Post #588285 by aquarj on Sat, May 7, 2011 9:18 PM

On 2011-05-06 19:49, bigbrotiki wrote:
To become their logo, that door must have had a special meaning to the owner, maybe a good luck thing?....do you have any bio info on him?

My feeble attempts at learning more about Emerson Murfee have yielded very little. Mostly that quote on page 1, from the 1957 magazine interview, where he gives dates and recounts his yearnings, "For a long time I had planned an authentic Hawaiian restaurant." Murfee is kind of a unique name / spelling, so I thought I might encounter more, but I didn't. Cool how Sabu found some archive pics with Mr. Murfee next to Lanai tikis.

BTW, I mentioned that the dinner menu refers to the front door. Referring back to that text (from page 1)...

*Since that day more than ten years ago when the hand-carved door of The Lanai opened for the first time, we had dreamed of an even more luxurious setting for you to enjoy. And now this dream has come true. The colorful waterfall wall... the exotic orchid plants in full bloom... the authentic luau pit where the suckling pig is prepared for the festive occasion... all have been inspired by the lovely island of Lanai in the fabled Hawaiian group.

As you enjoy the food of the Indies, the Orient and Hawaii... as you sip your tropical drink... we wish you well. May you return soon and often to the gentle pleasures of The Lanai. -Emerson Murfee*

Note that this suggests a few things. First, that the handcarved door was there at the beginning of The Lanai in 1950. Second, that this menu is from 1960 or later. And third, that there was at least one expansion in those first 10 years, perhaps with a particular milestone or re-launching in 1960. For a sense of the capacity resulting from the expansion, note that one of the pages in the menu also has a footnote, "The Luau Room, the Lanai Room and the Tapa Room are available for LUAU and other PRIVATE PARTIES and BANQUETS from 10 to 100."

On 2011-05-06 15:22, bigbrotiki wrote:
ONE Tiki - as it becomes clear now, half of the roof top pole from one of the huts:

The brass plaque looked pretty sharp, so I tried to zoom in it... but to no avail, and further attempts to enhance focus and contrast... just made it fall apart. I think it says something like its title ("Lanai Tiki"?),"from Lanai Rooftop 19??","Donated by ??????","199?"

Fortunately TikiCentral has been around long enough now that the archives here are themselves a historical reference! As Mike TikiHula posted in 2004, it turns out that your sharpening brought you very close to an accurate read, bigbro!

On 2004-08-23 13:15, TikiHula wrote:
We were at the San Mateo County Fair this weekend which was having a tropical theme this year. In one of the buildings we saw an old 7 foot tall tiki with a gold plaque on it. Turns out it's the rooftop tiki from the Lanai! It used to have a torch coming out of his head and was removed after it started a small fire. It now belongs to the niece of one of the women who works at the fairgrounds. Unfortunately she wasn't there, but it sure was an unexpected surprise! (BTW, the original Village People put on an awesome show there Friday night) :D

The plaque reads "Torch Tiki, Old Lanai Rooftop 1952, Donated by Lar Caughlan, 6-4-92"

So with Mike's photo links long expired, it's great to see the photo of this tiki, as found in situ in "Lanai 2.0". That fills in an interesting connection in the life of that rooftop tiki that I didn't know before. I wonder where it is now.

-Randy