Baltimore's Hawaiian Room at the Emerson Hotel - MAJOR DEVELOPMENT!!!

Fils - the fact that your mug made it to Hawaii boggles my mind! :)

I was inspired by a post about the Tahitian in L.A. and realized I should contact Oceanic Arts to see if they had supplied the decor for the Hawaiian Room. Bob told me they didn't recall supplying this location. Damn!

After receiving 2 new additions to my Hawaiian Room mug collection (thanks Ookoolady & TikiMatt!) I decided it was time to post pics of the artifacts I've gathered thus far...

The skull mug which the Skullduggery was served in, the Sun God mug the Bamboo Punch was in, the Moai that the Mai Tai was in, the "head hunter" that the Head Hunter Special was in, and the Aztec head which the Starboard Light, Port Light and the Diamondhead Special were all served in. (Thanks Puamana for the copy of the menu!)

The reverse sides...

Detail of the Moai swizzle stick and the matchbook. I contacted Swizzledd, a big time tiki swizzle collector and she confirmed that the only Hawaiian Room swizzle stick she has ever seen is the Moai pictured. The matchbook, which I can't get my digital camera to photograph in detail, only reveals - Hawaiian Room Located in the Emerson Hotel Baltimore, MD. The spine says - Reservations Requested MU5-4400.

Nothing new to report...

But, check this out!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=35801&item=3970652308

Wow! I know this isn't a super high price but for this tiny mug I'm blown away! Glad I already have one.

geez johntiki, for a moment i was expecting another big clue...

interesting regardless...

This has been my "tiki quest" for a couple years now and I've yet to uncover definitive proof of what once was... I'm bringing this topic back because I've jumped through all the hoops I could conceive and I've still come up with very little concrete info. I've backed off on doing any research until this fall when I might actually get an opportunity to dig a little deeper...if that's possible... I'm 3/4 of the way to China and the flow of information has ceased...

Have you come across this yet?

http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/grd/resguides/menus/menudesc.cfm?id=33525

What a cool link....now for the pictures: Who's gonna go and scan and post it?

I like this title: "Selections from the Buttolph Collection"

I haven't had much to add to my fruitless research... until today! Check out this article that appeared in the Baltimore Sun this morning by Abigail Tucker... it is lengthy but it provides some juicy clues to the background behind the Hawaiian Room and more importantly it's provided me with some contacts for people who might have the missing pieces of the puzzle! Also it has provided that one illusive piece of concrete information that I've been dying to uncover... an interior photo of the Hawaiian Room at the Emerson Hotel!

Swayed by love
Maryland once outlawed interracial marriages like that of a Locust Point nurse and a Samoan dancer, but their passion helped repeal that law 40 years ago this month

By Abigail Tucker
Sun Reporter
Originally published March 19, 2007

That night, when JoAnn Kovacs danced the hula, love was part of the choreography. The band played the Hukilau, a fishing song, and ever so slowly she reeled him in with the smooth rotation of her hips. By the time he finally spoke to her, both their hearts were beating like hands on a log drum.

His hei is made of real shells, she noticed, gazing at the headband in his dark hair.

I love you, Meki To'alepai thought. A few minutes later, he said it aloud.

That was December of 1963, in the basement Hawaiian Room in Baltimore's Emerson Hotel, where Meki's Polynesian dance troupe was performing. JoAnn was seated in the audience, until, inspired by the music and egged on by friends, she stood up to sway herself, drawing Meki's admiring gaze.

His Samoan ancestry, and the fact that she was a white girl from Locust Point, seemed perfectly acceptable at first, even romantic.

Then they tried to get married.

"We were turned away," JoAnn says.

The couple's failed attempt to wed in Maryland led to coast-to-coast publicity and a campaign to end the state's miscegenation law, which banned most forms of interracial marriage. It was repealed 40 years ago this month.

