In Search of Frank Bowers...

On 2013-08-06 14:31, Or Got Rum? wrote:
On an interesting note...found some Bowers items on eBay that relate to the pottery connection. In the 40's he did work for Vernon Kilns, on special edition plates...hmmm.

I wish Bowers had done some with schools a little more exotic than the University of Pittsburgh or SMU. For example the University of Hawaii, University Malaya or even St. George's University in Grenada would be more appealing. :)

Bowers!!

Hi folks, I am an art dealer in Fallbrook and new to this forum. A client showed me these two paintings they own by Frank and Vicki Bowers this morning and I am trying to get more information about the artists beyond the obvious. One painting is signed by both artists and dated 1951. It is supposedly out of a deceased bar in the Long Beach area called the Ark hence the subject matter. One mural is 48 x 55, the other 48 x 60".

A quick search turned up nothing on the particular saloon and I guess the name could be off but I will continue to research the matter. Any help that you can provide will be appreciated. I will probably get them cleaned (they are filthy) and then sell them.

Sincerely,

Robert Sommers
Blue Heron Gallery

[ Edited by: azurebird 2013-09-06 08:36 ]

:right:

On 2013-09-05 13:52, azurebird wrote:

Hi folks, I am an art dealer in Fallbrook and new to this forum. A client showed me these two paintings they own by Frank and Vicki Bowers this morning and I am trying to get more information about the artists beyond the obvious. One painting is signed by both artists and dated 1951. It is supposedly out of a deceased bar in the Long Beach area called the Ark hence the subject matter. One mural is 48 x 55, the other 48 x 50".

A quick search turned up nothing on the particular saloon and I guess the name could be off but I will continue to research the matter. Any help that you can provide will be appreciated. I will probably get them cleaned (they are filthy) and then sell them.

Sincerely,

Robert Sommers
Blue Heron Gallery

Great discovery. Thank you for sharing that !!

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2013-09-05 14:50 ]

If I strain my memory to the max, 2 places in Long Beach (CA) come to mind called the Ark. One was a non-alcohol serving Christian dance club (doubt that was it). Other was bar on 5000 block of Ocean Blvd which closed in late 1960's. Funny thing is that is across street from where Tiki Beach Festival is held each year.

On 2013-09-05 13:52, azurebird wrote:

....
It is supposedly out of a deceased bar in the Long Beach area called the Ark hence the subject matter.

A quick search turned up nothing on the particular saloon and I guess the name could be off but I will continue to research the matter.
.....

Sincerely,

Robert Sommers
Blue Heron Gallery

Thanks to both of you for your responses.

What a swinging place Noah's ark must have been! :)

Some of the males seem to be non-generic depictions of specific people, one can assume that they were either known personalities of the time or the owner and his friends, like it was done at The Embers.

I hope it was this place - "The Ark" it was in Sausalito but it seems like it was cool.

I will post better pictures soon, definitely after cleaning. Not the Ark in Sausalito, wrong decade, these were done in 1951.

Robert

It looks like some of those fair haired maidens are paired up with burly Nubians as they board the Ark.

That's pretty risque stuff for 1951 !!

On 2013-09-06 09:26, JOHN-O wrote:
It looks like some of those fair haired maidens are paired up with burly Nubians as they board the Ark.

That's pretty risque stuff for 1951 !!

And therefore very "exotic" for the time. These must have given quite a few folks a big thrill while drinking around these paintings. Cool!

My goodness, that guy was prolific - downright popular in some places: It seems that for a certain period, no restaurant/ bar establishment in the Long Beach wanted to be without his murals!

I am still wondering who these gentlemen might have been...

...they are far too specific and contemporary to be anonymous characters in the story of the painting. Were they the owner and his friends, or locally famous personalities? Famous creationists, or anti-creationists? Will we ever know? :)

Radar O'Reilly and Walt Disney?

I had the same question. You can see somewhat better pictures on my blog.

http://www.blueheronblast.com/2013/09/frank-bowers.html

That's a pretty good one page synopsis of Bowers and the works that have been documented on this thread. Thank you !!

It's questionable however if the matchbook art was his.

