I just did a Google search for Hawaii Kai to see if I could excavate some photos and historical what-not and I was refered to this database

http://www.famouslocations.com/locations/formerlyhawaiikairestaurant49thstreet.php

I guess this is where the famous scene where Joe Pesci says his "I'm funny like a clown? I amuse you" line to Ray Liotta was filmed. Could that be?? As far as I knew Hawaii Kai closed in the 80s...maybe the late 80s perhaps? 'Goodfellas' came out in 1990 so it is entirely possible that they could've filmed there in say '88 or '89. At that point I had already been living here in the city for a few years. DAMN! I was that close to being there? I probably passed by it a few times....and NEVER knew! F*CK!!!!!

DonHo,

What have you found? I'm also interested in the Hawaii Kai. So far, I have ordered their old cookbook. I'm especially interested in getting some pictures of the interior. I'm hoping to set a scene there in a book I'm writing.
My email is: [email protected]

I was asking about this in an older thread about Tiki Bars in movies - I think someone said that the scene in the film was a set - although it looks really great. If it is a set, it is a very detailed and authentic one.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=51&forum=1

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1723&forum=1

according to this website dedicated to filming locations
http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/g/goodfellas.html

"Two of the movie's central Manhattan locations are, sadly, gone. The interior of the kitschy 'Bamboo Lounge', where Henry's psychotic pal Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) does his scary “funny guy” turn, was the Hawaii Kai Restaurant, 49th Street at Broadway. At last look, it was a stylish Japanese restaurant and the glorious South Seas decor is only a memory (though the Hawaii Kai sign still hung above the street)."

I posted a few pictures of where the Hawaii Kai used to be a while back. You can find them here

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=470&forum=1&vpost=29453&hilite=hawaii%20kai

I doubt that the building that is there now is the one that house the Hawaii Kai. It looks like a relatively new building. The Japanese restaurant is no longer there. What has replaced it? .....Applebee's.

"Hey everybody were going to New York City where they have tons of unique restaurants. Where do you want to eat? Applebee's? Awesome!!!"

I just saw 'Goodfellas' again on TNT tonight for the first time probably since it came out 16 years ago. This time I made sure to take a look at the Tiki bar scene as closely as possible. From the very few photos I have seen of the exterior of the Hawaii Kai, I don't think this is where they filmed the sequence. Incidentally...one of the places I have seen a photo of the HK entrance was in a Neil Diamond souvenir concert program from the late 70s when he played a long engagement at the Winter Garden (I looked at the program at a rock memorabilia fair). They had a great exterior shot of the theater with the Hawaii Kai right next door. The Bamboo Lounge exterior in the film doesn't resemble the HK entrance and is way bigger. It's entirely possible that they could have filmed the exterior somewhere else and shot the interior scenes at the HK, but who knows? Wish there was more info out there about that, and about the Hawaii Kai in general. It's a rare occasion to even Google the name and come up with any info on-line. Somebody's gotta have a treasure trove of stuff out there somewhere.

The hawaii kai was closed decades before this movie was made. I went there many times as a kid.

I thought the bar in the Goodfellas movie was after a bar that used to be in Astoria queens, not manhattan where the hawaii kai is/was. I will see if I still have a photo of it. If you watch the movie, you will see their teritory they control is queens, astoria and kennedy airport. They did hang out at the copa, but that wasn't their neighborhood. There were many hawaiian restaurants in queens at one time. Sadly all are gone now.

Amy

The hawaii kai was closed decades before this movie was made.

There were many hawaiian restaurants in queens at one time. Sadly all are gone now.

As far as I know the Hawaii Kai was there on Broadway into the 1980s not long before 'Goodfellas' was released.

There is still one Hawaiian restaurant left in Queens called King Yum. I was there last year and business was booming. Apparently they have a very popular Karaoke night on Wednesdays and Fridays. According to the management every seat/table is full on Fridays, so I would like to think that they're still there now carrying on as usual.

