tiki cocktail lounge, modesto, ca, (bar) - Locating Tiki

B bigbrotiki Tiki Socialite Tiki Island, above the Silverlake Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 11621	B bigbrotiki Posted posted on Wed, Mar 4, 2009 10:35 AM On 2009-03-04 08:21, Dustycajun wrote: On 2009-03-03 23:23, bigbrotiki wrote: How great that they are still in relatively good condition. Now this thread needs the postcard rendering of the place. Bigbro, Here is the postcard rendering from the old Tropics Hotel next door. Interesting thing about this card - I have two of these cards with the same painting but one says its from Modesto and one says its from Blythe on the back. Ken Kimes must have been saving money on the advertising budget. Here is another tiki action shot from the Modesto Tropics. Good to see that this tiki is still alive. DC Thank for the excellent postcard support, DC. Yeah, the Blythe and Indio Tropics were even smaller than the Modesto one, which never had the porte cochere A-frame lobby portrayed in the rendering...nor was there a Sambo's or any other kind of coffee shop. (Correct me if I my memory fails me, J.T.). It is also interesting how the rendering makes it look like the Motel could be an enclosed courtyard building, while it merely has an L-shaped lay out. The Palm Springs Tropics was clearly the showcase of the 5 Tiki Tropics, with the L.A./Rosemead Blvd one being the second best (that is what the rendering in the BOT depicts). The sign alone was a work of art. The Rosemead Tropics had been completely de-tikied and generified by the time I got on the Tropics trail. In retrospect, realizing how far off the Modesto rendering is and how it doubled for Blythe, I cannot help but wonder if that was part of a Ken Kimes scam: Invite the investors to a grand party at the Palm Springs one, and nobody would wanna go to Blythe or Indio anyway. After all, because of being married to Sante Kimes and fathering Kenneth Kimes, Ken Kimes Sr is not looked upon too kindly in the various articles and books about the Mother/son crime duo: Sante then met a kindred spirit in Kenneth Kimes, a fellow con artist who already amassed a substantial fortune when they met. The pair later had a son Kenny although it is questionable whether they ever married. According to one version, Sante simply forged a marriage certificate. In any case, the fact that the couple was already rich didn't seem to matter. They pulled scam after scam together, swindling their way across America and amassing more wealth. Eventually, the couple was finally charged - with slavery.>Sante Kimes was married to wealthy motel owner and land developer Kenneth Kimes, Sr. During her marriage, she became involved in several legal turmoils. In 1986, she was accused and then convicted of 14 counts of enslaving a number of maids, holding them against their will, physically abusing them, and not paying them. She was sentenced to 14 five-year terms to run concurrently in that case. In the same year she was convicted of stealing a fur coat from another customer in a Washington, D.C., restaurant. She was also suspected of arranging the arson of a home in Hawaii in order to collect the insurance. On the death of her husband, she concealed the fact of his death from his family, apparently out of concern that they would contest her claim to the estate. However, Kenneth Kimes had sequestered much of his fortune in an offshore account in the Cayman Islands, and she was unable to access those funds. She was suspected in the disappearance of a banker in the Bahamas, in the death of a hired man in Los Angeles, and a warrant was issued for writing a bad check for $14,793.50 to purchase an automobile in Utah.>Kenneth Kimes was found guilty of violent conduct, violating direct orders, making threats, assault and possession of a weapon stemming from an October 10 incident during which he took a TV producer hostage in the visiting room at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in Clinton County. Sante Kimes faced disciplinary charges following an investigation that began at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County while her son held the hostage at Clinton. Because both she and her son are considered escape risks, she was moved to the disciplinary housing unit during the hostage incident as a security precaution. Officers then searched her cell and found a pen taped at the top to form a hand grip.

On 2009-03-04 08:21, Dustycajun wrote:

On 2009-03-03 23:23, bigbrotiki wrote:
How great that they are still in relatively good condition. Now this thread needs the postcard rendering of the place.

Bigbro,

Here is the postcard rendering from the old Tropics Hotel next door. Interesting thing about this card - I have two of these cards with the same painting but one says its from Modesto and one says its from Blythe on the back. Ken Kimes must have been saving money on the advertising budget.

Here is another tiki action shot from the Modesto Tropics. Good to see that this tiki is still alive.

DC

Thank for the excellent postcard support, DC. Yeah, the Blythe and Indio Tropics were even smaller than the Modesto one, which never had the porte cochere A-frame lobby portrayed in the rendering...nor was there a Sambo's or any other kind of coffee shop. (Correct me if I my memory fails me, J.T.). It is also interesting how the rendering makes it look like the Motel could be an enclosed courtyard building, while it merely has an L-shaped lay out.

The Palm Springs Tropics was clearly the showcase of the 5 Tiki Tropics, with the L.A./Rosemead Blvd one being the second best (that is what the rendering in the BOT depicts). The sign alone was a work of art. The Rosemead Tropics had been completely de-tikied and generified by the time I got on the Tropics trail.

In retrospect, realizing how far off the Modesto rendering is and how it doubled for Blythe, I cannot help but wonder if that was part of a Ken Kimes scam: Invite the investors to a grand party at the Palm Springs one, and nobody would wanna go to Blythe or Indio anyway. After all, because of being married to Sante Kimes and fathering Kenneth Kimes, Ken Kimes Sr is not looked upon too kindly in the various articles and books about the Mother/son crime duo:

Sante then met a kindred spirit in Kenneth Kimes, a fellow con artist who already amassed a substantial fortune when they met. The pair later had a son Kenny although it is questionable whether they ever married. According to one version, Sante simply forged a marriage certificate.
In any case, the fact that the couple was already rich didn't seem to matter. They pulled scam after scam together, swindling their way across America and amassing more wealth.
Eventually, the couple was finally charged - with slavery.>Sante Kimes was married to wealthy motel owner and land developer Kenneth Kimes, Sr. During her marriage, she became involved in several legal turmoils. In 1986, she was accused and then convicted of 14 counts of enslaving a number of maids, holding them against their will, physically abusing them, and not paying them. She was sentenced to 14 five-year terms to run concurrently in that case. In the same year she was convicted of stealing a fur coat from another customer in a Washington, D.C., restaurant. She was also suspected of arranging the arson of a home in Hawaii in order to collect the insurance.

On the death of her husband, she concealed the fact of his death from his family, apparently out of concern that they would contest her claim to the estate. However, Kenneth Kimes had sequestered much of his fortune in an offshore account in the Cayman Islands, and she was unable to access those funds. She was suspected in the disappearance of a banker in the Bahamas, in the death of a hired man in Los Angeles, and a warrant was issued for writing a bad check for $14,793.50 to purchase an automobile in Utah.>Kenneth Kimes was found guilty of violent conduct, violating direct orders, making threats, assault and possession of a weapon stemming from an October 10 incident during which he took a TV producer hostage in the visiting room at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in Clinton County.

Sante Kimes faced disciplinary charges following an investigation that began at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County while her son held the hostage at Clinton. Because both she and her son are considered escape risks, she was moved to the disciplinary housing unit during the hostage incident as a security precaution. Officers then searched her cell and found a pen taped at the top to form a hand grip.

Post #437781 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Mar 4, 2009 10:35 AM