Tikis at Sea World San Diego?

In my travels about tikitown, I came across the current owner of one of the old Sea World tikis:

It's about 6+ feet tall and made from a telephone pole log

It was originally at the edge of the lagoon at the Hawaiian Punch Pavillion

Looks like it used to spit water out of it too

Buzzy Out!

Considering its historic stature, it seems rather neglected, and forgotten in some corner of the yard.

I recently found an old postcard book that had a great shot of the huge tiki structure that was at the old entrance to Sea World. I had never seen this shot before. There is also a shot of the Hawaiian Punch Village in the background of the dolphin show.

Holy moly! Why have I never seen this before? Does anyone remember this? Was it really there? It looks ....unreal!

Seriously, Sven?

Yup, I kid you not. Somehow, that beauty got past me all these years. I might have seen close ups of it, or such badly photographed angles that it never struck me as special. But if it's soaring mightyness would have revealed itself to me earlier like it does in this postcard, I might have tried to squeeze it into the A-frame collage in Tiki Modern.

Good to hear from you, Chris. Now look at all those question marks at the beginning of this thread! So sad....!???
Here's a question from Mr. A-Frame to Mr. Theme Park: Would you know the years of existence of that entrance? As a non-Californian who moved here in the early 80s, would I have had a chance to still see it in person? It sure wasn't shown in "The Big Mouth", I would have caught that. I mean look at the size of that outrigger beam, that alone is as big as a house!

Ahoy Sven, the last time I went to Sea World (90-91?) I seem to recall it being there.
I am pretty sure it's in the Big Mouth but the shot is so tight you can't see the over all building. They do a whole bit with Jerry getting chased back and forth from Del Webb’s to Sea World by the assorted goons, it must be in there some place. I have a Sea World brochure that I think was the first one they put out and it shows the A-Frame so it was probably designed by the same architects that came up with all the original (amazing) structures there.

Bosko

I don't remember a dolphin show nor a pirate ship being outside the jetty (ocean access).
It was always a water skiing show.

As a cinematographer I am very familiar with the problem of photographing vertical subjects for a horizontal medium. If you try to include the complete vertical subject in the frame, you end up being too wide and showing too much empty space on the sides, so often you cut the top off. The only way to show a structure like this and keep a tight frame would be to pan up, or down along the length of it....but that does not give you the same visual impact. That's why it might not have been shown in its entirety that much, and why I did not take notice of it. The above photo used the name to fill that empty space.
I don't think I ever went to Sea World before my kid was born, in '92.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-04-23 11:13 ]

Not to cast any judgments on Jerry’s cinematographer or the script but it seemed like the last half (where the scene/s in question were) of the movie became a non-sensical wacky chase scene and I seem to recall him running thru the entry a couple of times. Rent it and take a look it’s a great film.
There was a pond on each side of the A-frame and I can’t seem to recall if it was turtles or swans or what in there but it was all very richly layered.

Unga they had all kinds of dolphin shows and there were dolphin pens just near the bay but there was a fence or some barrier there. While the family was waiting for a show my brother and I went to the pen area, a dolphin tossed sea weed up at us and we threw it back and he tossed it up again, that went on until he/she was on for the show, an amazing kid experience.

Bosko

Turtles were in the pond underneath, I definitely remember trying to toss coins so they would land on their backs. (Poor turtles - but everyone did it).

I don't remember the A frame as much as the turtles, but I'll have to see if my parents have any pictures of it. We used to go a lot during the early 80s.

A quick Google search found:


Sea World (1966), designed by Victor Gruen
from the AIA Guide To San Diego Architecture (1976)
Mission Bay Park / Photo courtesy of Sea World
http://www.modernsandiego.com/BLOGARCHIVE.html

1964 Sea World opens in Mission Bay Park
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/timeline/timeline3.htm

[ Edited by: TikiPhil 2008-04-23 22:17 ]

Sven, et al -

The entrance was a 60s era thing. When the park radically expanded in the early 70s (sorry - don't have the exact date handy), they rotated the entrance about 15 degrees counter clockwise, or so - and in the process ditched the A-frame. Do a search on my entry here for the interview I did with George Millay (creator of Sea World) if anyone is more interested.

