Corman’s Cowabunga Cafe
By Sharon&Susan and Pufflefan
Interior/exterior
Corman’s Cowabunga Cafe is in a straw roof shack near the ocean and the observatory that's the entrance to the Creature Feature Boats. Tikis cover the wood exterior and tropical flower gardens surround the building. A bright pink neon sign outside alerts guests to the name of the restaurant and where the entrance is. Inside guests see a tropical tiki bar with the usual trappings like stuffed animals, tikis and bamboo poles. But, the surfers have made their mark on the place with surfboards throughout the restaurant, gnarly scribbles on the wall from past clientele, and even memorabilia like surf championship trophies, beach balls and even pieces of old Drag cars on the shelves above the booths.
Throughout the Cafe hanging from the ceiling stuffed birds are present, coming to life sometimes to blink and even occasionally quietly whistle a tune from the long-gone Tropical Serenade like “Let’s All Sing Like the Birdies Sing”. Similar to the Tiki Room birds they have names, but they have far more bodacious names like Hang Loose, Quivy, Heavy, etc.
There’s also a stage for 60’s rock n’ roll tribute bands to play at night, it’s located in a central part of Corman’s so that the whole restaurant is able to see the performance. Booths on the west wall get a great view from the windows of the Creature Feature Boat Ride’s dark forest, lightning will strike and maybe you’ll even see a silhouette of the Creature from Beyond the Stars itself.
The servers wear in Hawaiian shirts, wear (fake) shark teeth necklaces, and all the treys that the waiters bring out are themed to surfboards.
Backstory
Richard Corman was a production designer during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He made many worlds for the studio and other directors, but he never created what he wanted to. One day while working on matte paintings for a Clark Gable movie, he was enlisted into the Army. He was inspired by the sights he saw in his time in the Pacific Theater and once he was honorably discharged from the army started working on a tropical themed restaurant. After years of work he finally opened Corman’s Tiki Bar in 1953 on Surf Swell Beach. His restaurant initially struggled for years and he considered closing it in 1958.
That was until a surfer, Pat Laning, stopped in one day just before the big championship. He ordered a drink, any type of drink as long as it wasn’t water. Richard decided to create a drink out of what he had slaying around. Lanning drank it and went off to the surfing championship. He won the surfing championship and when asked what his secret was he just replied, “It was the drink I had before the game at Corman’s!”
Suddenly surfers from all over the world stopped by to this small tiki bar to see what made Lanning a star. Corman to reflect his newly gained clientele changed the name of his establishment to add a new slang word invented by these surfers to the title and added the drink that made Corman famous under the name of the Surf Star Signature. The teens loved Corman and saw him as a mentor figure and Corman was thankful for the teens saving his business.
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