Post #774466 by mike and marie on Sat, Mar 25, 2017 11:01 PM

Great time tonight at the Grand Opening ... and a huge crowd! Probably the fact that they were on TV this morning got a ton of people out. And the Kahuna Kings were playing tonight. It abuts a national park so it has a pretty big parking lot, but the place was so packed tonight that there wasn't a single open spot in the whole lot ...

The first thing you see when you open the door is a big panel from the Kahiki, courtesy tikiskip...

Tonight was the first night we saw all these lamps from the Kahiki installed and alight:

An old couple who had just finished their dinner were watching us. The husband finally asked, "Why are you taking pictures of those lights?"

"Those are from the Kahiki."

"The what?"

We proceeded to explain to them what the Kahiki was---giving the 60-second elevator pitch we use to non-tikiphiles, explaining the indoor rainstorm and the giant moai and how it was thought to be the biggest and best Polynesian tiki supper club in the world. And that people like Bob Hope and Zsa Zsa Gabor were regulars.

"All that---in Columbus? Now I would've known that!" He lifted his Ohio State cap to scratch his head, and we could tell that he was very excited. He and his wife stood up. "Her hearing aid is on that side, so you'll have to talk over there. But tell me---we're from Columbus, we used to live there! We both graduated from OSU in 1960 before we came up here. Tell me, when was this place around?"

"It opened in 1961."

They both laughed a big laugh. But we told them to take a look at the Kahiki stuff in the front foyer on their way out. They were still there looking in amazement when we left. He was shaking his head. "Bob Hope! In Columbus! Why, who would've ever thought..."