Post #598423 by tikicoma on Wed, Jul 20, 2011 12:12 AM

I guess I'm the only person on Tiki Central who will admit to having been the the Hawaiian. I think it was the summer of '63 maybe '64 and after visiting family in Utah we joined a family friend at the Hawaiian. To the booze question, the drinks in the tiki mugs were all virgin, at that time only clubs allowed you to mix your personal booze with their mixers and you had to be a paid member or their guest, and this was a restaurant not a club. We had 4 or 5 different mugs at our table with that many different fruit drinks in them, mine came in the coconut and I felt gypped because the other mugs looked cooler. When you entered you went down a short hall which had the band on the other side, right passed the band area the room opened up like a great hall. Our host had reserved our table in the only intimate setting I remember, a large hut surrounded by a short wall, and yes the lightning, thunder started then the rain fell from the thatch eves into the short wall, totally cool! The band, uke, guitar, upright bass, steel guitar and others I can't remember (I think it was a 6 piece) came back from a brake and I went up to them to ask if they were Hawaiians and the leader told me that they were Samoans (pretty sure the didn't say Tongans), what they played would have been call Hawaiian music back then though. I can't remember the decor but I do remember the A-frame entrance and the Hawaiian sign to the right. On another tiki note the day before I had collected my first 2 tiki mugs, PMP handled tikis that I won at Salt Lakes Lagoon amusement park.
aloha and sorry about being so long winded, tikicoma