Hawaiian Village mug. Need info!! Poly Pop, Big Bro, anyone

Aloha friends,

I just bought the mug on ebay. I haven't seen it in the BOT or da kine on tikiroom.net

I know Poly Pop/Big Bro has a lot of knowledge on mugs so I was hoping you could help out or who evas!

I couldn't get da cut and paste down so here is da item # on ebay 732289982

Mahaloz!

Here's your picture and link, Gecko.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewItem&item=732289982

I saw this auction a few days ago too and thought it might go unnoticed. No such luck - Congratulations Gecko, you are as wily as Sabu.

(ps: I've posted this composite picture to Mike's gallery as well, so that we can enjoy it without crashing Gecko's pad in Hawaii - even though he's invited us over numerous times)

http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/marked?&page=13

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2002-11-12 00:57 ]

I don't know anything about that mug, except that I want it! That really is an awesome find, GECKO! Nice job!

What I love about auctions like these, is that the seller is probably still sitting there, scratching their head, going, I just got 50 bucks for THAT?!?

I wish I was a tsetse fly on the wall.

Hey Gecko,
I bid against you for that one, you lucky sucka! The Hawaiian Village is/was in downtown Tampa, Florida near the airport on Dale Mabry. (The hotel is still there and is now a Day's Inn) Bucanner stadium is down the street.
They used Otagari mugs, so my guess is this is one of their's. When in operation during the early 60's and 70's the hotel and restaurant were first-rate, and attracted lots of business meetings and small conventions. The place gradually declined and the tiki restaurant was torn down and replaced with a TGI Fridays. Uugh. I'm always on the lookout for photos and postcards of the place. For some reason they are hard to find. You can still find their gold foil matchbooks and their weird swizzles on e-bay. Other mugs they used included a Tiki Bob-stye mug, a rum barrel mug and hula girl on a surfboard mug. They all say Hawaiian Village on the back, and have "Hawaii in Tampa" circled by a yellow lei. Hope this is helpful to you. By the way, I have only seen one other of the mug you won offered on e-bay, and it went for something like $80.
Aloha.

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2002-11-12 08:14 ]

Gecko,
From what I understand, the Hawaiian Village is a motel in Florida that had a Polynesian/Tiki bar. I believe the bar has long since been de-tikied however, the motel still exists. Maybe BigBro can confirm this.

I do know this - this particular mug is rather rare. I've only seen it on eBay maybe 3 or 4 times in the last 4 years or so. Hawaiian Village does however, have other mugs - one of which looks identical to Tiki Bob but marked Hawaiian Village on the back instead.

I saw this auction a few days ago too and thought it might go unnoticed. No such luck - Congratulations Gecko, you are as wily as Sabu.

I too, had this on my eBay Watch List for the past week. It looks like we tiki hunters in general, are becoming more savvy in finding obscurely listed items. Concidentally, I was talking to Hula Hula about this over the weekend when we discovered that we use some of the same "tricks" to finding "hidden" listings of tiki items on eBay.

*** * * The Polynesian Popster * * ***

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2002-11-12 08:23 ]

TANKS for posting da link Coconut Boy! Yes, I to was hoping NO ONE from TC would see it too!! (kailuageoff)dam u!!! don't worry KailuaGeoff I'll let u touch the mug when u visit, sorry for the out bid. I like the rare ones and this is one of em' I don't think it's as nice as some of the other rare mugs but it will work.

Tikifish, you read my mind! I bet she was scrathin' da head wondering how in da hell???
Thank god she didn't list it as a tiki mug other wise I probubly could not afford it.

tanks for all the info poly, Kailua! an da rest of da crew

shootz
Gecko-

Well done Gecko, a mug honorably won!

I'm intrigued by the back of the mug, where the logo is found inside a little ceramic lei/crest thingy. Some Tiki Bob's mugs also had something similar on the back. Does anyone know what era they were made in? They look like they might have been made in the late 70's...mebbe even 80's. The American Hawaii Cruises mugs used the same way of printing logos. Any info?

Trader Woody

Yeah, always loved that one. Had it photographed for the book, but no room for it. Don't own it, but I have an Easter Island mug with a detailed light brown wood texture, also with that neat lei ring around the text, they must have been early Otagiri, well done.

