2006 Chin Tiki Detroit Tour & Art Show Update

Detroit Chin Tiki Art Show & Tour Update.

The date of the annual Chin Tiki Art Show, Party and Tour has been rescheduled to Labor Day weekend, Sept. 2 & 3.

The Chin family has informed me that this will be the last tour of the historic Chin Tiki Detroit! They are currently in serious negotiations to sell the restaurant with the building's sale imminent.

The Motor City Tiki Art Show will still go on for years, but this is the last original restaurant tour that will be held in conjunction with our event. So we are making plans to be sure that this years event will be very special. Anyone who wishes to attend the show and take advantage of this last Detroit tour as participants, as vendors or as contributing artists, please email me: Nancy at [email protected]

Schedule of events to date:

Saturday Sept. 2, 2006 7pm to 1am Great Lakes Luau at
Chin Tiki Livonia 28205 Plymouth Rd. Livonia, MI 734-421-1627
Original tiki art by local and national tiki artists, vendors, exotica & surf music by DJ Del Villarreal, tropical drinks and food available.

Chin Tiki Raffle!
Donated by the Chin Family to help defray the many costs of this event we are raffling the following authentic & historical Chin Tiki artifacts:

1. Unused new/old stock menu from the Chin family restaurant The Port O' Three. Tiki restaurant was open for one year only in a Detroit suburb, the menu has Chin Tiki graphics. 2) Rare used die-cut Chin Tiki Detroit restaurant menu. 3) Dead Stock hand carved Chin Tiki seashell ashtray. 4) Original paper artifacts from the restaurant: old one sheet special event menus, + more. And.... 5) The Chin family has located a case of new old stock SUFFERING BASTARD decanter mugs. Unused, still in original paper wrapping. One of these mugs will go in our raffle.

Raffle tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. Tickets available at the event or through PayPal right now. To pay by PalPal, please add 50 cents per order to ship you your ticket. PayPal to email address: [email protected] The drawing will be held on Sunday at the Chin Tiki Detroit restaurant tour.

Sunday Sept 3, 1 pm to 4pm
Tour of the original Chin Tiki Detroit. Tickets $5, available in advance or at the door. $5 charge is to help defray our advertising and security costs.
Free new old stock Chin Tiki postcard to all who attend. Marlin Chin will be on hand to answer questions. DJ Del Villarreal spinning the exotic tunes! We cannot offer food or drink as The Chin Tiki has no working restrooms, but perhaps we could all meet up at a local bar afterward.

http://www.motorcitytiki.com or email Nancy at [email protected]

The Chin-Tiki is probably the last preserved Tiki tomb of its kind. Thank you for your help in letting me document it. I am glad I did it when I could, all the best for the event.

I am soooooooo there!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the update!! See you guys in September!!!

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

I shall be there as well to finally get my much needed interior shots.

Damn. I was really really looking forward to this, but the holiday weekend has me out of town. Stupid Labor Day weekend.
Oh well, won't be the first once in a lifetime opportunity I've missed.

Stupid Labor Day weekend as well for me. I live near Livonia but will be camping much farther away. Will still plan to make it though.

Cover charge at Detriot Chin- Do we just show up there for that day. Suffering mugs ah, I would really like ChinTiki mugs.

Count me in!

Hey everyone, there is some updated news regarding our
big Detroit, Michigan MOTOR CITY TIKI event coming up
Labor day Weekend, Sept. 2nd:

There has been a unplanned change in our Tiki Tour
with the Chin family. The Sunday morning tour of the
original vintage Chin Tiki restaurant has been
canceled. With the sale of the Chin
Tiki building pending and negotiations in the final
stages, the Chin family, on advise of legal counsel,
will NOT be able to conduct the final Chin Tiki tour.
We and the Chin family feel terribly disappointed by
this news and humbly apologize for any inconvenience
caused.

But, our tiki event at Chin's of Livonia on (Sept.
2nd, 2006) is still scheduled and we are making our
Art Show, Sale and Party better than ever as we say
farewell to Chin Tiki Detroit.

The annual raffle has been expanded!! Prizes include
an ORIGINAL Tiki painting by renowned artist Jime'
Litwalk, 2 pairs of tickets to the big LOS
STRAITJACKSETS concert and
original vintage Chin Tiki Detroit artifacts (wait
till you see these amazing restaurant items and
fixtures!). The raffle tickets are $1 each or 6 for
$5. You do NOT need to be present to win these
fantastic historical items!!

