Post #406551 by Sabina on Sun, Sep 7, 2008 7:57 PM

I just noticed something while looking thorugh Tikinomad's pix at the top of The Tiki Resort, Lake George, NY (motel) thread in locating Tiki.

This Tiki Resort NY Moai, with the distinctive chin,

looks remarkably similar to the Moai that used to be at the 'prow of the ship'/tip of the peninsula outdoor patio portion of Vera's White Sands (now Vera's White Sands Beach Club) here in Maryland. (See the Tikicentral thread Vera's White Sands, Lusby, MD (restaurant) also in locating Tiki.) Unfortunately, with the new owners, it has now been moved to elsewhere on the grounds.

The NY Moai has a gentle smile, ours seems a bit more pensive, (perhaps due to the NY Moai remaining in place, while ours has moved.)

As boaters came up the Patuxent River, coming up to Vera's up on the hill, our Moai used to greet them, glowing in the red light at night, a welcoming iconic idol, drawing boaters to the one time "Polynesia on the Patuxent". There were also torches nearby, though I was never lucky enough to see them lit.

These pix are of our MD Moai at Vera's-

Behind the Moai at Vera's was the giant clam shell fountain

(Unfortunately, it was dry by the time I was documenting.)

Here's a better, if somewhat sillier, picture taken with a flash

I don't know if the yellow pigment was added originally by the artist, or perhaps more likely once it arrived at its home at Vera's.

and finally one from our MD/DC Tiki Ohana gathering of the Tribe in 2003 out at Vera's before the changes,

For those interested in full context, I have an album of photos up from the original look of Vera's before it was 'beach clubbed'. Many elements of the original remain, but Vera's has changed greatly since her passing and the ownership change.

The new owners, Stanley and Lisa Del Ricco, have kept certain aspects of Vera's original decor (certainly to their credit, parts of the dining room are largely intact including the fabulous ceiling, and many of the Tikis have been moved, not dumpstered), but much has changed, and the outdoor patio area is but one of the major changes.

I'm not going to write any kind of review of both the positives and negatives of 'Vera's White Sands vs. Vera's White Sands Beach Club' in this post I'm really only trying to focus on the Moai itself and how its one time honoured position has changed for the worse, in my Tiki-centric opinion.

If you want to delve into 'what would Vera herself have thought of the changes?' You will want to look at
this Washington Post article from June '06 (before Vera passed) and her personal 'seal of approval' of sorts, (unfortunately not in such great shape.)

The Moai's one time place of honor in particular is completely different. Boaters are no longer welcomed with !!!TIKI!!! from the moment they draw near. Instead this is what the 'prow of the ship' outdoor patio looks like now, (facing out from the restaurant towards the water)

Our Moai friend's place has been taken by a 'tasteful' mermaid sculpture with the giant clamshells around her. By way of nod to Vera's past, a prefab Tiki-less 'tikibar' has been added to the patio-

As for the Moai, he's been relegated to a grassy patch, still up on the hill looking out across the docks, near Vera's beloved (MD) banana trees-

Others have written about and documented the changes at Vera's, so that's not what I wanted to focus on in this post, but the MD Moai, and his 'demotion' tell the tale of this fellow on our end. Tikinomad fortunately got that 3/4 view picture and added it to the NY thread. (From head on, one might not catch the similarity.)

So my point, and my question is does anyone recognize the artist or artists responsible for these?/Does anyone have any other information about them?/ OR does anyone else know of any other long lost 'cousins' hiding anywhere else out there?