Latitude 20, Torrance, CA (restaurant)

The Polynesian has its own Locating thread, but I thought that Latitude 20 deserved a thread of its own also.

I have a couple of matchbooks.

Dustycajun recently put together a post for the mugs.

On 2009-04-16 10:10, Dustycajun wrote:

Here are some of the mugs from Latitude 20 from Tikicleen's and Tiki-Kate's collection on Ooga Mooga.

Name:Latitude 20
Type:restaurant
Street:3901 Pacific Coast Highway
City:Torrance
State:CA
Zip:90505
country:USA
Phone:(213) 378-8358
Status:defunct

Description:
I know that Latitude 20 used to be the Polynesian. I know that it was a Hop Louie restaurant. And I know that Sabu and Doctor Z give it a little salute whenever they drive past the location.

Just found this small May 1968 ad for Arthur Lyman at Hop Louie's Latitude 20 :down:

I found these newspaper clippings in a Ernie Menehune album I purchased a couple of weeks ago. The articles mention Ernie playing at Hop Louie's Latitude 20 and there is a mention about Martin Denny closing the show Sunday night.

Later,

PTD

Wow, that's a great find!

Liz,

Great score! That menu is huge!! Not much paper from this place.

DC

Nice, Liz!

So I have already been emailing with Sven but Dusty I bought this and a 70s Bahooka menu from a seller on Etsy.

She used to work as a bartender and then a cook at Latitude 20 . She also designed and printed the posters and flyers that were used to advertise the bands and events going on at the restaurant.

She lives in the Mojave Desert and is terminally ill...selling off collectibles to pay bills and to live (literally) off of until she dies.

She knows she has more paper from this and from Bahooka and is trying to dig it up for me to buy.

Also I may go visit her when I come to LA in February to see if I can help her sell stuff/go through a storage unit.

Anyways I will let you know what else she has.
I know Sven and Doctor Z and Sabu are interested also.

[ Edited by: SandraDee 2014-01-28 18:51 ]

More to share:

Brunch/lunch menu--a little larger and a thicker paper than the last menu I posted. This menu has no drinks listed in it. As I understand it those were on drink cards found on the tabletops as well in separate drink menu.

These oversized cardboard signs were on display at the bar letting you know you got free wine with dinner.

On the back the bartenders manually wrote in basic prices of the most commonly ordered drinks so they knew without looking through the menu what things costs.

Sample of the insert created to announce "specials" that would fold in half and slip into the menus
Written on the front is "Rough Sample". It is not known if this was ever produced and used with the menus.

This is what it would look like when closed. A smaller version of the larger menu it was slid into:

This is what it looked like open. It displayed the specials and their prices:

And here is what it looked like when laid flat:

Check out this ad that OC Chris posted on his blog.

Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman together again at Latitude 20 circa 1977.

Looks like Charlee Fong took over after Hop Louie.

DC

If only there were bootlegs of exotica shows...

Kevin

On 2014-05-31 20:11, heylownine wrote:
If only there were bootlegs of exotica shows...

Kevin

Kevin,

Bootlegs? Are you a closet Dead Head Tikiphile?

You can find a few bootlegs on YouTube, here is one with Arthur Lyman performing Taboo in Seattle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzLd_ycwYs0

DC

DC

I'm a deadhead tikiphile & those are some great images!

Ha - I'm not a Deadhead, closeted or otherwise, but thanks for that link, DC. Imagine seeing Arthur Lyman live at Latitude 20!

kevin

I found a bunch of articles and photos from Hop Louie's Latitude 20. This one dates back to the opening on Friday, July 15, 1966.

Nice description of the new digs. Interestingly the restaurant operated as the Jamaica West for a while after the Polynesian closed.

Here is an early ad for the restaurant with a nice Tiki image.

That came from the previous Polynesian restaurant that started the facility.

Here is a photo of Hop and Minnie with one of the vendors who helped with the remodel.

Here is another photo of Hop and Minnie with the head bartender, Dick Lee.

And a photo of Hop Louie with Ernie Menehune and the Mayor of Torrance.

And boy did Hop Louie get the acts!

An early ad for Rene Paulo.

Martin Denny was a headliner for Hop Louie numerous times.

More Martin Denny

And More Martin Denny!

You can see in this article that Hop Louie had Ernie and Martin hoping back and forth between Latitude 20 and his other restaurant The Trade Winds in Oxnard.

As we now know, Arthur Lyman also played there.

Ernie Menehune was also a staple for Hop Louie.

Some other acts.

The Aliis of Don Ho fame.

Don Leong and His Hawaiian Revue.

I love this name, the Modernesians!

The Naida and Nano show.

Evalani & the South Sea Islanders

The Waikikians

Steve Logan, the Hip Ho from Honolulu.

Miss Bach-Yen?

Everyone seemed to love her!

Arthur Walsh for New Years.

Here is a nice shot of a Tiki at a Luau event.

And some other fashion show photos.

Some good archive stuff here!

DC

Whooah! Great to know the date when it took over the Polynesian space (and that odd Jamaican interlude)

At the beginning of this thread Kate said that the Polynesian (which used to occupy this space) had it's own thread in Locating Tiki. However, I did many searches and couldn't find a separate thread for it.

Am I missing something? Or were these merged into one locating thread?

Mahalo

~Stephen

The Polynesian thread is not under Locating Tiki (although it should be moved IMO). It is located here: Polynesian

Another blast on all of the talent that Hop Louie booked at Latitude 10.

DC

Found this today

Nice glass Hang10, never seen one of those before.

Here are another set of band ads with a different style that the ones I posted previously.

DC