The Chin's will also be offering a limited number of
artifacts from the original Chin Tiki restaurant for
sale in the vendor's area. Also added: numerous
vintage tiki items will be for sale from the private
collection of Tiki Dave (DKS DESIGNS, Chicago, IL).
And everyone entering the party will receive an
original vintage 60's Chin Tiki color postcard.

We're very excited about this year's MOTOR CITY TIKI
ART SHOW event and are looking forward to seeing many
of our friends and making lots of new friends as well!
We hope to see you in a few short weeks!!!

Mahalo!

The Cats Meow Presents The
MOTOR CITY TIKI : GREAT LAKES LUAU
Saturday, September 2nd, 2006
7:00 P.M. TILL 1:00 A.M.
at Chin's Of Livonia
28205 Plymouth Road, Livonia, MI
Ph. 734-421-1627

Well, dang, I was considering coming up to take this final opportunity. It's good to know the family knows the value of the stuff inside. Perhaps it will not just go to the wrecking ball, but get set free to the people who care.

On 2006-08-15 09:41, Swanky wrote:
Well, dang, I was considering coming up to take this final opportunity. It's good to know the family knows the value of the stuff inside. Perhaps it will not just go to the wrecking ball, but get set free to the people who care.

I smell sports bar, with the contents of Chin's going to a landfill.

some of last years goods for sale at the show....

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2006-08-16 05:07 ]

bunp.....see ya there on saturday!!

Marvin Chin...He did it his way! What a great guy!

[ Edited by: traderjim6781 2006-09-05 02:09 ]

he did it his way..unfortunately, he didn't do it our way......in the 11th hour, the chin's decided not to sell any of the tiki items from chin's.....why?? because apparently too many people are whispering conflicting things in their ears about the value of said tiki items and now with dellusions of dollar signs swimming in their eyes, the chin's decided to hold out....these same people,probably in a greedy rush to secure some artifacts for themselves have effectively ruined it for everyone expecting to get a piece of the chin's that night....there were a few folk that traveled from far away specifically to buy some artifacts and were pissed when they found out they weren't for sale...especially miffed were the locals, who had even more reason to obtain something and were unable to....about halfway through the night chin's finally decided to sell. A) a broken indonesian statue, B)2 giant moldy hanging globe lamps and C) a couple of garish busboy shirts....oh yeah, and for $10 each you could get a shell ashtray.....thanks!! If you want anything more from chin's expect to pay out the nose....a few folk made some generous offers for some items that far exceeded any price chin's would have fetched on ebay and they still turned them down.....amazing. I expect that whatever happens to the old chin's (which will probably be bulldozed out of existence before the year is over) you can expect the artifacts to remain in storage until such a time that they will effectively be thrown away...i also suspect this will be the last chin tiki event ever.....sorry if ya missed it. At least the kahiki allowed for a great send-off party, donated some items to the zoo and eventually released the rest of the decor to the public to buy out of their store.....

I along with the Wahine and little ones had a great time on Saturday night. Big Mahalo's to both Nancy and Keith for putting this event on. The music was great, lots of treasures to be had. I was too bad that the Chins have had commited a 360 with the Chin Tiki stuff. I was excited to see it and talked about it all week with my wife and brought a little extra cash in hopes of landing a Mug for the collection. My Aunt and Uncle dined there on their Prom and my In-laws frequently went there. If the Family would like to honor the memorie of their Father what better way than to offer up the items that made the place so special to the people that will treasure and dispaly those items for years to come. I hope they put some of it at Livonia Chins ( I live minutes away ) and realy honor the memory of thier Father by playing some better music, doing something with the waitstaff ( at least a hawaiin shirt would be nice ) and do a beter job at what could be a swinging place if they put a touch of effort into it. I will always go there because we have nothing else like it short of Chicago. Again thanks to the organizers and all that participated

Well, I do feel fortunate to have been able to pick up a Chin Tiki wall mask from eBay recently. I had figured they would be putting more up for sale soon. It would be a shame for all that good stuff to linger in a warehouse somewhere instead of being in the hands of people who will appreciate it and care for it.

.....forgot to mention...chin's made it clear that no more stuff was to be posted on ebay from their collection...you were lucky to get what you did......from what i understand is that chin's was alittle miffed that the auctions didn't pull in as much money as they expected (more likely that they felt they deserved, being the experts on tiki collectables and the tiki market itself, that they are) -sarcasm....(again, people whispering bullshit in their ears as to the value of that crap)..therefore, no more auctions from them......looks like they're gonna hold out for the big score....good luck!!! who knows...if they sit on that stuff long enough, no one will want it........

