Aloha and welcome to La Mariana, please come in........

Have you ever thought how it would have been to sit inside of a Don The Beachcomber years ago? or feel the Tikis texture on your finger tips in the Tahitian Lanai? maybe stare off into those colored glass floats at the old Trader Vics in the International market place? Well you can! come see the romantic La Mariana tiki restaurant, where all those dreams come true......

welcome to fantasy island...

walk threw these beautiful carved post and you will see....La Mariana!

carved window shutters that close at night after hours.

the main entrance...

looking into the dining are from the bar. The colored floats are from the old trader vics in Waikiki and off of Ward ave.

my favorite bar tender "Tito" and my wahine..

here are the beautiful tiki booths that you eat at if you don't sit in the lanai. look at the bamboo lights that hang over the table. The tables are from Don the Beachcomber and the tiki is from the Tahitian Lanai.

booths to your left and right, water fall in the center and more sitting area in the center.

wall panels and tikis...

here you see the famous cannible trio tiki from Kon Tiki, i was also told from Don the beach. The green ceramic things that are entwine with bamboo are from Don the beach. Trader vic used them too. You can see larger versions in the book of tiki on page 90 upper right.

the back entrance. To the left a massive wall panel from Don the beach.

the bar seen from the lanai..

more wall panels and tikis outside...

that is me in my bummy gray shirt at the bar(i didn't know we were going to la marianas!), the Wahine to my left and a friend that was just at a torch lighting ceramony down in Waikiki..

the aquariuam.

the waka (canoe)...

me and my other favorite bar tender "Leo" the drink master. He has a "Leo special" drink that taste like those green melon fruits...just mavalus!! gotta try it if he's workin'

da wahine with a "Leo's special". Ewww his Maitais are good too! That Filipino guy can hook a drink up!!

looking at La Mariana from the marina.

the lights are now on as the sun sets.

![](http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b2cf05b3127cce9264a8d9badb0000001410[/img

Friday nights are great! Joe singing the classic "Waikiki"
[img]http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b2cf05b3127cce9264a7fd7b500000001410)

one of my favorite singers and my wahine

group song.

Another reason why people visit our lovely islands, the beautiful sun sets. This is looking out into the Marina from La Mariana.

I hope you have enjoyed your tour, If you ever come visit make sure you DO NOT miss this place!! A must do! give the Gecko a call or email and I'll meet you there! If you are here on a Friday night, you might want to make reservations unless your at the bar, no need for reservations.

If you have any other questions call La Mariana at (808) 848-2800

Aloha
Gecko-

sorry this was the first picture I wanted to post...It got messed up some how.

Gecko,
Looks cool, thanks for posting. See you in april.
Al

Hey, Gecko! That is an amazing tour you've put together. Now I feel homesick for da place. I need to go out and get a maitai... just need Tito to swing by and finish it while I'm not looking, then I'll feel that I'm back.

-Weird Unc

Gecko, thanks for the pics. I can see why you spend so much time there! :D The place looks awesome! I will be there one day, I don't know when but someday I will be there! Mahaloz!

Nice shots Gecko. The waterfall room looks sweet. I dig the fact that you were having a drink with your buddy after his torch lighting duties. That is to cool, did they make him leave his torch outside? If heaven is half as good as the La Mariana, I better start behavin'. We should have a T.C meeting there next year!

Chongolio

Kumai! Kumai! Ka nalu nou mai Kahiki mai, Alo poi pu! Ku mai ka pohuehue, Hue! Kaiko Loa.

[ Edited by: Chongolio on 2002-11-24 11:23 ]

I got two words for that place:

Da-aym!

Steve

Thank you so very much for the lovely tour of that magical place. I saw a feature on Hawaii on the travel channel and became aquainted with the site then. It was so nice to see more from your photos.
I hope you can come to Hukilau 2003 at the Mai Kai. You would certainly appreciate its decor as well.
Again, many thanks for sharing!!!!

Gecko,
Thanks for taking the time to take pics to show to us! Very nice place. I always tried to picture what you were telling us about it. Can't wait to see it. I might be on Oahu in Spring 2003.

Gecko,

My and Debbie, Al and Shelly will be there April 19 & 20. Can't wait to hook up with you at La Mariana!