But change came too slowly to suit the To'alepais, who, on Feb. 19, 1966, exchanged vows in Washington, where it was already legal for white women to marry so-called "brown" men. Afterward they held a Polynesian-style reception at the Optimist Club in Hampden, the guests in straw hats and muumuus, the ceiling hung with tropical flowers and spears. Then the newlyweds left for the more enlightened state of California.

In the more than four decades of marriage that followed, the subject of race has rarely surfaced. The To'alepais think of themselves as entertainers, not soldiers of the civil rights movement. They are now living in Locust Point again, having returned to Maryland not long after the law changed, ready to let bygones be bygones.

"We never really talked about it, never really even told our children," JoAnn says.

"We were too busy being happy to be angry," Meki adds.

They were also busy doing the Fijian dwarf dance, the New Zealand Poi ball dance and the Tahitian Hokule'a Ote'a, spending much of their marriage running their own Pacific island performance company, which has toured schools and social halls across the state. The troupe is called Meki's Tamure, "Meki's Fun Group."

Yes, the To'alepais are gratified to know that their love story helped change history, that now their grandkids can marry whomever they please.

But mostly the Flaming Fire Knife dancer and his Locust Point bride are just glad to have had such a good time.

When the To'alepais met, Hawaii had been a state for only a few years, and Pacific culture was all the rage: Stylish people held luaus, and several tiki-themed clubs opened in downtown Baltimore featuring "Hawaiian Revues" and all-you-can eat Pork Kanaka and Tim Tam Shrimp.

JoAnn grew up in the famously insular community of Locust Point, listening to the island melodies of the lovely Haleloke, a frequent performer on Arthur Godfrey's variety show, and dreaming of a more exotic life. In her early 20s, while working as a nurse, she got a part-time job checking coats at an island club, where she learned to hula. Later she sometimes performed professionally, resplendent in necklaces of polished seeds and her Bora Bora headdress with its mohawk of dried grass.

On the other side of the country, at the same time, a young immigrant was discovering that he could get paid to do the sort of dances he'd done for fun back home in Western Samoa, which he left in 1960. So Meki quit his job in a California tennis shoe factory and took his Flaming Fire Knife act on the road, performing with a group at Diamond Jim's in Las Vegas and other Western venues. In the fall of 1963 his group contracted to work at the Emerson Hotel, where they were immensely popular.

JoAnn was on a hula tour in Ohio at the time, but heard about Meki as soon as she returned

"My mom says, 'you've got to see this group,'" JoAnn recalls.

The night that JoAnn danced the Hukilau marked the start of a whirlwind romance and several months of hulu-club hopping. Meki adored JoAnn's sweet manner and pretty face. JoAnn loved Meki's supercharged smile and peculiar habits: He walked her everywhere, even to the bathroom, and tried to horde snowballs in the hotel sink, because he thought he could keep them as souvenirs.

"He was just so different," she says.

But when the Emerson contract ended, Meki had to board a train for California, quietly grieving as he changed from the Baltimore & Ohio to the Pacific line.

"I think I cried the whole way," he says. For more than a year they talked on the phone every night. Then the banana farmer's son asked the longshoreman's daughter to be his wife.

It was a neighborhood priest who told them of Maryland's miscegenation law, which had banned blacks and whites from marrying for more than 300 years, and in 1935 was amended to stop weddings between whites and "the brown race" - a category that included some Pacific islanders.

Do you want to fight this? asked the priest, who wanted permission to alert the press. Sure, the couple said. It seemed like the right thing to do, and besides, the presence of the media would save them the expense of a wedding photographer when they finally did get hitched in Washington.

Reporters showed up in droves, and the To'alepais' story made Time magazine and the major papers. Legislators from Annapolis to Honolulu condemned the law and vowed to fight for a change, and the couple's plight continued to be mentioned in news stories leading up to the law's repeal, on March 24, 1967 -- just a few months before the Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia, ending all race-based restrictions on American marriages.

