Post #107657 by bongofury on Tue, Aug 10, 2004 10:28 PM

I asked my Father-In Law about Trader Vic's and his recollections. He had lived near and visited the ones in Scottsdale, Denver, and San Francisco in the 60s. He will be 70 this year. He did not remember any music except at the S.F. location, that he described as Muzak played at a very low volume. Never thought about the mugs, just kept some of the tiki martini olive picks.

He did tell me about his favorite Bay Area dive, The Little Bit. Said it was about the size of the Tiki Ti, served sandwiches for 10 cents an inch. The owner opened another bar in Sausalito called "Latitude 38" and asked him to redisign the menu. The owner had a small plane that he kept at a small airport in Novato. He and his partner flew down to Mexico and came back with some duffle bags full of pot. They did not realize they were being followed by a goverment plane and were busted as soon as they touched down. Don't know if the bars survived.

I know my folks just kept matches from all the restaurants they visited. My guess is that the mugs were purchased/taken more by out of area visitors.