are clearly not witco...
Those witco figures are big... I recently scored a 6-foot bongo player and male dancer (no female unfortunately). It's hard to tell, but those look even bigger. I wonder if they were custom...

Here's bigbro's post of them from the catalog:

Trad'r Bill

[ Edited by: Trad'r Bill 2011-01-13 22:40 ]

Bill, they made those dancers in two sizes for a while, normal and large.

I finally found one of the postcards showing the inside of the Outrigger and scanned some close ups.

The back of the card is a little different than the one I posted earlier - it advertises Popo as the bartender at the Tiki Bar.

Beachbum Berry has a story on Popo in The Book of Tiki - he started at the Luau, won a drink contest and moved to Kelbo's - which used his name on this custom mug.

Popo ended up at The Outrigger after Kelbo's.

DC

After THAT he moved up to some Coffee shop restaurant bar up near the Grapevine...Jeff Berry remembers.

Popo really held reign at the Outrigger, I pictured a section of his cocktail menu in the BOT on page 171
Funny that Jeff wrote about him in that chapter winning "another one of those dubious cocktail competitions". We both could not fathom back then that 10 years later, Mr.Berry himself would sit in the judge's seat at many of those events! :)

But in retrospect, the Outrigger's cocktail menu, beyond the award-boasting, shows a mixologist's dedication and know how of the craft which I feel compelled to share here. The illustrations are all swiped from Don's and Vic's menus, but the text is a great time capsule of the genre:

This guy knew what he was doing. Do NOT look at the prices - or weep!

That's a great pledge at the end. One we should ALL follow!

And don't get too weepy about those "low" prices. A $2 Zombie in 1959 is the equivalent of $15 today, which is a tad on the high side of what you might pay today for one (where you can find ones worth buying that is).

I know I know, you are being too rational, Rob! :) I just like going down the list of all these yummy concoctions, reading "One Dolla, one Dolla, one Dolla..." One can dream!

But the level of Polynesian pop poetry in this menu is really amazing, Popo is using ALL the elements of cocktail menu elaboration here:

History and myth of cocktail origins , knowledge of different rums, spirits, and syrups, use of flowery speech, even new word creations: "Bibulation Exotica! " That's not even in the dictionary!

I'm gonna steal that for my new mug and its cocktail! I wonder how influential Popo's pop poetry was...

Popo was THE Poly-Pop Poet!

Anybody know what the U.K.G.B. Cocktail competition stands for?

DC

On 2011-03-19 14:37, Dustycajun wrote:

The back of the card is a little different than the one I posted earlier - it advertises Popo as the bartender at the Tiki Bar.

Beachbum Berry has a story on Popo in The Book of Tiki - he started at the Luau, won a drink contest and moved to Kelbo's - which used his name on this custom mug.

Popo ended up at The Outrigger after Kelbo's.

DC

What's the deal with this "POPO" guy again??? I know he was a bartender but does anyone have anything else him? Are we sure that this is his name on the mug? Maybe he made...ceramics too? :wink:
I find it a bit strange to have a bartenders name on a mug especially since they moved around alot. Owners names maybe but bartender?
Although, I really don't have any other idea what else this would mean on the mug, just wondering if maybe something has been overlooked.

Any additional info. would be great! I did Google PoPo but only see these TC threads.

Mahalo, TabooDan

Edited because I gotta use spell check more!

[ Edited by: taboodan 2011-03-24 21:17 ]

Say, Dan, who slipped that "Doubting Thomas" Mickey Finn in YOUR cocktail? I was always under the impression that the BOT had sufficiently established that the top mixologists were stars in their own right, like some of the D.J.'s of today. Popo was such a star so why shouldn't his moniker be on a mug?

Jeff Berry put Popo's cocktails into Intoxica...

and into Taboo Table...

...and here is some info on him from the Bum's Remixed:

See?: "He inspired awe amongst his peers!"

Ask and you shall receive!! Thanks alot Sven! That's exactly what I was looking for. I guess it was a bit of a "Doubting Thomas" shot I had!!

