Posted on 15 January 2012 by tibtv
Welcome to the “original” Trident Restaurant’s web log! This site would like your help collecting photos, stories, and memories, from employees, patrons, and anyone that frequented this unique establishment/ experience from 1966 to 1976.
The Kingston Trio’s Trident, at 558 Bridgeway in Sausalito, uniquely reflected what was going on in the late 60′s and through the mid 70′s in the Bay Area. Janis Joplin had her own table when she came in. In 1972 and 1975, after their concerts, the Rolling Stones held private parties thrown by Bill Graham. The night the Trident closed in 1976, most of the employees had taken some sort of mind altering substance ,and the “kind” was freely indulged in throughout the evening … without any incidents or trouble from the Sausalito Police who were in attendence.
What a trip!
Have the times changed? Your thoughts, stories, photos, and memories are welcomed!
Email photos, stories, or videos to : Endorfunns@aol.com or post your comments on the site, and enjoy the conversation.
SEE MORE AT TRIDENTRESTAURANT.COM
Posted on 15 January 2012 by tibtv
Posted on 15 January 2012 by tibtv
For decades now, Sausalito’s Horizons has been a place for tourists to sit on a sun-filled, Bay-bordering patio, while paying a premium for average renditions of shrimp Louis and friends. Now owners Ron Davis and Bob Freeman, who also own Wharf fixture Buena Vista Cafe, have a plan to switch things up. Since the America’s Cup will be bringing big crowds to the area next year, it’s a perfect opportunity to revamp and bring back some of the luster of years past. Freeman has hired former Michael Mina sous chef James Montejanoto help. (Yes, that’s the same chef who just turned down the Lot 7 gig.) Next year, they’ll shut down Horizons and reopen as Trident—a restaurant last seen at this address during the drug- and music-loving counterculture heyday of the 60s and 70s, when Janis Joplin had a regular table inside.
The move resembles Moonraker’s recent revival in Pacifica, and the history of Trident is certainly a fun one. Led Zepplin, Santana and Vince Guaraldimade regular appearances, and Bill Graham would hold regular private parties, many of them with the Rolling Stones. You can read a lot more about the good old days right here.
When Trident reopens next year, Janice Joplin obviously won’t be there, but ahuge new upper level deck will host prime seats for watching the America’s Cup, and the existing decor downstairs will have enjoyed a much-needed refresh. Montejano has already spruced up the menu, fixing classics like cioppino and Nicoise salad with an eye towards sustainability and local sourcing. He’ll continue doing this in the new year, bringing in local oysters,Brandt beef, Mary’s air-chilled chickens, and more. There’s a Humphry Sloclombe Irish coffee ice cream in the works, and there may even be a totally separate menu upstairs. “Tourists are a given here with the views and everything,” says Montejano. “But we also want to cater to locals and the industry.”
After meetings with the Sausalito City Council in mid-January, the powers that be will know a lot more about what exactly can be done to the decor, and how quickly. Horizons will stay open as is through the new year, until the exact plan is nailed down. Expect an update on all this early next year.
SEE MORE AT TRIDENTRESTAURANT.COM
Posted on 15 January 2012 by tibtv
Special thanks to Jiro Yoneshige aka “Melvin” and the many photo contibutions he’s made here. Kadi Kiss featured waitress alumni here.
Like the sign says, “Do Your Brain A Favor, Let It Rest Each Day.”
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Posted on 15 January 2012 by tibtv
Special thanks to the Tequila Whisperer aka Michael Lipman “Lippy” and Jeff Burkhart aka the Barfly! Might need to turn the volume up here a little. This first appeared “live streaming” on Thursday August 11, 2011 on www.TequilaWhisperer.com which broadcasts “live online” every Thursday night at 7pm. This video is 15 minutes long. Excerpted from the 112 minute show. Go to the Tequila Whisperer web site and click on “Archives” for the whole show.
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Posted on 15 January 2012 by tibtv
Photos provided by Ruggero Milano (back in the day Rodger) the owner of Milano ristorante at 1 Blackfield Drive in Tiburon, California (415) 388-9100 www.milanotiburon.com 
Rodger, Michael, and Lisa. And, Rodger and Bobby!
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Posted on 15 January 2012 by tibtv
MIGHT NEED TO TURN THE VOLUME UP, LOT OF BACKGROUND NOISE, BUT A GREAT STORY NONETHELESS!
