Vintage Tiki Artwork - Favorite Artist's Renderings

My post of the Leilani Village postcard last week:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6606&forum=1&16

...got me thinking: Why don't a do a whole thread on just artist's renderings of tiki bars from postcards, menus, ads, etc. They're definitely harder to come by than photographic images, but I enjoy them so much more. Everything is so idealized and streamlined and exotic in a way only the artists imagination can capture.

So without further ado, here are some favorite artist's renderings from my collection - otherwise known as "eye-candy"

The Famous Mai Kai postcard:

The Mai Kai's Molokai Lounge:

Another more uncommon image of the Mai Kai:

The Aku Aku Motel, Woodland Hills, CA:

The Aku Aku, Las Vegas:

The Tradewinds - Oxnard, CA:

The Hawaiian Village Motel - Myrtle Beach, SC:

Christian's Hut (with the original Goof) - Balboa, CA:

Disneyland, entrance to Adventureland:

The Waikiki Motel - Anaheim, CA

The Original Trader Vic's - Oakland, CA

Trader Vic's - San Francisco:

Trader Vic's - Beverly Hills, CA:

Don The Beachcomber - Hollywood, CA:

South Sea Island - Pacific Ocean Park:

The Royal Hawaiian - Daytona Beach, FL:

The Willows - Honolulu, HI:

And The Famous Waikikian - Waikiki, HI:

Hope you had as much fun looking at them as I've had collecting them.

Sabu

Those are very cool! I know you collect original prints, but this company reproduces some of the old Hawaiian tourist posters and Matson Line menus. Here's an example

They're called Yesterday Images and they make quality prints.

http://www.yesterdayimages.com/

I love the Aku Aku Motel in Woodland Hills, I go by it everyday, and wonder what it might have looked like. I drove inside many a times but nothing tiki there. Maybe I will check it again. thanks for the pictures.

You're right... that was eye candy. I enjoyed looking at those. Thanks for posting!

I live very close to Woodland hills, were exactly is/was the Aku Aku??

Excellent thread, Sabu! Keep 'em coming!

Excellent thread, Sabu! Keep 'em coming!

Man I' would like a coffee table (Mai Tai table) book of that stuff. Fantastic collection Sabu!

Digitiki. I think it is the motel, still called Aku Aku, on the south side of Ventura blvd. between Canoga and topanga Canyon. The entrence to the motel looks extremely tiki. Check it out.

Great cards, etc. as always Sabu (Master of tiki ephemera), here are my humble offerings

International Market Place, Waikiki

Phoenix, AZ

The Hanalei, San Diego, CA

The Warehouse, Marina Del Rey, CA

The Tropics, Palm Springs, CA (Home of the Tiki Oasis)

Well -
since this thread is already stretched out - here goes!

Marc Davis - circa 1962-3 - the original traditional theatre style show for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room....

"Oh mystic powers - hear my call...
From my limbs, let new life fall..."
http://www.christophermerritt.com

[ Edited by: Tangaroa on 2004-09-28 15:45 ]

Since Sabu & Zulu are being so generous - here's another one:

This was a polynesian-themed dark ride from Pacific Ocean Park... Art by Dave Constable circa 1959/60.

Thanks for helping out with the theme, Zulu & Tangaroa! That artwork for the Pacific Ocean Part dark ride is truly amazing - and I'm still trying to get my hands on the Tropics, Palm Springs postcard! Beautiful stuff.

Sabu

What a great thread ! Here's a few more :

Ta-boo, in Palm Beach, FL

Luau in Atlanta, GA:

The Luau postcard has the same artwork as their menu, but an interesting extra is that on the reverse side. On the upper left side of the back of the postcard, is this color illustration of the restaurant :

Islander Beach Lodge, New Smyrna Beach, FL:

A very similar looking Treasure Island, located in Daytona Beach Shores, FL:

The Islander and Treasure Island were even on the same road, South Atlantic Ave ( A1A), but the Islander was located at 1601, and Treasure Island was at 2025.

The Polynesia, Seattle, WA:

Hawaii Kai Motel and Apartments, Myrtle Beach, SC:

Also, on the back of the postcard where the amenities of the motel are listed, is mentioned an Authentic Polynesian Restaurant. Any ideas on which one may have been there? I have a menu from the Hawaiian Village in Myrtle Beach, but I think its from the Hawaiian Village that Sabu has the postcard for.

