The San Francisco chain spent $500,000 on the restaurant, which was designed like a Polynesian long house. The interior was incredible, an airy space brimming with tribal shields, masks, spears, carved poles, bamboo screens, conch shells, canoes, long boats, and thatched baskets. “(Architect) Reno Negrin recalled that one hour before the restaurant opened, the Liquor Control Board refused to issue a licence, because half a dozen of the tiki poles had fertility figures with erect penises,” recounts local tiki expert Don Luxton. “Negrin resolved this problem with a hacksaw, and the restaurant opened on schedule.” A 20-storey tower was added to the original hotel in the mid-1960s, and became internationally renowned when billionaire recluse Howard Hughes holed up there for six months in 1972. Hughes booked the top two floors, but stayed in Room 2090, which now rents for $300 to $800 per night, depending on the season. After a $51-million reno in 2000, the Bayshore now has 511 rooms. But it doesn’t have Trader Vic’s, which closed in 1999 after the Vancouver park board insisted the owners of the Bayshore give it some waterfront park space when the Bayshore parking lot was developed into condos. Trader Vic’s was hoisted onto a barge and moved to a new location in Saanich. The new owner planned to use it as an event space, but it never happened.