Thank you Tiki Phil for the amazing photos from that blog - I hadn't seen them before!

Best!

So Bosko's 1990/91 memory was wishful thinking, I am afraid. Yes, that black & white is another great shot of it. I would say it was easily the largest A-frame ever built! The fact that they did do away with it in the early 70s clearly shows that at that point in time the A-frame as a design concept was not considered "modern" anymore, and probably omitted as something "dated".

Sorry to belabor the point but was (or wasn’t) the original A-frame replaced by another A-frame, I really do recall the entrance being a big A structure more recently than the 60’s? Or am I loosing my mind? I remember that once you went thru you would/could stop look at the ponds, turtles, etc…
I also recall the entrance got moved to the right side at one point (maybe it was a temporary thing?) but this is all going way back in my skull.

Just wondering

Bosko

On 2008-04-24 11:49, TIKIBOSKO wrote:
Sorry to belabor the point but was (or wasn’t) the original A-frame replaced by another A-frame, I really do recall the entrance being a big A structure more recently than the 60’s? Or am I loosing my mind? I remember that once you went thru you would/could stop look at the ponds, turtles, etc…
I also recall the entrance got moved to the right side at one point (maybe it was a temporary thing?) but this is all going way back in my skull.

Just wondering

Bosko

Now I am doubting myself - because Bosko is right - there was a pond with turtles just on the other side of that original entrance... Well - being gone by the early 70s is my best guess - but it may have lasted as long as the late 70s... I need to do more research on this, but with the Knott's book coming out this Fall, and the P.O.P. book in the works, Sea World is low on the totem pole right now!

It's an extremely long story, but George Millay invented Sea World based on another dolphin-show park up the coast and his love of Tiki Palaces; one of which he owned, and which formed the seed money for Sea World.

They actually started Sea World after liberating some financial info from an accountant's trash can at Marineland of the Pacific!

http://themeparks.about.com/od/themeparksbooksandbuys/fr/wavemakerbook.htm

He later went on to popularize water parks, based on the swimming/rock sliding scene in the South Pacific movie musical.

This is all even more amazing, because George has half of his face burned off. Up close he looks kind of like Vincent Price in The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

I'm pretty sure the turtle pond and restaurant was still there when I worked there. That would be as late as 1983 or 84. My friend worked in the restaurant and he was a year younger than me. It was shut down shortly after I started there.

That is wonderful, but the question here was:
How long did that huge A-frame structure in the two photos in this thread exist? Only until the early 70s, or all the way into the late 80s/early 90s?

My first Tiki mug (1971) was thanks to Hawaiian Village, and kicked off my Polynesian bug.

Wasn't the turtle pond once the alligator pond ?

I don't care if it was a friggin' Piranha Pond at some point, we are talking important Poly pop architecture history here! :lol:

Bigbro,

I knew you were going to lose it over that postcard of the A-frame at the Sea World entrance. It is absolutely epic in form. The postcard had no date, so no, I do not know when it was removed.

But I do have another postcard from the Hawaiian Punch Village at Sea World in San Diego (no turtles or piranhas).

A nice black and white shot of the entrance.

And the famous Hawaiian Punch drink recipes which used such ingredients as "Red Base" and "Yellow Base".

I wonder if any of these made it into Beachbum Barry's books?

Check out the Tiki lurking behind the Princess Anne drink.

What a novel idea, you can add liquor to these drinks to make cocktails too! Who would have thought.

Somebody please find out when that damn A frame was taken down so Bigbro can sleep tonight!

On 2008-04-25 07:13, Cammo wrote:

This is all even more amazing, because George has half of his face burned off. Up close he looks kind of like Vincent Price in The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

When I interviewed George, he wore his eyepatch too! An awesome character he was...