Kaanapali Hotel, Maui, HI:

It looks like there were some pretty cool roof structures, and 6 tikis in the area just behind the pool:

City of Refuge National Historical Park, Honaunau, HI :

And lastly is one that is tropical in name only (and nothing remotely tiki), the Lanai Towers at the Majestic Hotel, Hot Springs National Park, AR:

Just thought I would show it here as the illustration was kinda funny, with the woman in the swimsuit apparently diving out of nowhere.

[ Edited by: puamana on 2004-09-29 22:06 ]

Hey, guess what my new screen savers are!

Sabu, you give good thread. (Don't tell your wife I said that.) :wink:

I'm also quite fond of the concept artwork and illustrations of these places. My favorite pieces come from the Mauna Loa in Detroit... as a matter of fact, I've only seen the Mauna Loa exterior in illustrated form, I've never seen a photo.

These are from puamana's collection, and are in Critiki:

Critiki - Hundreds of tiki bars, Polynesian restaurants, and other sites of interest to the tiki traveller, collector or urban archaeologist

[ Edited by: Humuhumu on 2004-10-01 14:50 ]

Great stuff! Keep 'em coming.

[ Edited by: SoBeTiki on 2004-10-01 19:33 ]

Very cool pics! I just got myself a new desktop wallpaper (1024x768 193kB) :)

Here's some more concept art by Dave Constable from Pacific Ocean Park..

1. Entrance to The Deepest Deep dark ride.
2. Early concept entrance to The Banana Train Ride.
3. Banana Train ride, show scene with U.S. Rubber as sponsor.
4. Polynesian performance hall/ restaurant (this one will be for sale on Ebay in the next month or so...)

"Oh mystic powers - hear my call...
From my limbs, let new life fall..."
http://www.christophermerritt.com

[ Edited by: Tangaroa on 2004-10-08 12:12 ]

[ Edited by: TNTiki on 2004-11-06 18:52 ]

:o Those are so awesome, thanks for posting! That makes me want to pull out my dreaded water colors now. :o

Here's a vintage Trader Vic's silk scarf with drawings of the fronts of the restaurants at the time. Just got it on ebay a few weeks ago:
http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adg
The whole scarf

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adh
Beverly Hills

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adi
Chicago

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adj
Denver

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adk
New York

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adl
Oakland

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adm
Portland

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adn
San Francisco

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/ado
San Juan

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adp
Scottsdale

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adq
Seattle

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/adr
Vancouver

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/vics/ads
Washington

Cool,huh...

"Tastes like alcoholic Kool-Aid"

The Tiki Gallery at:
http://www.tradervic.com
http://www.tikiroom.net
http://www.tikimug.net
http://www.tikimugs.net

[ Edited by: TikiHula on 2004-10-08 23:17 ]

"Sandvan" looks to me like it actually says San Juan... which would probably be San Juan, Puerto Rico, although that would be the first I've heard of there having been a location there. Would make sense, though.

Damn, Michelle, you're good. I didn't even see that. Yes, it must be San Juan. Wonder how long that one was in business?

Absolutely FAN-TAS-TIC! Wish I would have had that for the book! Must use it for Witco!

Never knew that Chicago and Portland used to have A-frames.
These must be based on photographs, the Wshington one has the same angle than the postcard p.53 of the BOT.

Ouuuh the pain, to think that before the big renovation wave in the 80s, T.V.'s headquarters used to have individual press folders for each location, with photographs and materials from day one. They were tossed.

On 2004-10-09 03:49, bigbrotiki wrote:
T.V.'s headquarters used to have individual press folders for each location, with photographs and materials from day one. They were tossed.

TOSSED????? Oh man, nothing hurts worse than that... I've had some similar experiences with Knott's...

This is Mike's (aka TikiHula) pic from above for the Denver Trader Vics.

Several years ago while I was researching Denver tiki establishments at the Western History Collection of the Denver Public Library, I found a lead to a newspaper article about one of those guardian tikis being stolen.

