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Tiki bar
A tiki bar is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails. Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their tiki culture décor which is based upon a romanticized conception of tropical cultures, most commonly Polynesian. Some bars also incorporate general nautical themes or retro elements from the early atomic age.
Many early tiki bars were attached to hotels or were the bar sections for large Asian restaurants. While some are freestanding, cocktail-only affairs, many still serve food; and some hotel-related tiki establishments are still in existence. Large tiki bars may also incorporate a stage for live entertainment. Musicians such as Alfred Apaka and Don Ho played a historically important role in their popularity, and the bars also booked acts such as exotica-style bands and Polynesian dance floor shows.
One of the earliest and perhaps the first known tiki bar was named "Don the Beachcomber," established in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California in 1933 by Ernest Gantt (who later legally changed his name to "Donn Beach"). The bar served a wide variety of exotic rum drinks (including the Sumatra Kula and Zombie cocktail), and later Cantonese food. It displayed many artifacts that he had collected on earlier trips through the tropics. When Beach was sent to World War II, Don the Beachcomber flourished under his ex-wife's management (Sunny Sund), expanding into a chain of 16 restaurants. Ultimately there were at least 25 restaurants in the chain.[citation needed]
When Gantt returned from the War, he moved to Hawaii and opened Waikiki Beach, one of two archetypal tiki bars. The bar was designed to evoke the South Pacific, with palm trees, tiki masks on the walls, a garden hose that showered a gentle rain on the roof and a myna bird that was trained to shout "Give me a beer, stupid!" The bar was located on the beach, lit by tiki torches outside which enhanced its ambiance. A Don the Beachcomber was located at Waikiki's International Market Place.[citation needed]
The other archetypical bar is Trader Vic's, the first of which was created by Victor Bergeron in Oakland, California, in 1936. The quintessential tiki cocktail, the Mai Tai, was concocted at the original Trader Vic's in 1944. He began opening franchises outside of California, beginning with The Outrigger in Seattle, Washington in 1949.
In 1957, lacking the capital to expand, Bergeron partnered with Conrad Hilton and licensed the Trader Vic's brand to Hilton Hotels for $2,000,000, for use in Hiltons across the US and worldwide. Hilton retained Bergeron to oversee the decoration, staffing and operation of the restaurants for an annual salary of $65,000. Hilton soon estimated the popular Trader Vic's establishments were earning his hotel chain $5 million a year. As the chain expanded, Bergeron also marketed tiki mugs, cocktail mixes, and other products for mass retail sale.[citation needed]
Members of the Bergeron family still have a hand in the operations of at least one branch. The original restaurant in Oakland, California, no longer exists but there is still a Trader Vic's a few miles away in nearby Emeryville. Roughly 20 locations are operating throughout the world and bearing the iconic name.
Prior to Don Beach opening his first tiki bar, during the 1920s South Pacific-influenced dreams of escapism had started to become more prevalent in American music and popular culture. The "kitschy" Clifton's Cafeteria opened in 1931 with some elements that today could be viewed as part of "tiki-like" thematics (indoor gardens with exotic travel themes), labeled by Tiki historian Sven Kirsten as pre-tiki and part of the "birth of Polynesian pop". In 1939 Clifton's Pacific Seas was remodeled to a full-blown exotic setting and decorated with 12 waterfalls, volcanic rock, and tropical foliage. The original restaurant was demolished, but a much smaller version in the form of a side-room bar named the Pacific Seas resides at another Clifton's location.
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Tiki bar
A tiki bar is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails. Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their tiki culture décor which is based upon a romanticized conception of tropical cultures, most commonly Polynesian. Some bars also incorporate general nautical themes or retro elements from the early atomic age.
Many early tiki bars were attached to hotels or were the bar sections for large Asian restaurants. While some are freestanding, cocktail-only affairs, many still serve food; and some hotel-related tiki establishments are still in existence. Large tiki bars may also incorporate a stage for live entertainment. Musicians such as Alfred Apaka and Don Ho played a historically important role in their popularity, and the bars also booked acts such as exotica-style bands and Polynesian dance floor shows.
One of the earliest and perhaps the first known tiki bar was named "Don the Beachcomber," established in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California in 1933 by Ernest Gantt (who later legally changed his name to "Donn Beach"). The bar served a wide variety of exotic rum drinks (including the Sumatra Kula and Zombie cocktail), and later Cantonese food. It displayed many artifacts that he had collected on earlier trips through the tropics. When Beach was sent to World War II, Don the Beachcomber flourished under his ex-wife's management (Sunny Sund), expanding into a chain of 16 restaurants. Ultimately there were at least 25 restaurants in the chain.[citation needed]
When Gantt returned from the War, he moved to Hawaii and opened Waikiki Beach, one of two archetypal tiki bars. The bar was designed to evoke the South Pacific, with palm trees, tiki masks on the walls, a garden hose that showered a gentle rain on the roof and a myna bird that was trained to shout "Give me a beer, stupid!" The bar was located on the beach, lit by tiki torches outside which enhanced its ambiance. A Don the Beachcomber was located at Waikiki's International Market Place.[citation needed]
The other archetypical bar is Trader Vic's, the first of which was created by Victor Bergeron in Oakland, California, in 1936. The quintessential tiki cocktail, the Mai Tai, was concocted at the original Trader Vic's in 1944. He began opening franchises outside of California, beginning with The Outrigger in Seattle, Washington in 1949.
In 1957, lacking the capital to expand, Bergeron partnered with Conrad Hilton and licensed the Trader Vic's brand to Hilton Hotels for $2,000,000, for use in Hiltons across the US and worldwide. Hilton retained Bergeron to oversee the decoration, staffing and operation of the restaurants for an annual salary of $65,000. Hilton soon estimated the popular Trader Vic's establishments were earning his hotel chain $5 million a year. As the chain expanded, Bergeron also marketed tiki mugs, cocktail mixes, and other products for mass retail sale.[citation needed]
Members of the Bergeron family still have a hand in the operations of at least one branch. The original restaurant in Oakland, California, no longer exists but there is still a Trader Vic's a few miles away in nearby Emeryville. Roughly 20 locations are operating throughout the world and bearing the iconic name.
Prior to Don Beach opening his first tiki bar, during the 1920s South Pacific-influenced dreams of escapism had started to become more prevalent in American music and popular culture. The "kitschy" Clifton's Cafeteria opened in 1931 with some elements that today could be viewed as part of "tiki-like" thematics (indoor gardens with exotic travel themes), labeled by Tiki historian Sven Kirsten as pre-tiki and part of the "birth of Polynesian pop". In 1939 Clifton's Pacific Seas was remodeled to a full-blown exotic setting and decorated with 12 waterfalls, volcanic rock, and tropical foliage. The original restaurant was demolished, but a much smaller version in the form of a side-room bar named the Pacific Seas resides at another Clifton's location.