To ease Sven's troubled mind, I would say this... Millay went to a lot of trouble to have Gruen & Associates design the original park in a Polynesian-Modern style, when it first opened in 1964. My opinion is that he likely wouldn't have been happy about the demolition of that A-frame. Pure supposition on my part however. But when he did Sea World Florida in '73, it also had a Poly-pop influence, even with it's own version of the Hawaiian Punch Village.

If you compare the '64 aerial shot:

with this current one on Google maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=32.765694,-117.226267&spn=0.005322,0.005482&t=k&hl=en

you can see that the original A-frame entrance sat about where the current Shamu stadium is today. I recall that turtle pond was there still in the 80s - so perhaps that is where the confusion stems from..?

It likely went out in 1971 - Shamu got the first version of that stadium (previously, he was on display in a small tank) in June of that year. The original Moffat and Nichol designed stadium held 200,000 gallons and had a 3,000 seat grandstand. Of course, it has been redesigned several times since then.

There is also evidence that the parent company was finding Polynesian design "old hat" by at least the mid-70s.

Here's an excerpt from Susan G. Davis' excellent treatise - 'Spectacular Nature: Corporate Culture and the Sea World Experience' :

"As the park negotiated more acreage from the city, designers tried to blend new ideas into the older park. Trading the need to expand and intensify attractions against the homogeneity of its original landscape, Sea World began to break up the Pan-Pacific architectural consistency of Gruen's design and gradually adopted a more scientific approach to themed nature. The mass cultural South Pacific resolved into architectural diversity and sometimes dissonance, held loosely together by tropical plantings.
The process was piecemeal. Sea World saw bursts of construction in the mid-1960s after the introduction of Shamu, and as early as 1966 it had tripled its original acreage. Another wave of construction in the middle-seventies added more structures and spaces for mass viewing, including two large stadiums for animal performances."

Of course, it was that Polynesian "homogeneity" that Victor Gruen had created that was so appealing. By the early 1980s, Sea World had lost most of that appeal. And with the shuttering of the Hawaiian Punch Village, and the eventual demolition of the Theater of the Sea (replaced by the Shipwreck Rapids ride in 1999), most evidence of Poly-pop or 60s modernism, was gone. About all that was left was some attractive landscaping.

Not so-fun fact: Millay was forced out by his board of directors after his difficulties getting Florida Sea World up and running. The "Scientific" designs followed soon after.

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2008-04-25 20:26 ]

'Pop' quiz -

Does anybody know what Jerry Lewis movie features the 1960's Sea World, and where Jerry stayed while visiting San Diego? The hotel also had a Tiki-moderne style, some of which still survives...

On 2008-04-25 20:43, Cammo wrote:
'Pop' quiz -

Does anybody know what Jerry Lewis movie features the 1960's Sea World, and where Jerry stayed while visiting San Diego? The hotel also had a Tiki-moderne style, some of which still survives...

Big Mouth and Del Webb's Ocean House? :) :)

I hustled my ass through Sea World today. I scored a $5.60 pass from a school shrink, not mine. :)

Not a single tiki to be found! I should have asked but, I think I did a good job.

The Shark Encounter takes place on/at a Carribean atoll. Lots of fake coconut palms, felled palm logs, big leafy plants and Easter eggs, er, I meant coral. If coral is that color.

My two favorite attractions were the honu and "ship wreck whatever it is called". I actually notice that I made it to the honu three times, chronologically on the camera.

There is nothing photogenically tiki to report. That seems stingy but, I will post the pics in Beyond Tiki as "Honu at Sea World" and "piratey ship wreck what ever at Sea World".

Architecture..? BZZZTT!! Lots of disappointment there.

