Island Cafe & Zambi Rum Bar - Back Print - Coronado 1938

Coronado was already an island, but in 1938 a little cafe at 1031 Orange Avenue decided one island wasn’t enough.

The Island transformed an ordinary restaurant into a pocket-sized South Seas escape, complete with bamboo and thatch, coco palms, illuminated tropical murals, overhead punkah fans, live Hawaiian music, and colored lights that softly changed every six minutes. Paradise wasn’t merely painted on the walls. It was programmed into the room.

Then, in 1940, the fantasy deepened with the opening of the Zambi Rum Bar, promising “delicious new drinks” under the direction of the mysterious Alex Reed. No cocktail menu has surfaced. No house recipe has been recovered. Even the meaning of “Zambi” remains tantalizingly uncertain, hovering somewhere between supernatural rum mythology and a sly echo of the era’s famous Zombie craze.

This vintage-inspired tee resurrects that vanished Coronado hideaway with a hula dancer, palms, shoreline, and the original Orange Avenue address. It is more than a tropical graphic. It is wearable evidence from the moment tiki was still inventing itself, before the grand palaces, carved mugs, and standardized cocktail canon.

For tiki historians, rum devotees, Coronado locals, and anyone who prefers paradise with a paper trail, a little mystery, and one more round before the lights change again. 🌴🍹

• 100% ring-spun cotton
• Fabric weight: 6.1 oz/yd² (206.8 g/m²)
• Garment-dyed
• Relaxed fit
• 7/8″ double-needle topstitched collar
• Twill-taped neck and shoulders for extra durability
• Double-needle armhole, sleeve, and bottom hems
• Blank product sourced from Honduras

Size guide