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Tiki Central / General Tiki / Hulaville and Exotic World

Post #213198 by tikijackalope on Tue, Feb 7, 2006 12:05 PM

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Here's the centerpiece of Hula Ville in its current place of honor at the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville.

I just finished a blog entry on the place, so its right at the top of http://thelope.blogspot.com/
The specific post is: http://thelope.blogspot.com/2006/02/here-are-host-of-signs-you-may-see.html There are more photos there along with what history I could assemble from sources that did not always agree.
So, can anyone clue us in on the specific identity of the Hawaiian or Polynesian restaurant from which Miles Mahan got the hula girl?
I've read a number of newspaper articles online that variously reported him as taking it from the ruins of a demolished restaurant or scavenging it from a billboard. What most accounts agree on is that he placed it on the patch of land that would be Hula Ville in about 1956.
The small wooden sign near it says "THE POLYNESION ROOM" (sp) but, given Mahan's creativity with found objects, thats no real indication of the name of its origin. Also, thats where the museum put the sign, but I don't know of its placement in Hula Ville relative to the hula girl.
I presume he'd have gotten her near Herperia/Victorville but, who knows?
I found this reference to a "Polynesian Room" in a TC search: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=8316&forum=1&hilite=polynesian%20room but it pertains to a place in Del Mar.
Any answers?