I actually miss the Sparkletts Water Show!? Mostly, I miss the "see-though" pearl diving girl's uniforms. That is the most disappointing of all. :cry:

I remember them being sooo "see-through". :)

A few pics....and forgot to mention the Taboo Tiki Cruiser and the floats. :)
The last pic is the "Piss der Resistance".





this next pic is where the my "underwater lady's in white" are supposed to be... :cry:

the pisser......

Recently obtained this old brochure from Sea World when it first opened.

Here is the cover which has a nice little illustration of the large Tiki A-frame building at the entrance along the with frolicking dolphins wearing leis.

Here is a picture of a different Hawaiian Punch Village fruit girl than we are used to seeing from the postcards.

This is the write-up on the Hawaiian Punch Village.

This is the Murata Pearl Japanese Village

They used to offer Hydrofoil rides up to 40 mph on Mission Bay! Can you imagine that in this day and age? Think of the liability waiver.

Overall a very cool brochure.

DC

Sea world is still an awesome place. I had an enjoyable visit there last summer, drinking beer and listening to smooth jazz coming out of hidden speakers in the foliage while the family went on the rides and attractions.

Where is Tangaroa these days? He (she?) was a fountain of information on extinct attractions and theme parks.

I poke my head out occasionally over here - I'm just very busy at work these days...

Found this black and white image of the Hawaiian Punch Village from the Florida Sea World

DC

I was just there before Xmas. I can't see myself going back now that there are no free samples!!

Someone is selling this promo photo on ebay right now:

Buzzy Out!

This thread has been so awesome to look at!! I have very fond memories of going to Sea World and eating lunch (tuna sandwich & red hp) at that restaurant in 1971-72! I also remember eating at the Atlantis across the waterway. And riding the skyway to & fro. Great fun! And I remember the Sparklett's color water fountain show too.

Saw this old photo of the dolphin show and that Tiki in the water.

DC

This first pic was taken by photographing into one of the lenses of a Viewmaster viewer with the camera setting on Macro. I've folks do a lot better with this method, but I'll need to get a better camera and a better Viewmaster without so much crud on the inside of the lenses. This was from a set of Sea World Viewmaster reels.

You can see the small hut with the Hawaiian Punch Puppet Band in front of the main longhouse restaurant.

Here's a nicer shot taken from a tourist's slide. Found this one on the internet:

Does anyone know if it became "Punchy's" Band before or after the "Hawaiian Punch Puppet Band"?

One more image from Matterhorn1959's website, dated 1973:

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2010-02-17 00:29 ]

Very cool photos and post Sabu, now we just need to find some documentation of the interior.

Thanks

Bosko

Holy toledo, this is one eye-opening thread! I grew up going to Sea World a lot in the 90's, but I don't know much of its history. I would have loved to have seen all this tiki goodness, but in lieu many thanks for sharing all these wonderful photos.

Are there any aspects of Tiki left at the San Diego Sea World to look out for?
Otherwise, Mr. Tiki's Mai Tai Lounge and the Bali Hai.

On 2010-05-24 07:00, christiki295 wrote:

Mr. Tiki's Mai Tai Lounge.

Closed Chris.

Not tiki, but a quick OT about the now-gone water show at Sea World, which I unfortunately never saw in person. I'm not just a TorchGuy; I'm a FountainGuy, too!

The Water Fantasy, later sponsored by Sparkletts, came out in 1967, and was built by Rain Jet of Burbank, who used their unusual rotary fountain nozzles in the show. The shows used the five nozzles they sold commercially (called Crystal Cone, Bursting Stars, Dancing Jewels, Ballerina and Vesuvius) as well as a few designs made just for the show. The show also used some conventional nozzles, rain and fog effects, and lights both in the three-section pool and in the ceiling. These rotary nozzles are mucho rare now, and in my travels I've only been able to find one, though I'm following a lead on another right now. They're beautiful effects, very sparkly and showy. ...anyone got one of these they're not using...? They were usually sold with plastic bases that had one, two, three or five underwater lights attached, called 'aquavators'.

