Witco Tiki Fountain Found - Collecting Tiki

T TikiHula Member SacTown Joined: Apr 09, 2002 Posts: 757	T TikiHula Posted posted on Tue, Feb 17, 2004 9:37 PM Ok. So first off, I have to give a big MAHALO to Dr. Z and Z-Girl for leading me to this and giving me the little push I needed to go for it. Fountain aside, you couldn't ask for better friends! Dr. Z said he'd been going into this little Hawaiian shop in Torrance for awhile and, his first time, didn't even notice this Witco fountain tucked away in a narrow space near the front door. We went over and looked at it the last couple times I was down at his place and then heard that it was for sale. So, I sold a whole bunch of stuff on ebay to get the money together to buy it- hoping that someone else didn't go for it first. The owners of the store are really nice folks and have owned the store since 1989. The store has been in that shopping center for 35 years and I was told the previous owners had bought the fountain from the Latitude 20 when it closed (it was right down the street). Well, I walked in there Saturday and laid my cash down and so Sunday afternoon, with the help of Dr. Z and Z-Girl, we hauled it out of it's niche and back to Z's place. He'll get to enjoy it for awhile until I can get down there with a vehicle big enough to take it home. I think it looks killer in his Castaway Lounge, although it does take up a bit too much space. It needs a new pump and maybe some varnishing touchups to keep the bowls water-tight, but all in all it's in great shape. So it'll be a working Witco fountain again someday soon! Boy am I thrilled! Here's a few photos: Here's where it sat in the store for the last few years Dr. Z making sure that it's not gonna fall out on the way up PCH The tiki is bolted onto the base, so we just carried it out in one piece. They had to take the side trim pieces off so that the base would fit in the store space. They screwed them onto the bottom of the base- as you can see. That'll need fixing... We stopped at the former Latitude 20 site on the way home....now it's a strip mall :( Dr. Z enjoying a drink in the shadow of a Witco original... all seven feet of it! Lady Velour looking like Vanna White :)

Ok. So first off, I have to give a big MAHALO to Dr. Z and Z-Girl for leading me to this and giving me the little push I needed to go for it. Fountain aside, you couldn't ask for better friends!

Dr. Z said he'd been going into this little Hawaiian shop in Torrance for awhile and, his first time, didn't even notice this Witco fountain tucked away in a narrow space near the front door. We went over and looked at it the last couple times I was down at his place and then heard that it was for sale. So, I sold a whole bunch of stuff on ebay to get the money together to buy it- hoping that someone else didn't go for it first.

The owners of the store are really nice folks and have owned the store since 1989. The store has been in that shopping center for 35 years and I was told the previous owners had bought the fountain from the Latitude 20 when it closed (it was right down the street).

Well, I walked in there Saturday and laid my cash down and so Sunday afternoon, with the help of Dr. Z and Z-Girl, we hauled it out of it's niche and back to Z's place. He'll get to enjoy it for awhile until I can get down there with a vehicle big enough to take it home. I think it looks killer in his Castaway Lounge, although it does take up a bit too much space.

It needs a new pump and maybe some varnishing touchups to keep the bowls water-tight, but all in all it's in great shape. So it'll be a working Witco fountain again someday soon! Boy am I thrilled!

Here's a few photos:

Here's where it sat in the store for the last few years

Dr. Z making sure that it's not gonna fall out on the way up PCH

The tiki is bolted onto the base, so we just carried it out in one piece. They had to take the side trim pieces off so that the base would fit in the store space. They screwed them onto the bottom of the base- as you can see. That'll need fixing...

We stopped at the former Latitude 20 site on the way home....now it's a strip mall :(

Dr. Z enjoying a drink in the shadow of a Witco original... all seven feet of it!

Lady Velour looking like Vanna White :)

Post #76562 by TikiHula on Tue, Feb 17, 2004 9:37 PM