Post #240683 by Surfinannie on Sun, Jul 2, 2006 6:40 PM

Just to let you all know a few things about the Tonga Hut. It used to be called "The Brothers Three". The man who bought my parents house in Van Nuys, loved my fathers Tikis and huge Polynesian hut. He bought the "Brothers Three" and changed the name to the "Tonga Hut" and had my father carve all the Tikis, and did all the decorating. My father was Richard M. Ellis. He was taught to carve Tikis in the late 50's by Andy Bumatai (or Andre as most people call him).
My father also carved EVERY Tiki at EVERY Restaurant of Hop Louie's. Including Latitude 20, the "Trade Winds" in Ventura, and MANY others all over the country, AND a fabulous huge carved bar for Hop Louie at his personal residence. Hop Louie, I remember , also had him do many in Las Vegas and other parts of the country. His tikis can be seen also on page 250 of Sven's book "The Book of Tiki". The mug was made after one of his tiki's also, even though we have seen it on ebay as an Andre Bumatai Mug...NO, it is a Richard Ellis mug!!. My mother still has the Tiki on the left of the three pictures on that page, at her house in Malibu, CA. He was dad's FIRST big Tiki, and his name is "The Silent Man", and is still in perfect condition. I have the original artical that Sven got those pictures from but he mistakingly thought they were Bumatai's.(Sven and I have talked about this, and he says in his next book, he will get a section on my dad) The gate with the half Logs Tikis, as they called them, were actually the gates of our old house and our front yard, which brings us back to the guy who bought the "Three Brothers" and changed it to "The Tonga Hut", as he bought that house from my parents! I was lucky enough to get two large tikis of my dad's, that some one had bought from the "Trade Winds" when it closed. I bought them from the guy 3 years ago, and they are home in Malibu again, and in perfect condition!Others we had were not so lucky, like the big one I got back from the "Tonga Lei"(Malibu) when they tore it down. The termites got that one quick. As soon as I get more time I will write you all some great stories about Andy Bumatai, and my father Richard M. Ellis. I am getting more and more info. from my mom. I also will figure out how to send you all photos, so you can see more of his tiki's. My father passed away in 99.My mom has now visited Tiki Central, and has remarked how she would love for people to know who carved all these huge Tikis all around California. I am now on a mission to get the info. together, as I have had many people interested in my father's story. The LATimes did a huge 2 page article on him in the early 60's. Thank you all for your interest, he was a fabulous man!!!Annie Ellis