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Tiki Central / Locating Tiki / Club Tiki, Canoga Park, CA (restaurant)

Post #331788 by DrMiguelito on Tue, Sep 11, 2007 1:55 AM

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Name:Club Tiki
Type:restaurant
Street:20923 Roscoe Blvd.
City:Canoga Park
State:CA
Zip:91304
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
Very little is known about this place. The only artifact I've seen from it is a matchbook cover in the Book of Tiki (p. 51). I had a brief conversation about it with Sven at Oasis and he didn't know anything else about the place either, so -- since I grew up less than a mile away -- I resolved to piece together as much as I could from family members, friends, and other longtime Valley residents.

From what I've been able to gather, the Club Tiki was quite a jumpin' place in its heyday. Its opening coincided with the explosion of Polynesian Pop in the Valley in the 1950s and the construction of many Tiki-styled apartment houses in the area. It was fairly spacious, with a waterfall, lots of bamboo and tikis numbering anywhere from "a couple" to "more than a dozen." It also had a dance floor and stage, served food as well as drinks, and had live shows frequently.

By the late 1970s the location had become Mancini's, an Italian restaurant/nightclub. When I was in high school and college Mancini's was a popular place for family celebrations and first dates, and an occasional venue for punk and new wave shows. The tikis were long gone, but the waterfall and bamboo had survived. Mancini's finally closed sometime in the late 1990s, and the location is now occupied by a Latino nightclub called Casa Tequila. No word on whether any of the original Club Tiki decor remains.

[ Edited by: DrMiguelito 2007-09-11 17:02 ]