After taking a stand in Maryland, though, the To'alepais turned their backs on the publicity, wanting to start their new life. When journalists gathered at the airport where the newlyweds were scheduled to board a plane for California, they decided to make their escape.

"We just took off on Route 40 instead," JoAnn says.

This time Meki didn't cry as he traveled west.

These days they don't dance as much as they used to. She's 66, he's 67. They've turned over Meki's Tamure to one of their three children, a son also named Meki. They've also given up the day jobs -- hers in nursing, his in highway maintenance -- that used to help make ends meet. Meki senior is involved with the ministry of a Samoan church in Virginia; he is old enough to be considered an elder in the community.

Sometimes it seems a long time ago that they returned to Maryland as husband and wife, when Meki was performing up and down the East Coast and JoAnn was teaching so many Locust Point girls to hula that half the neighborhood was draped in plastic hibiscus leis.

Now they mostly watch their children perform, and their granddaughter, a budding hula girl.

And yet there is one song that brings JoAnn to her feet even at this age. She heard it recently while visiting a nursing home, and suddenly she was dancing, as spontaneously as she had the night she met Meki. It was a number that Meki's Tamure had performed countless times over the years, and it became JoAnn's solo dance, her specialty. She would sway back and forth as her husband played the ukulele and sang:

This is the moment

Of sweet Aloha

I will love you longer than forever

Promise me that you will leave me never

Just humming it brings a smile to her face: the Hawaiian Wedding Song.

Here are the pics that accompanied the article online...


Is this the Hawaiian Room at the Emerson????? I've asked the reporter for confirmation!

I've contacted the reporter, hoping she could provide me with the To'alepai's contact information... if she doesn't I'll just have to dig them up myself!!

[ Edited by: johntiki 2007-03-19 07:30 ]

kick ass!!!

Great to see that your hard work is paying off! Keep us updated!

What a great story! Kind of makes you appreciate the advances our country has made in the last 50 years - and so good to hear about this couple are still alive and living in Baltimore.

For a while I was worried that the most historic event to have taken place at the Emerson Hotel was the horrible beating immortalized in the song 'The Death of Hattie Carroll', which happened in February 1963. It is so nice to hear this story to present a much more positive side of the Emerson. Two dancers/performers meet in December, 1963 in the Emerson's Hawaiian Room - one Samoan, one Caucasian. They fall in love. The law prevents them from marrying each other, but the attention and press they receive when they are not allowed to wed, help to turn the tide against these unjust laws, and soon the Supreme Court is banning such miscengation laws.

This is one of the most heart-warming and positive tiki-related stories I have ever read. And to think that it happened in nearby Baltimore.

Vern

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2007-03-19 12:01 ]

This was another one of the photographs included in the Baltimore Sun story.

Meki To'alepai was a performer in Doug Alii's group 'The Hinanos' They are both Samoan, so I wonder how long they performed together. .

Doug Alii has appeared here on Tiki Central, in a different thread, as he performed his Polynesian Revue in the late 60's in Wisconsin Dell's, for the Tommy Bartlett Water Show.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=15746&forum=1&vpost=174238&hilite=Doug%20Alii

I had someone e-mail asking for more information on Doug Alii, but I believe lost that e-mail message. If you read this message, please try to contact me again.

Vern

I found on Time Magazine's on-line archives, a story from the 1960's about Meki and JoAnn Toalepai. It is interesting to see that the Senator mentioned in the Time story, Daniel Inoyue, is still the Senator for Hawaii!

