Wanted: Menus, mugs, cups, decor, photos, and other ephemera from the long-gone Trade Winds restaurant at Wagon Wheel Junction in Oxnard, CA.
See the attached photos for examples.
Trade Winds was erected by developer Martin "Bud" Smith, and opened in March 1964.
It quickly became the hot place to be in town.
Besides the dining room and bar, they offered a Polynesian floor show.
The restaurant had a lagoon in front that lead guests up to a soaring A-frame entrance into another world inspired by the Pacific islands; inside were a series of themed rooms, including a central gazebo-shaped structure, the Samoa Hut/Tiki Temple.
The predominant theme was Polynesian, but some of the rooms included an East Indies room, a Sadie Thompson room, and a Zanzibar room, all designed by 20th Century Fox studio designer Fred Moninger, and decorated by Ione Keenan.
The venue featured many tikis and other decor, carved by renowned local tiki artist Richard M.
Ellis.
Some time in the 1960s, Hop Louie (of Latitude 20 in Torrance, Minnie's in Modesto and the Islander in Stockton) took over the restaurant.
In the late '70s, it was sold and became a Don the Beachcomber location.
Sadly, in later years the building was leased out to a variety of businesses: Coconut Joe's Warehouse Restaurant, Hawaiian Cowboy, an ice cream parlor (of all things?!), and in 1984 the business went under and the once-magnificent building was demolished.
Keywords: Tradewinds, Tiki, Polynesian, Poly Pop, Sven Kirsten, Otto von Stroheim, Tim Keenan, Shag, Trader Vic, restaurant menu.
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