Post #733520 by Humuhumu on Sat, Dec 20, 2014 3:06 PM

I just bought these six old Orchids of Hawaii lamps, and I'm trying to figure out what restaurant they came out of. The fellow I bought them from is trying to find out for me, but in case he hits a dead end, I'm sending out more feelers. They were purchased at an auction in St. Petersburg, Florida, an auction of things that were from an old restaurant. I would guess that the restaurant we're looking for is one somewhere in the Tampa Bay area, something that closed somewhat recently, and most likely is an old-school Chinese restaurant that opened in the '70s or so. Not all of the lamps are in functional shape -- one of them doesn't even have a bulb socket in it anymore -- and the wiring has lots of questionable patching (I am so rewiring these puppies). There are two that still have bulbs in them, though, and those bulbs are both compact fluorescents, so it does appear that they may have been in use (unless the bulbs were put in for the auction). It all seems consistent with a run-down old Chinese restaurant on its last legs, though.

:up: All six lamps together

:up: These two character lamps have a solid tapa top with vent holes

:up: While these two have open tops, with metal bracing bars that extend out a bit

:up: The two tiki lamps match each other very closely

:up: I rested a lamp on top of an uplight to see how it glows... ooh, pretty!

:up: This is pretty representative of the wiring used on all six lamps

:up: All four character lamps have this UL sticker

:up: For reference, here is an Orchids catalog, don't know what year it's from (though I wouldn't expect the catalog images to exactly match what they were selling). Borrowed from another TC thread. You can see the character lamps here have the metal bracing bars that extend out. Two of my lamps have the characters in outline, while here only the rightmost lamp has its character carved in outline.