JOHN-O's Zombie Road Trip...

On 2013-07-26 18:38, JOHN-O wrote:

Coming up next, urban archeology in Oxnard...

[ Edited by: grog 2013-07-31 09:13 ]

More Pre "Pre-Tiki" research, back to Ventura County !!...

So on page 15 of this thread I documented the ancient Bamboo Inn near MacArthur Park. Here's an even more amazing Chop Suey discovery, in fact this is probably the oldest Chinese restaurant in So Ca.

It's the Golden Chicken Inn in Oxnard, opened in 1929 !!

Many thanks to Mike & Marie, my fellow urban archaeologists and chop suey-ologists, for the initial research conducted remotely from Ohio.

The Golden Chicken Inn is located in the older downtown section of Oxnard, a primarily Mexican neighborhood. This also supports my observation that Latinos are the ones keeping classic Cantonese cuisine alive. The restaurant is on the second story of a brick building...

The narrow restaurant consists of a series of 7 wooden booths with additional tables set up towards the center of the room. I would have to assume that at one point there were curtains on the booths to provide diner privacy similar to what the Far East Cafe (documented earlier in this thread) did in the early 1930's...

Here's a vintage photograph of what the interior originally looked like. Notice that the style of the chairs is the same as in the current restaurant (the originals ?)...

The menu is classic Cantonese with the requisite crispy noodles, hot mustard, and duck sauce placed on the table...

The iron grated cashier's cage looks to be part of the original restaurant...

The place is in terrific shape for its age, almost belying the vintage character that lies beneath. The current owner is the cook, who has run the restaurant for the last 33 years. :)

So let's continue 10 miles to the north and visit the site of the Hong Kong Inn, a place we visited last year when it was still operational.

The parking lot is chained off but the "Foo Dogs" still stand guard outside the now gated entrance. This gives hope that interior has not been gutted.

In fact, the notice of ownership change seems to indicate that it will continue to be run as a Chinese restaurant...

Who knows, maybe they'll resurrect the former beloved Polynesian floor show, most of those performers were locals. One can only hope.

If so, here's another place we'll be able to walk to, the newly opened VenTiki...

This place is tiny. Kind of like a "revival culture" Tiki-Ti. I liked the cozy friendly vibe, just like at the Ti. The tikis were carved by TC's very own VonTiki, who also happened to be the mixologist working the bar during my visit. Here he is on the right, next to one of the co-owners "Skipper" Scott...

At what other place will the local carver be the one mixing your drink ?? That's good Mana !! :D

And how were the cocktails ? Well both my Jet Pilot and Zombie (shown above, albeit the 1950's version) were very tasty. Most of the classics were represented on the menu as well as some revival cocktails.

Another cool observation was the circle thingies accentuating the bar, very Tiki Modern. And the soundtrack?... vintage instrumental Surf.

And while we're still in the neighborhood, here's a classic 1950's steakhouse that SoccerTiki clued me in on, the Sportsman...

No the theme really wasn't sporty, it was classic red vinyl booth decor...

And they did have some cool topless cowgirls decorating the bar's back mirror...

And look it's a Western diorama !!...

OK, so that's 3 (potentially 4) worthwhile spots north of the LA County line.

Hmmm... Let me think about this. :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2013-08-22 17:51 ]

Excellent field report, JOHN-O ... four in one! Although after reading it we suddenly have a hankering for Eggs Foo Yung!

And maybe a Jet Pilot!

Those chairs do look the same and, if so, that would mean they'd been in constant restaurant use for almost 90 years. Amazing ... and think of the chewing gum!

The primary decor in the old photo appears to be fresh-cut flowers. And hanging lamps. Don't you wish the cameraman had tilted the lens up just a bit?

The wooden booths with space for curtains reminds me of what has become, for me, a legendary grail in the world of pre-tiki chop suey houses: this old time Cantonese noodle house in Wyoming that opened in cowboy days and was still going, with an old-timer waitress-owner who came out to the booths with a serving cart and had been pushing it for some ungodly amount of time, decades and decades. This is already going ten years back, probably, heard briefly on a radio that had paused on NPR. I'm afraid to Google it right now because I fear we'd have to add her name to the "Lost legends" thread. But anyway, that booth-and-curtain design is very old, prewar.

