Post #509322 by Johnny Dollar on Sat, Feb 6, 2010 4:50 AM

ok i contacted willtiki who had made that comment above about the charlottesville tiki establishment. he does not have a name for the place as of yet, but here is what we do know:

the polynesian / chinese restaurant was next to, and loosely associated with the white house motel on route 250 in charlottesville. the restaurant was between the white house motel and the town and country motor lodge. the motels and restaurant buildings are no longer there - that commercial strip has become infested with car dealerships. their addresses were

white house motel
1448 richmond road, charlottesville, va 22911

town and country motor lodge
1344 richmond road, charlottesville, va 22911

so... i guess we can say, "they paved the air-conditioned paradise, and put up a parking lot."

other snippets of info are:

I know it was open and serving fiercely strong drinks as late as the beginning of my first year (Fall of 1982) since a bunch of us went there with my dorm R.A. Oh how times have changed. I was 17 no one else was older that 19, and my RA was buying all of us strong cocktails!

a bit more research turned this up... http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2004/04/15/COVERmoderne3.2.html
is the existing building listed on that site as "the aloha restaurant" our lost tiki establishment? i'll have to ask willtiki.

the aloha restaurant is now a kia dealership - the building is ca. 1955-1956, designed by architect stanislaw makielski.

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar 2010-02-06 05:31 ]