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March 30, 2006
Goodbye to the birthplace of the Mai Tai?
As has been noted elsewhere, the LA Business Journal is reporting that Trader Vic's may soon be history. The bar and restaurant at the Beverly Hilton, which are rumored to be where the Mai Tai was invented, will be replaced by luxury condos and more hotel rooms, if the developer gets approval.
The original hotel structure, by noted mid-century architect Welton Beckett, will remain, kind of. Somehow the hotel will lose 96 hotel rooms even as three new towers — one 15 stories, two 13 stories — are built; they'll loom over the existing 8-story building. (As a side note, who deliberately builds a 13th floor?)
We hate to see landmarks threatened, even though the highlight of our one visit to Trader Vic's was the wombat-sized rat in the parking lot. Plus we had to share our vintage postcard of the Beverly Hilton (above). The text on the back sounds like it was written by Donald Trump:
The Beverly Hilton - Beverly Hills, California - the most sumptuous hotel in the world. Features 450 air-conditioned rooms, sunken swimming pool, cabanas, smart shops, four distinctive restaurants, five superb cocktail lounges and parking for 1,000 cars.
Would you miss Trader Vic's if it were razed?
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I looked into holding an event there a few years ago, and every piece of material said "Merv Griffin's Beverly Hilton" and your event materials had to say that, too, if you wanted to hold it there. Trumplike enough? I think the ownership has already changed, though.
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I recall fond memories there. My work buddies and i would celebrate every major deliverable with a night of scorpion bowls there. we coerced the waitress' to allow us to walk away with about a dozen ceramic coconut cups and my menehunai trinket has become an inseperable piece of my car.
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Trader Vic's was indeed the originator of the mai tai, but the drink was first whipped up not at the Beverly Hilton but at the original restaurant in Emeryville.