Harry Yee

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Harry K. Yee is a legendary Honolulu bartender credited with helping spread tiki bars and tiki culture during the middle 20th Century, both in Hawaii and to the Mainland.

[edit] Biography

Born in 1920, Yee began bartending in 1952, before the advent of jet airliners and seven years before Hawaiian statehood. He soon joined Henry Kaiser's Hawaiian Village Hotel, where he served as head bartender for more than 30 years.[1] Along with Ernest Gantt ("Donn Beach") and Victor Jules Bergeron ("Trader Vic"), Yee did much to popularize a faux version of the tropics consisting of rum drinks, hula girls, and tourism. Yee's time at the bar spanned statehood and the rise of Hawaii as a major international travel and retirement destination. When he began, Hawaii hosted approximately 100,000 visitors per year, mostly around Waikiki. By the time he retired tourism exceeded 5 million visitors, compared to 7 million today. [2]

His many innovations were an attempt to create a sense of locale for his tourist customers. When they asked for Hawaiian drinks, he had nothing to offer because there was no such thing, so he invented them and often coined names on the spot. At times during his career he was a teetotaler who relied on his customers for feedback on his drinks. He does not drink rum, and instead prefers cognac. After retiring he taught for several years at the Bartending Training Institute in Honolulu.[1]

[edit] Notable Innovations

During his more than 30 years bartending in Waikiki, Hawaii, Yee invented among other things:


[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Rick Carroll. Harry Yee, King of Tropical Cocktails. kevdo.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
  2. ^ Hawaiian History. Frommers. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
  3. ^ Lance Tominaga. Tropical drinks, part of the Hawaiian experience. alohahawaii.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.