Trader Vic's was delayed when the Corbin Park developer filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Construction activity began resuming in 2012; however, a new completion date for Trader Vic's has not been announced. The song "Werewolves of London," a Top 40 hit co-written by Warren Zevon and appearing on his 1978 album Excitable Boy, contains the line "I saw a werewolf drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic's," presumably referring to the chain's London location. The restaurant is also referenced by Bill Murray's character Frank Cross to John Forsythe's character Lew Hayward in the 1988 movie "Scrooged." Trader Vic's Trader Vic's is a
Warren Zevon Lindley. Zevon toured the United States (with the Odds), Europe, Australia and New Zealand during this period. Owing to his reduced circumstances, his performances were often true solo efforts with minimal accompaniment on piano and guitar; the live album "Learning to Flinch" (1993) documents such a tour. The disc received some airplay on college radio and was considered Zevon's version of the MTV series "Unplugged". Zevon often played in Colorado to allow for an opportunity to visit with his longtime friend Hunter S. Thompson. A lifelong fan of hardboiled fiction, Zevon was friendly with several well-known writers, who also collaborated