Vintage Trader Vic's drink menu question

I picked up this menu as part of an ebay auction. At first I thought it was fairly recent due to the artwork on the cover, but the prices inside say otherwise. I did a search but couldn't find anything similar. Anyone know anything about it? The menu that accompanied it was hand-dated Jun 30, 1946.

The menu says at the bottom that prices don't reflect the new Federal taxes, so I'm guessing it's sometime around 1945, I guess it probably was acquired the same time as the date on the other menu.

Sorry I cant help with identifying the menu!

BUT can you please list the drinks offered?

It'd be interesting to know what is shared with my current Trader Vics menu (from London) & what has dropped off. Also it'd be interesting to work out what recipes 'cross pollinated' from Don Beachcombers (e.g. the Zombie)

I also quite like the B&B or Champagne Classic on the menu, it would be good to put the tiki drinks in context with what else was popular at the time! :)

PS

Probably the 'youngest' drink listed will be the latest addition to the menu. I'll have a go at working it out if you post the list :)

I have always felt the same about this cover: The typeface looks so computer generated, and the art work looks so 80s!

Usually I am a good judge of style periods in graphics and typeface, but here I totally wiped out!

First of all, thanks to TikiTacky for posting the whole menu for us to look at! :)

For me, its been really interesting - Ive not examined an old menu before. By no means am I an expert, I'm just enthusiastic :) All info is approximate:

I love the polite script in each section. About half of the 100 recipes in all sections are marked with a star, I think these are Trader Vics recipes... that's a lot! He must of been churning them out. In a scan several jumped out as Don The Beachcomber recipes (Zombie, Dr Funk, Tahitan Rum Punch, Rum Cow), they weren't marked with a star either.

Quite a few regular classic cocktails are on there too, everywhere should serve Sazeracs IMO. Also spot the 'Mr Nephews Daiquiri 15 year old Special Reserve Rum' is on there - quality rum name check! The most expensive drinks were the Samoan Fog Cutter ($1.25), Mai Tai ($1.25) & Colonels Big Opu ($1.50).

Its worth noting the splits between the different categories (small, strong, etc) - small & strong seem most popular (about a third of the menu each). There is no split on my current London menu, most of the drinks could be labelled 'Strong'.

To determine the age of the menu I listed the age of every drink I could determine in the 'Strong Section' - it makes sense each section would include the 'latest' drink (if one was available). To separate them out I used some classifications:

Straight up, I had some I couldn't find dates for:
Trader Vics Gin Julep, Trader Vics Own Punch, Trader Vics Sling, Trader Vics Tiare, Funa Futi Fooler. I'd like more on that last one, what a name!

I think the following are 'traditional' recipes - they don't have a real owner & have evolved over a long time:
Mint Julep, Queens Park Swizzle, Singapore Sling, Barbados Red Rum Swizzle, Gin & Tonic variations, Martinque Swizzle, Mojito, Pimms variations, Planters Punch.

Drinks with 'known' dates:
Post 1934 Zombie (Don the Beachcomber rip off)
Post 1934 Tonga (part strength Zombie rip off)
Post 1942 Suffering Bastard (Cairo recipe)
Post 1944 Mai Tai

The idea the menu is from the 1940s gets a bit cloudy with these drinks:

Samoan Fogg Cutter & Eastern Sour are circa 1950s Trader Vic recipe (per Mr Beachbum)
Dr Funk is suspected based on a polnesian absinthe /lemonade drink, a Don The Beachcomber recipe from 1953 (per Mr Beachbum)
Tiki Puka Puka is a circa 1960s Tiki-Ti recipe (per Mr Beachbum)
Sharks Tooth is a circa 1960s recipe (per Mr Beachbum)

As these aren't marked with a star, they are borrowed from other tiki mixolgists or drawn from 'traditional' sources. Bless Mr Beachbum, Im going offer 2 ideas - one that he's already seen this menu & factored it in to his dating of these drinks (i.e. maybe the menu is from the 1960s?) or this is the missing link that dates those tiki cocktails earlier than before! So it's from the 1960s? :)

The date is part of the fun of it but the menu does raise questions with me:
*
Some of my Don Beachcomber favourites from the 30s / 40s (Navy Grog, Sumutra Kula, Missionarys Downfall, Test Pilot) aren't on there. If the drinks was popular & widely copied, given the rivalry reported between Mr Beachcomber & Trader Vic you would expect a version to feature on the menu (Trader Vic had a pimento Navy Grog) - any ideas where they might be?

Only 5 sharers are listed, I thought they were a big part of the Trader Vic repertoire - maybe they are just well photographed or popular? If they were more popular they might be further up the menu.

Id love to know how much of the tiki experience used to be the meal, there's very little chance Id go to a bar in the evening & order a coffee based drink unless I'd had a really big meal. Maybe they drank coffee 24/7 back them?*

I didn't see the point of collecting menus previously but I enjoyed being a researcher for a few hours :) Anyone else got an old menu they'd be prepared to PM me? Id like another go.

Like I said, cheers to TikiTacky for posting the whole menu for us to look at! :)

The prices for the cocktails might help determine its age. A 1968 menu for Trader Vic's lists a Mai Tai costing $2.10.

Also, it lists "Cuba Libre - Havana's Own Cooler." Would that have appeared like that on a menu post-1960?

"I am Lono!" -- Hale Ka'a Tiki Lounge

[ Edited by: arriano 2013-08-17 18:16 ]

Some of those dates seem off. This menu from Hinky Dink's (the original Trader Vic's location in the 30s) has a Shark's Tooth in it:

After looking at it more, I'm convinced it was picked up along with the original menu that didn't have any drinks listed. The line "The new Federal tax has not been added" certainly sets it at mid-40s. I've also been searching and this was the earliest Trader Vic's drink menu I could find. Does anyone have an earlier one?

