Reproducing the charm of the South Seas, with all its glamour and romance! Boasted adverts for The Tropics, a popular rendezvous in the late 1940s and early 1950s in the Hotel Chicagoan.

Certainly, the hotel did its best to reflect the increasing post-WWII interest in tiki culture, with waitresses in grass skirts serving drinks to customers under fake palm trees.

There was continuous entertainment billed as ‘all the rhythm and swing of the South Seas.’

Singer Sam Bari and his band Men of Rhythm did a four-year residency here and ‘songstress’ Ginny Stone was also on hand to entertain guests.

The Hotel Chicagoan opened in the late 1930s in the heart of Chicago’s downtown Loop and was originally an offshoot of the famous Morrison Hotel.

Located at 67 W Madison Street, it offered 450 rooms with starting prices of $2.75 single and $4.40 double.

We believe the Hotel Chicagoan was demolished in the late 1960s.