Interesting, too, that it's on the second floor of the building. First thought is the similarity with Waikiki's pre-tiki Cantonese paradise Lau Yee Chai, built 1929, demolished 1966, and reopened on the second floor of a shopping mall.

The original LYC had a giant rock garden and waterfall, the new location (recently closed) had a grate wall similar to what you found at GCI:

GCI is in the heart of what was the Nard's Chinatown, called China Alley. And GCI itself was a center for celebration in the local Chinese community. Here's a story (with pics) of Oxnard's Soo Hoo family, who also ran Chinese restaurants there, and celebrated New Year's at the CGI:

http://polyfet.com/vccahs/Bill%20Soo%20Hoo%20Excerpt%20from%20Hidden%20Voices.htm

We didn't know that HKI had a vintage jukebox with old 45s. But as of closing last November it was still there, and so was the rest of the contents: "Collectors have offered more than $3,000 for the jukebox and its contents, James said. But the brothers are delaying any decisions about selling it — or the ceramic clamshells and tiki glasses in which cocktails are served — until after they've had a taste of retirement."

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/nov/24/cafe-society-venturas-hong-kong-inn-goes-out-in/?partner=RSS

Also, slideshow:

http://www.vcstar.com/photos/galleries/2012/nov/24/venturas-hong-kong-inn-goes-out-blaze-rum-vintage/56889/

[ Edited by: mike and marie 2013-08-22 19:11 ]

Bora Boris, Mrs. Fury and I saw the Polynesian dancers from The Hong Kong Inn last year at a Mexican restaurant in Oxnard. One of the dancers was our waiter. He told us the owners of the HKI were planning to lease the HKI to another party to run it and the dancers were hopeful that they would be asked to return.

Here is info on Oxnard's Crow's Nest. The building is still there (I believe it is a juice shop). Tim's info is wrong. The Quonset hut at the airport was Ted Hughes' Tiki Club.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=34366&forum=2&hilite=crow's%20nest%20oxnard

So we all know about the historical precedence of "Bump n' Grind" inside the Tiki bar, right?...

(Left to right - Tiki Bob's, Zamboanga, Tropics)

But what about "Tiki" inside a topless sports bar ?? That burning question was the basis of my latest urban archaeological expedition...

Despite the advertisement, the only "Hawaiian Speciality Drink" they knew how to mix was a Mai Tai (below). And based on the super coconuty taste, I'm pretty sure they were mixing with Malibu rum. Yuck. After that I switched to Bulleit Rye which at $8 per shot was pretty reasonable considering all of the décolletage on display.

And thanks to the multi-ethnic makeup of Los Angeles, these girls vibed better "Mystery Girl" exotica than anything you'll find at the Mai Kai's Molokai Bar. :)

And as advertised, the grass skirted cocktail waitresses were SEXY.

The bikini garbed "private dancers" were SEXY.

The one night only Hawaiian fire dance was SEXY.

Too bad the bouncers wouldn't allow me to take photographs of any of it ("But it's for Tiki Central !!"). :(

However here's a picture of the SEXY cheeseburger that I ate...

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2013-09-02 23:30 ]

No pics, booooo
Guess I should have went.

Jeff btd

"...these girls vibed better "Mystery Girl" exotica than anything you'll find at the Mai Kai's Molokai Bar."

Smilies or no smilies, I feel I must come to the honor of our Southern Mystery Girls here. You, sir, have abjectly failed to prove your assertions with easily-obtained photographic evidence. Absent such evidence, no free-thinking individual (who's ever had the pleasure of visiting the Mai-Kai) can accept your highly-subjective opinion at face value. I highly suspect that the only "mystery" at work on your coast is whether or not they're actually "girls."

You really took one for the team there, John-O. Braving that bar with all those jiggling parts. Why, you could have lost an eye were it not for your spectacles!

In relation to your search for chop suey joints, and the like, are you familiar with David R Chan?
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chinese-eater-20130422-dto,0,6902048.htmlstory

I forget where I got that article from, I think it was BoingBoing, but if it was here, man would I have chop suey on my face.

(Get it? Cause it's eggs? Eh? Eh? Tip your waitress, I'll be here all week.)

Brave man eating a burger at a strip joint!

My thoughts, exactly!

On 2013-09-03 11:24, lunavideogames wrote:
Brave man eating a burger at a strip joint!

