THUMBS UP: Reopening this month at Hotel Palomar is Trader Vic’s, the kitschy restaurant best known, in the ’70s and ’80s, for the giant tiki guarding the door. The landmark eatery was supposed to have opened with the hotel in September, but there were management quarrels. Jim
Sibert, who was to have been the GM of Vic’s, was forced out during the summer, his spokesman said. According to Jeff Berry, a principal at Realty America Group, which co-owns the property on which Trader Vic’s sits, certain conditions of the deal weren’t met, but the split was amicable. Whatever the case, the tiki is back.
THUMBS DOWN: We’ve always looked up to ABC Channel 8 sports anchor Dale Hansen for steadfastly refusing to wear a tie on the air. While we played by the rules, Hansen gave The Man the middle finger we were too timid to raise. So we were saddened by his recent decision to adopt the silk noose. His explanation to us: “I’ve always thought you never grow old if you never grow up, but I need to grow up a little bit anyway.” In fact, Hansen replaced his entire wardrobe. “I don’t know the first thing about clothes, so I hooked up with a guy who does, and he picked it all out for me. Then he gives me pictures so I know what to wear with what.” Giving in to The Man and using a picture book to dress himself? What’s next? Reading t.s. eliot?
