Trader Vic's

This Trader Vic's location is the original. It started out as Hinky Dink's, opened by Victor Bergeron a few years earlier in 1934. Hinky Dink's had some great atmosphere and cocktails, but wasn't Polynesian until Bergeron was inspired by a visit to Hollywood, where he experienced Seven Seas and Don the Beachcomber.

In 1949, Bergeron opened a second location, initially called The Outrigger but later becoming Trader Vic's, in Seattle. In 1951 a location opened in San Francisco that was a mainstay on the San Francisco scene for decades. From there, it exploded into a number of restaurants that still pepper the globe today.

Bergeron is credited with being among the first to incorporate actual tikis into a tropical bar/restaurant concept. Bamboo bars and tropical restaurants had been around for a long time, and folks like Eli Hedley and Don the Beachcomber had created a more gritty, flotsam & jetsam inspired "beachcomber" look, but Bergeron took that a step further into look that was both refined and primal at the same time. But most of all, he brought in the tikis.

In the mid-1990s, many Trader Vic's locations in the United States closed, including the San Francisco and Seattle locations. International locations, including many in the Middle East, continued opening. In more recent years, Trader Vic's location in the United States have been growing again, including a return to San Francicso, but much of the character is gone.