Thank you John. My readership seems to like the pieces and the topic. I appreciate the heads up on the matchbooks. I am a bit of an expert at evaluating an "artist's hand" and will carefully examine them and form my own opinion as to their authorship. I love researching art and paintings and have already found a little private trove on Bowers that I hope to unlock and share one day.

I don't have a ton of experience with the Tiki genre, childhood visits to Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic's not withstanding. But I have dealt in a few choice pieces of hawaiiana in the last few decades. BTW, Any tips on cleaning on hawaiian black velvet paintings?

In any case, I am going to stay on the Bowers hunt like a staffordshire terrier with his teeth embedded in a rib eye steak.

best,

Robert

[ Edited by: azurebird 2013-09-08 11:54 ]

[ Edited by: azurebird 2013-09-08 12:11 ]

[ Edited by: azurebird 2013-09-08 17:22 ]

Alright! That sounds good to us! We can use more active Bowers researchers!

All cleaned up, on auction for mucho moolah now here:

https://www.lamodern.com/auctions-2013/auctions/?auctionID=43&view=AuctionLotProfile&inventoryID=8507

On 2013-04-08 17:26, Hakalugi wrote:
Last month I was contacted by someone named Terri and she said she may have located a rather large Frank Bowers mural. She found Tiki Central and contacted me to see if I could help identify it. I asked her to please send me some photos. In the meantime I figured she may have already seen the In Search of Frank Bowers thread but I specifically pointed out to her a postcard that Dustycajun posted of Vivian Laird's Restaurant and Jungle Room:

Close up of the mural:

She replied with the following:
"Break out the cocktails because we have something to celebrate! It's undoubtedly a match."

Shortly after, I received some photos of it. This mural is about six feet tall and thirty feet long and is certainly not the easiest thing to photograph. Here are the photos from left to right, section by section.

I asked Terri how she managed to find this thing. She said a good friend of hers was hired to do some repair work and clean-up at a residence in the Palm Springs area. In return he was allowed to keep the mural, which apparently was all rolled up, among several rolls of upholstery fabric. He brought it over to her and they soon discovered that it was signed by Frank Bowers. After a little investigative search on the internet they found Tiki Central and contacted me.

Terri tells me,

It has been appraised and it is for sale, the price negotiable. It is in the Palm Springs, CA area. I'm still trying to find out how it got from Vivian Lairds to a house in Palm Springs. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, if anyone is interested in purchasing this monster mural (6ft x 30ft), please let me know. Thanks so much!

Cheers!

Well there you have it. If anyone here is interested in possibly purchasing this historic Frank Bowers mural please PM me and I'll forward your contact information to Terri.

Mahalo!

-Haka

Edited to lock images in a vertical format.

[ Edited by: Hakalugi 2013-04-09 12:44 ]

I'm sure the mural is fine, but the Hard Hat has had some changes recently. http://vegasseven.com/2014/02/25/hard-hat-hopes-don-hairy-concert-schedule/

Hmmf. I like the old look better...

OK, their website says "Hard Hat Lounge...an original Las Vegas dive bar" what the hell is an "original" dive bar? Was it built to be a dive bar? That ranted I do have to say that I love Bowers bar murals and hope to see one someday.

aloha, tikicoma

[ Edited by: tikicoma 2014-02-26 22:02 ]

Some/all of the Bucaneer Sierra Madre paintings appear to have started their life at the Bucaneer in Manhattan Beach - Anne Bonney, Blackbeard, & Captain Kidd match this place mat.

[ Edited by: mashoe 2014-05-03 22:41 ]

[ Edited by: Bora Boris - Re-wrapped the type. - 2014-05-04 09:19 ]

Very cool find! "Celebrated artist Frank Bowers"! …well, celebrated by us, at least :)

Im going to do a pub crawl to Foc'sle, Embers and end up at the Bucaneer in Sierra Madre. Does anyone know the Manhattan Beach connection?

I don't think so. You found it, so you have to do the research! :) I seem to remember that the Buccaneer in Sierra Madre had been in the building next door, which to me explained the modern acoustic tile ceiling in the current bar - but maybe I misunderstood them and they meant the Manhattan Beach operation….

It's a tough assignment I am willing to accomplish!!

It's where the Manhattan Beach Brewing Co is now, between Rock n Fish and Mangiamo.

