After getting so-so service from my waitress at the local tiki restaurant here in town, I thought it would be fun to put together a postcard series showing waitresses serving tropical drinks from vintage tiki bars and restaurants back when service meant something.

We'll start with the original: The Mai Kai Mystery Drink Girl

Then the "copycat" Kahiki Mystery Drink Girl

This in one of my favorites - now that's how to serve a drink!
From the Samoan Restaurant in Cocoa Beach, Florida

Hawaiian Punch Village from Marineland in Ohio

These are from the Bali Hai in San Diego - you can see Mr. Bali Hai on the tray.

And from the Tahiti Restaurant in Quebec. Now how come she has the huge tiki bowl and he's got the little mug? That' my kind of date!

From the Tonga Room in San Francisco - Why is the sea captain so grumpy? Beautiful woman, tikis and big drink.

A lovely Hawaiian Girl serving tropical drinks - Is she checking that one to make sure its strong enough?

The Kalua Room in Seattle Check out the menu and the mugs on the table!

You just don't get service like that anymore!

Enjoy

Awesome picts! Mahalo for showing how it used to be. Love the decor and the history lesson.
Freddie :tiki:

..any other info on the samoan restaurant in cocoa beach?? what street was it located on?..any other pics??

brilliant post DJ!!

excellent topic and fine examples shown here.

but i can't help but think that that young lass is going to have a frothy moustache the way she's sipping that drink? or is she hiding behind it??

Excellent 35th post!

Seriously, I haven't seen many of these before. Fun topic. Thanks!

On 2008-04-10 18:09, Dustycajun wrote:

From the Tonga Room in San Francisco - Why is the sea captain so grumpy? Beautiful woman, tikis and big drink.

Good question, the answer is everyone in the Tonga Room is grumpy. :x

On 2008-04-10 19:15, harro wrote:
...but i can't help but think that that young lass is going to have a frothy moustache the way she's sipping that drink? or is she hiding behind it??

That's Elithe Aguilar, isn't it?:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=5576&forum=1&start=0

The drink presentation girl is a great concept, not only for postcards, there are numerous graphic depictions (as in rendered!) of her, too. The Samoa postcard is a killer, never seen it, and never heard of the place before! The menu on the table looks great, close up please! And of the entrance, perhaps? :)

And while we're on the subject, does anyone have any footage, descriptions, or pictures of these wahines doing drink rituals that go with the libations? I know Mai Kai has the mystery drink that comes with a ceremony and I believe The Kahiki had one too. I sort of have a Kahiki fantasy of the lights going dim and smoke billowing threw the air while the drink is held up to the fire place and it’s red eyes flashing and an exotic soundtrack.

I will post some more close up shots of the Samoa restaurant and the back of the card for those of you with interest in that one.

Bigbro,

I have always thought that the Hawaiian girl with the drink was Elithe Aguilar or "Miss Kauai". I have her other postcards and it has to be her, though a little hard to tell behind the frosty mug.

I forgot to include this one of the Mai Kai waitress, courtesy of Swanky at Swankpad.

impossible to be sure, but I don't think that's Elithe Aguilar. The eyebrow curve, pronounced shoulder blades, and other charmingly larger attributes are clear differences. Also, that post card has a real 50's vibe, and Elithe wasn't Miss Kauai until 1964.

On 2008-04-10 22:46, Dustycajun wrote:
I forgot to include this one of the Mai Kai waitress, courtesy of Swanky at Swankpad.

This is Annie. We are trying to figure out if she is the girl in the Mystery Girl postcard. Also trying to get her to Hukilau. She gave me the name of the man who made the Mystery Drink movie, which she starred in. She had the movie, but her kids wore it out. It came with a viewer and was sold in the gift shop. He is supposedly still in the Lauderdale area. No luck so far.

I love the story of her getting hired. She was a model for wigs and Bob Thornton got a bunch of pictures from them and said "I'll take all these girls." They all showed up and it was just Annie! She says she wore so many wigs she has trouble figuring out who is her in the old pictures.

That, is a great story.

So by vintage, you mean actually back in the day, yeah?

Great idea for a thread! And I would love to see more on the Samoan Restaurant in Cocoa Beach. Haven't heard of it before.

Swanky - Annie's also the redhead from the (I think) 1960 calendar, right? If so, I didn't realize that was the same person!

On 2008-04-11 09:20, Haole'akamai wrote:
That, is a great story.
So by vintage, you mean actually back in the day, yeah?

Is your question meant in regards to the movie? if so, yes. BOT, page 138:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-04-11 10:44 ]

That's Annie on the movie cover. And this is her too:

But Swanky, are you thinking that's also her on the Mystery Girl postcard? Cause I don't see the resemblance. I'm pretty sure I've seen the girl from the postcard in an old newspaper clipping. But I don't have a copy of it handy at the moment.

On 2008-04-11 11:00, GatorRob wrote:
That's Annie on the movie cover. And this is her too:

But Swanky, are you thinking that's also her on the Mystery Girl postcard? Cause I don't see the resemblance. I'm pretty sure I've seen the girl from the postcard in an old newspaper clipping. But I don't have a copy of it handy at the moment.

Note the mole on her left arm. That is how we know some pictures are her.

That IS Annie. And she was a Mystery Lady for a long time and they used her a lot in promo pics. In that short black wig. I dunno. I have asked Kern and have not heard back. Annie isn't sure either. She had so many pictures taken she has no idea.

There is another girl that Annie thinks may be that one in the card if it is not her. We'll have to wait for more info. I have looked a the pictures a lot and can't decide. I lean towards it not being her and then I see another picture I know is her and I'm not sure. The cheek bones are not hers though.
[ Edited by: Swanky 2008-04-11 11:56 ]

[ Edited by: Swanky 2008-04-11 11:58 ]

On 2008-04-11 10:41, bigbrotiki wrote:

On 2008-04-11 09:20, Haole'akamai wrote:
That, is a great story.
So by vintage, you mean actually back in the day, yeah?

Is your question meant in regards to the movie? if so, yes. BOT, page 138:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-04-11 10:44 ]

Yep, that's her. The film maker was Jaff (yes, not Jeff) something. I'll get it when I get home.

This is also Annie. Her most famous picture. They blew it up and it hung in the Mai Kai for a while. There was also a giant mural of all the girls painted in there once. She said they served Mystery Drinks at the New York World's Fair I think it was and they did a larger than life size cut out picture of her for it. Like 6+ feet tall. Wonder where that went? She used to have a picture of her with it, but it got destroyed by mice.

Since we are gravitating to the Mai Kai, which I thought this post might, here are a couple more. These are from Sabu and are on Mike's TikiRoom. They are from an article in Escapade Magazine. I love the description of the Mystery Bowl and the "hula skirted Mystery Girl". I don't think that's Annie - no mole.

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2008-04-11 13:05 ]