Post #493918 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Nov 15, 2009 3:27 PM

The plethora of logo Tiki artifacts shown above is a good example of how much material can still be found out in the field. I wish I would have had one of those menus, the full figure mug, or this cup...

...when I chose the Kona Kai Tiki as an example for the logo Tiki in the BOT. I also had not fully realized how much of it was based on the Trader Vic logo Tiki:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=24081&forum=1&start=0

The Kona Kai Tiki's most discernible difference to the TV Tiki is the squared-off, knobby chin. So who is responsible for that version? It was drawn by Irving Weisenberg:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6&forum=1&vpost=13951

Unfortunately, not much was heard from Maui Matt since. ( It always KILLS me when I re-read his line:
"He used to have tons of artwork from things he did, but I believe they are no longer around. I think I have more stuff than his son...").

But there is a lot of documentation on the Philly Kona Kai around, actually:
First off, the amazing spec rendering Irving Weisenberg did for it when it was still called the Hale Tiki on Page 53 of the BOT, one of the most iconic images to fuel the Tiki revival. In the left lower corner we can clearly see his signature. And the proof that the Hale Tiki became the Kona Kai is found in Irving's rendering of the entrance Tiki, which clearly was the blueprint for the menu, matchbook, mug and S&P shaker Tiki.

I spread Kona Kai material throughout the BOT, beginning with an interior blueprint on page 19, a Tiki pole blueprint as background for pages 64/65, the specific Kona Kai pages 140-143, and another Tiki blueprint on pages 245. All this had been lent to me for the book by the architect, Eldon Davis, the surviving partner of Armet & Davis, known for their innovative Googie Coffee shop architecture (and Tiki temples like the Tahitian Village, the Tropicana Fresno, the Steve Crane Kon Tikis, and the Playa Del Rey Polynesian Village apartments). Here he is at his 90th birthday, with Googie author Alan Hess, at Pann's Coffeshop (around two years ago):

And here are some of the blueprints. All renderings were done by Irving Weisenberg. I do not know of any other Tiki restaurant that had the Tikis drawn up by a designer in such painstaking detail (interestingly, none resembled the logo Tiki in the Hale Tiki drawing):

Now we know who did the sculpting and fiberglass mold for the PNG gable figure: Jim Casey:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=12142&forum=1&start=15

But what I do NOT know is who executed the other carvings, actually VERY close to the original specs. Compare:

Another enduring mystery is HOW did one of these guys end up in the Eugene Savage mural at Daimons in Glendale!!?:

Now a while back, Tiki Nomad posted pics of the artifacts when the place closed in the 1986:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=24802&forum=5&vpost=318008

Nomad knew where they were stored for a while on the East Coast:

Some of the above carvings luckily found their way back here to a collector friend of mine:

But the big question remains: WHERE did all those gorgeous freestanding Tikis go? They are not in Tiki Nomad's pictures anymore, and there really are no good photos of them. Here we see the exterior entrance ones (see first blueprint on top), too small to really appreciate them:

And then there is ONE photo of which I am dying to find a good quality print of. It is the Kona Kai entrance lobby, and I only ever saw it as part of a collage in the Armet & Davis offices:

I zoomed into the collage and brought up the exposure, so we can appreciate what a glamourous Tiki Temple this must have been:

What I would give for that photo! Tiki at the peak of the style! Part of the proscenium made it back to LA, but the two Tikis? The one on the right clearly is the one in blueprint Nr. 2 on top of this post.

And then there are other aspects about the Kona Kai we would have loved to have seen. The back bar diorama which was painted on layered glass sheets so dimming certain lights allowed dawn to dusk effects:

And the gardens, in their Japanese-like modernity....

To cheer everybody up, here's one more early spec rendering by Irving Weisenberg, (obviously the name was not set yet):

All in all, Marriott's Philadelphia Kona Kai, as the flag ship of the chain, was certainly one of the great accomplishments of Tiki Style.
(Question: Does someone here remember which early 80s teenage movie comedy used it as location again?)