Tonga Apartments in Ventura, Ca

....while driving through a neighborhood in Ventura (1 hour north of L.A.) I was trying to find a house that someone told me had unusual palms and tropical plants. I was on the wrong block when lo and behold at the end of the street in the middle of single family homes from the 50s-60s was this little delight...

the sign and tiki are almost overgrown...

the grounds ...

I did find the other house I was looking for but the other pix are too dark. Modern mid-century house is barely visable even up close due to all the tropical growth.....

Enjoy....

What a great find! This is why I always recommend looking for tall palm trees and foliage:
Built in the 60s, the plantings have grown since then (if the Mexican gerdener slash and burn pruning has not massacred it) to form a jungle, as one can see here.
That Tiki looks like the OA fiberglass ones, are there any more on the grounds?

Hey Bongo F. What street is this on. I was just in Ventura this morning cruising around. My tiki sense was tingling like crazy while on main st. I even cruised through santa paula and filmore scouring the thrift stores. I think I met a mexican Hannibal Lechter.Creepy guy!

BigBro....I was already late for a construction inspection at a new home site in Ventura. That Tiki is mounted to the wall at the second floor level, so I was not able to see what the material was or if there were any others. I will try to check it out again soon. I still have not made it to the "Hong Kong Inn" downtown to see the "Polynesian Review" . Did you ever go there?

Chiki....I don't remember the street name but will give more info when I go back...It is north of Main St. off Mills...north of the Pacific View Mall....By the YMCA...I was a Y member when I lived there for 4 years and never noticed that apartment....Did you find anything on your trek? I usually only find Hawaiian lps, not much in the way of Tiki...last week I did score someone's Martin Denny (Quiet Village & In Person, live at Duke Kahanamoku's) and Arthur Lyman (Cotton Fields & At The Crescendo) lps...

Nothing good, just a $3 shirt.

Hey Bongo, Are you into palms? I see some beautiful Howeas, Phoenix Reclinadas, and Raphis Humilius, in both photos. I'm jealous because I was hit hard with a deadly fungus and am unable to plant the palms I want now. I'll have to focus on cycads. Palm growth is a good sign of age as they grow very slowly. I know that tiki is hidden behind the Raphis but I'd NEVER cut those back! I'll post some pics of my mature palms tomorrow.

Nice find! I used to live around that area, but never saw that place or tiki. I have spotted a tiki down in the Peirpont area at a surf shack style burger joint called Dukes. The Tiki is actually next door, but you can see it if you go out onto the Duke's patio and look over the fence. If I remember correctly The tiki belongs to another restaurant but it isn't open for lunch. There used to be some really neat pole tikis at a micro banana plantations in La Conchita. The farmers had to move a while back and took their bananas and tikis with them. Anybody no where those tikis now live? I have some pics of them buried some where in my treasures.

That house looks suspiciously like one featured in an episode of "Visiting with Huell Howser". The homeowner was a palm collector and had a vast array of specimens from everywhere. He also had a greenhouse full of exotics in the back. That would be cool if it is the same house.

[ Edited by: floratina on 2003-02-02 13:26 ]

Hi Laney....Yeah we're koo koo for coco palms and all that reminds us of travel in the tropics (Moorea and Brazil were our favorites).....have lotsa palms besides the coconut...King, Queen,Bamboo, Alexander,Pygmy Date,Triangle,Fishtail,Foxtail, Raphus, Majesty, Areca, Washington, Thirnax, Kentia, and Blushing palms, oh and Tiki palms too.....here in Thousand Oaks temperature can be a problem, a couple of weeks of 100+ in the summer and some freezing days in the winter can instantly ruin things...we live in a mid-century modern house that has an atrium that we can move some of the smaller palms into if the weather turns extreme (by SoCal standards)...We have had a very bad whitefly outbreak in this area ...they love the Hibiscus and some palms....so far they are ignoring the heliconias...would love to see your palm pix...we bought some palms from a grower in Hawaii and they did OK until we went on vacation and the person watching our house did not water.....

Chongolio.... we have some Bannana Trees from Seaside Bannana Gardens....that was a great place to stop on the way to Santa Barbara...Don't know where the Tikis are now...

Floratina....did not see the program but they have a lot of unusual palms that you can't really see from that picture so it may be the house in question... i will try to post more pix soon...

Any TCrs on their way up the coast are welcome to stop in and say hello....drop me an email.....

Buoys and Gulls

I collect palms and cycads mostly and recently looking at tiki for my garden

The apartment building and the house belong to a lady by the name of Pauline Sullivan. She is very well known palmophile. Those palms and cycads in the photos are on the order of 30-40 years old.

Check out the Ventura College palm garden near the swimming pool and the other aprtment building on Baylor street across from the methiodist church (the church is across Telegraph from the swimming pool)

The dypsis decipiens (just out of view) in front of Paulines house is probably the most photographed palm in so cal.

I drive by her house for inspiration for my own garden on occasion.

If you want so cal palm advice (beyond the ordinary) i can dish some up.

regards

Florabunda, the house on Huell Howzers show is in Westminster CA. It is owned by Ralph Velez, a giant in the Palm Society! you can drive by his place and be amazed what he has done there since 1961 on a 60' x 105' lot all on a teachers salery. He has 380 total palms planted. The house is at 15461 Devonshire Cir. Westminster CA

On 2003-02-01 17:01, bongofury wrote:
....while driving through a neighborhood in Ventura (1 hour north of L.A.) I was trying to find a house that someone told me had unusual palms and tropical plants. I was on the wrong block when lo and behold at the end of the street in the middle of single family homes from the 50s-60s was this little delight...

the sign and tiki are almost overgrown...

the grounds ...

I did find the other house I was looking for but the other pix are too dark. Modern mid-century house is barely visable even up close due to all the tropical growth.....

Enjoy....

Does anyone have the address of this house? Mahalo.