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 finally overcame severe alcohol and drug addictions. During this interim period, Zevon collaborated with Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills (of R.E.M.), along with backup vocalist Bryan Cook to form a minor project called Hindu Love Gods. The group released the noncharting single "Narrator" for IRS Records in 1984, then went into abeyance for several years. Berry, Buck and Mills served as the core of Zevon's next studio band when he re-emerged in 1987 by signing with Virgin Records and recording the album "Sentimental Hygiene". The release, hailed as his best since "Excitable Boy", featured a thicker rock sound