Post #524724 by Pittsburgh pauly on Sun, Apr 18, 2010 11:43 AM

On 2009-05-01 11:56, Mo-Eye wrote:
Wow! Interesting! I'm originally from Pittsburgh, so you sparked my interest here. I always thought Pittsburgh completely missed the Polynesian Pop movement.

This place actually did open. I found a small blurb about it in the March 27 1980 Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

"The Royal Hawaiian Review featuring Chief Tuika and his fire dance finishes its month long engagement this weekend at the Mauna Loa Restaurant, 3333 Wilmar Penn Highway, Wilkins."

Also, by researching the address a little, I found that this Mauna Loa was definitely gone by 1984, as it had become a restaurant called "Sorry Charlie's".

That's all I could find right now, but there has got to be some more info in the Post Gazette somewhere. The google timeline has all of their papers from the 60s and 70s. I'll keep looking.

There ARE other references in the Post-Gazette, by mid-December 1980 it was the "Organ Grinder Pizza Parlor".

There's also reference that in '81 the parent company was sued by someone who slipped on a dancer's grass skirt when he was being led onstage. Leading his wife to be "deprived of his comfort, companionship and services"!

And unless it's named after another Tuika, it looks like the floor show is still around Pittsburgh as "Tuika's Polynesian Island Magic" http://www.hawaiianshows.com/home.html