On 2013-09-03 05:35, White Devil wrote:
"...these girls vibed better "Mystery Girl" exotica than anything you'll find at the Mai Kai's Molokai Bar."

Smilies or no smilies, I feel I must come to the honor of our Southern Mystery Girls here. You, sir, have abjectly failed to prove your assertions with easily-obtained photographic evidence. Absent such evidence, no free-thinking individual (who's ever had the pleasure of visiting the Mai-Kai) can accept your highly-subjective opinion at face value. I highly suspect that the only "mystery" at work on your coast is whether or not they're actually "girls."

White Devil, your last comment is puzzling considering your recent displeasure with the sexual ambiguity going on at the Atlantic Trader Vic's. The last time I checked my U.S. geography, that's in the SOUTH.

Also don't get me wrong, I'm a great proponent of the Mai Kai, but to me the Molokai Maidens vibed more like freshly scrubbed University of Fort Lauderdale coeds working their way through college, than the exotic temptresses portrayed in the vintage Mystery Girl calendars I've seen. I'll admit that's probably an unreasonable expectation on my part. On the other hand, the ethnic diversity (i.e. non-White) at Dames and Games seemed truer to the "Exotic Girl" stereotype as defined in politically incorrect mid-century American culture.

Sorry for the absence of photos but I did provide a picture of my cheeseburger.

(And FYI, you can't even get a cheeseburger at the Mai Kai !! :evil:)

Those folks my thread referred to aren't from around here, anyway. They're obviously confusing orientation for orientalism. But the sports bar mai-tais must've been stronger than you remember if they made you hallucinate a greater tiki vibe in a sports-titty bar than you remember from the Molokai. Or maybe it's the Molokai you can't remember.

So 'til you can slink back over to Fort Lauderdale, here's a li'l reminder...

I understand that "Californian" is synonymous with narcissistic, but in this case I'm confident it's just a rum-induced lapse of memory.

[ Edited by: White Devil 2013-09-17 09:24 ]

I don't think those two work there anymore. :cry:

Now those girls got the Tiki vibe. :tiki:

The last time I was there however, it seemed like half the wait staff were blondes. I thought the Mai Kai was supposed to make them wear black wigs, or is that an urban legend? :-?

John O,
You may want to check out the newly opened "Acabar" in Hollywood, created as a place to historically document cocktail culture. I have not yet been, but, they claim to offer a rum-powered Zombie ($14) served on tap, and in the tradition of Don the Beachcomber, have a "two drink maximum per customer."
They are located in what used to be Dar Maghreb in Hollywood.
Acabar
1510 N. Stanley Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323-876-1400

Ho-Tep-Nefti
Tiki Goddess Extraordinaire

[ Edited by: Hakalugi - fixed signature image - 2013-09-07 22:58 ]

A complex mixed cocktail "on tap" ??

Is that really what I think it means ?

$14 for an on tap Zombie? Gross.

For $14 I hope they clean the lines at least once a week.

I said I hadn't been there yet;
don't be haters til you've tried it.
Who's first?

Acbar, that has got to be a Star Wars reference.

On 2013-09-09 10:44, Hale Tiki wrote:
Acbar, that has got to be a Star Wars reference.

I Googled it and Acabar is a Spanish verb meaning 'to finish'. I'm not sure if that is what they're referencing though. The menu is global.

http://acabar-la.com/

http://www.lamag.com/lafood/digestblog/2013/08/07/take-a-close-look-at-acabars-cocktail-program

-Lori

[ Edited by: tikilongbeach 2013-09-09 11:20 ]

On 2013-09-09 10:44, Hale Tiki wrote:
Acbar, that has got to be a Star Wars reference.

"It's a Tap!"

:)

Hmmm... A reference so subtle that I had to Google it. I was never really into Star Wars.

Admiral Ackbar... "It's a Trap !!"

Actually I still don't get it. :(

On 2013-09-04 14:58, White Devil wrote:

The top photo is of Dave Levy's (the Mai-Kai owner's) daughter and I don't think she was there very long. She served us on at least one occasion and frankly, we wondered if she was old enough to be serving alcohol. The 2nd maiden probably had a big tattoo on her back, ruining the whole "exotica girl" illusion. Sorry, I don't really know that about the 2nd girl, but it happens a lot there now unfortunately.

On 2013-09-09 14:47, GatorRob wrote:
The 2nd maiden probably had a big tattoo on her back, ruining the whole "exotica girl" illusion.

