Pago Pago Lounge was a mid-twentieth century

Tiki Bar A tiki bar is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails. Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their tiki culture décor which is based upon a rom ...

named for and inspired by the capital city of

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island of

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

. Opened in 1947, it was the first Tiki themed restaurant and bar in

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

located in the Miracle Mile Historic District.

History

In 1947 the architectural firm of Blanton and Cole were commissioned to design the exotic Pago-Pago Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge, a nightclub at 2201 N. Oracle Road (along the Miracle Mile Strip) for business partners Bob McAffee and Homer Moore. The project included design consultation from restaurant designers Clif and Lou Sawyer (who was involved in numerous other tiki themes bars including Link Paola's Outrigger in Honolulu, Trade Winds in Wagon Wheel Junction - Oxnard, California, Moongate in Los Angeles, the South Seas in Anchorage Alaska, and the Bikini in Phoenix, and The Lanai in San Mateo, California) and was built by general contractor F.B. Pacheco. The Pago Pago was a one-story boxy, rectangular building that featured an entrance porch designed to evoke a Polynesian

palapa Palapa is a series of Communications satellites owned by Indosat, an Indonesian telecommunications company (formerly by Perumtel and then by PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia/Satelindo). Starting with the first in July 1976, at which time Indon ...

. The circular entrance walls were adorned with faux Polynesian deco murals. Signs made of large individual letters outlined in

neon Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air. It was discovered (along with krypton ...

spelled out “Pago Pago”; on both the east and north walls. The lounge featured a long, curving bar with a painted night sky and irregularly arranged booths. The building was a featured location in the 1956

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

movie '' A Kiss Before Dying.'' The restaurant tagline was "It's Topical! It's Tropical, It's the Pago Pago."" In the late 20th century the building was heavily modified but the original palm trees and building form survived. The building awaits restoration.

Pago Pago cocktail

It is unknown if the Pago Pago created a drink named after itself when it first opened. One recipe from circa 1963 for the Lounge's eponymous tiki drink calls for: *1 oz dark Jamaican rum *1 oz orange juice *3/4 oz white grapefruit juice *3/4 oz lime juice *3/4 oz honey 1 dash Angostura bitters Blended without ice, poured into pilsner glass filled with crushed ice.

Other themed cocktails

In addition to the Pago Pago cocktail, the lounge developed a series of exotic tiki drinks which included: * Deep Purple * Dragonet * La Rhumba * Lupa-Lupa * Red Opu * Samoa of Samoa * Sarong

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Pima County, Arizona Buildings and structures in Tucson, Arizona Restaurants established in 1947 Tucson, Arizona National Register of Historic Places in Pima County, Arizona 1947 establishments in Arizona Defunct companies based in Arizona Tucson Inn Economy of Tucson, Arizona 1940s architecture in the United States Modernist architecture in Arizona Tourist attractions in Tucson, Arizona Historic district contributing properties in Arizona U.S. Route 80