Tahiti Bar 1956 Vintage Women’s T-Shirt

In post-war America of the late ’40s, soldier’s tales of exotic Polynesian locales and their exotic food (and women) peaked the collective interest of the population and the tiki bar scene was born. America’s thirst for Polynesian culture, exotica music, and all things South pacific ran coast to coast and Philadelphia was no exception. When Tahiti Bar opened in 1956, people assumed that it was just another themed bar with tropical drinks, but they quickly realized the difference up on entering this swanky establishment – the all female wait staff were topless and the entertainers wore even less. This of course made Tahiti bar more of a strip club or cabaret than a traditional tiki bar and by 1958, they were embroiled in a nasty legal battle with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board over their right to sell alcohol and feature nude women in the same venue. Sadly, they lost their case and the bar ultimately shut down.    

Like all our designs, this one is treated with our signature ‘relic-ing’ process which includes our own secret recipe of hand-painted chipping, cracking, fading, and just the right touch of yellowing to ensure that it looks the part of a true vintage imprint.** We lay these works of art down on premium Next Level 3900 Premium Women’s tees, aka ‘the boyfriend tee, one of the softest, best-wearing women’s t-shirts available today. We utilize state of the art direct to garment (DTG) printing which allows us to create a vintage effect that simply can’t be accomplished with other printing methods. In short, these shirts are everything you’ve dreamed of and more – it feels soft and lightweight with just the right amount of stretch making it both comfortable and flattering while the feminine fit and shorter sleeves add a special touch to this classic missy cut tee.

Not sure what size is your best fit? We recommend taking one of your current t-shirts, laying it flat and measuring it. The measurements in the chart below are taken with the shirt laying on a flat surface. To get the length, measure from the high shoulder point down to the bottom of the shirt. To get the width, measure approximately 1-inch below the armhole, across the chest, from seam to seam. The Next Level 3900 is a fitted women’s t-shirt, so if you are looking for a roomier fit, we suggest going up a size or with the unisex Bella + Canvas 3001 we print our men’s t-shirts on as they are the same super soft ring-spun cotton that feels like an old favorite. While our tees are all made using premium, pre-shrunk, ring-spun cotton, there can be some shrinkage depending on your personal wash and dry cycles. With that said, if you’re on the fence, we always suggest going up a size.

*Heather colors are 90% ring-spun cotton and 10% poly. **Due to the nature of the printing process and different sizes of shirts offered, imprint position and scale may vary slightly from the product images, but we do our best to be as accurate as possible.