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 look at life and lust in the L.A. music business (which was, in fact, about his long-time girlfriend and mother of his son, Jordan); and "Desperados Under the Eaves", a chronicle of Zevon's increasing alcoholism. In 1978, Zevon released "Excitable Boy" (produced by Jackson Browne and guitarist Waddy Wachtel) to critical acclaim and popular success. The title tune is about a juvenile sociopath's murderous prom night, referred to "Little Susie", the heroine of his former employer the Everly Brothers's song "Wake Up Little Susie", while songs such as "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" used deadpan