Post #511578 by GatorRob on Wed, Feb 17, 2010 8:49 AM

Regarding the Mai-Kai, I haven't seen anything to indicate there was very much New Guinea art or New Guinea-inspired art prior to their major expansion in 1970. As you know, now there is the New Guinea dining room:

This drawing dates to the 1970 expansion when Tonga, Bangkok, Moorea and Tahiti were added (Tonga being space that was previously occupied by the Surf Bar). That expansion also enlarged the Molokai Bar and kitchen, and added the outdoor gardens and lagoon and the chinese ovens. But although the New Guinea room space existed prior to the expansion, it was reconfigured into basically what it is today. I do not know if it contained any PNG art prior to 1970.

We've talked about the New Guinea-inspired winged carving that originally was located inside and is now (at least the lower half of it) in the outdoor gardens. That tiki dates back to the late 50s, possibly even the opening of the Mai-Kai in '56. It can be seen in this photo (can't remember who originally posted these):

and just barely in this one:

And then there is also this huge New Guinea-inspired carving that once stood outside fronting the road next to the sign (what a sight that must have been!):

This zoomed in partial photo comes from a post from definitedoll and she states it was taken in 1967. I don't know when that tiki first entered the scene. I've seen one other picture of it, but it's not dated.