There is a matchbook from the place on p.50 of the BOT (with a rendering of the ext.), and a swizzle stick on p. 14, which because of the same logo shows that they took their name from Henry Kaiser's hotel in Waikiki.

Sabu alerted me to this mug a week ago, and I watched it daily, just to see if anyone else had noticed. Then I take off to Vegas and forget to place my bid, and well... congrats Gecko! You got it for less than I would've paid! I was talking to Johnnie Velour and Hula Hula last night (at Taboo Cove, no less...) about this very mug, but didn't want to refer to it by name, 'cause I didn't want the competition. I didn't know the auction had closed until I got back today, and damn! I wasn't even in the game! Good score!

BTW - I have a Latitude 20 mug with the same lei border around the name on the back, but the flowers are all white.

Hey!
I bid on that one first!
I always liked the mod, semi-abstract quality of the design.
NICE score!
It's funny that some of you thought nobody saw this one! I thought the counter told the tale.
It was clearly being watched.

well DOCTOR Z...THANKS!!! since you would have out bid me for sure!

I was also wondering who was the first bidder (BBTD). The Mug was at $12 i think then I bidded and then the next thing I know the little bastard went to $25. I knew then it was someone here. I've seen some of your mugs BigBadTikiDaddy on tikiroom.net and you have some great ones! I love that dam Ren Clarks Polynesian Village mug!! That is on my list of "oh LORD I need to get dis mug"!
If anyone has a spare, I would trade a 2 1/2ft coconut tiki carving for one.

I have a few swivle sticks from the place but no mugs. I'm thankfull for all the great info!

My friend edgeoftexas won the steve crane six pack last week with the lids. I'm thanking him right now for offering me one of those mugs. You cannot back out now Brah!! (i know your reading this!)i got witnesses(dam sp?) I also remember Poly Pop saying those tops don't go with the mug. Now do they or don't they Poly Pop?? Did you ever find out BigBro? I remember you posting you were going to ask the seller.

oh go check out my latest carving ppl if you have da time.
Mahaloz
Gecko-

Gecko,
No, the lids don't go with those mugs.

As I was going through some tiki related paper stuff recently, I came across this brochure from the Hawaiian Village in Tampa. There were some interesting photos of the motel property and restaurant, and thought I'd share some pics:

The Hawaiian Village Rickshaw Taxi :

Swimming pool and 2 of the guest rooms :

The inside of the brochure has views of the different dining rooms:

Here's the Hawaiian Room :

It looks like those dinner plates could have a Hawaiian Village logo on it, and also the hula girl image is on the cover
of one of their menus :

The Tiki Lounge :

The Lanai Room, overlooking tropical gardens:

The Shangri-La Room, with some black velvets on the walls :

Also looks like some mugs were on display, a tall surfer girl mug, a Tiki Bob's style mug, and not sure what the other one is , maybe a rum barrel :

Ah ya, that sign! What a neon beacon!
The painting of the Wahine must have been the menu cover...puamana, don't tell me you don't HAVE it ?! :) It is used on that tacky golden matchbook cover mentioned earlier by Geoff, too.

Wonder what was on/in the back rock wall of the Tiki Lounge, fishtanks? Maybe the horizontal one was an aquarium, and the vertical ones left and right held tropical plants. But where are the birds on the ceiling (compare matchbook BOT p.50)?

That bar in the Shangri -La Room is great, that's how I want my favourite mugs displayed now..(with lots of earthquake hold putty).
Wonder if Miles Thompson had seen this backbar, or just channelled it for his Telltale Tiki painting...

Good magnifying-glass mug hunting, one can do the same with the Ren Clark brochure on p.44 of the BOT and make out the Headhunter and Girl's bust mugs! (...and with many other postcards etc.)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2004-12-01 23:57 ]

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-13 11:28 ]

Hey Gecko! Great score!
That is cool mug, such different colours. Congrats.

My Good Luck mug has the lei, I should have taken a shot of it!

[ Edited by: Tikiwahine on 2004-12-01 11:19 ]

Paumana,
Mahalo for posting the brochure. Those are great images. Awhile ago I found a postcard of the hotel showing the sign. The double hull canoe they used in the dining room is really fanatastic. I wonder what happened to it.
KG