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Posted on 15 January 2012 by tibtv
This article appeared in the Marin Independent Journal on June 19,2011. The author is Jeff Burkhart. Two of Jeff’s websites are: The Barfly Online Real Life Adventures in Bartending and Jeff Burkhart
ABOUT A YEAR AGO Mark Lomas, a former bartender who runs the Trident Restaurant website, and I had lunch. We sat in the main dining room of Horizons in Sausalito — the former Trident — and swapped bar stories. I had once worked at the briefly reopened Ondine, which was above the original Trident.
Owned by the Kingston Trio, the Trident was way ahead of its time. From 1966 to the mid- 1970s it was the place to be in the Bay Area. Famed for its beautiful waitresses and musical pedigree, it also featured such innovations as sashimi, a fresh juice bar and an espresso bar.
After numerous stories about rock ‘n’ rollers, waitresses, Robin Williams (once a busboy at the Trident), Lomas mentioned that the tequila sunrise had been invented there.
Now, I was reasonably sure that the tequila sunrise had been invented long before that, but I tucked away that information along with the phone number of the bartender who supposedly did that inventing.
From my research, I learned that:
• The Arizona Biltmore hotel claims that bartender Gene Sulit invented the tequila sunrise there in the late 1930s, consisting of tequila, lime juice, soda and crème de cassis.
• The recipe most people are familiar with; tequila orange juice and grenadine appeared for the very first time in the 1974 version of Mr. Boston’s Bartender’s Guide.
Hmmm.
Drink origins are always a little
murky. Take the martini, for instance. The town of Martinez claims that it was invented there in 1874. In fact it put up a historical landmark to “certify” the event. It doesn’t seem to matter that the drink invented there was called the Martinez Special, or that it included bitters, as well as a different kind of gin and a totally different kind of vermouth. There it sits, certified in stone: “Birthplace of the Martini.”
Eventually I called the so-called inventor of the tequila sunrise. Bobby Lazoff, 63, splits his time between computer IT work and teaching tutorials while living in Hawaii. But back in 1969 he was a fresh-faced 20-year-old looking for work in Sausalito.
“I did about two or three days as a dishwasher,” he said. “Then I was a busboy and when I got old enough I became a bartender.”
He claimed to have taken the bartending very seriously.
“The Trident was a rock ‘n’ roll haven and tequila was the ‘in’ drink,” he said. So he and another bartender, Billy Rice, started experimenting. “Anything made with gin or vodka we started making with tequila,” he said. “A couple of them didn’t turn out too well.”
One drink that did turn out well was a resurrected tequila sunrise.
“We built it in a chimney glass; a shot of tequila with one hand, a shot of sweet and sour with the other hand, the soda gun, then orange juice, float crème de cassis on top, grenadine if you wanted, and that was it, the tequila sunrise.”
Eventually, the bartenders simplified the recipe to just tequila, orange juice and grenadine.
“We had a Rolling Stones party (the kickoff of the media frenzy that was their 1972 tour) one Monday night when we were usually closed,” Lazoff said. “The owner called me in and put me behind the bar. We had a select menu, a couple of the prettier waitresses and that was the party. Bill Graham brought in about 35 people, and you know the place holds several hundred. Mick came up to the bar and asked for a margarita, I asked him if he had ever tried a tequila sunrise, he said no, I built him one and they started sucking them up. After that they took them all across the country.”
OK, I thought, all I had to do was get the Rolling Stones to verify that and we could reasonably assume that Lazoff might be indeed be responsible for the most recognizable incarnation of the tequila sunrise.
Rather unlikely. As a result, the story sat until I picked up Keith Richards’ book “Life,” published this past October. Chapter nine, sentence No. 1: “The ’72 tour was known by other names — the cocaine and tequila sunrise tour … ” I could not believe my eyes.
I realized that I should probably be a little more trusting, and that Horizons might want to look into historical markers.
SEE MORE AT TRIDENTRESTAURANT.COM
Posted on 15 January 2012 by tibtv
Posted on 15 January 2012 by tibtv
John Stewart who passed away three years ago, was recently honored posthumously as a member of the Kingston Trio. He replaced Dave Guard in the legendary group in 1961. His wife, Buffy Ford Stewart, acceptted the lifetime achievement Grammy for John for his work with the Kingston Trio. Paul Liberatore wrote a beautiful remembrance in today’s Marin Independent Journal.
For the whole article click on the link here:
Paul Liberatore’s John Stewart Marin Independent Journal article They Do Remember Him
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