The Outrigger (Trader Vic's), Denver, CO (restaurant)

Name:The Outrigger (Trader Vic's)
Type:restaurant
Street:The Hotel Cosmopolitan
City:Denver
State:CO
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
Trader Vic's second "Outrigger" restaurant.

Opened in 1954
Changed name from "Outrigger" to "Trader Vic's" in 1960
Moved to nearby Hilton in 1978
Don the Beachcomber takes over the Cosmopolitan location in 1978.

There's an old thread for this location in General Tiki:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=10816&forum=1

... but since every picture link is dead, I thought it would be wiser to start a new thread here in Locating Tiki and hopefully get folks to re-post their photos here.

ZuluMagoo has a great series of blog posts on the history of the Denver Outrigger and it's relationship to Don The Beachcomber's chain in his blog:

http://tikiarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/11/trader-vics-vs-don-beachcomber-in.html

http://tikiarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/12/trader-vics-vs-don-beachcomber-in.html

http://tikiarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/12/trader-vics-vs-don-beachcomber-in_06.html

http://tikiarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/12/trader-vics-vs-don-beachcomber-in_08.html

http://tikiarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/12/trader-vics-vs-don-beachcomber-in_09.html

http://tikiarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/12/trader-vics-vs-don-beachcomber-in_10.html

http://tikiarchitecture.blogspot.com/2010/12/trader-vics-vs-don-beachcomber-in_13.html

... although my research indicates the Outrigger opened in 1954, just prior to the Beverly Hills location, instead of the 1962 date in the blog.

Puamana has some nice scans of an early brochure on her Arkiva Tropika website:

http://www.arkivatropika.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?item_id=49

I also recently found these two photos from a 1956 University of Boulder yearbook:

:up: Note the walrus skulls on the wall, (the walrus roamed the Rocky Mountains in vast herds during the 1950s)

:down: Here's an ad from 1956:

...and finally, a few more pictures posted elsewhere on TC:

Here's the old entrance at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, after it became Don The Beachcomber's (photo from 1982):

Please add your photos and information if you've got them.

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[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2011-10-06 14:44 ]

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2011-10-06 16:49 ]

I have collected a variety of menus from the Outrigger and the Trader Vic's at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Denver. They used quite an array of different art.

A few from the Outrigger

And some from Trader Vics

Some matchbooks.

And another postcard from the Outrigger era.

As noted by Sabu, Zulu Magoo's blog has some great info and pics on this place. You should check it out.

DC

DC, thanks for sharing your menu collection with us! Really nice artwork. I especially like that modernist Luncheon menu.

Your welcome Sabu. This particular Trader Vic's seemed to have the most varied art of all of the locations.

I have two intact feature matchbooks from the Denver location.

One from the Outrigger.

And one from Trader Vics.

DC

How about an ad for the Trader Vic's at the Denver Cosmo.

DC

Great 1978 Denver Post press photo for the opening of the new Trader Vic's when it moved from the Cosmopolitan Hotel to the Hilton.

Tattoo,

Ii saw that photo on ebay a while back, a great shot. I don't think that is from the Trader Vic's at the Hilton in Denver however.

Here is another photo from the opening of the Trader Vic's at the Hilton in Denver which is dated August 20, 1978.

The photo you posted is from January 1978 and clearly shows a restaurant that is already open.

Also, the photo looks like one the A-frame Trader Vic buildings like the one in Vancouver rather than one that is in the interior of a hotel.

A mystery location.

DC

And while were at it, here are a few more photos from the Cosmo version of Trader Vic's circa 1963.

(Look at all the Swag on that table!)

DC

You have to be a bit of a collector geek to appreciate this one. A red logo matchbook from Trader Vic's at the Cosmopolitan. I have seen lots of these in green, but never one in red.

Maybe to match the red menu they also had.

DC

Just got this great old photo of the Trader Vic's Outrigger sign at the Cosmo.

Very cool Tiki art. I am thinking that this was from the period when it transitioned from The Outrigger to Trader Vic's.

Tiki history is FUN!

DC

I spotted these drink table top cards from the Denver Outrigger on ebay that I have never seen before.

The first one is for the Gun Club Punch geared towards the outdoors huntsman.

The second one is for the Honolulu which sent me scrambling for my dictionary. Pulchritude? Huapalas?

DC

Look at those prices!