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit it but, besides Sippin' Safari, I don't have the three books you mentioned by Jeff Berry so I missed the write up's about Popo. Thanks for kicking me in the ass and setting me straight!!

I guess the reason I was wondering was quite a few years ago while starting to collect things from the Tonga Room, in San Francisco, I picked up a few items from another Restaurant that was located in the Fairmont Hotel called Al Williams Papagayo Room.

Named for the many Parrots that were the restaurant's trademark, the Papagayo Room entertained luminaries from 1945 to 1961. Guests included Frank Sinatra, Mae West, Jack Benny, Marilyn Monroe and Nat King Cole, as well as politicians, dignitaries and ordinary people. Al Williams was the son of a pioneer aviator who fought with Pancho Villa.

Nelson Rockefeller, who had a taste of Al Williams cooking while on a trip to Mexico, prodded Al and his wife, Katharine to open the Papagayo Room in 1945 and it was not long before the likes of Judy Garland, Clark Gable and Bob Hope turned the Papagayo Room into a San Francisco destination.

One of the items I picked up from the Papagayo Room was this rare mug:

It's almost identical to the one posted earlier from Kelbo's.

Here's the side with the name POPO:

Maybe he did a stint here as well?

This is why I was asking a little bit about Popo. Maybe this was his exclusive mug design and where he went it went with him? I wonder if there are any other mugs out there from other establishments he worked in?

Thanks again!!
TabooDan

Aaah, well if there ever was a good reason, than this is one. I had no idea. I cannot see him going up to S.F., but as we know from Tiki Bob's mug, mug makers did pander off some very specifically logo-ed designs to other drinkerias sometimes. For sure, the combination of the words "Popo" and "Kelbo's" cannot be a coincidence.

I found these photos of an Outrigger room service menu in the Los Angeles library archives.

Found another matchbook previously seen here, but in a different color...

But something else caught my eye while scanning through all the Outrigger posts here...Tiki Kate's post.

On 2009-09-21 17:56, Tiki-Kate wrote:
I found this matchbook showing, or at least narrowing down, the location of another Billingley's Outrigger restaurant. It also mentions that the Jamaica Inn was Polynesian.

The matchbook shows three locations including the Jamaica Inn. Kate alluded to it back then, the question would be "was" the Jamaica Inn Polynesian?

I thought something was "Goofy" until I saw this in one of DC's epic posts found here http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=41769&forum=2

On 2011-12-11 19:02, Dustycajun wrote:
Name:Christian's Hut
Type:restaurant
Street:
City:Multiple Locations
State:CA
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
There have been little bits and pieces of the history of the Christian's Hut posted on various threads on TC and I decided it was time to start a thread on Locating Tiki to to put it all together.

The next one in the chain was located in Corona Del Mar at the Jamaican Inn.

This matchbook had a pop-up Goof on the inside of the book.

Christian's Hut at the Jamaica Inn, so the restaurants were Polynesian for sure!

Next question. Did the Outrigger take over the Christian's Hut at the Jamaica Inn or vice versa?

I asked some folks who have lived in CDM since the 50s
they seem to remember it being the restaurant in the Jamaica Inn
but they are elderly now and are the first to say their memory is not working so well.

Anders, looking at the pool area of the Jamaica Inn....

...and this one of its restaurants,

I don't think the whole place was Polynesian :)

The name of the place seems less to be based on a tropical island, and more on Hollywood.
It was a Daphne De Maurier novel..

...and then Alfred Hitchcock made it into a movie in 1939:

That still leaves open the Christian's Hut (also of movie origin) mystery...

Wow Sven, from the looks of those photos, there doesn't even appear to have been any Jamaican at the Jamaica Inn! :)

I scored a nice double sided napkin from the Outrigger.

Side one has the building illustration that was used in Beachbum's recipe from Intoxica.I really like the font on this.

Side two has a nice Tiki and Toucan combo!

But wait, there's more! I also picked up this old American Express ad from Gourmet magazine that has a photo of the restaurant interior.

DC

Classic! Thanks DC! OGR