The Hurricane, San Francisco, CA (restaurant)

Name:The Hurricane
Type:restaurant
Street:533 Pacific Street
City:San Francisco
State:CA
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
This is another one of the Pre-Tiki bars that used the name "The Hurricane", presumably modeled after the popular South Seas movie of the same name staring Dorthy Lamour and Jon Hall. This one was owned by Burt Rovere.

I have this menu from the bar.

The lure of the Tropics indeed.

Some the the tropical drinks, some different names here.

The food choices, and the Rum of the house ... Ronrico.

Looks like Burt had a few other restaurants as well.

I grabbed images of this matchbook that shows the bamboo exterior. Anybody heard of the "International Settlement" before? The address changed from 533 Pacfic Street on the menu to 535 Pacific Avenue on the matchbook, hmmm.

Finally here is a napkin I tried for on ebay. They changed the look of the logo wahinee, going tropical and topless!

DC

I knew that I had seen the International Settlement in San Francisco somewhere before. I have this postcard that I got after Sabu posted in on the Pago Pago thread showing the entrance to the International Settlement and the Pago restaurant.

The house of Zombie.

Looks there were a couple of Pre-tiki joints there.

DC

Huh... I walk past that address every morning on the way to work.

Alas, no hint of tiki there now; only expensive home furnishing galleries, law offices, and a steady churn of overly upscale restaurants.

Here is picture of the Hurricane in San Francisco that I grabbed of the net.

WOW Hiltiki, that is a great photo. What an amazing looking pre-tiki bar, it has it all. The bamboo, the mural, the leopard bar stools, tapa, thatch, the rum, rum rum, and that bartender with the pineapple drinks is priceless. Nice find.

DC

Here is a napkin I have that lists the International Settlement location of the Hurricane with Jack De Maria the manager. Maybe after Bert Rovere?

DC

An ad for Sol Bright at the Hurricane.

Honolulu's Gene Autry!

DC

Another napkin I picked up, however the address is not 533 Pacific Street instead of 523 Pacific Avenue. Hmmm?

DC

Judging by the detail in this rendering, it seems to be the original that the above one was derived from...….or the other one on the top was :)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2014-07-24 22:20 ]

I am Jack DeMaria's grand nephew. It was always my impression that Jack and my father owned the Hurricane bar but that may have been temporary. It was in a building on Pacific Ave that was owned by our family and later became offices and the Little Fox theater where "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" and the "Fantastics" played for many years. My father had purchased doors and other ornamentals from the Fox Theater on Market St. when it was torn down.
The Hurricane had an intermittent rain storm behind the bar and sounds of thunder. Located in the "International Settlement", it was a popular stop for service men on a night on the town before shipping out to the Pacific during WWII. I am posting photos of two mugs I have from the bar. They are sculls with naked women and "The Hurricane San Francisco" written below the jaw on one. In about 1973 my father sold the building to Francis Coppola.

Great mugs! Thanks for sharing the info!

[ Edited by: Tiki shaker 2016-03-09 19:38 ]

WOW! Thanks for posting those mug photos. Anything else you have to share on this story would be awesome.

DC

Now that is a mug!

Those mugs are astounding, proper adult drinking vessels.

this should be in the Crypto-mug thread, what a beauty.

On 2016-03-09 18:18, hiltiki wrote:
this should be in the Crypto-mug thread, what a beauty.

I agree! I added them to that thread a little while ago.

DC

Simply stellar!! Love them!

On 2016-03-09 13:14, JacksGrandNephew wrote:
I am Jack DeMaria's grand nephew. It was always my impression that Jack and my father owned the Hurricane bar but that may have been temporary. It was in a building on Pacific Ave that was owned by our family and later became offices and the Little Fox theater where "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" and the "Fantastics" played for many years. My father had purchased doors and other ornamentals from the Fox Theater on Market St. when it was torn down.
The Hurricane had an intermittent rain storm behind the bar and sounds of thunder. Located in the "International Settlement", it was a popular stop for service men on a night on the town before shipping out to the Pacific during WWII. I am posting photos of two mugs I have from the bar. They are sculls with naked women and "The Hurricane San Francisco" written below the jaw on one. In about 1973 my father sold the building to Francis Coppola.