I searched ALL variations of the date, but never had any luck finding the article in the Denver Post archives. The librarian must have made a typo when she was updating the card (dammit). Well at least now we have a visual to go with the story. Great find Mike!

I have to wonder if the missing big guy is still floating around here in the Denver area? Cool end to the story if I could ever find it (I've looked).

[ Edited by: ZuluMagoo on 2004-10-11 17:51 ]

These are great!! Thanks for sharing, makes us one dimensional tiki peeps think about going two dimensional!!! - did i spell that right?

Tangaroa - Thanks for posting more of that great conceptual artwork. That Polynesian Performance Hall is my favorite!

Tiki Hula - Fantastic artwork on that scarf. I've got an actual photo postcard of that entrance to the San Juan, Puerto Rico Vics. Here it is, (Humuhumu, you're free to use this one and any of those artist renderings on your Critiki site if you'd like):

Here's a placemat from the Palm Beach Hawaiian Motor Lodge, FL :

nice! keep 'em coming!

Here's a postcard from the Polynesian, Ocean Shores, WA:

[ Edited by: puamana on 2005-01-19 09:28 ]

Is that a drive-in restaurant in the center of the parking lot? :)

Here are some more Enchanted Tiki Room concepts from Marc Davis - this time from 1968, during the design for Walt Disney World's Tiki Room:

Florida's pre-show:

Interior show:

Conceptual idea - possibly shooting beams of light out of tiki god's head? Overlay on original Marc Davis sketch from 1963:

Possible show scene from Florida's Jungle Cruise (never installed), 1968:

Tangaroa, all the Marc Davis and Dave Constable illustrations are just amazing ! Thanks for posting all of them. Tikibars, I think that building the the center of the parking lot of the Polynesian was where the restaurant was located, but no mention of a drive-in on the postcard....what a great idea that would have been !

WOW! Mark Davis artwork is always great. Tangaroa, do you have any more artwork from the original Enchanted Tiki Room?
Your friend,
Louis

Here is a print of Don The Beachcomber's-International Marketplace-Waikiki. It is from a set of signed prints by Don Davey. The other 3 prints are Nuuanu Pali, Blowhole, and Hawaiian Sunset. They came in a presentation folder with a description of each print.

High in a Banyan tree is "Tree for Two"-a bit of old Polynesia created by an International restauranteur. Providing just the right exotic and sheltered atmosphere for such an enterprise, the Banyon tree is a phenomenon. It begins it's life as a seed dropped from the branches of another tree and as it sprouts it sends it's roots down to the ground. A strange network of trunks and roots begins and this "vegetable octopus" has been known to develop as many as 350 large trunks and over 3000 small ones.

I think some of you may have missed this post over on the Beyond Tiki threads, so here it is again:

Here's some Polynesian themed art by the remarkable Mrs. Blair - enjoy!

"Oh mystic powers - hear my call...
From my limbs, let new life fall..."
http://www.christophermerritt.com

[ Edited by: Tangaroa on 2004-12-02 13:29 ]

Here's concept art for the Kon Tiki Inn, Arizona...

Here's another one :

This painting is a surreal landscape by Painter Steve Meikle,Oakland,CA. I bought this and some of his other works from his estate. He died at a young age. Also bought a blow fish that I found on one of his shelves still in the original wrapper. I named it Stevie. Though it doesn't really qualify for this thread, I'd like to think of it as a view of Tiki Heaven.

HO'OMANAWANUI

[ Edited by: tikiboy on 2005-01-25 00:11 ]

Here's an artist's rendering of the Philadelphia Marriott, showing the A-frame entrance to the famous Kona Kai restaurant in the foreground:

Sabu

Here is a color version of the Hawaiian Village Motel in Myrtle Beach, SC (originally posted in B&W by Sabu, back on page 1).

Some not-so-great artwork for a 1979 advertisement from Alvin's Fashions, in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida.

Compare with a photo of the exterior:

I can't get enough of this thread. Keep it coming! The Marc Davis stuff is wonderfull.

Another killer thread from yesteryear...

Haven't been through Ft. Walton...are the tikis still there? I couldn't picture anything that big leaving town unnoticed..

I like to look in the picture books.

Cause reading hurts my brain.