The Luau in Beverly Hills. Steven Crane's Tiki oasis on Rodeo Drive

                        The Luau on Rodeo Drive 

It looks like a hangout from Goodfellas where the crew hung out! 

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, many of the finest restaurants in Los Angeles were located on "Restaurant Row" on La Cienega.   Along Sunset Boulevard, fabled lights of the "Strip" showcased the many glamorous nightclubs and restaurants. But, Beverly Hills offered something very different: an outstanding destination called The Luau. From 1953 to 1978, this island themed restaurant located  at 421 North Rodeo Drive was the spot of choice by the Rat Pack and Hollywood in-crowd for kitschy revelry. 

The Luau opened in 1953 on Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills. 

Lana Turner and Steve Crane at the Luau 

The Luau was as a popular celebrity hangout throughout the 1950’s,  and into the late 1970s. It was owned by Steve Crane who had several parts in motion pictures, but was best known for owning a few West Los Angeles restaurants, including The Luau and Scam, plus] restaurants in 14 Sheraton hotels around the country. Steve Crane was as dashing and handsome as any movie star who walked through his doors. No wonder he was married twice to actress, Lana Turner, who's daughter, Cheryl Crane "accidentally" stabbed gangster Johnny Stompanato to death, but that's an entirely different story for a different time. 

Years of research and planning went into building The Luau. There’s a reason it became one of the nation's most intriguing dining palaces.  It occupied the former site of Sugie’s Tropics. It was sold to Steve Crane and silent partner Al Mathes in 1953. 

This tropical, Polynesian wonder was breathtaking and beautiful filled with tiki paraphernalia. Steve Crane had transformed it into an idealized Polynesian themed dining affair with tropical fare and elaborate fantasy flaming cocktails served in ornate Tiki style mugs and bowls. In 1961, the restaurant was remolded and expanded to the parcel to the north. In keeping with the Hawaiian, South Sea Island motif, the front of the property was landscaped with a variety of palm trees, carved Tiki poles, a lava rock waterfall, fish nets, and other lush tropical plants along with a bamboo bridge that spanned a fish-stocked artificial stream. The restaurant featured two dining rooms, bars, outdoor patio dining area, stage area, and banquet room. For the remodeling of The Luau, Crane hired decorator Gabe Florian along with architect George Nakashima, who had previously worked for Welton Becket, the architect of the Beverly Hilton which included another beloved tiki themed restaurant, called Trader Vic's.

The menu offered a diversification of the finest in Polynesian and American cuisine and patrons had a choice of dining styles ranging from Polynesian and Cantonese to all-American

I celebrated my first birthday at The Luauin 1972.  I loved their Polynesian coconut Birthday cake with volcanic candles...what fun! 

We always went  on special occasions. My parents would order me pupu platters and non-alcoholic cocktails. My favorite feature was the bamboo bridge and moat leading to the front door. I also loved their giant Tiki Gods and oversized Polynesian wicker Chairs. 

An advertisement for the Luau in 1956

The Luau also had a fabulous gift shop that sold Polynesian imports off the lobby. Several years ago I was fortunate enough to purchase one of the original tiki oil lamps from a Beverly Hills resident who had a birthday there and somehow 'walked out' up with one as a souvenir. 

You can see a few of those oil lamps on the tables above  

And of course these legendary salt and pepper shakers that nearly everyone stole from their table!

This 1959 Magazine "Movie Screen Year Book", it featured a celebrity section called Hollywood Teens shown below. Caption read: "Judy Harriet does the Hulu, While Annette Funicello and Roberta Shore sip pineapple punch at the Luau in Beverly Hills. To judge by the expressions there may have been more then just pineapple in the punch. Roberta Shore, who is a Mormon, keeps the straw away from her lips." Yea sure... 

Sharon Tate with Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty at the Laua on St. Patrick's Day in 1965

Steve Crane's Luau was a favorite of so many in the Beverly Hills area, and one of those lovers of Polynesian Delights was the staff at Playboy Magazine. This is a small write up from June 1966, in which Playboy featured an "Urban Luau" showing off a number of The Luau's Ku mugs. 

           A close up of the Ku Mug

What I wouldn't do for a Coffee Grog. Although my mom preferred Navy Grogs which came with gardenias. She’d have a line of gardenias by the end of the night.

It's a mystery how places like this with such amazing decor and atmosphere go belly up. 

    Kim Novak at the Luau in 1957

The Luau was truly one of the greatest restaurants in Southern California along with Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s that established Polynesian cuisine in the Southland. But sadly by the late 1970s, Polynesian restaurants were in decline and Tiki was considered tacky.

In 1978, Crane sold The Luau for over $4 million and promptly retired. He successfully cashed in on America’s early Tiki craze for over twenty-five years and enjoyed doing it. The building with all of its South Sea Island décor was demolished a year later and was replaced with the “Rodeo Collection,” the City’s first high-end outdoor shopping complex.

Scorpion Bowl From Steve Crane’s Luau

Recipe:

•1oz lime juice

•2oz orange juice

•2oz gold Puerto Rican rum

•2oz gin

•1oz brandy

•3/4oz simple syrup (optional)

•1oz orgeat syrup

•8oz crushed ice

Put everything to a blender.

Spin for 3 seconds.

Pour, unstrained, into a wisely sized bowl.

Drink by yourself or with friends.

Alison Martino is a writer, television producer and personality, and L.A. pop culture historian. She founded the FACEBOOK PAGE Vintage Los Angeles in 2010. In addition to writing for Los Angeles Magazine and VLA, Martino muses on L.A’s. past and present on Twitter and Instagram