Colorless Conjugality
February 25, 1966

Maryland (the "Free State"), which adopted the nation's first antimiscegenation statute in 1661 to keep white women servants from marrying Negro slaves, also passed one of the nation's last such laws in 1935. Aimed at preventing Filipino mess boys at the Naval Academy in Annapolis from taking all-too-willing local brides, it bars marriage of either whites or Negroes with "a member of the Malay race." So, when Jo Ann Kovacs, 25, a white Baltimore nurse, and Meki Toalepai, 26, a handsome singer-dancer-musician from Western Samoa, applied for a marriage license in Baltimore this month, they were refused. Maryland, the unhappy couple quickly discovered, would allow Jo Ann to marry anyone whose skin was red, yellow or white, while Meki could legally take a wife whose skin was red, yellow or brown. But brown and white (or white, brown and black) are not a permissible permutation.

Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye, a Hawaiian of Japanese descent who lives in Maryland when Congress is in session, protested that half of the population of Hawaii would be considered "impure" in the eyes of Maryland. The law, he added, would make "interesting reading in many parts of Southeast Asia where we talk about democracy."

State Senator Verda Welcome, the only Negro in Maryland's upper house, immediately introduced a bill to abolish the miscegenation statute, but her repealer was given little chance in a legislature still dominated by rural, Dixie-oriented lawmakers. The Maryland law and similar statutes in 17 other states (all Southern or border states except Wyoming) may be killed only when miscegenation is considered squarely by the Supreme Court, which has thus far avoided the constitutional question involved. As for Meki and Jo Ann, they were married last week in the Washington (Episcopal) Cathedral before driving to their new home in California. "Who," asked Meki before leaving Maryland, "would want to live here?"

And another sidenote to the Emerson Hotel, and a tangentail connection to mixed drinks, that some may find interesting.

The Emerson Hotel was built by and named for Isaac E Emerson, who made a fortune by inventing Bromo-Seltzer, which was used to ail upset stomachs and indigestion. He formed the Emerson Drug Company in 1891.

In the 1950's, scientists from the Emerson Drug Company were wondering if a fruit flavored drink could be developed using similar methods as were used for their Bromo-Setzer product. They wanted to be able to drop a tablet into a glass of water, and create instant soda pop. The result was called 'Fizzies' - a candy which is still manufactured today. Their original cost was 8 tablets for 25 cents.

All we need now is a Baltimore developed mai-tai flavored Fizzie product. We could carry such a tablet in our wallets, and pull it out in case of an emergency, for those moments when we need a mai-tai and cannot just say no.

Vern

On 2007-03-19 11:54, ikitnrev wrote:
All we need now is a Baltimore developed mai-tai flavored Fizzie product. We could carry such a tablet in our wallets, and pull it out in case of an emergency, for those moments when we need a mai-tai and cannot just say no.

Vern

dang, that would be agent 86 all the way!

Hey Tiki People (Maryland area - that is!)

Man, have I got a story for you folks!

Never thought I'd see pictures of my family posted on Tiki Central but... I knew sooner or later I'd end up joining the mix. The Baltimore Sun article you mention is the story about my mom and dad. It's all so funny because I stumbled upon Tiki Central just prior to Christmas when I went to put an ad in Baltimore Magazine for our Polynesian dance group, Meki's Tamure Polynesian Dance Group. I told the receptionist at the magazine's office that I was there to see the sales rep and told her I was with a Polynesian dance group. The receptionist replied, "Polynesian dance group?!? I haven't heard of such things since the Emerson Hotel!" I was taken aback for a second. I can't recall how many times I mentioned the Hawaiian Room at the Emerson Hotel to people and they looked at me with no clue as to what I was talking about. So there I was with this woman explaining to me how when you wanted a special night out on the town, you just went to the Emerson Hotel Hawaiian Room. I spent the next twenty minutes telling her how that where my parents met, performed and eventually fell in love (and got married). She got the biggest kick out of that story and she said she'd look to see if she had any stuff that she accidentally took from the restaurant. I hadn't heard anything from her to date but I'm interested.

