South Seas, located at 1301 Story Ave., dates to the summer of 2022.
San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel posts this conceptual history of tiki. The curmudgeon in me desperately wants to question the use of “culture” in this context, but this can be left to another day.
The Evolution of Tiki Culture in San Francisco
Like much of American pop culture, the tiki bar concept was born in Hollywood. In the years following Prohibition, the burdens of the Great Depression and a scarcity of commercial air travel each contributed to the seduction of a Polynesian escape — real or imagined. Donn Beach (neé Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt) is credited with inventing the tiki aesthetic with the opening of his Don the Beachcomber bar in 1933, which immersed diners in tropical decor and rum-fueled creations such as the Zombie and Navy Grog. Four years later, Beach’s success led competing restaurateur Vic Bergeron — who would go on to create the tiki bar’s signature drink, the Mai Tai — to rechristen his Oakland bar and eatery as the South Seas-inspired Trader Vic’s. The tiki craze was on, and soon after, every major U.S. city would have a tropical-inspired refuge to sip exotic drinks and feast on gussied-up versions of American-Asian plates.
Meanwhile in Louisville, there’s an ownership shift to report.
South Seas Tiki Bar sold to new owner, by Michael L. Jones (Louisville Business First)
South Seas, a tiki bar-themed restaurant and mini-golf destination in the Butchertown neighborhood, has a new owner. Ruth Gao, a former learning and development specialist at Catalyst Learning Co., purchased the tiki bar in early November…
“My background is in education, but I worked for three years as the director of training and drive-thru at Chick-fil-a, and those were the most fun years I had working ever,” Ruth Gao explained. “I knew I wanted to get back into that. And so, when this opportunity to purchase a great place with mini golf inside and great vibes, we jumped at it.”
