Post #139211 by puamana on Thu, Feb 3, 2005 3:45 PM

While we were in Florida visiting family over the holidays, Selector Lopaka and I had a chance to do a little bit of exploring around the St. Petersburg area. Consulting with our trusty Tiki Road Trip, we got a few pics of some of the places listed in the area:

Our first stop one day was the Polynesian Putter Mini Golf, on Gulf Blvd. in St. Pete Beach:

There was a large moai facing the main street, with blue lights embedded in the eyes :


We went back at night to get a pic of the eyes lit up, but sadly they weren't working.

The moai was the only thing we could see that was Polynesian related at the mini golf:

Just a bit away from the Polynesian Putter, is a Holiday Inn, at 5250 Gulf Blvd. It used to be called the Hilton Inn, and it also had a Polynesian theme. Here is a postcard I found while there, from its former days as the Hilton Inn:

The back of the postcard calls the Hilton Inn "A Polynesian Paradise", and used to have the Aekai Restaurant on the beach, Luau Room Restaurant on the 10th floor ( Polynesian and American menus), and the revolving Bali Hi lounge on the roof top. I didn't take any photos of the building, but here's a link to the Holiday Inn website to see what the building looks like now: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hpt/PIESS/1/pt?ptLink=hd

There is also what used to be the Hawaiian Inn at 6200 Gulf Blvd., and now is the Best Western Beachfront Resort (there's a past thread about it here on TC: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=4134&forum=1). We were originally looking for that, and when we saw the round building of the Holiday Inn, I thought that was it. Later that same day when I found the Hilton Inn postcard, I realized that these were actually 2 different hotels very near each other, both with a Polynesian theme.

Another place from TRT we had a chance to get to was the Bahi Hut, in Sarasota:

I'm guessing that those were once electric tiki torches on that sign ?

We were driving by during the daytime, and they didn't open 'til 5, so we only got pics of the outside :

Just after I took the that last photo, my camera batteries died (d'oh!), so I didn't get a photo of the interior through the window that faced that tiki. There was one room (that I could see) with a bar at the back, and a large window that looked onto the tropical foliage. Next time we will have to plan accordingly so we can actually go inside and check it out.

The next place, Tiki Village Campgrounds, in Pinellas Park, was found by Selector Lopaka's mom. Though this probably falls into the "tiki-in-name-only" category, this place was kind of eerie, with just a long driveway lined by abandoned mobile homes on either side... and no sign of tiki, aside from the name :

Here's few other Florida tiki related paper finds from the trip:

Florida See Magazine from 1976 with ad for the Mai Kai:

Postcard from the Kona Kai Motel, Sanibel Island :

Does anybody know if this place is still around ?

Postcard from the Pelican, Clearwater Beach:

[ Edited by: puamana on 2005-02-03 15:49 ]