Trader Vic's, Oakland, CA (restaurant)

I see bottles on the left but I'm not sure what's on the right.

I grabbed a capture of this Christmas card from eBay a while back:

Very close to the rendering on this tile:

I noticed this artist took some liberties when depicting the building... the apex of the roof (of the main building) should be facing the opposite way. Anyhoo, I still think it looks cool.

-Trad'r Bill

A different style matchbook from the Trader Vic's in Oakland.

DC

I always thought this view of the old Oakland TV's site on Google Street View was poignant in the lot is empty, but two palms remain on the sidewalk where they originally flanked the canopy entry.

Grand Kahu

Tied by my Mai Tai...

[ Edited by: Grand Kahu 2014-02-28 10:21 ]

Thanks for pointing that out. I drove by a few weeks ago but failed to notice them. The next time I swing by I'll stop and give both of them a hug! I've been thinking of jumping the fence and downing a Mai Tai on its 70th anniversary (sometime this year) but I've yet to learn the exact date.

[ Edited by: TropicDrinkBoy 2014-03-02 08:39 ]

Here's a photo from an Oakland tourism brochure circa 1960.

That piqued my curiosity... Here's another Google Street View photo of the empty lot. I have no idea how old that photo is, but the graffiti seems to change quite a bit over time. What we need is a guerilla tiki artist (or a tiki artist with permission) to decorate those walls in remembrance of the old Trader Vic's. Or at least a small section of the wall...

Clayfran,

Great old photo, thanks for posting.
Here is a photo circa 1949 with Trader Vic and the Maori Punch recipe.

DC

DC- found another one like you posted earlier

Jon, Quit hogging all da threads.
:> )

Here's a scan of an ad from a mid-1960s magazine.

1948 edition of this fun SF guidebook.

A menu of 121 drinks! Wow! The Tiki-Ti makes a big deal out of its 94, and I thought that was unbelievable. How do you possibly remember how to make all that?

On 2016-05-17 13:35, clayfran wrote:
1948 edition of this fun SF guidebook.

It would be interesting to take each of those spirits categories and compare it to our home bars.

386 brands: (the "391" in the article is not correct.)
33 cognacs & brandies
11 gins
17 champagnes
34 wines
40 scotch and Irish whiskies
32 bourbons
103 rums
116 liqueurs and cordials

Over the years my bottles have multiplied like rabbits. I'm thinking that those with home bars should use the above as a measuring stick and put a "percentage of Vic's bar" in our signatures. That would be interesting, and would allow us to roughly compare the sizes of our collections and our bars.

Syrups, infusions, and bitters are missing from that list although some syrups like falernum may be considered a cordial of sorts.

Great history thread on the place.

Hey I was looking at photos from customer posts on yelp for the Emeryville location (great way to see a lot more of tiki restaurant/bars still out there) and came upon this photo posted by Eugene L.: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/trader-vics-emeryville?select=n7_DJnn9knDazeTs74w90A&userid=Lr-B-r-KF80yFy-2u336bw Very cool door panels that were reused here (in a kind of tacky way but at least preserved). Were these from the original Oakland location by any chance?

On 2016-06-30 21:22, Polly_Nesia wrote:
Great history thread on the place.

Hey I was looking at photos from customer posts on yelp for the Emeryville location (great way to see a lot more of tiki restaurant/bars still out there) and came upon this photo posted by Eugene L.: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/trader-vics-emeryville?select=n7_DJnn9knDazeTs74w90A&userid=Lr-B-r-KF80yFy-2u336bw Very cool door panels that were reused here (in a kind of tacky way but at least preserved). Were these from the original Oakland location by any chance?

It is speculated that those doors are from the 20 Cosmo Place, San Francisco location:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=30113&forum=2&start=15

Nice interior shot:

Found this cool shot from 1946 on Flickr - check the woody out front:

Full size original here:
https://flic.kr/p/HKYdx2

[ Edited by: Trad'r Bill 2017-03-20 16:43 ]

[ Edited by: trad'r bill 2017-04-12 09:30 ]

"I am Lono!" -- Hunter S. Thompson

[ Edited by: arriano 2017-03-23 15:56 ]

I picked up this rather unique print ad from the Trader Vic's in Oakland, really like the text and art work.

DC

Now THAT is a cool ad. I've not seen one like that before.

Sad thing is, one of the two original entry palms at that address has had the top lopped off. It wasn't doing well for a good long while. Thankfully the other is still thriving.

Also, the empty lot now has status of "Sale Pending". It will be condos or apartments soon.

Here's a shot from earlier today, showing the two palm trees and the increasingly deep set of weeds. Plus my car (license: 44MYTAI).

The Public Notice sign doesn't have any paperwork in it anymore. It does seem the neighborhood is generally improving a bit from the last time I was there in the late 1990s.

Napkin