Post #631819 by JOHN-O on Mon, Apr 9, 2012 11:50 AM

In anticipation of Tiki Oasis 2012's "Polynesian Pulp" sub-theme, it's time to resurrect this old thread.

Yes, a Hollywood Noirish cloud always seemed to hover around Tiki entrepreneur Stephen Crane.

Here he is with ex-wife Lana Turner at their 14-year old daughter Cheryl's trial for the stabbing murder of mob enforcer Johnny Stompanato…

The former Mrs. Crane and Stompanato's tumultuous relationship…

was portrayed in a scene from "LA Confidential"...

In addition to being a Hollywood player and bedding such starlets like Ava Gartner, Rita Hayworth, and Mamie van Doren, Stephen Crane helped define Tiki-style with his Beverly Hills restaurant, the Luau...

where he also ran high-class hookers at the bar !!

At one point Crane was engaged to actress Lila Leeds, but that ended when she was arrested along with Robert Mitchum in his infamous and well publicized marijuana bust…

And here's Crane with future Manson Family murder victim Sharon Tate…

And as stated in a prior post, Author James Ellroy, self-professed "Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction", went as far as referencing Crane and the Luau in one of his short stories...

"The Luau: A tiki-torchlit restaurant rendezvous on Rodeo Drive. A mecca for movie-biz mavens and Beverly Hills business boys. Big booths and baroque backlighting. Tricked-up tropical trappings. Rambunctious rum drinks and rumaki sticks at the bamboo bar. A polyurethane Polynesian paradise - with peekaboo posts perched behind wall panels by the bar and the ladies' too."

"Steve Crane owned the Luau. Steve loved to lurk and look. He voyeur-vamped the joint every night. Steve owned me. I bought him out of a blow-job beef back in '54. Ben Luboff tried to trap him with a 16-year old San Quentin quail. Steve let me lurk in peeper perpetuity."

"Lucious Latinas pulling va-va-va-voom volts. A steller stable too starkly dark to strike up biz in Steve Crane's lily-white Luau. Steve stuck to a strict B-girl Bill of Race Rights. Negro: Nyet, nein, no, not at my place. White: Welcome, what will you have? Latin: Light-skinned Lupes and Lucitas only."

"Lana Turner: Steve Crane's ex. Movie-star mama to Steve's starstruck daughter, Cheryl. Steve was still starved for Lana's lewd love. Steve couldn't stomach thoughts of Johnny Stompanato sticking it to her."

:)

Stephen Crane = real-life TIKI NOIR !!

Off the record, on the QT and very hush-hush.