Post #817776 by SBJiminyC on Thu, Jan 22, 2026 11:54 AM

I’ve been exploring Newspapers looking at various old Tiki places. 



One pathway led me to look at Tiki Gardens in Florida. This thread has some really great items posted.

The archives only went back so far.. so I didn’t see the actual beginning - when the Signal House opened. However, on June 16, 1961, I found ads for the “new” Tiki Gardens as a free add-on attraction.

Tampa Bay Times - 6/16/1961

It seems that the Signal House had already shown to be profitable, at least enough so that they could add the gardens.
 Just the list of various shops within the Signal House makes one’s imagination light up. The Oriental Room, Basket Mart, Kontidi Room, Driftwood Room, China Room, Shell Patio and exotic Polynesian Room.

Tampa Tribune - 6/20/1961

Here are a couple additional articles about the Tiki Gardens coming to Pinellas County.

Tampa Tribune - 6/27/1961

Tampa Tribune - 7/4/1961

According to this article, the Tikis were designed by Gordon Keith. Tampa Bay Times - 8/7/1961

As is the case, scans of newspapers seem to vary in their quality. Hopefully enough value is gained by simply learning the facts of things that happened.

So, I thought I would add some additional items I’ve discovered from old newspapers. I hope someone else enjoys looking at these things as well.

Next up - the Tiki Torches weren't the only things burning .. . .