Post #617045 by Dustycajun on Sun, Dec 11, 2011 7:02 PM

Name:Christian's Hut
Type:restaurant
Street:
City:Multiple Locations
State:CA
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
There have been little bits and pieces of the history of the Christian's Hut posted on various threads on TC and I decided it was time to start a thread on Locating Tiki to to put it all together.

As many know, Christian's Hut began life in 1934 at the Twin Harbors Isthmus on Catalina Island as a bar built for the cast and crew filming the movie Mutiny on the Bounty. Here is a postcard that I picked up (after JP posted it) showing a nice rendering of the Christian’s Hut building by the pier.

Another old photo postcard I saw on ebay.

This part of the photo shows a deck added to the left side of the building.

Clark Gable lived above the bar and may have owned it. The bartender was none other than Ray Buhen (from the Tiki Ti). Here is a photo posted by Bigbro showing Ray and the sign "Christian's Hut, Pitcairn Island, Prop.(rietor) Clark Gable"

A story on the photo and another pic of Ray from the Filipino History of Los Angeles book.

The Catalina Christian’s hut became a famous movie star hangout with the yachts of John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, etc. moored at Isthmus. With all of the movie sets, the Isthmus became a South Seas set on its own, as described in the Catalina brochure.

You can see Christian's Hut in this photo from the brochure.

At some point Art La Shelle became involved in the Catalina Christian's Hut. I found this on the web:

Art and a fellow named Joe Guido ran a bar on the Catalina isthmus named Christian's Hut. Art had some kind of a background in the movies. I never was quite sure what it was, but he seemed to know a good many movie people. Be that as it may, the movie people who frequented the isthmus made Christian's Hut a popular place.

Art and Joe moved the operation (in name only) to to Balboa Island in Newport Beach in a building that was the old Southern Seas Club.

Note the reference to the bouncer, found this little nugget:

"Art hired Don Vaughn as bouncer, and Don invented a new concept in throwing out unruly customers. He carried them out to the end of the pier and threw them into the bay."

This is where we first see the famous "Goof" caricature on the roof. I am not sure when the Goof appeared, but this was rendering was published in a Ford Cookbook in 1951.

And this great photo of the Goof on the Roof from Critiki.

A menu mailer I have

An a matchbook from the Balboa location.

Christian's Hut Was A Big Draw For The Hollywood Set Because It Was Owned By The Brother Of One Of Hollywood's Biggest Cinematographers.

In the late 1930s, Art La Shelle opened Christian's Hut, a Tahitian style restaurant and bar on the bay front, now the location of Newport Towers. Christian's Hut was noted for its great oriental style food, and was always being frequented by the Hollywood set. Red Skelton, Johnny Weismuller, Fred Mac Murray, and Howard Hughes to name a few. Joe La Shelle, Art's brother, was an Oscar-winning cinematographer, one of his more well-known movies was "The Birds."

This rare circa 1945 aerial view shows Christian's Hut in its heyday.

Much of the Christian's Hut food was prepared in a big outdoor cooking pit. No one could figure out how the filet mignon could be crispy-charred on the outside and rare in the middle. One regular customer was told in confidence the secret was to first freeze the steak, toss it on a white-hot grill to sear it, then drop it into a deep fryer. The downstairs bar area had a sand floor which led all the way to the water where the patrons would beach their boats. The dining room was upstairs. Marshall, the maitre d', was given the nickname Francois, because he would kiss the hand of every woman coming in the door, starting at her finger tips and working his way up her arm all the way to her head.

The Goof that adorned the roof was of course moved to the Bali Hai restaurant on Shelter Island in San Diego where it still resides.

This info from the Bali Hai website:

Bali Hai was the first Tiki temple erected on Shelter Island and was originally called “The Hut”, a subsidiary of Christian’s Hut in Newport Beach, California. Only two years after it’s opening in 1953, the Hut’s manager, Tom Ham, took over the ailing business, gave it a new name (after the movie Bali Hai was released) and transformed it into the most happening place in San Diego.

Here is a coaster I saw that advertises the Balboa and Shelter Island Locations.

This makes me think that the Shelter Island location was the first spin off.

The Balboa Island location was lost to a fire in 1963.

The third restaurant popped up in Laguna Beach as seen on this matchbook.

I also have this refrigerator magnet made from a Gimlet drink card from the Balboa and Laguna locations.

The next one in the chain was located in Corona Del Mar at the Jamaican Inn.

This matchbook had a pop-up Goof on the inside of teh book.

There was another location in Honolulu, Hawaii. The only info I found for that was from this obiturary of Eugene Dukette:

Dukette managed the properties until the partnership dissolved. He moved to Hawaii helping open Christians Hut Honolulu, first as assistant manager, then manager.

It says he returned to Balboa in 1958 so the Honolulu location must have started sometime before then.

That's it for now.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2011-12-12 17:08 ]