On 2006-09-05 11:08, Tipsy McStagger wrote:
he did it his way..unfortunately, he didn't do it our way......in the 11th hour, the chin's decided not to sell any of the tiki items from chin's.....why?? because apparently too many people are whispering conflicting things in their ears about the value of said tiki items and now with dellusions of dollar signs swimming in their eyes, the chin's decided to hold out....these same people,probably in a greedy rush to secure some artifacts for themselves have effectively ruined it for everyone expecting to get a piece of the chin's that night....there were a few folk that traveled from far away specifically to buy some artifacts and were pissed when they found out they weren't for sale...especially miffed were the locals, who had even more reason to obtain something and were unable to....about halfway through the night chin's finally decided to sell. A) a broken indonesian statue, B)2 giant moldy hanging globe lamps and C) a couple of garish busboy shirts....oh yeah, and for $10 each you could get a shell ashtray.....thanks!! If you want anything more from chin's expect to pay out the nose....a few folk made some generous offers for some items that far exceeded any price chin's would have fetched on ebay and they still turned them down.....amazing. I expect that whatever happens to the old chin's (which will probably be bulldozed out of existence before the year is over) you can expect the artifacts to remain in storage until such a time that they will effectively be thrown away...i also suspect this will be the last chin tiki event ever.....sorry if ya missed it. At least the kahiki allowed for a great send-off party, donated some items to the zoo and eventually released the rest of the decor to the public to buy out of their store.....

That is terribly unfortunate and particularly disturbing when the people winding up the Chins should know better. What can I say? I was disappointed to have missed the event (out on a family vacatioin), but after hearing the way things went down I feel a little less bad about not having been there. Nancy Hay deserves a ton of credit for putting the event together for the past three years. She not only organized the event, but laid out her own hard earned cash for advertising and promotion of the event. I hope she will continue to do the art show at another venue!

I hope the show goes on. Looking forward to spending a cold winters evening in December at the show. One thing I dont think the Chins take into consideration is the fact that Tiki people are collectors. They see us gawking the old Chin Tiki stuff and think everyone of these items must be worth big bucks. Well the Kahiki was a hell of a lot better than Chin Tiki and you can buy their mugs on e-bay all day long for 10 bucks; maybe someone should tell them this. I would love to have at least one artifact from the old place , but I will not dip into the Kids college fund to do it. When the day comes for the ball to swing I will be there to go through the rubble. BTW Matt I coulndt agree more with you on Nancy and Keiths hard work putting the show on.

Due to an unusual set of circumstances, I found myself in Detroit on the weekend of the Chin Tiki Party, so was able to attend the event. I love when things work in your favor! Thanks to Hulagirl for providing me with the local history and background of the restaurant and the event. I have long considered Hulagirl to be an astute collector of all things cool, so was psyched to be able to meet her in person and talk tiki. Also a highlight of the evening was swapping stories with Tipsy McStagger. I always enjoy his posts and his genuine love for tiki was evident when I met him in person. I, like most, passed on purchasing a Chin Tiki ashtray.......but did make it home with a vintage post card and some good tiki road trip memories.

Karbora

Hey Tipsy I was wondering... did they still have the raffle?
Too bad that the Chins do not want to let go of the decor. I was really hoping to own something from there. I knew I should of hung in there on the ebay auction.
Thank-you to Hulagirl for sending me the post card I really wanted to attend the show, but had a family thing to go to.

On 2006-09-12 14:03, exotica59 wrote:
Hey Tipsy I was wondering... did they still have the raffle?
Too bad that the Chins do not want to let go of the decor. I was really hoping to own something from there. I knew I should of hung in there on the ebay auction.
Thank-you to Hulagirl for sending me the post card I really wanted to attend the show, but had a family thing to go to.

they raffled off a trader vics suffering bastard decanter in mint condition...chin's used to have them on every table with flowers in them for years, but due to the sudden increase in value of those decanters, they removed them 4 years from the tables to avoid theft and resale of them on ebay......they also raffled off a bunch of chin paper goods which included a menu, postcards and other misc. paper items and finally an original tiki painting by jimi litwalk.....

On 2006-09-12 16:47, Tipsy McStagger wrote:
... an original tiki painting by jimi litwalk.....

...and such a deserving fellow won it too! :wink:

-Z