Mai Tai Resort Motel (Polynesian Retreat), Osage Beach - Locating Tiki

8T 8FT Tiki Tiki Socialite Kansas City, MO Joined: Nov 30, 2003 Posts: 1411	8T 8FT Tiki Posted posted on Fri, Aug 23, 2013 6:22 PM On 2011-03-24 10:56, Johnny Dollar wrote: i bet the mai tai became the tan-tara resort: http://www.tan-tar-a.com/ http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6441&forum=1&vpost=67077 neato coolville has a whole mess of photos on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/neatocoolville/3575394169/ I know why JD thought that but I was pretty sure that it could not be true. I remember very clearly that my Grandparents went to Tan-Tar-a in the early 1970's. Even as a kid I knew Tan-Tar-a had been around awhile. I just felt that the two resorts existed at the same time. Since none of the postcards in this thread are dated or were mailed, we have no certain dates of operation for the Mai-Tai. The brochure Rick posted is cool but again no date is given. So what became of the Mai-Tai??? I have always wondered how to figure this out. I wrote to the Osage Beach Chamber of Commerce and got a nice reply from someone who gave me the address of the former owner and I then wrote him a letter and mailed it to see if he was receptive to filling in some blanks about what is known about his former resort. NO reply. :( A couple of years later I found a box of old travel brochures at an estate sale. Mostly from the late 1960's and early 1970's. Among the contents were several publications from the Lake of the Ozarks region including Osage Beach, the town closest to the locations of Tan-Tar-a and the Mai-Tai. When I got home I pored through the brochures and ads figuring that I would surely find ads for the Mai-Tai. But NOOOOOOOOO. Not a single one. Plenty of Tan-Tar-a though. I started to lean towards JD's theory a little but something just didn't fit. The urban archaeologist in me was not satisfied. Frustrated at not finding what I hoped for, I put the brochures away until yesterday when I decided to give them a fresh look using a different strategy. The address. It's basic. Lake road 54-30. That's it. Then I remembered a map in the pile of brochures. Since Tan-Tar-a is still in operation, I checked it's location on the map and it turns out to be on the opposite side of the lake channel and downstream a ways from the site of Road 54-30 where Mai-Tai should be. Lake road #30 is off of Highway 54. It's only about a mile long so I checked every business on the road until by a process of elimination I had one that seemed to fit. A place called Osage House. So back to the ads and finally....BINGO. Although the camera angle is from the lake looking ashore, you can tell that this is definitely the same place that used to be the Mai-Tai. So here's what I found: 1972 Ad 1975 Ad 1982 Ad And finally here is a recent satellite image of the same property with plenty of pavement and not one clue remaining that would prove that the Mai-Tai ever existed here. This is progress aka big money at work in the Ozarks. So that's it folks. Guess I will just make my own Mai-tai...where's my Rum?

On 2011-03-24 10:56, Johnny Dollar wrote:
i bet the mai tai became the tan-tara resort: http://www.tan-tar-a.com/

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6441&forum=1&vpost=67077

neato coolville has a whole mess of photos on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neatocoolville/3575394169/

I know why JD thought that but I was pretty sure that it could not be true. I remember very clearly that my Grandparents went to Tan-Tar-a in the early 1970's. Even as a kid I knew Tan-Tar-a had been around awhile. I just felt that the two resorts existed at the same time. Since none of the postcards in this thread are dated or were mailed, we have no certain dates of operation for the Mai-Tai. The brochure Rick posted is cool but again no date is given.
So what became of the Mai-Tai??? I have always wondered how to figure this out. I wrote to the Osage Beach Chamber of Commerce and got a nice reply from someone who gave me the address of the former owner and I then wrote him a letter and mailed it to see if he was receptive to filling in some blanks about what is known about his former resort. NO reply. :(
A couple of years later I found a box of old travel brochures at an estate sale. Mostly from the late 1960's and early 1970's. Among the contents were several publications from the Lake of the Ozarks region including Osage Beach, the town closest to the locations of Tan-Tar-a and the Mai-Tai.
When I got home I pored through the brochures and ads figuring that I would surely find ads for the Mai-Tai. But NOOOOOOOOO. Not a single one. Plenty of Tan-Tar-a though. I started to lean towards JD's theory a little but something just didn't fit. The urban archaeologist in me was not satisfied.
Frustrated at not finding what I hoped for, I put the brochures away until yesterday when I decided to give them a fresh look using a different strategy. The address. It's basic. Lake road 54-30. That's it. Then I remembered a map in the pile of brochures. Since Tan-Tar-a is still in operation, I checked it's location on the map and it turns out to be on the opposite side of the lake channel and downstream a ways from the site of Road 54-30 where Mai-Tai should be.
Lake road #30 is off of Highway 54. It's only about a mile long so I checked every business on the road until by a process of elimination I had one that seemed to fit. A place called Osage House. So back to the ads and finally....BINGO. Although the camera angle is from the lake looking ashore, you can tell that this is definitely the same place that used to be the Mai-Tai. So here's what I found:

1972 Ad

1975 Ad

1982 Ad

And finally here is a recent satellite image of the same property with plenty of pavement and not one clue remaining that would prove that the Mai-Tai ever existed here. This is progress aka big money at work in the Ozarks.

So that's it folks. Guess I will just make my own Mai-tai...where's my Rum?

Post #691183 by 8FT Tiki on Fri, Aug 23, 2013 6:22 PM