I would love to find out about the years your family owned or operated that place. Could be approximate, just a ball park.

Now this IS Tiki Central!!!

Thanks for the info. on the area of this location and the cool description of the bar itself with its sound effects.
As every one else said, and for most of us on here, please post some more info. about this bar or any stories you may know, any pictures or basically anything else you may know or have. It's great that you've taken the time to post here and for sharing.

Not only do we have some great info. but we have some serious artifacts from this bar!! Those mugs are crazy!! Great design and very cool idea! Its also great they have the bar name on them. It really makes me wonder though when they were produced? Seems quite a "risky" design and idea for such an early bar. Some, in a public setting, might even be offended by this style. But not here! We love them!

Anybody know when this place shut down? Could these be a contender for one of the earlier Tiki Mugs? I'm sure JacksGrandNephew is gonna get some messages with offers on those.

Keep em coming!!
TabooDan

[ Edited by: TabooDan 2016-03-09 21:49 ]

Amazing!

Amazing!

DC- u da man

Jacks- Nice mugs

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2016-03-09 23:25 ]

JacksGrandNephew: that is some AWESOME info and pictorial evidence!! Thanks so much for that.

The original owner of The Hurricane, Bert Rovere, was a fascinating character from Southern California, an all-around renaissance man. A baritone opera singer, he opened the Paris Inn (noted on the back of Dusty's menu) on New Year's Eve in 1924, a place that has a very colourful history unto itself. Bert passed away in the late '50s.

It appears that Bert only owned / operated The Hurricane for a couple of years, 1941 and 1942, which fits with the "circa 1939" date for the overall revitalisation of the street and its “International Settlement” branding. Interestingly, The Hurricane actually had two phone numbers listed in Bert’s days: GArfield 0998 and DOuglas 9459 (the DOuglas number, not printed on the ephemera, was most likely a business office line).

Then in 1943 we see for the first time The Hurricane listed as "Jack Di Maria's Lure Of The Tropics", replacing Bert. As of about 1948, however, I am unable to find any listings at all for The Hurricane. In addition, after this time one finds The Barbary Coast nightclub listed at 533 Pacific. In an interesting twist, I can find nothing listing The Hurricane at the other two addresses you mention (523 or 535 Pacific). Most odd...I'll keep looking...

On 2016-03-09 21:48, TabooDan wrote:
Those mugs are crazy!! Great design and very cool idea! Its also great they have the bar name on them. It really makes me wonder though when they were produced? Seems quite a "risky" design and idea for such an early bar. Some, in a public setting, might even be offended by this style. But not here! We love them!

One of the main reasons International Settlement got its name was to attract servicemen either on leave or shipping out, as SF was very much THE gateway to the Pacific during that time. Looking at the lovely ladies on the menu, napkins, bar back mural in the sepia-tone picture, and the mug, it all seems very much of a "theme". I can totally see some sailor proudly showing off a mug like that to his mates!

And maybe it's just me, but the script / writing on that one mug looks SO familiar...something about that particularly stylized lettering is making me think I've seen something very similar before, possibly on another Bay Area establishment's mug, but I'll be damned if I can remember where or what...

This is fascinating stuff! Great thread!

The Pago Pago looks like it was a couple doors down from the Hurricane according to an old photo I saw on Wikipedia, and if you cross reference the address.

Was the hurricane right next to or under/in the same building as the Moulin Rouge?

Those mugs...wow! Any maker marks on the bottom? So many questions....

