Vintage 1950's Aloha Cafe Tijuana Mexico Item Modern Dictionary 1955 Spicy ABCs

Check out this rare and kitsch item from the legendary Aloha Cafe in Tijuana, "Old Mexico."

It is a "modern" dictionary from 1955. A whopping 8 pages long of racy definitions of certain words such as adultery, horse show, minuteman, outdoor girl, papoose, sob sister, and weakling.

The Aloha Cafe was a legendary historic bar and Tijuana's first pre-tiki establishment, operating on Avenida Revolución from 1928 until a final fire closed it in 2011.

History and Evolution Opening: Opened in 1928 during U.S. Prohibition by founder Fernando "Frank" Blanco Cota after his previous venue burned down.

Crowd: Catered heavily to American tourists, weekend travelers, and the U.S. Navy crowd.

Attractions: Featured tropical and Polynesian-inspired decor, live entertainment, dancing, and the famous "Aloha girls" floor shows. It also hosted amateur boxing matches in an adjoining arena.

Later Decades: Shifted formats over the years, operating as a disco in the 1970s and a strip club in the 1980s.Closure: Survived multiple fires and rebuilds over eight decades before a 2011 fire permanently shut its doors.

The Aloha Cafe (1928-2011) Tijuana’s first pre-tiki bar, was sporadically located on Avenida Revolución (then known as Main Street by americanos) — for over eighty years! It changed hands, was burned down and rebuilt several times, but stood the test of time until a fire in 2011 finally shut down the place.

The bar was first opened as The Aloha Cafe during Prohibition in 1928 by Fernando ‘Frank’ Blanco Cota. He’d previously lost The Anchor Cafe in a 1927 fire. Both catered to the US Navy crowd. Cota was born in Ensenada, Baja California, but attended school and lived above the border in San Diego. His place was connected with amateur boxing, promoting bouts between Tijuanans and Americans held in the Aloha Cafe Arena.

The U.S. federal prohibition of alcohol ended in 1933, with California following suit on April 8. A mere two months later, 150 businesses in Tijuana had…