Post #301842 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Apr 25, 2007 5:42 PM

Since this is turning into the Royal Hawaiian MEMORIAL THREAD now, let me twist the thorn in the wound a little more and talk about the historical importance of the ORIGINAL restaurant:

The first menu:

The Royal Hawaiian was opened by Francis Cabang sometime in the late 40s, and thus was the oldest running Polynesian restaurant in original condition on the West coast

menu detail

In the 1950s it even had a sister restaurant in Anaheim...

...which, it is said, was a favorite hangout for Walt Disney (and might even have inspired the Tiki Room?)

Because the the Cabang family was from the Phillipines, they were friends with both of the Fillipino Tiki carvers in L.A., Milan Guanko and Andres Bumatay. These talented artists both supplied Tikis for the restaurant:

The entrance with a Milan Guanko Tiki as railing post

An elegant cartoony Guanko Tiki inside

Unfortunately, the really cool Andres Bumatay Tikis in front of the restaurant began to dissappear in the 90s and early 2000s:

First there were 3 (some even say 4)

..then there were two

..then only one left.

When they were all gone, they were replaced with misbegotten
nouveaux Tiki "Tree Spirit" type carvings that had little in
common with Polynesian art. As is the way of things....