The Disney version mentioned by Magoo began as Fantasy Waters, one of the early "Dancing Waters" attractions, where the effects were 'played' live from a switchboard along with recorded music. I speak with one of the people who used to play the Dancing Waters shows in Florida, and I'm told this is a very, very difficult skillset, as the player had to operate water (behind the beat, since there's a delay) with one hand, while running lights (on the beat, they respond instantly) with the other. So the player didn't run out of fingers, multiple effects could be patched to a single button, but you had to be planning for the next 'scene' and setting up its effects on another button(s) while simultaneously running the current one(s). Some of the operators would practice each show enough that they would add Liberace-like flourishes to their playing, to make it look exciting and effortless. That Disney show got scrapped in the 80s, and replaced by a modern Waltzing Waters brand "Liquid Fireworks" show also called the Fantasy Waters... but Disney was too cheap to buy a new one (approx. $1million US for these) so they had the company cobble together a cheaper unit out of both new and used parts. They soon learned that while the Waltzing Waters product is ridiculously low-maintenance, nothing is NO-maintenance, and when the last few relays in the control cabinet gave up the ghost, rather than pay about 1/8 the value (or less) to have it fixed up again, they junked that one, too. Sadly, that's not the worst fate that's hit one of these high-tech Waltzing Waters shows. One, I'm told, got shipped to a theme park in China, sat in the shipping crate for a few years as the park changed hands a few times, then got sold as scrap.

Water Fantasy intro with rain effect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn9CUR0Jg08
The double, swaying spray is custom. The conical ones are the Bursting Stars model.

Water Fantasy performing to "Man In The Mirror", with big frothy cascade fountain in the middle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngSESTdu9X0&feature=related

The water fantasy used to be one of my favorites, you could sit zen out to water and color but most importantly it was air conditioned after a morning/afternoon of the wacky animal shows out in full sun it was welcome and probably why I remember it so vividly.
I have a LP here someplace for the show I imagine they sold it at Sea World? I've seen a few of them over the years so they must be fairly common, if there is any interest I'll try and dig it up, right now I am confounded by which of my categories I would have filed it under.

Bosko

Bosko,

Did you find your record yet?

Here is a nice color postcard I just got showing a aerial view of Sea World.

You can see the giant A-Frame entrance

And the Hawaiian Punch Village building.

DC

I recently picked up some new materials from Sea World in San Diego.

A postcard view of the dolphin show and the Hawaiian Punch Village in the background.

You can see the Tiki fountain in the water has been painted.

One of my favorites, a tabletop lunch menu from the Hawaiian Punch Village featuring the souvenir Tiki Mug that could be yours for a meager 85 cents.

How many TCers have this one in their collection?

Finally, some really cool photos that are posted on Matterhorn1959 website featuring some wild Tikis at the dolphin show.

DC

Great find! Love the prices on that menu: Just times everything by 10 and you probably have today's prices!

I picked up another Hawaiian Punch Village place-mat menu circa the 70's.

Some close ups of 70's style Tiki art concepts.

They even served a Hawaiian Rum Cooler for the Moms and Dads.

Punchy riding Shamu!

DC

I finally got one of these cups at a thrift here today. Which probably makes me the last person on TC to find one. Anyway, I have often wondered if this was available at all the Sea World locations and now after Dusty's above post, I'm wondering if this is also a Hawaiian Punch promo or just a gift shop souvenir.

Aloha all, I am in the middle of putting together my new and improved San Diego talk for Tiki Oasis and ran into this image from a 1979 San Diego tourist book, the previous question (a few pages back) was how long was the Sea World A-Frame up at least we now know it was up until the late 70's. But again I seem to recall it was still up well after that date, enjoy,

Bosko

Took my little one to Seaworld San Antonio and there are two huge tikis on each side of the stage in the Castaway Cafe area by the water park/Lagoon area...
(Didn't see it posted anywhere yet)