Post #481666 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Sep 6, 2009 8:46 AM

Never thought the day would come when I'd see THAT moniker! It gives me strange visuals. Compliments on the concept! :)

If I would be in the Tampa area, I would make a pilgrimage to this place:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=29685&forum=2

Its artifacts have only very recently been identified as this man's work:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=32101&forum=1&start=0

...and I would try to find any photographic evidence of the restaurant he decorated, too:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=32239&forum=2

"...the exterior had really cool human-sized abstract (almost 50s biomorphic style) tikis carved of lava that were set into the exterior walls. There was also plenty of Polynesian-style wood trim (tiki totems, etc.)"

...AND see if I could get some original material from the heyday of the Tahitian Gardens condo complex and development, the whole area seems to have been Tahiti-fied!:

http://tahitiangardens.net/Map.html

The mindset and eye of the urban archeologist would be the proper way to approach such an expedition, though.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2009-09-06 08:58 ]