Traders / Trader Vic's - Beverly Hills, CA (restaurant)

On 2014-08-01 07:09, hiltiki wrote:
We were driving by the corner of Wiltshire and Santa Monica last night and where Trader Vics used to be is completely torn down and gone. I am pretty sure the fabulous old Bullock's building is also torn down.

Did you mean the Robinson's Department Store? It was next to Trader Vic's and it was torn down this past week along with Trader Vic's. You can see the Beverly Hilton in the background of the picture.
I hope the old Bullock's Wilshire is never torn down. It's too much of a landmark.

A sterile looking Waldorf Astoria will replace the 2 landmarks. They certainly didn't reference the New York Waldorf Astoria in designing the new hotel.

Bullocks Wilshire is owned by Southwestern Law school. They use it as their library and part of their campus. It's still very much there, and once a year there are tours available. http://www.swlaw.edu/campus/building/summerday

Oy! I meant to say Robinson's....

1986 menu from the LAPL archives.

Undated photo from a FB group specializing in vintage LA photos.

Picked up this somewhat rare postcard of the Garden Room at the Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills.

DC

From a restaurant design book....The Traders when it opened. Sven, to answer your question (or jog your memory :)) from 2011 post...it was Adelbert Clements who carved 8 Tikis for the restaurant.

"Carving tiki sculpture for the Beverly Hilton"

The smaller of the two seen here in Sabu's post from page 2 of this thread.

Look at the SIZE of that clam shell!!

Did we ever find out what happened to that giant tiki out front of the original Beverly Hilton TVs?

The Trader Vic's Lounge at the Beverly Hilton near the pool closed just in the past few days. It's former space has simply been added to the hotel's existing "Circa 55" restaurant. Trader Vic's is down to only two locations in the USA. :(

So sad.... Another legacy closure. I wonder if they slowly slipped into obscurity due to intense competition in their market, or if it was just time for a change in that location. The restaurant biz is tough. Sometimes even being awesome doesn't guarantee success.

Emeryville, being family owned will hopefully go on for quite some time. I don't know enough about the Atlanta group which has the franchise, but reports from friends suggest that it is doing well enough to keep going. Perhaps along with the foreign locations we'll have at least the two for awhile longer.

Here is part of the booklet that Bigbro referenced back on page 4 of this thread documenting the construction of the Beverly Hilton and the Trader's Restaurant by Richard Cromwell from the motion picture industry. It includes a photo and reference to the Tiki carver Adalbert T. Clements.

Opened August 11, 1955.

DC

Yesterday as I was driving by, sad....

Found this last week!

Now that is cool! A-Frames and tail fins! I just grabbed one on ebay. The large fishtrap lights from Trader Vic's (including the one under the A-Frame entrance) now reside at Tiki Ko in Bakersfield.

DC

Some paparazzi celebrity photos from the Beverly Hills Trader Vic's including Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, Dudley Moore, Billy Wilder, and Milton Berle circa early 1980s.

DC