Yakuza girls are exotic too, y'know...

On 2013-09-09 11:17, tikilongbeach wrote:

On 2013-09-09 10:44, Hale Tiki wrote:
Acbar, that has got to be a Star Wars reference.

I Googled it and Acabar is a Spanish verb meaning 'to finish'. I'm not sure if that is what they're referencing though. The menu is global.

http://acabar-la.com/

http://www.lamag.com/lafood/digestblog/2013/08/07/take-a-close-look-at-acabars-cocktail-program

---

-Lori

Hmmm, it sounds like that "on tap" Zombie might actually be good. From the LA Magazine article above it shows that their Zombie contains:

Jamaican Rum,
Puerto Rican Rum
Lemon-Heart 151
Lime
Don’s Mix
Falernum

That's pretty much the 1934 Zombie Punch detailed by Beachbum Berry.

Their other cocktails look to be well thought out too.

On 2013-09-08 23:16, Ho-Tep-Nefti wrote:
I said I hadn't been there yet;
don't be haters til you've tried it.
Who's first?

I know, Ho-Tep-Nefti, such Tiki intolerance around here !! :(

OK, so I was driving past on Sunset from Tiki Ti last night so I popped in to check it out.

Wow, Acabar is one swanky place !!

Not Tiki, but it really had a Middle Eastern "Exotica" vibe to it, like stepping into mid-century Belly Dancing album cover.

As advertised the Zombie is served on tap. I know that sounds crass but the cocktail was actually very tasty, it was a pretty solid 1934 Zombie. Not only that but they lit the 151 soaked lime on fire.

Here's the ingredients which go into the pre-mix...

At $14 I thought it was kind of pricey for an "on tap" cocktail but then I remembered I had just spent $18 on a drink at the Tiki Ti. Also you'll be hard pressed to find sexier environs in which to imbibe Tropical drinks.

They also had several rum punches and an interesting green drink called the Chartreuse Swizzle but I was already too buzzed from Tiki Ti to try them.

I might try to organize a mid-week TC night there, I think the Tiki peeps will like it. :)

John-O, I so totally agree with almost all of your tiki tie-ins to other forms of "exotica"...(well, not hillbilly = tiki, but that's another kettle of fish)

But in general....you are so right! I looked at those 50's/60's belly dancing album covers (of which I also have a sizeable collection) and can totally get it.

I mentioned something similar just today in this thread:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=46106&forum=11&2

as regarding a mexican restaurant that has the same concept as the famed "Tikis" in Monterrey park.....

The Chartreuse Swizzle is an excellent drink. There are several variations on various boozeblogs but the one I usually mix up is this one from Cocktail Virgin:

2 oz Green Chartreuse
1 1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Falernum (Velvet)
1 tsp (1/6 oz) J. Wray and Nephew Rum
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Very cool. Reminiscent of Rick's Cafe Americain.

Acabar is the successor to the magnificent Moroccan restaurant Dar Magrheb.

It's Barcopa on Santa Monica's trendy Main Street...

For interested urban archeologists, this was the site of the Pink Elephant, a Gay bar back in the 1970's when the area was Santa Monica's version of Skid Row (the "Dogtown" days). In the 1990's the "Elephant" signage faded away and the place became known as just "The Pink". Somewhere along the gentrification timeline it became Barcopa. (On another interesting note, Wolfgang Puck's restaurant across the street, Chinois on Main, used to be the notorious Punk Rock club Blackies.)

Anyway, Barcopa just recently started offering this Tiki cocktail menu...

And no this doesn't appear to be a one off, this is the ONLY specialized drink menu they provide. They even painted the world "TIKI" on the outside of the building.

The thing that makes this interesting is that BarCopa is by no means an "Exotic" themed bar (i.e. Tiki, Middle Eastern, or Pre-Castro Cuban). It's your standard Westside dance club frequented by beach locals, college students, and tourists.

The Zombie I had wasn't the 1934 Don's version, it was more the 1950's version. Right now, they said it wasn't cost effective for them to stock Lemon Hart 151 (not enough drinks to use it in) however the bar group that Barcopa belongs to (which includes The Association in Downtown L.A.) has commissioned their own private reserve with Mount Gay !...

Not bad.