After her stories, I sort of needed to know alittle more about the Hawaiian Room. I stumbled upon Tiki Central when Google-ing Emerson Room Tiki Mugs brought me to Johntiki's rant about losing his mug on a botched eBay bid. It made me think about the mugs we recently tossed in the trash after my grandmother died (she was mentioned in the Sun article). My grandmother "borrowed" many decorations from the Emerson Hawaiian Room. I remember her story of carrying a seven foot palm tree home that she transplanted in her own "Hawaiian Room" in a rowhome in Locust Point. She had posters, mugs, shells, trees, monkey pod stuff, photos, salt/pepper shakers, etc. She died several years back and most of her stuff went to the landfill when her house was cleaned out and sold. I didn't realize how interested I would become in the stuff now that it is gone. The family still has a couple items.

So,I found myself intrigued by all of your tiki postings. I thought I'd look more into it after Christmas vacation. Our family went to New Zealand, Samoa, Hawaii and California the day after Christmas for four weeks. I knew I needed to collect a few mugs while I was away. I did just that while in Hawaii on the way home back to Baltimore. Not only did I get some mugs from Da Big Kahuna and Tiki's Grill and Bar (both at Waikiki), I also bought past issues of Tiki Magazine at the Thor Store in Waikiki. I didn't realize how deep I was in the Tiki movement until I was reading the magazines in my Waikiki hotel and the particular article I was reading was all about Tiki sightings all about Oahu. I read about the Sven Kirsten book and realized because my dad was in the traveling Polynesian dance group, I had the opportunity to travel across country in 1976 stopping at many of the prominent Tiki establishments. I even know some of the performers shown in Sven's book. Off the top of my head I remember stopping at the Hukilau in Pittsburgh and staying with the owner, a guy named Val. I remember all of the exotic decorations, the funny drink names (names a 10 year has no business repeating), the fish netting everywhere, the cheesy cellophane skirts the dancers wore. I had no idea that 30 years later I'd be wanting a restaurant like that!

Back to the present day, we returned from the Xmas excursion and I received a call from Abigail of the Baltimore Sun. Although the story is mainly about the overturning of the law regarding mixed marriages in Maryland, it has hit many different people in many different ways. Our dance group website has gone nuts with bookings, people want their kids taking hula lessons and crazy notions of opening a Tiki-type grill and cafe are swirling in my head. The website by the way is http://www.hula123.com I ordered the Kirsten book a couple of weeks back and can't believe that someone documented so many of the things that I lived thru growing up in a Polynesian entertainment type household. I've been to and performed at the Aloha Inn in Gaithersburg, the Marriott Kona Kai near DC, the Hukilau in Virginia Beach, the Hukilau in Chicopee, Massachusetts as well as other places I've forgotten. Some of you may remember such places.

I run our dance group now and I'm looking to put on some annual Tiki themed events in the coming year. Our calendar is somewhat booked to be trying anything this year. We mainly provide all live Polynesian floor shows wherever we get hired. I would love to meet some of you Maryland area people at some of our events. I wish I could attend the 2007 Hukilau in Ft. Lauderdale but we are already committed to other events. I look forward to hearing from some of you and I'm sure I'll be sharing some photos that I dig up from my memoirs (now know as Polynesian Pop artifacts!)

Enough for now my new found friends! Any Tiki carvers in Maryland? I'd love to learn.

aloha cocoanutz ~ what a great story! (well, except for the 'throwing grandma's stuff away part") ! welcome to Tiki Central, and thanks for sharing! i'm on the other coast, but sometime i'd sure love to see your dance group perform!

Welcome to TC cocoanutz....and I agree with DB...great story!!! This is not the first time (and won't be the last) that a story on TC makes it out to someone just teetering on the edge of living in their own history over again. What a thrilling experience to know you have been to and performed in places that are now embellishing such great works as The Book Of Tiki. I look forward to more of your posts. :)

Wow !......what a facinating thread ......cocoanutz, does your troup still do the show at the Hukilau in Mass.? ...if so many of us in N.E. would love to or have seen you already!....it must be quite the rush to see your family's story blossom onto a new wave of appreciation.

