Who carved these tikis? Location revisited and UPDATE pg2

Who carved these, or who's style does this look like?

I was asked not to disclose the whereabouts of these tikis by the property manager, so I will respect that request. I also know that some of you also are already familiar with these 3 gems, and I would also ask anyone who knows the location not to disclose the location here on this topic out of respect to the property owners. I however, am curious as to who carved these? Sven, Bosko, anyone? "Wonder Tiki Powers, Activate!" :lol:

[ Edited by: Tom Slick 2009-03-28 21:40 ]

I don't know who carved them, but they all look like they're having some intestinal discomfort.

Tiki-Bismal?

Hey Tom there is a thread about these someplace here on TC, it looks like they have been cleaned up since the last time I saw them, they are Milan Guanko carvings.
Nice to see they're still around.

Bosko

Bosko...

Did Guanko always leave the top of the tree trunk uncarved like that ? The ones in KONA (Sam's) are all like that too. Was that his trademark ?

Hey Tikiyaki, in a word no.
He did all types of carving but I guess his most well known pieces have the bark left on them.
The Tiki's at Sam's/Kona are not Milan's work but rather the carvers copied his style if you look closely you can tell, Sven knows the particulars of the story.

Bosko

On 2008-07-17 11:45, TIKIBOSKO wrote:
The Tiki's at Sam's/Kona are not Milan's work but rather the carvers copied his style if you look closely you can tell, Sven knows the particulars of the story.

I think Leroy at O.A. does, better than I do :)

These are indeed the only Milan Gunako Tikis left that are still "in situ", so they deserve to be preserved and protected.

I know there is a waiting list for them, and hope they will go to a good home. I assume that the razing of the complex where they are located is delayed by the current housing crisis, which is putting a damper on new projects.

For a good sampling of Milan's work see the BOT pages 248-49. These ones here might not be his best work, but they are the largest and best preserved ones I know of, and I sure would not mind them holding up MY front porch roof.

Milan's Tiki-cut-into-palm-bark style was indeed copied often, here is a table top Tiki that was mass produced (with cuts faking palm bark) which was also used as "Kona", the bad luck idol on Gilligan's Island.

Here are some other samples of Milan's work, I really like his "noseless alien design":

At the Royal Hawaiian Laguna Beach

At the Royal Tahitian Apartments Ontario (also below)

...and at the Kapu Kai (with J. English, 1994)

Bosko, which one of these Kapu Kai ones do you have under your A-frame?

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-07-17 13:37 ]

On 2008-07-17 11:45, TIKIBOSKO wrote:
Hey Tikiyaki, in a word no.
He did all types of carving but I guess his most well known pieces have the bark left on them.
The Tiki's at Sam's/Kona are not Milan's work but rather the carvers copied his style if you look closely you can tell, Sven knows the particulars of the story.

Bosko

Interesting...He had more than a few knowledgable people fooled. Those Sam's tikis sure are "influenced by" his work.

Wow!
So these tikis have quite an infamous history! Since I discovered these in my treks across SoCal, I was really mesmerized by their style and feel to the eye. It's kind of hard to explain, but they grab my attention everytime I'm in that area. And for the note Sven, A good insider source said that the "investment" fell through, so that place is safe for a couple more years at least(fingers crossed).It really is a unique place onto its own. The last I had heard regarding the future of those tikis, was that they were to stay in the hands of the current property owner regardless what becomes of the property. That person also told me that their had been many inquiries made in purchasing them and giving them a new home, all of which obviously been turned down! In any case, they are safe where they are now, or at least have been for a while now. Does anyone know how the current owners came into possesion of the three wisetiki made by Milan?

No photos to go along with my seperate 'who did them' question, and the tikis in question are now long gone to somewhere, but in Kahaluu, on Oahu, there used to be 4 great 20'+ male tikis outside of a tourist stop called Coconut Corner, which garnered stares not for just their overall sizes but because each were anotomically 'correct', or incorrect, depending on your perspective of decency and tiki purity, as I've never seen other tikis with... well... shlongs down to there. I was always curious who did the carvings.
Anybody remember these, and/or know where they went? Hard to hide!

Sorry, but I have no knowledge of local island carvers. Oceanic Arts did import some Tikis to the islands, but those sound like locally made.

Tom, I think they could have been easily purchased at that nursery that you see in the BOT, or Milan's shop, which both were in the area. He used a lot of palm trees felled for Disneyland for his Tikis.

On 2008-07-17 13:11, bigbrotiki wrote:

These are indeed the only Milan Gunako Tikis left that are still "in situ", so they deserve to be preserved and protected.

There are a number of Milan Gunako Tikis at the Kon Tiki in Tucson that have been there since it opened, but I guess it would depend on your definition of "in situ".

