Post #226915 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Apr 16, 2006 6:16 AM

...and I always wondered what happened to old Bob! I bet that Tiki Bob's Mainland flop tapped him out financially and he decided to bail SF, leaving his corner joint to Florence. I'd taken the job!
It really seems like the Waikikian/Tahitian Lanai complex was the nucleus of Tiki modern in 50s Hawaii (I am just working on the chapter where I have four pages reserved for it):

1.) Pete Wimberly, its architect, was THE tropical modern architect of Hawaii. He designed Don The Beachcomber's and the International Marketplace, Canlis, and Tiki Tops, Kau Kau Jr, Coco's for Spencecliff restaurants. Also the Hotel Taahara in Tahiti, home of the giant OA Tiki.
2.) Edward M. Brownlee, a sculptor who did lots of great Honululu mid-century modern public and commercial art, did all the carvings, Tiki posts and outriggers for the complex
3.) Barney Davis' Leeteg gallery was located on the mezzanine of the hyperbolic paraboloid lobby
4.) Spence Weaver and his Spencecliff restaurant systems who ran the Tahitian Lanai was THE Tiki modern restauranteur of Waikiki, operating all the above mentioned restaurants, plus the South Seas, Hawaiian Hut (see Puamana's thread from yesterday) and Trader Vic's
5.)Stanley Stubenberg, my favorite Tiki modern graphic designer in Waikiki, did the Menu cover for the Tahitian Lanai, and probably also the design for the carved Tiki panels behind the bar
And now Bob Bryant joins that illustrious gang, wow. I gotta squeeze that in there somehow!

I feel so fortunate that I got to stay at the Waikikian before it closed, and walk through its torchlit Tiki gardens to the Tahitian Lanai, to listen to the old timers play their Hapa Haole tunes, stand up base and all.
And despite not being able to make it to the closing auction, I ended up with a Tahitian Lanai Marquesan Tiki bar stool, a set of Shoji screen Tiki masks and a desk handle carved with the Lobby A-frame for my collection.
I even saw with my own eyes the original rendering of the complex as seen in the famous postcard above, the wife of the contractor who tore the place down keeps it in her house, not willing to sell it. Luckily there is an original brochure with a fold out reproduction of it which is fine for reprinting it large in my book.