And the drinks are really good value, $7 during Happy Hour (9pm-11pm) and $9 after that. Again, this place is more of a dance club than bar so it's normally only open Thu-Sat, and occasionally on Wed and Suns.

Their target audience isn't Tikiphiles (or even discerning New Cocktailians) but the Tiki experiment seems to be paying off as they've been getting great feedback on the new drink menu.

"Tiki" really seems to be going mainstream these days. :)

Good post.
I passed by recently, and I wondered "What is up?"
I checked their Yelp page and wondered if it was an end-of-summer promotion, to be replaced by Octoberfest.
But, thanks to your reporting, I am glad they are sharing the Tiki love.

Hi John - thank you for the cool review of our new Tiki Menu at Barcopa.

We welcome all of you to come visit us in the near future... I would love to organize a fun happy hour for Tiki Central members or maybe a monthly event for Tiki lovers in the area? Feel free to email me at [email protected].

Farah

:)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2013-10-22 17:57 ]

On 2013-09-27 11:19, JOHN-O wrote:
Thanks Farah.

OK we're on for Oct 24 at Barcopa for "Tiki Thursday" !! :)

I'll post in Tiki Events as we get closer to that date.

BUMP !!

Any road trips planned for 11/12-11/19?

Try this :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2013-11-05 10:05 ]

Me & my big mouth!

On 2013-03-21 19:16, JOHN-O wrote:
Just like first wave Tiki bars are a disappearing slice of mid-century Americana, so are Chop Suey restaurants. In Los Angeles for example, most of the 1950's-1960's places have fallen by the wayside, victims of changing tastes in Chinese food. OG places like the Far East Cafe and the New Moon have evolved (devolved really) past their Chop Suey roots and the legendary Man Fook Low is a distant memory.

So for those of you who cherish vintage Chop Suey as much as vintage Tiki (and really shouldn't we all?), here's a couple of surviving places that still figuratively keep the old Chinese lantern burning...

Paul's Kitchen has been around for so long that it's located where the original Los Angeles Chinatown used to be. It's in a seedy area near Skid Row but you will be rewarded with some of the best Pre-Tiki food around. No Chinese kitsch, it's essentially a dumpy 1950's (40's ?) time warp diner...

This is one of Tommy Lasorda's favorite restaurants, they even have a special combo named after him. The clientele is 90% Latino which is always a good sign when seeking out this type of food. Our Hispanic brothers love their pakai, chow mein, and egg foo yung. Also too many Chinese customers is a warning sign that the food may not be authentically inauthentic enough to be good Chop Suey.

The other noteworthy thing about Paul's Kitchen is that they serve two classic Cantonese dishes that are almost impossible to find these days; pressed (almond) duck and hom yu. Pressed duck was an early "Polynesian" staple on Tiki menus. Hom yu (steamed pork hash) really wasn't a Tiki dish but is a cult favorite for China Meshi aficionados.

Another rare place where you can find both pressed duck and hom yu is Chinese Garden in Montebello. It's been owned and run by the same family since 1962.

The restaurant evokes a 1960's modern aesthetic with its large metal framed storefront windows and Formica lunch counter ambiance. Here's the entrance from the parking lot...

And the food? It's probably the closest to what I remember of my beloved Far East Cafe in Little Tokyo :). FYI, hom yu is not on the menu but can be served on request. Also you can get the pressed duck with either sweet and sour sauce or brown gravy. Traditionalists will go with the brown gravy.

Wong's Restaurant in Garden Grove also had pressed duck and hom yu, but unfortunately it closed in 2012 (Sorry Lucas Vigor, that would have been local for you). :(

Remember everyone needs to support their local Tiki bar... AND their local mid-century Chop Suey joint. Who knows how long these places will continue to survive?

Real Tikiphiles eat Chop Suey. :) Gan Bei !!

A cool article on Paul's Kitchen.

Thanks CalTiki !!

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2013-11-21 23:09 ]

On 2013-11-18 09:45, JOHN-O wrote:

On 2013-03-21 19:16, JOHN-O wrote:
Just like first wave Tiki bars are a disappearing slice of mid-century Americana, so are Chop Suey restaurants. In Los Angeles for example, most of the 1950's-1960's places have fallen by the wayside, victims of changing tastes in Chinese food. OG places like the Far East Cafe and the New Moon have evolved (devolved really) past their Chop Suey roots and the legendary Man Fook Low is a distant memory.

