Post #8986 by C.B. Howlie on Mon, Sep 23, 2002 1:47 AM

Mary-Margaret and I went to Chicago in July for a long weekend. We did make it to the Art Institute, Oak Park and Trader Vice, but the Hala Kahiki was the highlight by far...
Our first night we drove directly from the airport to the Hala Kahiki. We spent literally hours in the gift shop poking around and talking with the owner there... Finally we did make it to the bar, but only after we decided to buy a fabulous dusty old plastic tiki hiding in the back corner - the owner kept trying to convince us we shouldn't buy it! But she finally reluctantly sold it.

Here's the main bar - note the pineapple lights on the bar.

Fabulous fruit chandelier in one of the main rooms including glowing bananas against a grass ceiling. Witko masks from one of the other main rooms.

One of the many tikis in the garden area.

The final challenge was shipping a 4 foot tall 2 foot wide tiki home to L.A.!!! Luckily, we had friendly folks at United who let it slip by their luggage size standards

If anyone knows the history of this type of tiki- I'd love to know.