Savage Renewal/Urban Archaeology: WITCO Mystery Pieces - Collecting Tiki

TL Tiki Lee's Tiki Socialite Las Vegas Joined: Aug 23, 2003 Posts: 798	TL Tiki Lee's Posted posted on Wed, May 3, 2006 12:56 AM O.K., here's my first Savage Renewal post! I've had these Witco pieces for about 6 years now. I bought them on eBay from a person who claimed to be an old lady in New York. She said that she and her husband took these out of a restaurant that was closing and being torn down, however, she could not remember the name of the place. I showed a photo of them to BigBro soon after I got 'em, and he couldn't place them. My question to all of you Urban Archaeology sleuths out there is: what restaurant did these guys come from? Here's a few more details: The big full body tikis are 5' tall, made of two peices of wood (front and back sides) and are hollow in the middle. Obviously support post covers. The upright face boards are about 4' tall and have the witco stencil on the backs. I actually tried to sell one of these on eBay once after 9/11 when I was out of work and dead-ass broke, and no-one bid on it. Starting bid of $9.99 with no reserve & no one bid. Shocking, hunh? I'm kinda glad now that it didn't sell, 'cuz I like having all four of 'em together. The photo of the faceboard on the ground by the car and the trim boards were taken by the ol' gal I bought 'em from. I never recieved these. She said shipping all of the other stuff to me about "killed" her husband, so she wasn't going to ship those. I did get a refund, but I really wanted the face boards. When I get my Tiki Den at a certain point, all these beauties are going in as permanently installed fixtures. I'll post pics as I go. Thanks for reading my post, and I hope someone out there knows where they came from! :)
STCB Sabu The Coconut Boy Tiki Socialite Carson, California Joined: Aug 20, 2002 Posts: 2807	STCB Sabu The Coconut Boy Posted posted on Wed, May 3, 2006 9:59 AM Some of the NY restaurants that look like they might have some Witco in them are: The Kona Tiki The Bali Hai The Aloha in Rochester There are probably others that I don't have interior shots of. I don't have my postcard collection with me, but maybe taking some extreme closeups of the interiors on the postcards might reveal some Witco. Sabu
TL Tiki Lee's Tiki Socialite Las Vegas Joined: Aug 23, 2003 Posts: 798	TL Tiki Lee's Posted posted on Thu, May 4, 2006 10:43 AM Sabu, Those names seemed to jog my memory ever so slightly, and I seem to remember that the city was definately not N.Y.C., so I guess we can eliminate the Kona. The Bali Hai in Long Beach or the Aloha in Rochester BOTH seem to feel right as far as possible cities go... I hope your postcards hold secrets as yet un-revealed!

TL

Tiki Lee's Posted posted on Wed, May 3, 2006 12:56 AM

O.K., here's my first Savage Renewal post!

I've had these Witco pieces for about 6 years now. I bought them on eBay from a person who claimed to be an old lady in New York. She said that she and her husband took these out of a restaurant that was closing and being torn down, however, she could not remember the name of the place. I showed a photo of them to BigBro soon after I got 'em, and he couldn't place them.

My question to all of you Urban Archaeology sleuths out there is: what restaurant did these guys come from?

Here's a few more details:

The big full body tikis are 5' tall, made of two peices of wood (front and back sides) and are hollow in the middle. Obviously support post covers.

The upright face boards are about 4' tall and have the witco stencil on the backs. I actually tried to sell one of these on eBay once after 9/11 when I was out of work and dead-ass broke, and no-one bid on it. Starting bid of $9.99 with no reserve & no one bid. Shocking, hunh? I'm kinda glad now that it didn't sell, 'cuz I like having all four of 'em together.

The photo of the faceboard on the ground by the car and the trim boards were taken by the ol' gal I bought 'em from. I never recieved these. She said shipping all of the other stuff to me about "killed" her husband, so she wasn't going to ship those. I did get a refund, but I really wanted the face boards.

When I get my Tiki Den at a certain point, all these beauties are going in as permanently installed fixtures. I'll post pics as I go.

Thanks for reading my post, and I hope someone out there knows where they came from! :)

STCB

Sabu The Coconut Boy Posted posted on Wed, May 3, 2006 9:59 AM

Some of the NY restaurants that look like they might have some Witco in them are:

The Kona Tiki
The Bali Hai
The Aloha in Rochester

There are probably others that I don't have interior shots of. I don't have my postcard collection with me, but maybe taking some extreme closeups of the interiors on the postcards might reveal some Witco.

Sabu

TL

Tiki Lee's Posted posted on Thu, May 4, 2006 10:43 AM

Sabu,

Those names seemed to jog my memory ever so slightly, and I seem to remember that the city was definately not N.Y.C., so I guess we can eliminate the Kona. The Bali Hai in Long Beach or the Aloha in Rochester BOTH seem to feel right as far as possible cities go...

I hope your postcards hold secrets as yet un-revealed!