Seventy years since it first came ashore in Los Angeles, the iconic Polynesian-themed restaurant and bar, Trader Vic’s, will make its return to Southern California.
The restaurant, now a worldwide chain with 17 locations, has a long and storied history as an early pioneer of tiki cocktails – elaborate combinations of fresh fruit juices, exotic spices and more often than not, rum.
The first Trader Vic’s was founded in Oakland in 1934 by its titular character, a peg-legged businessman named Victor Bergeron. Partly inspired by fellow rum runner Donn Beach – a Los Angeles-based adventurer credited with inventing the concept of a “tiki bar” – Bergeron set out to create his own Polynesian-themed restaurant. Combining Caribbean-inspired libations with Asian fusion cuisine and authentic décor from islands of the South Pacific, Trader Vic’s offered a tropical escape for visitors from across generations…