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Tiki Central / General Tiki

Mai Kai in bad shape following Wilma

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3 CHEERS!!!

M

On 2005-11-01 07:37, Chip and Andy wrote:
It is official! The Mai-Kai reopens tonight!

Three cheers of ZAZZ!!! :)

J
JonPez posted on Wed, Nov 2, 2005 2:18 AM

Hooray, hurrah and huzzah!
I've been away from this post for a few days and been dreading looking at disaster pics or horror stories.
From personal experience here in O'do, we know what hurricanes can do.
Been sending good thoughts and prayers to the Mai-Kai and our other Florida o'hana.

The Mai-Kai is open and back in business! We went last night and had a few cocktails and generally had a blast!

Mrs. Thornton extends her deepest thanks to all of the Tiki Central O'hana for your calls and emails and thoughts for and about the Mai-Kai and it's O'hana.

[ Edited by: Chip and Andy 2009-06-05 17:25 ]

H
Helz posted on Thu, Nov 3, 2005 8:03 AM

Reading this thread was truly a roller coaster of emotions. I live in Boca and we just got power last night, so this was my first chance to hear how the lovely and venerable Mai-Kai stood up to Wilma.

While the pictures saddened me greatly, I can't tell you how much it warmed my heart to know that the Ohana are already back and enjoying the bar.

If there is any sort of TC Clean-Up party, or any way that I can be of assistance, please let me know. And I'm glad to hear everyone made it through, though a bit worse for wear.

-Jason

KK

It shouldn't have been (a rollercoaster ride etc..)! Re-read the first post-
"My sister's cousin's uncle Axoltol drove through Florida once, and before his cell phone broke and he lost control of his car in the swamps, I'm pretty sure he blurbled that he saw a flyer announcing the Mai-Kai's drink special...OR that they were totally destroyed by Wilma, I forget which..."
For the love of Ku...please don't be so quick to bury the place.
Can someone re-title this post to a more positive "Mai Kai says F**K You, Wilma!" or some such? It's a miracle that it escaped (again) with so little real damage.

T

Big shout out to the Tiki Gods for seeing us through. Some of the pictures were tough to look at. They made me think of the damage Big Bamboo sustained during a hurricane and never re-opened. The exterior of the Mai Kai actually looked worse than the Big Bamboo damage.

I am so glad they have re-opened and are serving up an escape to a mystical place right there in Lauderdale.

Already looking forward to next year's Hukilau!

I spoke with Pia today and news is the Mai Kai is undergoing a facelift as we type here today. The entire entrance will be taken down and rebuilt due to hurricane Wilma. Permits are out to rebuild the display grass shack in the front of the Mai Kai as well. I'm going to try to send someone out to get photos.

More later....

Just found this thread, but it has been on my mind for quite some time now.

I'm so glad, relieved to read that for the most part this treasured place has survived as well as it has. So many wonderful experiences over that Hukilau weekend happened there; the first night we arrived there, Tikikiliki took us (Waitiki) there and we proceeded to tour the drink menu, all before dinner, on a stomach that had only seen some crappy airline pretzels prior to our arrival there, sometime in the evening. Then, of course, the Saturday night extravaganza, where the place was completely filled, and all that food, music, the floor show; the place just shined. In such a short time, I developed such an attachment to that place, that to contemplate even the slightest damage, much less devastation, was unthinkable.

Please keep the updates coming! Thank you, all you Ft Liquordale locals, and I'll sacrifice a watermelon for you!

Every time I've been there I'm convinced that there in the heart of that 300 feet of Lauderdale Highway frontage beats the heart of our Tiki world. To lose it would be devastating. I'm glad it made it, too. It was a nailbiter.

I'll drink to that, Basement Kahuna!

On 2005-11-14 15:37, Basement Kahuna wrote:
Every time I've been there I'm convinced that there in the heart of that 300 feet of Lauderdale Highway frontage beats the heart of our Tiki world. To lose it would be devastating. I'm glad it made it, too. It was a nailbiter.

Actually, it's beneath the floor in the room with the Chinese ovens. Glad it is still beating too!

Pages: 1 2 59 replies