Wow - I always hoped by posting this project I would eventually stumble across someone who had first hand knowledge of the Hawaiian Room and the Polynesian "scene" in the Baltimore area and now I've really hit it big time! I'd love to meet you and possibly plan a get-together with some of the local MD/DC/VA ohana - we could probably talk your ears off for a few hours! While you're at it, why not stop by the local tiki forum at http://www.marylanddctiki.com and say hello?!

Welcome Cocoanutz;

That was a great article in the Baltimore Sun. Your parents deserve lots of credit, and much applause also goes to you, for continuing the Polynesian dance traditions - especially in Baltimore, which is not exactly known for grass skirts and hula. You have definitely reached a group that will treasure your heritage, and would love to hear more of your stories and memories.

Vern

hey cocoanutz!!!

what do you know, i live in mount washington and have a blog about the city and pop culture in general, and just did a posting about the hawaiian room that got alot of locals riled up about having a tiki place in baltimore again.

http://jjohnnydollar.blogspot.com/2007/04/baltimore-tiki-history-hawaiian-room-in.html

i'd say the time is ripe for live polynesian entertainment in baltimore again. i hope we can meet in real life sometime ~ there are lots of people in town who i think would be very supportive.

aloha, johnny dollar

This is why it is important that every Polynesian place that ever was has a thread on Tiki Central. The next generations hit the Internet and search for their past and they should come here, where we are all very interested in their stories.

Thanks for sharing. Can't wait for pictures!

Thank you all for making me feel so welcomed!

Below is info on one of our short programs. I guess it's alright to forward this info about a performance we're doing. I'm not sure of all the rules on TC yet. If any of you can make this event it is free and there will be food available but you do need to register (call the number listed). I know my dance group is the finale and the 30 minute program will occur at 9:30pm. It is late but it's a nice event. All other groups will be more geared toward the Orient and India if similar to the past several years. The Tahitian drums will be rumbling at the end.

We are also doing luaus for social clubs on April 28 at 8pm in Arbutus and May 6 at 1pm in Baltimore Highlands (near Linthicum). I'm checking to see if tickets are available to the general public and will keep you posted.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THROUGH MAY 4, 2007

CONTACT: 301-454-1450; TTY 301-454-1472
APRIL 5, 2007

ANNUAL ASIAN PACIFIC HERITAGE MONTH RECEPTION

Celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander traditions at the Annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Reception on Friday, May 4, 2007 from 7:30-10 pm at the Newton White Mansion, 2708 Enterprise Road, Mitchellville, Md.

The mansion will be decorated with fans, parasols, and plum blossoms to honor Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Enjoy Asian snacks while watching authentic dances of Japan, China, Korea, Philippines and Hawaii. Visit the henna artist for your Indian-style hand decoration.

Admission is free and reservations are recommended. This event is for ages 14 and older.

For information call 301-454-1450, TTY 301-454-1472.

The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Department of Parks and Recreation, Prince George's County owns and operates this facility.

Carving from Auckland Museum

Another Maori carving from Auckland Museum

Thought you might enjoy these couple photos from the trip!

quote:[I've been to and performed at the Aloha Inn in Gaithersburg, the Marriott Kona Kai near DC, the Hukilau in Virginia Beach]

WTF!! We have (or had) a Hukilau here? I did quick search on line and through the TC archives and this is the only mention of this (actually VB was only mentioned 24 times total, half of which was TCers mentioning that they were going on vacation here.) Doe say one else have info on this.

I have had zero luck in thift store shopping here so either the location may be an error or there are a few more efficient thrift shoppers in town.

Sorry Surf Tiki, the place in VA Beach was called the Blue Hawaii and I don't think it's around anymore (don't know for sure). I should have confirmed the names of these places before I posted.