On 2006-06-02 23:16, donhonyc wrote:

There is still one Hawaiian restaurant left in Queens called King Yum. I was there last year and business was booming. Apparently they have a very popular Karaoke night on Wednesdays and Fridays. According to the management every seat/table is full on Fridays, so I would like to think that they're still there now carrying on as usual.

thanks DonHonyc, I dont remember the King Yum. Is it original to the 60's? I used to frequent mai Kai in whitestone, its now a seafood house.

On the Goodfellas, not sure when Hawaii Kai closed, you might be right, I just dont know, but the restaurant in the movie is not it. The hawaii kai, was a complete hawaiian restaurant, drinks , mugs, staues, water falls, etc. A friend said there was a hawaiian bar on astoria blvd years ago that was called Bamboo "something", it burned down mysteriously, I assume that's why everyone thinks it's that restaurant. I am going to do some digging on this. It will be interesting to find out.

Amy

I dont remember the King Yum. Is it original to the 60's?

It has been there since the 60s...maybe even 50s. Anyway I wrote about my visit there in this thread

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11818&forum=2&hilite=king%20yum

Thanks, I have seen that place before now that you liked the pictures. I always thought it was just chinese. I am sorry I never stopped in, will have to next NY trip. Thanks

Amy

I have scoured the posts regarding the Hawaii Kai and still no consensus on when it closed. Does anyone know?? I ran across a tiki mug from there at Goodwill yesterday for .99 cents and I am trying to date it. It is in great shape and I have a hard time believing it would be from the 60s...but hey you never know. All this after professing that I do not collect mugs in my post last Friday....hahaha. In fact it must have been the Tiki Gods smiling on me for hanging out at Thatch on Friday because my husband and I hit the motherlode on our thrifting trip. Instead of our usual haul we took home a ton of vintage Hawaiiana. Sweet!

On 2007-01-08 09:06, sputnikmoss wrote:
I have scoured the posts regarding the Hawaii Kai and still no consensus on when it closed. Does anyone know??

Hawaii Kai closed around the late 80's. I started dancing there in 79. and left in 84 for a National Tour.
There was a little person names Pee We who greeted everyone as they entered. Bathrooms were on the right, a souvenir stand next it. directly ahead as you entered was the waterfall. Up the steps was the cocktail lounge.....bar on your left with bamboo chairs and tables. On the right was a small stage about 8 ft deep and 20 wide. Across were the cocktail tables. Regular tables in the front, tall tables and stools in the back. Behind that was a wall aquarium. Past the stage, was the entrance to the main dining room. Just about every table had a booth like bamboo enclosure with thatched roof.....the ones without were in front of the stage. which was a gazebo-type bamboo rail thatched roof stage. Service bar was behind the stage and the "special" table next to that. Tables on the floor had the large wicker bamboo chairs.

A trio would play there and dancers would do their shows, twice on the week nights, and 3-4 shows on the weekend depending on reservations. On the major holidays, Xmas, Valentines, Mother's Day, Xmas and Easter, we had 5 shows. Dressing rooms were on the right next to the kitchen if you were sitting in the audience looking at the stage. Steps led to more dressing rooms which were connected to the theatre next door.

Food was mainly Chinese, waiters were Chinese. Drink were' definitely Tiki....volcano bowls, Maitai's served inside a gutted out pineapple, Tiki mugs......I only managed to take one mug (I wasn't much of a drinker then and not now either). And since I was fresh out of college, I supplied my apartment Kitchen with glasses, and plates.....still packed now in a box since 1988.

Like most restaurants, the theme got "old"....and rent got higher.......and the theatre next door wanted to build more dressing rooms for themselves. Which makes me think, the restaurant rented from the theatre. But that's heresay.

It became a Japanese restaurant for a while and God knows what now.....

That's what I recall now...hope that answers some of your Q's.....

i can tell you this..it closed on new years eve.....what year i don't know, but my good friend and editor of international tattoo art magazine, chris pfouts was there the night it closed...which is how i know it closed on new years eve....i will contact him and find out what year....