Aloha Oi

Pretty damned impressive, I must say :)

Well crap - why can't we get a place that bitchin here? We will definately have to come visit one of these days....

it's such a dreary, drab, rainy day here in london. the sunset at 4:07. i sure do wish i were at La Mariana right now!

thanks for the excellent photos! i hope to buy you a drink there one day.

tiki chris

Ahhhh yes paradise has it's ups,

those pictures were only about 70 percent of the place. I had to save some for you to see for yourselves.

Al & Bong... I cannot say nuting braddas! you will see next year why this is my second home. Werid Unc of the Mai Kai Gents can tell you haw great this place is! Hey Unc you should post your pics of the last visit! I'm sure our friends here would like to see them.

Chongolio, yes this is heaven! I remember a post a while back about tc getting together here in Hawaii. You guys will love it!

Tiki Bree, I have the Hukilau 2003 marked on my calendar! I'm going there or the Philippines, don't know yet. I'll let my friends in Florida know though if I do come so I can bum a ride from the airport!

for all of you who are coming next year..THANK YOU!! because you're giving me an excuse to go to La Mariana again!

my Wahine is like...."what your going to La Mariana again!?!?"

hey, I gotta meet my peeps!

Lucky me, we have a visitor this wednesday from TC that I will be meeting at the Marianas.

Oh!!!! a Tiki was stolen from the parking lot and La Mariana would like to get it back as much as I would like to see it back in it's original spot. So, if you see a vintage tiki about 3 to 4 feet that looks like a cannible on ebay, please email me so we can catch the culprit. That's just stupid of ppl who do that! The police got a report as well as the FBI i'm told.

thank you
Gecko

People better be careful about messing with tikis. Two tiki establishments in Florida were converted to other purposes a few years back. One blew up due to an electrical fire. The owners of the other place drowned at sea.

Amazing pics, Gecko!

By far the best tiki bar I've seen! How did I ever miss this place? Used to go to Hawaii twice a year but haven't been in 5 years now and going through withdrawal!

Where is it located exactly? Hawaii Kai?

We may be out there this summer. My wahine and I will definitely let you know.

Aloha,

Uncle Arty

Wow! That is a great looking place! I hope to one day make it to Hawaii again and would love to spend some quality time with La Mariana...

:drink:

My new wife Gaye and I paid a visit to La Mariana on Wednesday at the end of our Hawaiian cruise. Gecko and his lovely wahine, Ailie, greeted us and showed us around. This is an incredible tiki bar as Gecko's photos show. Gecko introduced us to the owner, now in her 80s. Very nice lady. The piano player did "Quiet Village" which really set the scene. This was one of the best things we did on our trip. We took many of the suggestions made by Tiki Centralites...more later.

Just wanted to say thanks again to Gecko and Ailie for a great time.

http://tulsaTVmemories.com

[ Edited by: tulsatv on 2002-12-01 10:42 ]

Aloha TC,
here are some new pics of La Mariana.

new TC members Tulsatv (Mike and his newly wed wife Gaye) Tulsa thinks this palce is the mecca of Tiki bars!?! It's for sure up there.

da gecko with my other favorite bar tender Jesse James the tastyiest Mai Tais in da South Seas. He is the creator of a shot drink he made for me.

here is Jesse with his new D-Li-Cious creation called "Da Spotted Gecko". So, If you come to LaMariana and see Jesse working, ask him for da spotted gecko. I got wasted. no one knows da drink but Jesse because it's not on the menu yet. Mike the general manager calls it the "smiling gecko" I think. Which eva one you will for sure see spots and smile after a few of those.

your host on the left and the right. starting from the left, the lovely Jenny, Ailie my Wahine in the middle and the lovely Judy. You make sure you take care of these ladies because they are great! Tell them you seen them on TC. They get a kick out of that! Jesse too.

Jenny and Tito(bar tender) told me some ladies that browse on TC came into the bar last week because they seen it on TC. Michelle I think is one of the names of the ladies. If you read TC don't be ashamed to post anything. We could have met. I here the ladies live here on the island to! lets party! If you don't want to post feel free to click on my eamil icon to email me. anytime we have TC visitors from da mainland I will post them on this same post so always look for new pictures on the la mariana post.

Aloooha!

Wao Nahele Kalepa Kumula'au Hale

[ Edited by: Jungle Trader on 2004-07-14 08:03 ]

Wow, that looks pretty cool. Makes me think of doing a Cook Islands mug that stands on 3 legs... If you have seen tikis in the Cook Islands, you get what I mean!

