Post #619044 by TikiTomD on Wed, Dec 28, 2011 8:59 PM

I was driving north along A1A through the Daytona Beach area today and made a brief stop at the Makai Beach Resort. The front desk staff was really nice and introduced me to Lisa, the General Manager...

Lisa has been part of the Makai staff for several decades. I asked her about the missing logo Tiki atop the Makai’s sign...

It was damaged during the 2004 hurricane season, but was restored by 2006. Over the past couple of years it went missing again. Lisa explained that it went down in another storm, this time beyond repair.

GROG’s favorite Moai is still there...

According to Lisa, Wayne Coombs of Mai Tiki in Cocoa Beach created the Moai using a Styrofoam core, sometime in the early 1990s.

In a planter next to the front office door was another Wayne Coombs Tiki, clearly suffering the ravages of time and environment...

The two center decorative columns in the driveway are also creations of Wayne Coombs...

Near a very nice pool on the beach were these wall Tikis, stained since Tiki-Kiliki photographed them in 2006...

Inside the lobby, the Witco dancer and spear still guard the stairway...

At the base of the stairs is a new Tiki, recently carved by Keylo...

A few other masks and plaques adorn the lobby walls...

Considering that the Makai has weathered about 60 years directly on the ocean, the building is in pretty fair shape, though you can see cracks and corrosion in many places...

The latest postcard still shows the logo Tiki on the back (the sign was still intact when the postcard photo was taken), whereas the brochure does not...

-Tom