Trader Vic's Downtown Los Angeles!, Los Angeles, CA (restaurant)

I took these pics on Thursday night.

I'm sorry to hear that the Trader Vic's LA Live location has closed. The restaurant business is a very competitive and tough business even in good economic times, which many of us haven't experienced during the last five or six years. Just as tragic are the general sweeping statements here condemning Trader Vic's for the closure, many made by people who rarely if ever have patronized one. It's not like the Mai Kai concept or the Donn the Beachcomber concept is taking the world by storm, yet Trader Vic's continues to be the most successful company at introducing tiki to the masses, worldwide. With 24 locations, more than the peak during the heyday of Tiki, they must be doing something right.

There are a few things about Trader Vic's that evidently are not understood here. Emeryville is currently the only Trader Vic's owned and operated by the family, all the other locations are franchises. The owners of those locations have significant latitude to adapt their restaurants to their local market. You can't judge Trader Vic's by one location.

The Emeryville location definitely has that "it factor" for me. I visit frequently and each time it's as if I've taken a mini-vacation and escaped the drab concerns of everyday life. For the full experience one should have a drink in the lounge and then a full dinner in the restaurant while watching a beautiful sunset over the marina, after which the spirit of TV Emeryville really comes to life. The décor, location, service, food and drinks are all wonderful. As Sandra mentioned, the new cocktail menu is fantastic and business is booming.

To those of you who think I don't know a good tiki drink when I have one, I have to mention that in my home bar I currently have a library of over thirty cocktail books, an inventory of 45 different rums, many other spirits of all types and enough high end liquors to make nearly anything I want, from pre-prohibition to modern. I also frequent Smuggler's Cove and Forbidden Island, which also serve fine drinks, but with little or no food one misses out on the complete Tiki experience as originally created by Donn the Beachcomber and Trader Vic.

Trader Vic's may never be able to please the "I'm more tiki than you are" crowd, but for all the limitations as perceived by some of you it remains the most successful tiki establishment in history. If you like another place better then extol its virtues but you don't have to run down Trader Vic's. Let the newbies visit TikiCentral, learn of tiki establishments, patronize them and make up their own minds without being tainted by the negativity as expressed in some of these posts. If you can't or don't want to be a frequent patron of a particular tiki establishment at least give tiki businesses every chance to succeed. To do otherwise does no good for the tiki community.

[ Edited by: TropicDrinkBoy 2014-03-24 09:07 ]

Some speculation on my part...

With the Emeryville location as the only "company store", I suspect it does "double duty", also serving somewhat the same purpose as a model home, on a new housing development. It can function as a tool to sell the concept and help prospective franchisees see the potential. As such, everything has to be a cut above,... even if it means barely breaking even, or even subsidizing it somewhat from other operations. Like the model house, everything has to be near perfect, even if it costs more than the house will eventually sell for, as simply another house in the completed development. In this way, perhaps the Emeryville location is able to focus on overall excellence, on 'getting it right', partially shielded from the financial pressures of other locations. I wonder if the company owns, rather than leases, the property, further insulating it from rising rents.
Add to all this the pedigree that Emeryville enjoys as the "crown jewel", which gives a further sense of pride to the staff and makes it a destination location, and this may help explain the success and longevity of this location, compared to the upstarts of the last decade.

"The rum's the thing..."

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2014-03-24 10:23 ]

You gotta be kidding. Only a few weeks ago I was in Los Angeles for just 1 day (Monday, March 3rd) and made it a special point to walk from the Sheraton Downtown to Trader Vic's for lunch. While there wasn't a soul in the restaurant portion, there were quite a few folks enjoying themselves in the bar area. I sat at the bar and ordered drinks along with lunch, and service and food was excellent. The manager even came by to personally make sure I was satisfied.

Looks like it was my one and only visit.

My wife says I'm jinxed, and that every place I like seems to go out of business. I'm beginning to think she might be right. I've attended too many "favorite" funerals of late.

And while I wouldn't call this Trader Vic's a real favorite after just one visit, I did like the place and was looking forward to going back some day.

I do have to admit that every time I visit the Atlanta Trader Vic's (about once a year), I leave the place wondering if it will still be there next year. I love that Trader Vic's and wish I lived close enough to where I could visit it more often.

On 2014-03-24 22:41, PremEx wrote:
You gotta be kidding. Only a few weeks ago I was in Los Angeles for just 1 day (Monday, March 3rd) and made it a special point to walk from the Sheraton Downtown to Trader Vic's for lunch. While there wasn't a soul in the restaurant portion, there were quite a few folks enjoying themselves in the bar area. I sat at the bar and ordered drinks along with lunch, and service and food was excellent. The manager even came by to personally make sure I was satisfied.

Looks like it was my one and only visit.

My wife says I'm jinxed, and that every place I like seems to go out of business. I'm beginning to think she might be right. I've attended too many "favorite" funerals of late.

And while I wouldn't call this Trader Vic's a real favorite after just one visit, I did like the place and was looking forward to going back some day.

I do have to admit that every time I visit the Atlanta Trader Vic's (about once a year), I leave the place wondering if it will still be there next year. I love that Trader Vic's and wish I lived close enough to where I could visit it more often.

Don't be putting the jinx on Lei Low now!

On 2014-03-24 22:41, PremEx wrote:
You gotta be kidding. Only a few weeks ago I was in Los Angeles for just 1 day (Monday, March 3rd) and made it a special point to walk from the Sheraton Downtown to Trader Vic's for lunch. While there wasn't a soul in the restaurant portion, there were quite a few folks enjoying themselves in the bar area.

Inexcusable for TV. DTLA has a huge lunch market based on the numerous office workers a block or two away. Not to take advantage is ludicrous and led to the business closing. A new menu, lunch specials, marketing, etc., all should have should have been done.

Major bummer!

Man, I loved those mai tais. And unlike the Tonga Hut, I could go there with my family, as my daughter is a long way from legal age. She loved running around the outdoor patio while mom and dad sipped away. The patio was probably supposed to be for smokers, but there were so few smokers, it was like our own private backyard party.

What WILL become of all those wonderful decorations..?

I just received a call from Trader Vic's corporate office in Emeryville. They were down in LA this past weekend cleaning out the restaurant and they took everything back up with them to Emeryville. I asked if any mugs were available but she told me that they were all gone when they got there. So everything is gone, the tikis, all Trader Vic stuff, etc. I was at Damon's on Saturday and was going to stop by Trader Vic's for a look afterwards, but I went to a BBQ to watch the Kings/Ducks hockey game. Had I known they were going to be there, I would have gone after all to snap some pics. C'est la vie.