• “The Tropics” Rodeo Drive - Beverly Hills, CA

    Saturday 16th December 2006 - 11:55:28 PM
    Tags: , , , , , , , ,

    tropicsoutsidemonkeyt.jpg

    I would almost say this isn’t quite a tiki bar, but just tropical, but there are all of Don the Beachcomber’s recipes on the menu, so it must be part of the “family”. This site says it opened on November 27th 1935.

    tropicmonkeyt.jpg 

    This is a pretty impressive menu. More of an advertizing mailer really. Sugie really seemed to have a way with the celebrities. Beachbum Berry talks a little about this place in his discussion of Ray Buhen, the famed bartender of the Tiki Ti. Ray worked at the Tropics and probably brought those recipes with him.


    I was surprised to find nothing on Tiki Central about the place. Tiki Road Trip says that it later became The Luau, Steven Crane’s first tiki bar.
    tropics-full-t.jpg

    The menu is impressive when fully folded out. It has “quotes” from various celebrities about the drinks, including: Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Mickey Rooney, Lucille Ball and Bette Davis, among others. 

    Apparently many people blatantly ripped off Sugie’s Tropics. There are at least three places who use his images and phrases, in Denver, Dayton and Hollywood.

    match inside 

    match front

    3D breasts on this matchbook too, a Sugie “signature” idea.

    tropics2a.jpg

    tropics1a.jpg

    Also has raised boobs on the match cover

    tropics5a.jpg

    tropics.jpg

    Dayton Ohio Tropics

    tropics-match.jpg

    Bookmarks: Favorites | Del.icio.us | Blogroll | DiggIt!
    Filed under: "Tiki" Collecting, Polynesian Pop, Retro Goodies, Retro Preservation | Comments (10)