T-shirts based on vintage tiki matchbooks: TikiTees

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2013-08-18 12:11 ]

In terms of pricing, it seems to have come between these two menus:

They have different variations on the same cover theme. Strangely, both of these have indexed pages of different sizes, while your menu doesn't.

As a vintage menu collector, I have not seen that particular menu before
also the artwork is not consistent with other Trader Vic's menus from the 40s,50s & 60s
and has an airbrushed look to it,I would guess it might be a reproduction meant to look like an old menu
but still that means is , I have not seen it before.

The prices are in the range of other menus from the early 1950s to 1960

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2013-09-17 23:16 ]

That last menu cover was also used at Trader Vic's Palo Alto. I was told by someone definitely "in the know" that the graphics for that menu were copyrighted by Trader Vic's in London (opened April 22, 1963) and Palo Alto had to get permission from London to use the graphic.

On 2013-09-17 23:08, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
As a vintage menu collector, I have not seen that particular menu before
also the artwork is not consistent with other Trader Vic's menus from the 40s,50s & 60s
and has an airbrushed look to it,I would guess it might be a reproduction meant to look like an old menu
but still that means is , I have not seen it before.

The prices are in the range of other menus from the early 1950s to 1960

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2013-09-17 23:16 ]

It is definitely not a reproduction. I close look indicates it was printed using a letterpress method, as the lettering is clearly pressed into the page. Modern lithography or digital printing won't produce this telltale sign.

The original artwork for this menu used to hang at the Emeryville location:

So can we say what year the artwork is from to establish
a time-line? also does anyone else have this menu?

It is new to me & I would like to verify the info, Thanks ya all.

Trader Vic used to use two main illustrators: William F. Kay (who signed as Kay), and Guy Huze, this cover is by neither. What is the signature of this artist (I cannot make it out)?

Stylistically, judging by the sort of round, cartoony rendering style of faces and, uh, other body parts, it might be the same artist who did these sketches that ended up on the wall of the new Portland Trader Vic's (how is that location doing by the way?):

I was very intrigued by these, since I had never seen them published in any menu, but I photographed only those two close, maybe someone can shoot the other two for better comparison? I could not see a date or signature, and I doubt anyone at Trader Vic's has that info, but if we google the name on the menu cover, we might find the artist's bio.

Those four posters are also on the lounge wall of the Emeryville location. They were added during the 2010 remodel. Next time I'm there I'll take a close-up, assuming no one beats me to it and it doesn't interfere with the other guests.

Thank You. When there, also see if this original rendering is still around, and record the artist's signature...

On 2013-09-18 22:06, Trad'r Bill wrote:
The original artwork for this menu used to hang at the Emeryville location:

...as it is not on the menu cover:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2013-09-22 11:41 ]

I think that menu art is not currently on display at Emeryville. The most likely place would be in "The Trader's Office" where the walls are filled with memorabilia and a few old menus. I just happened to be there last Wednesday at closing and took my time viewing all those items and didn't find it there. I'm sure it isn't in the lounge or dining rooms either. Perhaps it's considered to be in bad taste by today's standards (at least that's what my wife tells me!). Thank goodness the Leeteg's are still on display in the lounge!

The classic London menu graphic that I mentioned previously in this thread, the one with the two bare breasted wahinis that has been used in other Trader Vic locations, has been censored in some western locations. Bikini tops were scribbled on the menus after the fact over the breasts. When reprinted the new graphics include the tops in the artwork.

I thought we were past that "nudity = bad taste" p.c. period, comme ca:

See if you can catch a "forbidden glimpse" of the piece...

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2013-09-22 11:40 ]

I think it's more likely due to that antiquated late 60's/early 70's Women's Liberation notion of women not wanting to be treated as "sex objects". By the way, if we must accept modified menu cover graphics I like the tasteful lei modification much better than the unauthentic bikini top scribble!

[ Edited by: TropicDrinkBoy 2013-09-22 14:39 ]

On 2013-09-18 01:44, TropicDrinkBoy wrote:
That last menu cover was also used at Trader Vic's Palo Alto. I was told by someone definitely "in the know" that the graphics for that menu were copyrighted by Trader Vic's in London (opened April 22, 1963) and Palo Alto had to get permission from London to use the graphic.

If you mean the painting of the sailor on the barrel with two topless girls (the second image I posted), I'm sure it was used in the US before 1963.

Here's a signed San Francisco/Oakland menu from 1956, and the menu I posted was than that.

Any more details on the London copyright?

All of these have a copyright from 1947 on the back. One just has to look. It's the design most used, and the one re-introduced after Tiki fell out of favor. I have it among the several Trader Vic's menus lined up chronologically in the Book of Tiki to demonstrate the evolution from the Pre-Tiki to the Tiki period. I never paid attention to the menu that is in question at the beginning of this thread because as I mentioned earlier, it always looked like a "retro" design to me.

I thought the 1947 copyright on the back was for the Trader's "Ode to Rum" on the back cover. I agree that the cover graphic predates London's opening (thanks for the link to the auction) but I'm sure there is something to the London copyright story. I was told by a 34 year Trader Vic veteran, who during that time managed several of their highest profile locations, that when he had that menu reprinted for Palo Alto he had to get permission from the London Trader Vic's because they had the copyright. In fact I recall he said he even had to get them printed in London for the Palo Alto location!

The place that ends up with the copyright for a concept is not the guarantee for its origin. The copyright for the Don The Beachcomber name was held by the Palm Springs location, for example.

William F M Kay was an American illustrator for Trader Vic's books in the 1940s - not in London in the 60s.