- Harry Yee
Harry K. Yee is a legendary Honolulu
bartender credited with helping spreadtiki bar s andtiki culture during the middle20th Century , both inHawaii and to the Mainland.Biography
Born in 1920, Yee began bartending in 1952, before the advent of
jet airliner s and seven years before Hawaiian statehood. He soon joinedHenry Kaiser 'sHawaiian Village Hotel , where he served as head bartender for more than 30 years.cite web|title=Harry Yee, King of Tropical Cocktails|author=Rick Carroll|url=http://www.kevdo.com/maitai/harryyee.html|accessdate=2007-07-03|publisher=kevdo.com] Along withErnest Gantt ("Donn Beach") and Victor Jules Bergeron ("Trader Vic "), Yee did much to popularize a faux version of the tropics consisting ofrum drinks, hula girls, andtourism . 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 aroundWaikiki . By the time he retired tourism exceeded 5 million visitors, compared to 7 million today. [cite web | url=http://www.frommers.com/destinations/print-narrative.cfm?destID=781&catID=0781020044 | publisher=Frommers | title= Hawaiian History|accessdate=2007-07-03]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 preferscognac . After retiring he taught for several years at the Bartending Training Institute in Honolulu.Notable Innovations
During his more than 30 years bartending in
Waikiki, Hawaii , Yee invented among other things:
* The blue Hawaii [cite web | title=Tropical drinks, part of the Hawaiian experience | author=Lance Tominaga|accessdate=2007-07-03|publisher=alohahawaii.com|url=http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/hawaii/tropical+drinks/]
* The banana daquiri
* Thevanda orchid garnish
* The Hawaiian Eye, featured in the television series of the same name that was set in his hotel
* The tropical itch (a popular drink that substitutes a bamboobackscratcher for aswizzle stick References
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