Tiki in Texas (Killeen)

A few weeks ago I was in the Killeen, Texas area. I was surprised to find a few tiki/hawaiian related things in this town, whose economy is almost entirely based on the neighboring Fort Hood Army base. The visual blight in Killeen is quite high -- a ton of roadside stands, with most of the businesses appealing to the young soldiers based there. You will see many pawn shops, barber shops, and tattoo parlors, but if you look closely you will see the C & H Hawaiian Grill.

This was a popular place for the military crowd, with some inside seating, but doing a good carry-out business too. They serve large-sized servings of some rather tasty Hawaiian food. I ate there twice - the first time I had the Laulau Plate, which was taro leaves wrapped around pork and steam cooked until tender - delicious! The second time I ordered the Samoan Plate, which was a meat smorgasbord - teriyaki chicken, pork ribs, and polish sausage, along with two cooked bananas.

Inside of the C & H restaurant was a nice mural of Diamondhead ..

and here is a close-up of the tapa painting done for the restroom doors.

I also discovered the following tattoo shop.

which featured some nice carved and pin-striped tikis inside.

Behind the front counter was a small display of smaller tikis ...

Along the same road was this faded former South Seas restaurant - no longer serving food, and now a tattoo shop.

I was able to drive out to western Texas during this trip. I didn't see too much tiki there, the closest were these two murals in an apartment building in San Angelo.

When I arrived in Austin, I was able to visit a couple of antique/vintage shops. I picked up the following two items ..

This is marked as being from Ren Clark's Polynesian Village in Fort Worth.

and this one from the Hu Ke Lau Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge in Pittsburgh, PA.

It was a good trip. Rather than drive north to Dallas to visit the Trader Vics there, I instead drove way out west to the small town of Marfa, and its Chianti Foundation, where some great sculpture and art are displayed. If you love wide, open scenery, and big sky, it is a worthy road trip to take.

Vern

Great stuff, 'rev! Where's your tattoo?...:)

Nice post Vern....yeah...show the ink!!! :D

For the love of Tiki, is this anywhere near San Antonio? I will be there in a few weeks and so far can't find anything tiki... HELP!!!

Ink? The only ink you will find on my body is the faint stain on my chest, from when my shirt pocket protector leaked way back in my high school days. For now I go with the Zen minimalist look - no tattoos at all, but that may change some day.

The Killeen area is about two hours north of San Antonio, but I can't really recommend that someone make a special trip there, as the above gems are really greatly overshadowed by the rest of the town. For overall ambience, I would instead recommend the South Congress Street area (1500 block and surroundings) in Austin, which features a great selection of vintage, modern, and outsider art galleries.

There is a Tiki Tattoo location in San Antonio, located at 120 Corrine Drive.

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2007-07-28 23:42 ]

I saw a tiki carved and painted made to hang on the wall in an antique shop here in Michigan a while back. The tag said it was from Killeen. It was about four feet high and about sixteen inches wide. 350.00$ !! to rich for my blood at the time. Just goes to show how this stuff gets around. Thanks for posting the info.

Hey Vern!
Wish I'd known you were going to be in Austin. I would've met you for a drink. Where did you find the mug and glass? Haven't found anything cool lately in my usual haunts.
Julie

Nice post. I'll have to make the short trip up to Killeen and do the tour soon.

To the poster asking about the proximity of Killeen to San Antonio: I'm guessing it's a 2-2.5 hour drive, depending on traffic.