Post #284343 by Volcano Girl on Thu, Feb 8, 2007 10:59 PM

I got through to Kono and I thought it might be helpful if I tried to answer questions on the forum side of things instead of personal msg, so that others who are interested can follow along. I will answer as best as I can, however, I was a kid during the time that we lived in WH and had the restaurant, between the ages of say, 7 or 8 till I was 10.

As I said to Kono in the PM, my father was one of the owners of The Volcano, the other business partner was my grandfather. I'm not at all sure what prompted my Dad to choose the Polynesian theme for the restaurant. I do know that he loved food of pretty much any type, and enjoyed eating at the finest restaurants all over the country. The Volcano was very upscale, and very unique. As you have seen on the postcard, there was a volcano that faced Hwy 17 sort of to the NW (*correction, E) side of the restaurant. There were sweet walkways that wound around to the entrance on the west (*N) side of the bldg. I remember it was all very Tahitian feeling, like a mini paradise, lots of bamboo and many adornments. There was a big Buddha (?) statue in the foyer. It was huge. There were also little pools every so often, and it's true about the waterfall behind the glass. I also remember those big gongs there somewhere in the restaurant part. If anyone has ever been to the Kahiki here in Columbus before it was razed, the atmosphere was very much like that.

Some of the waitresses wore bikini tops with a sarong-type short skirt, and they may have even been barefoot, with maybe an ankle lei, as well as the lei around the neck. Others were more formally dressed in some type of silk dress with the cute oriental closures, I don't know what they are called.The waiters wore Hawaiian shirts, except I think the maitre'd wore a black suit with white shirt. The Volcano was the most MARVELOUS place, and you definitely felt special when you went there.

It's funny that it was such a place of entertainment for such a little town like Winter Haven, but Florida really has always been about the tourism. Of course, there were visitors who probably were also visiting Cypress Gardens, but you know, this place was really able to draw some pretty cool customers. For instance, I remember that Don Ho had been there, as was Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon - I think that they had even broadcast a special daytime show from there. I also remember that Mike Connors from Mannix fame had been there. So my Dad got to rub elbows with some celebrities from time to time. I'm sure there were more, but for right now, these are the first few off the top of my head, I haven't really thought about the details of the place in such a long time. If I'm not mistaken, I think there was a show at one point during the evening when some of the waitresses would come out and do the hula dance, sort of like what you would see when you go to Hawaii. My Dad had some of the waitresses teach my younger sister and I how to do some of the simpler hula moves, and I still remember them a little bit, but fortunately, he never made us perform! Oh, yes, and when the girls did the hula they wore grass skirts for the performance. It was really awesome!

There were two types of cuisine offered, Polynesian, and for the wimps, American. All the dishes had weird and exotic names. I remember that one of my favorite desserts was a cup of Green Grasshopper ice cream. I honestly don't know if that was just a made up name, but I can't think of any way to describe the flavor. It must have been some sort of mint flavored ice cream. Also I remember that Baked Alaska was one of the special desserts, and to see that thing come out flaming from the kitchen was... impressive to say the least. Speaking of the kitchen, I do know that the head chef was some old guy (maybe 60 or 70 yeas old?) from probably China, but definitely somewhere on the other side of the world from WH. He was a master, and ran a tight ship. He didn't let us little kids get in the way, but we were allowed to sit quietly and watch sometimes if we wanted. His name was Chinese Joe, and he could be stern but also very endearing. I remember one time I had a little blister or burn or something on my hand, and he ran to his bedroom, which was above the restaurant, and brought back "Tiger Balm" and insisted that I put it on and also take some home.

FWIW, the restaurant had formerly been my father's homestead when he was younger, so some of the restaurant really was part house, not a motel. There was also a separate building (*situated to the N of the main bldg) before you got to the restaurant part, and that's where the nightclub was. So if you didn't want to come for dinner, you could just go to the bar/nightclub. There was usually some aspiring entertainer or group performing there. It attracted all types of performers, singers, comedians, and bands. I remember one that Dad had featured quite often was someone named Judy (*make that Joni) Canova. I don't really remember much else about her, except for the name.

As far as special drink glasses or mugs, I'm pretty sure that there was some sort of special glass that certain drinks were served in. I have no idea if they were available for purchase. I do remember what the menu cover looked like. It was about 12" X 18" and had a bright orange background. A very voluptuous Polynesian woman adorned the cover in a bikini top with sarong skirt, and there was a volcano ready to erupt in the background.

I guess this is about all I can remember off the top of my head for now. If anyone has further questions, I will do what I can to help. I'll try to check in from time to time. ALOHA and MAHALO!

Note Anything that has an asterisk has been edited, as I think I had my directions incorrect when I first posted.

[ Edited by: Volcano Girl 2007-02-09 22:36 ]

[ Edited by: Volcano Girl 2007-02-19 10:19 ]