Diamond Head, Chicago, IL (restaurant)

Name:Diamond Head
Type:restaurant
Street:3321 W. Columbus
City:Chicago
State:IL
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:

Here is a very cool old photo of the bar at the Diamond Head Restaurant in Chicago that was listed on ebay. The listing stated that the picture was taken in 1962. The bar stools give the bar a rather mod-looking feel.

There was a nice mural of Diamond Head behind the bar and you can see the pineapple and coconut mugs the used for drinks on the right.

James T's Tiki Road Trip listed a Diamond Head Restaurant on 79th Street in Chicago, wonder if it was related to this one?

DC

Those would be one and the same. Columbus becomes SW Highway further south - I think at the city limit. Also, confirmed this address is just south of 79th.

Great looking bar! Mahalo for sharing.

TT

Tonga Trader,

Thanks for the doing the research on the location. Man this place was around for a long time - the photo was from 1962 and James T indicates that the name changed in the 1980s. Wonder why we have not heard more about this one.

DC

Found another bar picture of the Diamond Head bar on ebay.

There have been a few more photos of the Diamond Head restaurant sold on ebay.

This one has shows a waitress holding a pineapple mug next to a Tiki.

Another shot of the same mug and a nice looking napkin.

I found a mug similar to this one at the thrift store recently.

DC

One more ebay photo of the bar in action, looks like it was a businessman's happy hour.

DC

Happened to be passing through the neighborhood today. This address is now part of a commuter train station parking lot.

TT

Looked like it was more enjoyable as a tiki bar than a commuter train depot. I love seeing these old photos of tiki bars especially in places like Chicago. I like the overall motif of the bar. It looked like a good place to relax and enjoy a cocktail.

I was fortunate to have visited this place right before it closed - it was called beyond the reef at that time. My office manager used to live near there and went to prom there when it was diamond head. That's how I found out about it - There was a bit of large witco there - all of it was for sale but kinda pricey - they had been selling off the contents prior demo and one of our fellow tikinphikes beat us to a lot of the good stuff. Apparently he had been frequenting the place for months and wooing the owners for the decor, never mentioning the place To us. Anyway I got some menus and a few smalls outta there. A couple weeks later it was a parking lot for the train .