Hope to hear more about this one! Here is the full Jungle Room mural in case the auction site goes away.

DC

I found out that Bowers and Prunier did a Spanish-California Days mural at what was originally the Ruth Home in El Monte, then later Maclaren Hall. Am not sure if they are still there.

This may be a bit of a buzzkill for Frank Bowers erotica fans, but after waiting over an hour outside a Baptist Church in Long Beach, listening to fire and brimstone pouring out, I was able to get these fotos of 1949 Bowers - quite a contrast to the Embers!!

This may be a bit of a buzzkill for Frank Bowers erotica fans, but after waiting over an hour outside a Baptist Church in Long Beach, listening to fire and brimstone pouring out, I was able to get these fotos of 1949 Bowers - quite a contrast to the Embers!!

I'm always looking for old photos for painting inspiration and came across this months ago on the Bay and forgot to bid. I apologize if someone here got it. I loved the "Girl with faraway eyes" look...like she is waiting for someone or just found out here husband is cheating. Anyway the background caught my eye, and lo and behold a Frank Bower's mural. The bar looks like Vivian Laird's restaurant, but the mural does not match, Any ideas? The Leilani Hut? Thanks, OGR

On 2014-02-26 21:45, JOHN-O wrote:
Hmmf. I like the old look better...

The website

bump

On 2015-01-09 00:16, mashoe wrote:
This may be a bit of a buzzkill for Frank Bowers erotica fans, but after waiting over an hour outside a Baptist Church in Long Beach, listening to fire and brimstone pouring out, I was able to get these fotos of 1949 Bowers - quite a contrast to the Embers!!

I missed this post from a year ago. Great stuff !! The original poster omitted the exact location but a little internet detective work came up with the following...

Here's a Long Beach Independent news clip dated Sept 1949 announcing Frank Bowers attending the "unveiling" of the murals...

And the Golgotha Trinity Baptist Church as it stands today...

John, you need to post more!

John-O,

Nice to see you here again. Here is another article on the Frank Bowers opening for the church murals in 1949.

DC

Yes John-O more....BTW, any ideas on my pic on the previous page...."The smoking girl w/ faraway eyes"?

Bizzare to think you can attend church with Frank Bowers and Jesus and then drive 20 miles north and drink with Frank Bowers and Satan. BTW Marty Lush is hosting a public Facebook event there at the Embers Lounge on Sun, Feb 28th. :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2016-02-05 13:27 ]

On 2016-02-05 13:18, Or Got Rum? wrote:
Yes John-O more....BTW, any ideas on my pic on the previous page...."The smoking girl w/ faraway eyes"?

Dunno. But that is a GREAT find !!!...

As we know, Frank Bowers did a lot of work for Vivian Laird's restaurants. This article shows that he also painted a mural for her home.

I have always thought that Bowers likely painted a mural for Laird's South Seas restaurant in Santa Ana.

That's my guess for the lady with far away eyes.

Bowers also painted murals for the Villa Nova restaurant.

And finally, his murals lined the walls of this cruise ship that ran from Long Beach to Ensenada.

He was a busy man in his day.

DC

I was thinking Laird's also...thanks DC.

What, the Villa Nova in Newport Beach?
I have eaten there many times over the years & didn't associate the murals with Bowers work.

Good find Dusty.

On 2016-02-05 16:46, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
What, the Villa Nova in Newport Beach?
I have eaten there many times over the years & didn't associate the murals with Bowers work.

Good find Dusty.

It's gone now. :(

It's this.... http://thewinerynewport.com/

Bamboo Ben
Custom Tropical Decor
I build Tiki Rooms for you! Just ask around :wink:
https://www.facebook.com/bamboo.ben

[ Edited by: RevBambooBen 2016-02-05 18:03 ]

Ben, is the mural still there?
Mahalo

On 2016-02-05 21:29, nui 'umi 'umi wrote:
Ben, is the mural still there?
Mahalo

I think it's in the Newport Beach CR&R museum. :wink:

Tanks Ben.

More Frank Bowers pirate stuff. No buxom wenches unfortunately.

Source: http://earlycaliforniaantiques.com/frank-bowers-pirate-scene-p1151/