On 2004-07-04 12:30, Swanky wrote:
If you have seen tikis in the Cook Islands, you get what I mean!

Ya, a mug with a kick stand.
Nice photo Vic!

Yo Gecko, man those are some awesome photos, cannot believe I was never there when I lived on the island. But man I know where I will be spending some quality time when I get the chance to return.

[ Edited by: Tikiwahine on 2005-06-09 16:55 ]

GECKO...
Nice Pics

ALOHA!
This thread needs a BUMP! Last night I went to La Mariana for the 91st Birthday of the lovely owner, Annette Nahinu. Great party. Free Puupuus.... I even tried a "Spotted Gecko". Don't know what was in it, but I had to close the place down to be able to drive home legal... I ran into Gecko and his fellow artist and friend Freddie. I took some photos and thought some of you might want to see them. First is Gecko with Annette:

Then we have Freddie and the Birthday Girl:

Then Gecko posing with a painting:

I will finish with a photo of the sunset view from La Mariana:

Just beautiful. We were there last year, and hope to go again in December....sigh...

Good to see Gecko looking well.
Aloha, Gecko.

Hope to play you a few songs at your studio sometime soon.

Mike,
Let's go to the PI
Mahalo,
AL

I was there last year also and took some pictures with her...I know, I know, I should post them but I don't know how, damn-it.

This place looks spectacular. I was going to surprise my now ex-wife with a trip to Hawaii for our first anniversary and this is where I planned on taking her the night of our Anniversary. Needless to say Im glad i took the vacation insurance. But damn I wish I would've went by myself then. I will be there within a year. If your up to it Gecko, id like to dump a couple with ya and talk tiki.

Gecko - awesome pics of La Mariana... We live in Kapolei and Mrs. MTM and I go there from time to time to get our tiki on! Like Da Gecko says - it's da kine! Everyone that works at La Mariana's is really great and they go out of their way to make you feel welcome. The vibe is so cool that it doesn't take much imagination to transport yourself back 40 years or so.

But watch out for Saturday nights- they put in a piano bar and Saturday is the night it's active and it's open mic night. I can only take so much of horrible renditions of old broadway show tunes! You have been forewarned!

Thanks for sharing Gecko-

Aloha Nui

MTM

[ Edited by: MaiTaiMafia 2005-09-27 01:30 ]

I'm finallly getting around to posting some pics that I took a couple months back when I was there.

The entryway from the street

These two guys flank the driveway leading to the walkway in.

Window shutters:

Inside:

Awesome photos, MachTiki! Those, along with Gecko's, have inspired the four members of MTM to return to La Mariana for another evening dedicated to the consumption of tikificated libations. We are planning to go next Friday(I believe)... Anyone else wanna go?

MTM

Happy to have been able to get together with some ohana at La Mariana's the last night of our stay on Oahu.

Had hoped Mark Swanson might have joined us but he did make a guest appearance from Haleiwa by cell phone! We've gotta plan better next time Mark. Maybe Tiki Shark can swim over from the big island too!

Boy La Mariana's just drips history. Don't miss this joint!

[ Edited by: hodadhank 2007-01-30 21:50 ]

Aloha Hank, great to have met you and the your Grl...I hear the SeaHorse mug calling you...:) Aloha, Freddie :tiki:

Nice fishing float hat. Pick that up at the stadium, Freddie?

On 2007-01-30 21:44, hodadhank wrote:
...Boy La Mariana's just drips history. Don't miss this joint!

Better hurry. It's for sale...

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Sep/07/ln/FP609080328.html

Bummer...

When going to Oahu there is nothing better than meeting dabigpuka and his family. Look at that necklace Gecko is wearing if you never got the meaning of the name before. Gecko and Freddie, Ailie, Wendy and Ben are all part of La Mariana for us. Being there with them makes the island so special it's hard to go anywhere else. The other Wendy

On 2007-02-06 05:02, Kon-Hemsby wrote:
Nice fishing float hat. Pick that up at the stadium, Freddie?

HEHE, that's exactly where I got that one...I'm slowly going to a bigger size and more wattage....

When are all you guys coming back??? Aloha, Freddie [ Edited by: HOUSE OF KU 2007-02-11 04:06 ]

[ Edited by: HOUSE OF KU 2007-02-11 04:18 ]

As soon as I've got the cash my friend.
Can't be soon enough.