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Tag: Dovalis

  • August 3rd in Seal Beach History

     On this date in 1967, the 101 Ranch House ran this ad in the Long Beach Independent.

    Aug_3_1967_101_Ranch_House_Grecian_RoomThe 101 Ranch House originally used a Western motif for its branding back in its first two decades, but a subtle Greek influence slowly began to dominate the place during the sixties due to new ownership.  The restaurant started serving Mavrodafni wine, and Greek cuisine was introduced to a special Monday night menu in addition to the usual 101 Ranch House fare of American style seafood and prime steak. 

    July_4_1965_Bill_Smyrniotis_cariacature

    Host Bill Smyrniotis had co-owned and run 101 Ranch House with his Greek immigrant brothers since 1963, George, Steve, and Chris, but he bought them out four years later. Running the restaurant on their own, he and his young wife, Toula (from Argus, Greece), must have decided to just go for broke and fully embrace a new Greek identity for the restaurant.

    During the last half of 1967, 101 Ranch House advertised a Grecian Room and provided Greek entertainment most nights of the week. In 1968, it was briefly renamed the Grecian Inn, but closed a few months later, ending this brief experiment of bringing a little Greek culture to “Mayberry by the Sea.” The restaurant became the 101 Ranch House again and operated under that name until the mid-seventies, but its heyday had passed.

    But on that Thursday night in August forty-nine years ago, the 101 Ranch House’s ultimate fate was still in the future. Diners hungry for a little fun could look forward to “a delightful evening of entertainment and dining” presented by hosts Bill and Zoula Smyrniotis. Appearing twice nightly was Tasos SofoPoulos, the world-renowned bouzouki  player who had played on the movie soundtrack for Zorba The Greek, and his famous orchestra (actually a quartet according to reviews).

    If that wasn’t enough, more Greek music was performed by George Geirgiadas and his cordovan accordion, a Turkish drummer named Zeki, and Nitza Villas, the famous singer from Athens.  

    Finally, sex appeal was provided by Dara, the fabulous Oriental belly dancer from Israel, who had twelve colorful, but brief costumes and whose muscle control was, according to Tedd Thomey of the Long Beach Independent, “remarkable.” 

    July_27_1967_Dara

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • May 24th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1963, an ad ran in the Long Beach Independent for Seal Beach’s Hawaiian themed restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway.

    No, not Sam’s Seafood. This restaurant was The Eddie Bush Mauna Kea and was located at 1600 Pacific Coast Highway. 

    Readers of this blog might remember that this was the address for the Dovalis 101 Ranch House. The original owner Nick Dovalis launched the restaurant in 1940 as covered in this post.  In late 1963, Bill Smyrniotis and his brothers took over what was now known as the 101 Ranch House and introduced a Greek flair to the menu and live entertainment as recounted in this post.

    But briefly between Dovalis and Smyrniotis, Mr. and Mrs. Don Chandler owned the restaurant with entertainer Eddie Bush, and it was remodeled into Hawaiian themed restaurant. It had three nightly floor shows (except for Mondays) featuring island music by the Wally Palmeira Trio (Wally Palmeira, Ronnie Salci, and George Kainapau), co-owner and then Seal Beach resident Eddie Bush, and two Tahitian dancers.

    Perhaps the location was bad or the restaurant was underfinanced, but the last mention of Eddie Bush Mauna Kea was in early July 1963 — a bare four months after its soft launch on March 1st. By November, Eddie Bush was performing at Mr. C’s on Pacific Coast Highway.

    This is not surprising. Eddie Bush had been a fixture of the Long Beach Hawaiian music scene for years before the ill-fated Mauna Kea, performing mostly at The Hawaiian a few blocks east of the traffic circle. His show biz career spread much wider and including radio, movies, and television. He died in Long Beach in 1969 at age fifty-eight.

    Here’s an Eddie Bush recording from a couple decades before Mauna Kea.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg3SQymlL3k]

    After Eddie Bush and Bill Smyrniotis, there would be a variety of new owners, and the restaurant would come to be known as simply the Ranch House Restaurant for most of the seventies before being renamed Rum Runners. Rum Runners lasted through the eighties before the owners declared bankruptcy in 1989. The building was demolished in May 1992.

    – Michael Dobkins

    Have you enjoyed this and other This Date in Seal Beach History posts?

    If so, please consider making a small donation of a dollar or more to help defray the online subscriptions and other research costs that make this blog possible.

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