Sing's Polynesian Restaurants., Bangor and Westbrook, ME (restaurant)

Name:Sing's Polynesian Restaurants.
Type:restaurant
Street:
City:Bangor and Westbrook
State:ME
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
Not much info on this one but enough to start some digging. Sorry about the quality of the photos. I think the sign is from the Westbrook location. I like the graphics and with the neon at night I bet it looked classic. The rocks glass is from an eBay auction and the highball from the historical society. Below is a short description of the restaurants. Thanks.

"The movement of Chinese restaurants into suburban locations continued in 1972 when the Sing family, which had operated Sing's Polynesian Restaurant and Lounge since 1969 in the Penobscot Plaza in Bangor, Maine, decided to expand southward to Greater Portland. They opened Sing's Cantonese Polynesian American Restaurant and Lounge at 152 Main Street, Westbrook. The family lacked the management structure necessary to operate two such widely separated restaurants and closed the Westbrook location by 1976. Although the closure resulted in significant debts, owner Thomas W Sing paid them in full over several years rather than filing a bankruptcy petition."

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2009-11-10 12:50 ]

Thanks for posting that Trav. I had my first Zombie at the Bangor location. I was born in Bangor (then we moved to the Maine coast-then the D.C. area) and went to the University of Maine in Orono. I have both glasses on my bar and some matches somewhere. My family would go often when we came back to Maine in the summer. I spent a few (too many) nights there while in College. A great place. Thank you.

OGR , Your welcome. I'm glad to hear a first hand account of the place. It would be great to see the matches from the place. Also do you remember if they had any mugs or what the inside looked like? On another note TRT lists the Westbrook location as the Polynesian Village.

The Waikiki Lounge Can be seen listed on the sign as well. A little closer look shows the hula girl on the glass resembles the one on the sign. Looks kinda like the Land O' Lakes girl. I also saw the Hu Ke Lau listed in the article as being in South Portland.

"By the 1970s downtown Portland had lost many retail establishments to the Maine Mall area of South Portland. It was inevitable that an enterprising Chinese chef would take advantage of the booming Maine Mall traffic and open a restaurant there. Chan Sun Ng (popularly known as "Sonny") opened the Hu Ke Lau at 10 Maine Mall, South Portland, in 1972. It remained at that location from 1972 to 1988 then moved to a new building constructed in the Mall's parking lot (2 Maine Mall) from 1989 through 1994. Sonny was the first local Chinese businessman to engage in extensive advertising using comical television ads to encourage people to eat at the Hu Ke Lau"

Trav,

Spotted this matchbook from Sing's on ebay a while back. Different logo with the hula girl on an island. Seems like I have seen this rendering somewhere else??

DC

Somebody is selling a pair of the glasses on etsy for $25.00

http://www.etsy.com/listing/105969667/pair-of-retro-highball-glasses-from?