Kon Tiki, Waikiki, HI (restaurant) - Locating Tiki

D Dustycajun Tiki Socialite Santa Barbara, CA Joined: Nov 16, 2007 Posts: 5295	D Dustycajun Posted posted on Tue, Nov 17, 2009 3:02 PM Name:Kon Tiki Type:restaurant Street:Sheraton Hotel City:Waikiki State:HI Zip: country:USA Phone: Status:defunct Description: This is the least publicized location of the Kon Tiki restaurant chain created by Steve Crane. The restaurant was located in the Sheraton Hotel in Waikiki. I have this postcard, which shows the interior. I have seen no other photos from the interior of this Kon Tiki. It is a double card that also shows the Hanohano Room Restaurant. I also have the popular Daga Tiki mug that came from here (photo courtesy of Ooga Mooga). three swizzles, a pic, and a matchbook with the same Tiki logo as shown on the back of the mug. The Kon Tiki restaurant closed in 1980's. I read that the Tikis from the Kon Tiki were purchased by Annette Nahinu and ended up at the La Mariana Sailing Club. Finally here is an excerpt from an essay published by Karen Kasaba I found on the Internet with a great description of the Kon Tiki experience. To introduce him to my Hawaii, we drove straight to Kon Tiki with the luggage in the trunk. Together we rode the glass and rattan elevator that ascended one flight to the restaurant, looking onto a lush atrium. During the short ride, we listened to piped-in steel guitar, watched colored light play on a lava rock waterfall, and leered back at angry tikis, two stories tall. The ceiling of Kon Tiki is domed like a cavern, painted black as a kukui nut. From it hang dozens of colored glass floats, caught in fishnets and lit from within. Incandescent blue water cascades over the curled lips of mammoth clams. Illuminated blowfish swim suspended over a waterfall. And everywhere, tiki gods loom. Carved totems tower over diners' heads, inferring silent war chants and curses. Before dinner, my love and I shared a Kava Bowl: a large, coconut-shaped ceramic vessel, flanked by four menehunes B mythic Hawaiian elves. Pungent gardenias floated upon a pond of vodka-tinged punch. The entire concoction oozed a mysterious, icy mist that rolled over the edge of the bowl and onto the table. Like most exotic drinks, the first draw on the two-foot straw tasted like battery acid, but every subsequent sip was pure nectar. Cool imagery. Here is the link to the entire essay. http://www.summersetreview.org/04summer/kontiki.htm DC

Name:Kon Tiki
Type:restaurant
Street:Sheraton Hotel
City:Waikiki
State:HI
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
This is the least publicized location of the Kon Tiki restaurant chain created by Steve Crane. The restaurant was located in the Sheraton Hotel in Waikiki.

I have this postcard, which shows the interior. I have seen no other photos from the interior of this Kon Tiki.

It is a double card that also shows the Hanohano Room Restaurant.

I also have the popular Daga Tiki mug that came from here (photo courtesy of Ooga Mooga).

three swizzles,

a pic,

and a matchbook with the same Tiki logo as shown on the back of the mug.

The Kon Tiki restaurant closed in 1980's. I read that the Tikis from the Kon Tiki were purchased by Annette Nahinu and ended up at the La Mariana Sailing Club.

Finally here is an excerpt from an essay published by Karen Kasaba I found on the Internet with a great description of the Kon Tiki experience.

To introduce him to my Hawaii, we drove straight to Kon Tiki with the luggage in the trunk. Together we rode the glass and rattan elevator that ascended one flight to the restaurant, looking onto a lush atrium. During the short ride, we listened to piped-in steel guitar, watched colored light play on a lava rock waterfall, and leered back at angry tikis, two stories tall.

The ceiling of Kon Tiki is domed like a cavern, painted black as a kukui nut. From it hang dozens of colored glass floats, caught in fishnets and lit from within. Incandescent blue water cascades over the curled lips of mammoth clams. Illuminated blowfish swim suspended over a waterfall. And everywhere, tiki gods loom. Carved totems tower over diners' heads, inferring silent war chants and curses.

Before dinner, my love and I shared a Kava Bowl: a large, coconut-shaped ceramic vessel, flanked by four menehunes B mythic Hawaiian elves. Pungent gardenias floated upon a pond of vodka-tinged punch. The entire concoction oozed a mysterious, icy mist that rolled over the edge of the bowl and onto the table. Like most exotic drinks, the first draw on the two-foot straw tasted like battery acid, but every subsequent sip was pure nectar.

Cool imagery. Here is the link to the entire essay.

http://www.summersetreview.org/04summer/kontiki.htm

Post #494330 by Dustycajun on Tue, Nov 17, 2009 3:02 PM