Unfortunately at least one of them, the largest and formerly the best in my opinion, was tragically painted in horrible garish colors (on page 248 of BOT). Many of the others are painted inside, but they really aren't like the big one. Although a flash tends to make them look garishly colored, the effect is much different inside.

Chris

The one with the "ham" carved head looks like it got kicked in the coconuts!

How could I FORGET! I even identified that one as a Tiki coming straight out of that batch in the photo in the BOT! Yup, he's got the clown make-up job, alright. Can you post a before and after here, Chris?

Did a post about 4 years ago in 'Locating Tiki' about these. Growing up in Buena Park I frequented this 'undisclosed' place in search of model glue and z scale train goods.....very cool tikis

Milan's work is also in the 1966 Endless Summer. A surfer gets launched off his board from backwash, and his board gets him in the gonads, Bruce Brown then cuts to one of Milan's tikis which is holding his crotch, as many of them do! classic!

Tony, I haven't watched that movie in a while, but when I saw these tikis I thought of Endless Summer and that scene right away!

Tikis and surfing... two of my favorite things!

On 2008-07-17 16:04, msteeln wrote:
No photos to go along with my seperate 'who did them' question, and the tikis in question are now long gone to somewhere, but in Kahaluu, on Oahu, there used to be 4 great 20'+ male tikis outside of a tourist stop called Coconut Corner, which garnered stares not for just their overall sizes but because each were anotomically 'correct', or incorrect, depending on your perspective of decency and tiki purity, as I've never seen other tikis with... well... shlongs down to there. I was always curious who did the carvings.
Anybody remember these, and/or know where they went? Hard to hide!

I don't know about the four big tikis on Oahu. But, there is this tiki at Pu'uhonua o Honaunan (the Place of Refuge) in the Kona district on the Big Island. He seems to have a big...er...personality.

I asked a tour guide who carved the tikis for the park. Strangely, he told me they were carved in Tahiti, by a native artist there. A bit distressing thinking there are no local Hawaiian carvers for this job. Not sure if this tour guide was giving me the truth or not.

On 2008-07-17 20:35, bigbrotiki wrote:
How could I FORGET! I even identified that one as a Tiki coming straight out of that batch in the photo in the BOT! Yup, he's got the clown make-up job, alright. Can you post a before and after here, Chris?

Ok, it took some hunting, but I think I've got most of the pictures now. The only "pre clown job" picture of it I've ever seen is from BOT, so I snapped a picture of it for here (hope that is ok Sven). As for the other pictures, most are from the Kon Tiki website (and which I believe were taken by our own CheekyHalf) and the one "in between" picture is borrowed from Critiki.

Page 248 from BOT:

Link to larger image: http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8825/botpg248se0.jpg

Crop of the same image:

The poor tiki several years ago:

Present day:

A couple other Guanko Tikis at Kon Tiki:

Another view:

And the one by the front door:

Chris

[ Edited by: Kona Chris 2008-07-19 02:13 ]

[ Edited by: Kona Chris 2008-07-19 02:27 ]

Thank you Chris! Of course it's okay to use BOT material for reference here, I wish more folks would do it so I don't appear to be touting my own horn all the time.

That poor bastard. It's interesting how dark he looked originally in comparison to the others, he must have been stained. That most recent paint job with its "airbrush sunset" belly paint job is really too much! :( He's just screaming for mercy!

Nice, atmospheric non-flash shots of the interior, glad someone documented it!

Milans Tikis are GONE...The original photos i took in the first post are gone, including the buildings. The only thing I can restate, is that apparently they (management) knew the area where the 3 tikis were located was going to be leveled, and had told me that someone in the family was going to take them. No more Milan Guanko tikis guarding Adventure City, these babies are ADIOS... :(

[ Edited by: Tom Slick 2009-03-28 21:41 ]

I don't know if the shop featured in this old ad was the source for any of the tikis in this thread but it was located in Kahaluu.
I spotted this ad in a late 1960's "what to do in Hawaii" magazine.

Actually, those fine Guankos stood at the reptile store in Hobby City, Buena Park/Anaheim:

…right next to the Doll Museum, which now only exists on the internet::

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g29092-d280444-Reviews-Hobby_City_Doll_and_Toy_Museum-Anaheim_California.html

If you read the review of "OCMommy" you can guess what a cool place it really was:

“Hobby City is run down and a dump!”
2 of 5 starsReviewed December 11, 2012
"I would not recommend spending any time here it's run down and a total dump! It's over priced and most of the shops have gone out of business! Do not waist your time go somewhere fun like Disneyland or head to the beach!"

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11003&forum=2

AND:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=38480&forum=1