On 2007-12-22 11:32, Ukulelebaby wrote:
[
Hawaii Kai closed around the late 80's. I started dancing there in 79. and left in 84 for a National Tour.

Awesome info. Thanks for the virtual tour. Got any photos you could share?

okay..the official closing date of the hawaii kai was new years eve..... 1988/89......

chris claims he has some photos of the event somewhere and if he finds them and if it's cool with him, i'll try to post some that show off the interior of the place on it's final night....

Very cool TS. Janaury 2008 of Tiki Daze is Hawaii Kai themed. This will help nail down the newsletter info.

I often work across the street from the former location of Hawaii Kai.. Theres really nothing left but since a lot of the links are dead or down I did find this on youtube.
about 2:30 mins into the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USGB_T_kyZM

some fun stuff about NYC... too!

it helps to see what it was -

maybe next time I'm up there I'll take a picture of what its like now...
injoy

Here are some screen shots -

On 2007-12-23 21:34, sneakyjack wrote:
...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USGB_T_kyZM

some fun stuff about NYC... too!
...

great video !

ps:
"... what many considered to be
the ultimate polynesian dining experience ..."

"... the hawaii kai deserves a permanent place
in the cheesy restaurant hall of fame ..."

"... exotic hawaii kai hula dancers ...
slightly overweight bodies ..."

"... a classic example of a
60s tourist trap theme park restaurant ..."

On 2007-12-23 17:31, Tipsy McStagger wrote:
okay..the official closing date of the hawaii kai was new years eve..... 1988/89......

OK....along with the video, this information just makes me a prime candidate for my very own ASS KICKING MACHINE!!!!! I have lived in NYC since 1986 and I don't recall ever seeing or hearing about the Hawaii Kai during that time. Where in the F*CK was I??? I can't tell you how p.o.'d I am about this. The place closed in 1990?? What the hell was wrong with me?? My only self forgiveness is that NYC at that time was so filled with weirdness, that you never thought it was going to go away. Little did we know the sanitation that was going to happen in the mid 90s. The old NYC that had been there up to that time was totally taken for granted by me, no question about it. All of that broken down beauty that was there when I first moved in looked like it was there for good. This happens to me alot with old theaters too. Once I find out about them, wham...they're gone. So for the past few years I've been pretty vigilant. If I hear about these places, I'm there and I try to go as much as possible. I just want to go stand on that corner where the Hawaii Kai used to be and just yell at the top of my lungs....DAMN!!!!!!

don I'll meet you over there - just let me know when!

I feel your pain!

I'll bring the Mai Tais

i came home from the family holiday festivities to find "good fellas" was on t.v.....i happened to tune in just about the time the owner of the bamboo lounge was going under and they were going to set the place on fire......

i believe the exterior was a place that was done up to look like a tiki/hawaiian bar......look at all the exterior bamboo on the building...it all looks new...if this was a true vintage place the bamboo would all be weathered and greyish looking on the outside......another clue is the sign..it looks like plywood or cardboard.....hardly something that you would find on a real vintage tiki bar, as it probably would not have made it through a full year of changing seasons and weather.....

as for the inside, i don't know....sure, it' would be a really extensive looking hollywood set if it were actually that, but remember the aku-aku- set from the movie casino??..it too was a faked set made to look like the old aku-aku and they seemed to do a pretty detailed job on that one as well....

the interior of the bamboo lounge in the movie looks suspiciously like a bamboo room in another movie, which name escapes me but was about a guy who was ill and fantasized he was a detective in the forties solving a murder mystery....john ritter was in this movie, if that helps jog someones memory, but the asian style bar reminded me of the one from good fellas...perhaps it was the same movie set for both films....also, the segments where the guy flashes back to the forties were shot in black and white...which made the bar look even cooler...

..okay, i just googled it..the name of the movie was " A gun, a car, a blonde" from 1997(99?).....ritter played the bartender, duncan. also stars billy bob thornton...

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2007-12-24 22:21 ]

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2007-12-24 22:28 ]