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Tiki Central / Locating Tiki

Trader Vic's, Detroit, MI (restaurant)

Pages: 1 17 replies

C
Chub posted on Thu, Mar 12, 2009 11:03 PM

Name:Trader Vic's
Type:restaurant
Street:1539 Washington Blvd.
City:Detroit
State:MI
Zip:48226
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
This Trader Vic's location was on the ground floor of the Statler-Hilton Hotel in downtown Detroit. The entire hotel was razed in 2005.

C
Chub posted on Thu, Mar 12, 2009 11:06 PM

Pictures from Wayne State Collection

C
Chub posted on Fri, Mar 13, 2009 12:06 AM

Post card

This next pic is from the http://www.forgottenmichigan.com site. I believe this to be the Chinese ovens.

A

Out of curiosity, what's at this site now? I'm betting on a parking lot.

Chub,

Nice post. First time that I have seen the TV in Detroit. Please tell me it is not a parking lot!

DC

C
Chub posted on Fri, Mar 13, 2009 11:58 AM

Since 2005, it's been nothing but a dirt lot. Not even used for parking as far as I know.


[ Edited by: Chub 2009-03-13 12:05 ]

A

Well, thank goodness they tore it down then.

Chub. Thanks for posting those great Michigan images. Keep up the great work.

T

Hey Nice one Chub!! Cool to see as I have only heard of it and had never seen anything on it before.

Glad it has a home on here now.
TabooDan

M

From all us people from Detroit, thanks Chub. Most of us don't know what the golden age of Tiki was like in Detroit.Warm tropical breezes, tikis,rum drinks,hula girls,I guess we will never know.

Here is a small matchbook from my collection.

C
Chub posted on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 10:07 AM

Nice matchbook Uncle Trav. Strangely, I never came across one of those while living in Detroit.

Hey, I had missed this thread somehow. Looks like this Vic's had two nice and simple Barney West entrance Tikis, amazing what you can pull out of the shadows still (wish I knew how to save the zoom in):

Too bad that the second B&W pic was framed right between the two Tikis! I mean what was that photographer thinking! :)

C
Chub posted on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 11:13 AM

Don't know if this really that much better, but I tried...

JJ

Wow! I would have never even DREAMED we had a Trader Vics in Detroit!!! Thank you for posting that!

M

Wonder what happen to those tiki's, they must be 15' tall.I would need to cut a hole in my roof to make one fit.

Nothing about Trader Vic's specifically, but here's what the Statler Hilton looked like in later years...

http://www.forgottendetroit.com/blog/?p=74

-Z

The Trader Vic's in Detroit is certainly the least documented of all the TVs. Here are a couple of newspaper ads I found.

DC

Pages: 1 17 replies