Last seating: Trader Vic's maitre d' retires after 57 years
Posted December 18, 2017 6:00 am
EMERYVILLE, Calif. (AP) - Claudette Lum has worn a gardenia in her hair every day since she started working in 1960 at Trader Vic's, the legendary home of mai tai (pronounced MY-tie) cocktails.
But now Lum is about to preside over her final seating as a maitre d'. She's retiring at the end of this year at age 80.
She never imagined she'd stay this long when she was hired 57 years ago by Trader Vic's founder, the late Victor Bergeron. The tiki-themed restaurant chain started as a bar in Oakland, California, in the 1930s and now has outposts around the world. Lum worked at the San Francisco location before moving to what is now the main U.S. location in Emeryville.
Lum says she feels like the customers are her family.
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