How did you end up with a tiki bar on top of an Italian restaurant?
This was Pizza Rustica’s banquet facility, but we were only using it a couple of days per week. I wanted to do something with (the second floor) that would give it its own identity. Having just gotten into tiki around 2000, I called my brother one day and said, “I’ve got it. Let’s make a tiki bar.” Q: Do you change your shirt every time you walk downstairs? A: Exactly. (Laughs.) I’ve got the Pizza Rustica shirt on underneath. (Thanos pulls open Hawaiian shirt to reveal a black Pizza Rustica T-shirt.) Q: How do you get the Italian food up to the bar? A: There’s a dumbwaiter. We serve the drinks downstairs and serve the food upstairs, so wherever you’re sitting in the building you can get whatever you want. Q: The mai tai was invented in Oakland? Who knew? A: Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t. It wasn’t until the year 2000, when I really started getting into tiki, and started researching, that I discovered that the mai tai is an Oakland original. It was first shaken up by “Trader” Vic
