Post #538006 by bigbrotiki on Mon, Jun 21, 2010 1:11 PM

Welcome to LAKE ALOHA !

Great corner art, and intricate tropical flora frame work

This rendering was the only one with its complete frame and plastic overlay intact. Because of the descriptions on the plastic sheet we now can tie in the plane to its own Fly-In Tiki Bird Lounge (!) ....housed in an A-frame of course:

(and also as a Sail-In on the other side like at the Bali Hai or Christian's Hut)

Now that these desert islands were conceived as Fly-In communities makes perfect sense when we consider that Gus and Loreen Raigosa worked for Douglas Aircraft in Downey. The mid-century Sci Fi vision of everyone eventually owning their own flying machine was still very much alive in the late 60s. And a precedent for this concept existed in Palm Springs, with the Desert Air Hotel:

This 1950s Hotel also staged large Luaus in its Luau Hut, sort of Fly -In Luaus (see a whole chapter on this place in Pete Moruzzi's book Palm Springs Holiday)

If we look at other details of Lake Aloha, like the "Escape Islands"...

...we can see another source of inspiration:

The Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu, a self-contained Polynesian triangle! Also, yet another Polynesia Americana might have inspired the Raigosas:

Considering the fact that Danny Balsz stated that at The Tikis they would bus in 1000s of employees from the airplane plants in South Los Angeles every weekend, I would not be surprised if Gus and Loreen had been among them.

Coming up ext: LAKE TAHITI