Does anyone know of a place called Trader Vincent's that used to be in Baltimore? My mom said it was a tiki bar too and was located where the Holiday Inn revolving rooftop restaurant was near Camden Yards. We are going to start going thru some of the photos tonight and try identifying the correct places. I myself am anxious to look thru her collection. Can't wait to begin sharing these with you all.

Please standby...

Standing by... with baited breath! :)

Never heard of Trader Vincent's... oh no, not another project! :wink:

Dear friends,

If you've followed along with johntiki on his continuing saga of looking for photographic proof of the Emerson Hotel's Hawaiian Room decor and interiors, this will be a great day. I have dug thru several photo albums of mom's and there are oodles of pictures from both the Emerson and Trader Vincent's. I even found some match book covers and two swizzle sticks from the Emerson tucked in the book! The swizzle looks different than the one you photographed and they are not the Moai type mentioned in your earlier post. We'll talk more about that later. It's late and I'm excited for both you and me. I can't wait to catalog all of the photos. Below is one of my parents and the group. Funny side note (and you may not be able to see this clearly on this scanned photo), the guy in the back on the left is the same guy in Sven's Book of Tiki (see page 65). In Sven's book he is the guy in the back on the right side. Interestingly enough, this same guy is still playing in a show at Waikiki called the Hawaiian Hut. Amazing!

Anyhow, without further ado... introducing the Hawaiian Room at the Emerson Hotel, Baltimore

The back of the photo says 1968 possibly around August.

More to follow, I promise!

wow! looking forward to more!

Wow! My hands were shaking as I scrolled down! The Hawaiian Room looks better than I ever imagined! Cocoanutz you've made my year! Keep 'em coming!!

...and if possible... could you post a pic of the swizzle stick as well?

the bottom of the photo is stamped "photo by jack goldstein" - i wonder if he's still around and still has the negatives? a guick google came up with nothing.

Nice sleuthing Johnny... I'll check on that angle.

I've come up with nothing on Jack Goldstein as well...

Sorry for the delay in posting other pictures but the photo albums are in total disarray. The tape holding the pix in place has kind of worn off since 1962! So we're trying to match captions with photos. I just tried scanning a photo but I got a scanner error message, of course.

johntiki, the photo of my dad doing the fire knife dance is not the Hawaiian Room at the Emerson, my mom says that was some establishment in Phoenix, AZ. You had asked if that was the Hawaiian Room.

I was trying to get a good photo of the swizzle stick but then I noticed on Johnny Dollar's blog a nice clear shot of it. The non-Moai one is the one I have. I thought Johnny said those were photos of your collection. Speaking of collection, my mom dug up a monkey pod pu-pu tray with sterno center that was from the Hawaiian Room. It had no hotel markings on it and it was slightly broken. I'm sure many PolyPop restaurants had these same ones.

One other item, the guy running our May 6 luau said he has tickets and if any of you are interested you can call Al @ 410-789-1007 or cell 443-848-1708. This is a Sunday afternoon 1pm-5pm event at the Lansdowne American Legion Hall. I don't know the ticket prices. Hawaiian music first hour, floor show second hour and then contemporary dance music thirdf and fourth hours. Al would have other details.

Take your time Cocoanutz - you've got me eagerly checking Tiki Central on a daily basis for the first time in over a year and a half and the anticipation of additional images has got me giddy.

So I was right in questioning whether or not that photo was from the Hawaiian Room! I knew it would have been too easy to track down the illusive photographic proof with one article in the Baltimore Sun! When you posted the first image here I knew that they weren't the same places - the Hawaiian Room looks as if it had a more intimate feel, the other photo looked like the interior of an A-frame with the high ceiling.

Johnny $ was correct in attributing the mugs, matchbook and Moai swizzle to me but the non-Moai swizzle is the one item I've yet to add to the collection! I know I'll come across one sooner or later... damnit!

Double damnit - I wouldn't be able to attend the event on May 6th - I will be in Ireland for a wedding and won't get back until the 7th! I will definitely be up to come out and catch the show any other time in the near future so pleeeease keep us informed!