On 2016-03-10 13:57, HopeChest wrote:

The original owner of The Hurricane, Bert Rovere, was a fascinating character from Southern California, an all-around renaissance man. A baritone opera singer, he opened the Paris Inn (noted on the back of Dusty's menu) on New Year's Eve in 1924, a place that has a very colourful history unto itself. Bert passed away in the late '50s.

Thanks for that bit of history.

Bert apparently loved his nudes, here is a photo folder from the Paris Inn.

DC

That skull mug has haunted me for years. I lost out on one of those years ago on ebay & have never seen another.
Amazing!

On 2016-03-10 16:09, tikicleen wrote:
This is fascinating stuff! Great thread!

The Pago Pago looks like it was a couple doors down from the Hurricane according to an old photo I saw on Wikipedia, and if you cross reference the address.

Pago Pago was on the corner, The Hurricane was the sixth building down from the corner.

Was the hurricane right next to or under/in the same building as the Moulin Rouge?

Opposite side of the street. Moulin Rouge was at 540 Pacific.

[ Edited by: HopeChest 2016-03-11 14:49 ]

This is what makes TC great...pieces of the puzzle resurfacing. Thank You. OGR

"In a South Sea island beach setting and to the accompaniment of guitars and tom-toms, Sol Bright, at center with headdress; Wanda, at right, and Benda, left, all in native costumes, execute the intriguing rain dance which precedes the famed storm scene at The Hurricane, 523 Pacific avenue."

• August 26, 1942.

Where are the "Like" buttons? :) Classic pre-Tiki Polynesian pop!

I also dig the newspaper editor's framing directons...

On 2016-03-09 13:14, JacksGrandNephew wrote:
I am Jack DeMaria's grand nephew. It was always my impression that Jack and my father owned the Hurricane bar but that may have been temporary. It was in a building on Pacific Ave that was owned by our family and later became offices and the Little Fox theater where "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" and the "Fantastics" played for many years. My father had purchased doors and other ornamentals from the Fox Theater on Market St. when it was torn down.

Here's a shot of the Little Fox Theatre from August 16, 1964. The mural that is cut off at the top of the photo is the one that graced the building when it was The Barbary Coast nightclub:

1941 ad

I found another mug from the Hurricane. This ceramic 7" tall mug has a hand written inscription in the glazed clay
"Lure of the Tropics"
The Hurricane
San Francisco"

Here are the Tall Mug photos

Sorry I couldn't figure out how to rotate these

I am not sure but think the Hurricane's green sign can be seen below the "EM" in Settlement

Yep, that blue-green sign right below the "EM" in "SettlEMent" is the sign for The Hurricane. This detail from the matchbook DC posted is actually the Hurricane's neon sign:

The layout is slightly reversed when approaching from the direction from the shot you posted.

I've actually been researching and writing about the International Settlement for a couple of years now (eventually I'll post some of that here) - so far, this is the best shot I've been able to find of The Hurricane's sign, at the bottom:

...which matches (heh) the matchbook image. So many pics during this era were taken from the ends of the street that it's extremely difficult to find good close-ups of the centre of the block.

On 2011-02-02 18:55, Dustycajun wrote:
Name:The Hurricane
Type:restaurant
Street:533 Pacific Street
City:San Francisco
State:CA
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
This is another one of the Pre-Tiki bars that used the name "The Hurricane", presumably modeled after the popular South Seas movie of the same name staring Dorthy Lamour and Jon Hall. This one was owned by Burt Rovere.

I have this menu from the bar.

The lure of the Tropics indeed.

Some the the tropical drinks, some different names here.

The food choices, and the Rum of the house ... Ronrico.

Looks like Burt had a few other restaurants as well.

I grabbed images of this matchbook that shows the bamboo exterior. Anybody heard of the "International Settlement" before? The address changed from 533 Pacfic Street on the menu to 535 Pacific Avenue on the matchbook, hmmm.

Finally here is a napkin I tried for on ebay. They changed the look of the logo wahinee, going tropical and topless!

DC

New scanner and more napkins-this is another version of the one posted above:

Later,

PTD