Pago Pago Lounge

Pago Pago
Arizona Register of Historic Places
Location 2201 N. Oracle Road, Tucson, Arizona
Area 1.19 acres (0.48 ha)
Built 1947
Architect Blanton & Cole
Architectural style Tiki, Modernism, Exoticism
Part of Miracle Mile Historic District (#100001208)
MPS Miracle Mile Historic District
Designated CP December 11, 2017

Pago Pago Lounge was a mid-twentieth century Tiki Bar named for and inspired by the capital city of Pago Pago on South Pacific Ocean island of American Samoa. Opened in 1947, it was the first Tiki themed restaurant and bar in Tucson, Arizona 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.[1]

The Pago Pago was a one-story boxy, rectangular building that featured a entrance porch designed to evoke a Polynesian palapa. The circular entrance walls were adorned with faux Polynesian deco murals. Signs made of large individual letters outlined in neon 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 movie A Kiss Before Dying.[1]

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. [2]

Themed cocktails

The Pago Pago developed a series of exotic cocktails[3] which included:

  • Deep Purple
  • Dragonet
  • La Rhumba
  • Lupa-Lupa
  • Pago Pago
  • Red Opu
  • Samoa of Samoa
  • Sarong

References

  1. 1 2 Lozano, Carlos. "Blanton and Cole | 1909 – 1981 | Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation". Preservetucson.org. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  2. ↑ https://www.tucsonaz.gov/files/preservation/Oracle_Area_Context_Study.pdf
  3. ↑ "Pago Pago Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge, Tucson, AZ (restaurant)". Tikiroom.com. Tiki Central. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
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