Trader Vic's Architecture - Part 3

Today we will step it up one more notch and take a look at some of Trader Vic's finest exterior designs. These restaurants were all constructed as free standing buildings and were not inside of their respective hotel lobby.

Our first stop will require a trip down to the Caribean. Vic's had two locations in the Caribean, one in Havana, Cuba and the other in San Juan, Puerto Rico.


San Jaun, Puerto Rico

Trader Vic's was located at the Caribe Hilton. From the street, the entrance looks similar to the A-frames we examined in Part 2 of this series.





However, after you entered the doors, you passed thru the hotel lobby to the restaurant on the back side of the hotel which overlooked the gardens and lagoon.






Next we have to travel north of the border to Canada.....


Vancouver, British Columbia


Trader Vic's was located in the Bayshore Inn (seen in the lower right corner).





This Vic's was unique because it was the only location you could travel via watercraft to the restaurant.





Here you can see a boat docked right in front of the restaurant, that would be a great evening, boating to and from Trader Vic's for dinner and drinks.





Here is a great shot of the building where you can see the petro glyphs that were so common to Vic's.







Because they were not limited by the ceiling height inside of the hotel lobby, the free standing Vic's had very tall, soaring interior roof lines.

Vic's has since closed at the Bayshore Inn, but that's not the end of the story. The building was purchased by a couple several years ago and they had it relocated to Vancouver Island. Moving a structure that size was quite a job and involved lifting the restaurant onto a barge, floating over to the island and then lifting it onto a truck for the drive to its final resting place.





The company who moved the building, Nickel Bros House Moving, has several pictures of the move on their website.



Our final stop on this tour, put on your cowboy hat and spurs....


Scottsdale, Arizona

The Scottsdale Trader Vic's is unique for two reasons. First, it was one of a very few free standing buildings. Secondly, it was unique in the fact that it was the only Trader Vic's that was built as a stand alone restaurant, there was no adjacent Hilton hotel, this was just a Trader Vic's restaurant on it's own.


It was located in the Fifth Avenue Shopping District in Scottsdale (an upscale suburb of Phoenix).





You can see Vic's roofline along the right side of the above picture.



Looking the other way back down 5th Avenue.








A common postcard from the Scottsdale Trader Vic's, highlighting a beautiful Arizona sunset.