Post #656307 by abstractiki on Sun, Oct 21, 2012 2:44 PM

I found it! I have been hunting this sacred tiki for a long time and I almost lost hope that this Islander tiki mystery would ever be solved.

I found the big moai tiki that sat outside the Islander. What luck, you won't believe the luck I had. The gods are with me.

Here is the story. I was at my reception for my annual art show a few weeks ago. A good Friend of mine was playing guitar and singing there and I knew he had fond memories of the Islander from his younger days in Stockton. I walked up and gave him an 8x10 photo of the Islander and an Islander mug as a gift.

When I was done an old man who had seen me do that approached me and said,"you know, I have one of those Islander tikis in my yard". At first I thought it was an other man who I had already talked to and visited a few years ago. Then he said no that's not me you have never been to my house. My jaw dropped and my eyes got big. He said it was real big and heavy and it was one of the ones from the outside. Oh my God I thought could this be the one? Well I got his contact info and today I made the trek to Stockton to see it in person.

The tiki looked pretty good for being so old and being left out in the elements all these years. It had no identifiers carved into it and had a lot of dry-rot. The old man said he got it in a trade from Neal Pollard right before Neal moved the Islander from Lincoln Center to Pollard Ville. He said he went to high school with Neal and they were old friends. He and his wife have many fond memories of the old Islander.

Bottom is in cement.

The eyes still look cool.

Some dry rot damage.

Guardian of the Islander Moai Tiki for almost 30 years.

Happy Hunting!