Here's another photo of the Emerson Hotel Hawaiian Room, this one's in color but smaller! Sorry. The first was an 8x10.

Here's a photo of a matchbook cover, it shows the bar! The swizzle stick was trying to get in the picture.

What a place this must have been. Let's recreate it!

If you'll excuse my language... holy crap!! Now I can add that matchbook to my wants list - this is exactly the type of item I've been dying to locate and was thoroughly convinced was never made! I'm in awe... keep 'em coming!

i would love to do a high-resolution scan of that matchbook image and blow it up... see if we can categorize the decor...

I just bought a bunch of swizzel sticks at a flea market today. One was from the Hawaiian Room Emerson Hotel.

cool, tikicar, with york being as direct a shot from baltimore as it is, i would not be surprised if there is more hawaiian room swag buried away up there...

I have been at the Carlisle auto swap meet all week. I was walking down one isle and this lady has all these beer signs, so I thought I would look. I walk to the other side of her tent and she has thousands of swizzle sticks. I ask her if she has any tiki, polonesian, hawaii etc. She says yes. These 5 glasses are the tiki ones. Anyway I bought 37. One was the Emerson. Some others are kahiki, kon tiki, disneyland united airlines tikigardens, and others I never heard of. I will shoot a picture of it on Sunday and post it for you. The lettering is faint but there. If it wasn't for this post I wouldn't have know about the Hawaiian Room. As I was looking and read it I thought cool! On the next row a guy brought in over 30 Tikis from California. Carved out of palms. A few were tradional KU the others had more modern styling with big toungs and surfboards etc. They were cool don't get me wrong I just liked the more tradional which as of yesterday I was the only one who bought that style. I got one that is 5 ft tall. I would have never guess I would be buying Tiki stuff at Carlisle. Later, Scott

Here is a picture of the stir

Vern & Johntiki had posted some of this before, but on the occasion of William Zantzinger's recent passing I thought it might be worthy of posting again.

Small addition, although not directly tiki, to the history of the Emerson Hotel: it's where William Zantzinger struck Hattie Carroll with his cane, which may have led to her death. The story is most familiar to music fans as Bob Dylan's song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll." The song is a powerful indictment of racism and privilege, and Zantzinger regretted not taking action against Dylan for his portrayal in it:

"William Zanzinger** killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin'"
**note: Dylan purposely misspelled William's last name, presumably to avoid legal action.

Zantzinger died in early January 2009, as recounted in this article in the UK's Telegraph. This obituary gives a balanced view of the crime and far more detail than the song:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/4224527/William-Zantzinger.html

The previous posters did note that there's no evidence that this event had anything to do with the Hawaiian Room. Although the song doesn't mention the Emerson or Hawaiian Room by name, it's an interesting side note to tiki/hotel history. You can read the lyrics & listen to the song on Bob's site:
http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/lonesome-death-hattie-carroll

~Rupe

All,

Been awhile and if anyone is still interested in the Hawaiian Room - Emerson Hotel - Baltimore, I created a brand new Facebook page: Hawaiian Room - Emerson Hotel - Baltimore and will be posting all pictures of my parents' collection and tidbits. I'd love for you all to "like" the page and add anything from your research to it. I will be asking all of my Baltimore friends to reach out to their parents and grandparents for any info.

I've moved to Hawaii and sort of dropped off a few years ago. Feel free to send me a FB request...King Kamekimeki and please let me know if you make it out to Hawaii anytime soon!

Mahalo!
Meki

nice!!!

Tiki design borrowed the Ren Clark's Polynesian Village of course.

DC

Aloha all!! Dug this out of storage and ran across this post while trying to find some info on it. Listing it on eBay today, if anyone is interested. Mahalo!!

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[ Edited by: StAckEdsKuLLs 2019-12-01 06:19 ]