Mystery Photo 1959 Tiki Bar

On 2008-08-19 12:27, Tom Slick wrote:
I think the mystery location is solved.

I agree.

Okay, I said I was going to bow out, but with this newly found information, I'm rejuvinated! Another indication that Lisa's Jewelry is the location (and not the adjacent businesses -- one of which I suggested previously it may be) is the position of 'the door on the left' in relation to the sidewalk. The door and doorway to the left of Vy's Jewelry is sunken and further in from the sidewalk, which differs from the door at Lisa's Jewelry and the mystery tiki bar -- both of which are identical in position.

When I get my 'Tiki Detectives' show contract together for an on air broadcast, I'm definitely hiring AlienTiki (the one who first suggested the Grant Avenue location), Tipsy McStagger (for his attention to detail), and Elecia's Uncle Walt (for his age, experience, and swag). And if 'Tiki Detectives' ever becomes an off-Broadway comedy, I'm hiring woofmutt to script it.

Unless somebody in the San Francisco area can take a trip to the appropriate library or other institution housing records of businesses in the Chinatown area in the 1950s (would such records be accessible on the internet? at a SF government site, perhaps?), it would seem our reliance is currently on Elecia's family and Elecia's coming-up trip to SF.

[ Edited by: DJ Terence Gunn 2008-08-19 13:29 ]

I won't write one word unless there is a scene with Dogbytes in a sombrero on a donkey hitched to a cart.

Guarantee me that and I'll work for scale.

just for kicks i looked up shanghai low on ebay and found a number of cool vintage postcards up for auction, including one from 1910 where the address was 532 grant ave....i wonder how many address changes this place has been through???

..there is also one from the 30's which features an older version of the marquee with chinese dragons on top of it and lanterns on the 2 front corners....very cool lookin..

anyway, i know that we solved this part of the mystery, but thought those of you that participated in this thread might like to view these postcards on ebay as a sort of footnote to this quest....just type in shanghai low in the search box on ebay and enjoy!!

On 2008-08-19 15:37, woofmutt wrote:
I won't write one word unless there is a scene with Dogbytes in a sombrero on a donkey hitched to a cart.

Guarantee me that and I'll work for scale.

Would you settle for twitch riding a barstool donning a lampshade & eating a burrito?

Dammit - a couple two floors up just got married and had their honeymoon in SF; if it wasn't for my slow wits I would've asked them to have a look around the area...

All along I was wondering about the less realistic, more two-dimensional "Temple" painting style of the scenes depicted on the exterior:

When reading this postcard's text:

... and regarding the murals behind Mr. Low,

...it seems possible that the same artist(s) that did the Shanghai Low murals were engaged to decorate our jewelry store's exterior. Though not Chinese, the motifs seem more Balinese than Polynesian in style. Perhaps inspired by Covarrubias' Bali Book?

On 2008-08-15 18:01, Paipo wrote:
The mural is in the style of Eugene Savage - his stuff was pretty widely copied back then. If it's a Hawaiian themed jewelry store, I'm guessing it's a Ming's...

*"At one time, Ming's had shops in San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Ft. Lauderdale, New York and Miami, and two in Atlanta. There also were four in Waikiki, and shops at Ala Moana Center, downtown and in Hilo.

But Ming's began closing the mainland shops in the 1960s through the 1980s."*

My comment probably got lost in the flurry of replies, but the mural is obviously based on the Matson line menu covers. I actually thought someone else would've noticed it much sooner, but it was never mentioned.
Here's the girl behind our protagonist (except she's by Frank Macintosh, another of the Matson menu cover artists, not Eugene Savage):

some of Eugene Savage's Hawaiian feast scenes:

the address is 540 Grant Ave. i took pictures outside the building, and the crack in the cement is still there, and although the building has undergone much rennovation, there are a few pieces of brickwork that remain (to match to the photo).

STILL NO CONFIRMATION of the business itself. Uncle Fred doesnt remember, so i've emailed the picture to other aunts and uncles. and passed the photo around at the family events.

see the Tiki Bob thread in "Locating" for other tidbits of info on that location.

I should mention that aways back on this thread I prompted the resolution/notion that this mystery bar was The Place, 546 Grant Avenue, the famed beatnick hangout in the 1940s and '50s. When it was mentioned The Place would've (according to directional addresses along Grant Avenue) been located to the left (as one looks at the photo) of the store next to the mystery location, I cursed, then sighed, but was pleased that I learned about an iconic location in the same vaccinity.

However, there is conflicting information about The Place's actual address. (This is the problem with the internet and, indeed, any kind of publicised writing, written and/or recollected by those who don't have their facts straight.) Many articles, etc. say the location is at 546 Grant Avenue, whilst others say it was at 1546 Grant Avenue. Having done a little more research, the 1546 Grant Avenue address makes more sense. (I believe today The Place is a design shop.) Still, I rather like the idea of this mystery tiki bar or whatever it was being inbetween The Place and Shanghai Low. That's quite a collection of fascinating places all on one block on the same side of the street!

In any case, is nobody else going to attempt to dig anything more up on this mystery place? I was really excited about the mystery being solved.

Maybe if we could throw it up into the mainstream press or get it up on MSN or something we could get an answer. Need a bigger audience for the thing.

Hey db - any chance for those pictures being put up?

(double post dammit)

[ Edited by: twitch 2008-09-04 19:26 ]

On 2008-08-26 23:18, dogbytes wrote:
the address is 540 Grant Ave. i took pictures outside the building, and the crack in the cement is still there, and although the building has undergone much rennovation, there are a few pieces of brickwork that remain (to match to the photo).

the door and transom match the mystery photo. crack in the cement matches. metal in brickwork matches.

(So we can compare pic to pic easier.)

(Oh, and of course to find somethin' to critique her about, for those of you into that.)

You call that a comparison? :roll:

On 2008-09-04 22:52, Bora Boris wrote:

...and his ghost haunts the location to this very day...

Tiki Shaker referenced this website on a prior page of this thread:

http://grantavenuefollies.com/

The folks involved in the "Grant Avenue Follies" look like they would be a great source of information, especially perhaps Mr. Chuck Gee:

"Costume designer for the Forbidden City, Goman’s Gay Nineties and Ann’s Four Forty Club in the '50s. Chuck is the Follies' only male dancer and he loves dancing for health and well-being. He is the group’s Chinatown historian and actively leads tours of Chinatown."

[ Edited by: Pacifilantic 2008-09-05 08:58 ]

Whilst digging through my folders of old research and info, I stumbled across this and realised that I never posted it years ago.

This mystery bar was called The Jungle Room: