Post #716434 by NorthEnder on Fri, May 9, 2014 8:16 AM

Ah! I must have misunderstood about the photograph. No matter.

No, I haven’t talked to any of the book writers. I may not be a very good candidate for that. I visited the Kahiki only once in my life—just a few days before it closed for good. My mother (Bernie the architect’s sister) wanted to visit the old place one more time. I was the youngest child and the Kahiki was a pretty upscale destination for little kids. I’ve seen it from the outside many times, but I didn’t get a chance to go inside much. My father didn’t have the money to splurge on dinners out for the family, so consequently, I was never able to visit. My older sister—who shared a birthday with Bernie—went with him for a birthday dinner back in the early to mid-70s and was fortunate to try the (nonalcoholic) Mystery Drink.

Bernie was kind of a mysterious uncle. He divorced, moved out to California and fell out of regular contact with the family. Some of his architectural work can still be seen around Columbus. For instance, he designed an apartment building across the street from Schmidt’s in German Village. He also did some work for Larry Flynt’s estate in Bexley. Later, he did more work for Larry out in California. I last saw him around 1996 or 97. He had been diagnosed with cancer and returned to Columbus for a mini-reunion. Shortly after that, he died in California.

Herman Leitwein, the builder of the Kahiki, is still in Central Ohio. I saw him just last summer. He’s about 90 years old, with poor hearing, and he’s in a wheelchair, but he still drives a big old pickup truck. His mind is still sharp as a tack and he has a wicked sense of humor.

(The server here won't let me access the photo. I'll have to check it out later, but thanks!)

[ Edited by: NorthEnder 2014-05-09 08:31 ]

[ Edited by: NorthEnder 2014-05-09 08:56 ]