Tiki History - The Tahitian Village in Downey, CA - General Tiki

T TIKIBOSKO Tiki Socialite Joined: Oct 17, 2004 Posts: 336	T TIKIBOSKO Posted posted on Mon, Nov 29, 2004 9:28 PM Aloha everyone, I recently came across some Tahitian Village demolition photos and thought I’d post them here so all could see the final stages of a mid-century Tiki temple. These where shot during an Urban Archeology mission there to see if anything could be salvaged from the wrecking ball. We’d been keeping an eye on the place and had contacted the owners with no luck, when word came it was finally being torn down I immediately drove down to see what if anything could be rescued. The first photo shows a shot from the center of the courtyard looking out towards Lakewood Blvd, the building on the left is the back of the old shops and off in the distance the old sign. The second photo is the pool area (foreground) as you can see it’s now filled with dirt to prevent skaters and lower maintenance, looks like some of the palm trees had been thru a fire or two over the years when the place a was crack hotel hang out. Although material from some of the buildings was being salvaged and sent down south, they had started knocking down sections of it with the heavy equipment, so areas were under two stories of rubble. A homeless guy (who was living there) became my native guide, he led me through the piles to where “giant” Tikis were, but alas they were hopelessly buried under tons of garbage. He had no clue; the guy was lining his nest with huge file cabinets and a lot of useless office junk, ironically just a few feet away from his home I found four vintage Herman Miller chairs? Just about all that was left of its Polynesian Pop glory days was the Tiki lined bridge leading to a long gone restaurant, I liberated its doomed idols with my chainsaw. A few weeks later all that was left were the original palm trees, thankfully they aren’t ripped out of the ground but get a second chance at life in front of some mall store where no one will ever appreciate their pedigree. My very best Alohas, Bosko

Aloha everyone,

I recently came across some Tahitian Village demolition photos and thought I’d post them here so all could see the final stages of a mid-century Tiki temple. These where shot during an Urban Archeology mission there to see if anything could be salvaged from the wrecking ball. We’d been keeping an eye on the place and had contacted the owners with no luck, when word came it was finally being torn down I immediately drove down to see what if anything could be rescued.

The first photo shows a shot from the center of the courtyard looking out towards Lakewood Blvd, the building on the left is the back of the old shops and off in the distance the old sign. The second photo is the pool area (foreground) as you can see it’s now filled with dirt to prevent skaters and lower maintenance, looks like some of the palm trees had been thru a fire or two over the years when the place a was crack hotel hang out.

Although material from some of the buildings was being salvaged and sent down south, they had started knocking down sections of it with the heavy equipment, so areas were under two stories of rubble. A homeless guy (who was living there) became my native guide, he led me through the piles to where “giant” Tikis were, but alas they were hopelessly buried under tons of garbage. He had no clue; the guy was lining his nest with huge file cabinets and a lot of useless office junk, ironically just a few feet away from his home I found four vintage Herman Miller chairs?
Just about all that was left of its Polynesian Pop glory days was the Tiki lined bridge leading to a long gone restaurant, I liberated its doomed idols with my chainsaw.
A few weeks later all that was left were the original palm trees, thankfully they aren’t ripped out of the ground but get a second chance at life in front of some mall store where no one will ever appreciate their pedigree.

My very best Alohas,

Bosko

Post #127913 by TIKIBOSKO on Mon, Nov 29, 2004 9:28 PM