CHAN RADER ASSOCIATES 1961-1975

Published by Chan Radar Associates, San Francisco, California, June 1975. First edition. White card wrappers with raised title on the front cover, 11" x 8.5", 64 pages. A record of their work, filled with architectural drawings, plans and black and white photographs of their projects. VERY GOOD CONDITION: tight, bright, clean and unmarked. Scarce, only 3 copies in OCLC collections worldwide.

In 1961, Lun Chan and his colleague Morton Rader, founded Chan/Rader and Associates in San Francisco. In addition to large-scale projects, they designed many Chinese restaurants which were influenced by Lun Chan. They designed the famous Mandarin Restaurant in Ghirardelli Square (1968) and Beverly Hills (1975), and many Polynesian themed Trader Vic's Restaurants and Señor Pico Restaurants in the 1960s and 1970s. The first Trader Vic's Restaurant Chan designed was their headquarters in Emeryville, the Tiki design was originated by Hollywood set designers but expressed in built form by Chinese American architects like Chan who integrated Tiki culture into architectural practice and shaped Tiki style restaurants creating an era defining kitschy alternative to mainstream Modernism.

Pioneering Chinese American architect Lun Chan (1927-2011) was born in San Francisco to a traveling herbalist, he studied architecture at UC Berkeley and joined with Morton Rader (1926-1978) to open their private practice in 1961. At the time, Chan could not open his own architecture firm and had to partner with a white architect. They took on projects ranging from campuses, healthcare facilities, restaurants, and residences. After Rader's death in 1978, the firm became Lun Chan Associates