So for those of you who cherish vintage Chop Suey as much as vintage Tiki (and really shouldn't we all?), here's a couple of surviving places that still figuratively keep the old Chinese lantern burning...

We almost thought we had an assigment for you. The other day we found this, exhibit A:

and exhibit B:

Exhibit B in particular is a lesson on the fleetingness of fame, because there is almost nothing else online of this "world famous" Chinese and American drive-in restaurant. One lonely matchbook on eBay, and it's used---otherwise, nada. But someone on a Chowhound thread on Chop Suey joints wondered if China Land was "the foremost exponent." It was taken over by a son, who passed away in 2010. Two other locations remain, not drive-ins but stripmall restaurants called Land of China. Doubtful there is any tiki involved here at all, in any way, although when finding the glass we did think that maybe there was a chance, perhaps an "exotic" drink menu at least, so we searched, but no---just some data for the chop suey thread.

3135 Midway in San Diego is now the home of a Discount Tire.

That's progress, right? I mean, people need tires more than they need tikis, right? Wait - I think that should be the other way around.......

On 2011-09-30 17:14, JOHN-O wrote:
I have two major Tiki regrets in life. The first is I didn't make an immediate Tiki pilgrimage to the Kahiki when I first read about it in the Book of Tiki. I blame the Bigbro for getting BOT published so late. ( :D )

The second is that I didn't frequent the original Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills beyond my sole visit there in the 1990's. From Santa Monica, it really wasn't that far. Now it's too late. (And for that I have no one to blame but myself. :()

Now I know that some Tikiphiles here took the closing of the restaurant personally. The way I see it, the closure of the original joint wasn't so much a slight against Tiki as it was the demise of "Old Hollywood". It's now in good company with other extinct dinosaurs like Chasen's, Perino's, and Scandia. That's life in L.A. I guess. (I am however prepared to lie in front of the bulldozers should my beloved Musso & Frank ever be threatened.)

We do however have the Trader Vic's Lounge to enjoy. :)

While some dismiss the place as not really being that Tiki, I see the Tiki mug as being half full. I can appreciate it for the following...

It's still housed at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, a place that carries its own mid-century historical street cred. The Beverly Hilton was Conrad Hilton's showcase hotel back in 1953 and has been the annual home for the Golden Globe awards since 1961. Although renovated, I can still get a sense of those Hollywood ghosts.

Also the lounge is located right at the pool and is surrounded by the original low-rise rooms. It's a pretty groovy environment to enjoy a Tropical cocktail on a warm summer night.

Also the Lounge contains some of the half-century old remnants from the original location.

One of those "remnants" even happens to be one of the bartenders. We're talking about an old-school Filipino Tiki bartender !! He'll mix you up one of the best Mai Tais you'll ever enjoy.

Well let me qualify that actually. One of the best Mai Tais you'll ever enjoy... at a Trader Vic's.

The biggest issue I have with TV in this New Cocktailian age is that the Trader Vic's brand well rum is not that good. The presentation of the cocktails is excellent but when you have that first sip, it's not going to change your life. What's merely a good Mai Tai (at best) should really be a great Mai Tai. And the Mai Tai at the BH Lounge ain't cheap. It was $14 !! Compare that cost to the one of the best classic Mai Tais I've had which was at Forbidden Island. FI's Mai Tai is only $9. Oh well, I guess that's the price of (brand) history.

So while the Beverly Hill Trader Vic's Lounge isn't a place I'd fly across the country to visit, it is a significant place to detour if you're in the immediate vicinity. And why not make it part of historic Beverly Hills twofer? It's less than a mile away from Nate N' Al's...

Have a corned beef on rye in a classic Jewish deli (since 1945) and then wash it down afterward with a Vic's Navy Grog inside a mid-century luxury hotel lounge. There's not many places where you can do that. :)

Having (had) 2 Trader Vic's in Los Angeles is just like having 2 ears, 2 eyes, or 2 kidneys.

If you lose one then you still have an extra to survive on !!

Don't forget we still have "The Lounge". :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2014-03-20 10:36 ]

Nice post John-0.
Gracias

I'm up for a two-fer, this year, John-O!

Trader Vics Lounge is excellent.

I only got to the original Trader Vicks once when I first moved to SoCal. I actually didn't know this lounge existed. Thanks John O for bumping your own post. I'm going to have to check it out now.