Halemaki Apartments/Point Loma Villas, San Diego, CA

Name:Point Loma Villas
Type:apartments
Street:4444 W. Point Loma Blvd.
City:San Diego
State:CA
Zip:92107
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational

Description:
Large apartment/condo complex located in San Diego.

[ Edited by: Tiki Shaker 2009-03-16 20:23 ]

These condos have been referenced on here a few times.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=16485&forum=1&vpost=213429&hilite=4444
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=19328&forum=16&vpost=229799&hilite=4444

I finally decided to go take a look myself. I searched as well as I could, but I could not find a tiki anywhere. I spoke with a guy who was there visiting his aunt. He said, she said, that there use to be big tikis at the entrance, with large tiki torches. He also mentioned that she missed the large outrigger beams that were sawed off long ago. As I wandered around the grounds, I saw remnants of uplighting in planters, that were pointed in empty spaces, spaces that look like they probably contained tikis. Here are my photos from my search.

In the inside of the hallways that connected the condos, there were sliding glass doors that opened up out towards the back. This common area also kind of looked into the residents balcony's, so they had these awesome privacy screens.

Each of the areas by the elevators, had a rattan bench. Obviously altered from its original state, but probably original. Each floor and each building had one.

Original bamboo mirrors.

I was able to get into the central building/club house. Some guy was in there cleaning up after a kids birthday party, and he was kind enough to unlock the door for me. This must have been pretty amazing during it's "hey day". The central large room had mostly original rattan furniture. To the left was a billiards room, to the right was a sauna. Then the coolest part was the pool that extended under the glass, indoors. I can imagine the parties that must have taken place in this building.

Nice work Tiki Shaker! :)

Yesss! I always wondered about that place! The lobby interior must have been spectacular in its original state, it still is, somewhat! Never seen those "A-frame" rattan chairs before, cool.

There MUST be photos of this exterior SOMEWHERE !:

On 2009-03-15 11:25, Tiki Shaker wrote:
I spoke with a guy who was there visiting his aunt. He said, she said, that there use to be big tikis at the entrance, with large tiki torches. He also mentioned that she missed the large outrigger beams that were sawed off long ago.

Wonder if it is still owned by the original owners...

P.S.: I also wonder if "Point Loma Villas" was always its name.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2009-03-15 14:47 ]

Tiki Shaker,

Nice archeology, thanks for the post. Someone needs to find some old photos of the tikis and outrigger beams.

DC

Thanks guys.

This place did have a different name. I use to have it written somewhere, but I can't find it for the life of me. I'll have to research it again and find that name. It was a polynesian name.

As for the owners, they are condos, not apartments. I guess I should have made that more clear up in the description. Sorry about that.

[ Edited by: Tiki Shaker 2009-03-15 18:35 ]

my grandparents lived there for a period of time. I remember swimming in that pool. Under the glass partition....

I dont remember much about it but I thought the whole place was pretty cool.

Any family photos that show some of the decor? I love to find those, you know they are out there but how to find those!

Or how about home movies!?

The Point Loma Villas were built in 1965 and originally opened as the Halemaki Apartments (127 units).

Sabu posted this fantastic picture of the pool back in the day on his excellent post on Anthony Pools.

The pool is still in tact (photos taken Feb 2009)

With this interesting element at the top of the outrigger beam.

Most excellent post, Tiki Shaker.

Those a-framy chairs are going on my Big List of Holy Grails.

Dang! Nice original AND contemporary shots, Mike! Tiki Modern par excellence!

An outrigger beam! Oh man, I didn't go out back by the pool to take photos because a bunch of grannies were getting ready to start their water aerobics class. I didn't want to freak them out!

Cool, now I have a reason to go back and snap more pics.

I'm 46 and grew up in Point Loma. You have no idea how cool the Halemaki apartments were in the '60's and '70's... it's really now just a ghost of its former self.

First, the large A-frame pitched Polynesian roofs contained large tiki-tapa cloth looking murals on their faces. In the elevator foyers were low rattan sofas. Street side was tropical foilage that were replaced with some sort of pines when it was converted to condos. And yes, there were lit tiki torches to welcome you!

I remember going there as a kid and swimming in the pool, during what the used to be 'happy hour"!
There was a tiki bar set up in the clubroom with a real bartender in a red vest fixin up cocktails. I don't think they did that everyday, but maybe just on Saturday nights???
There was no glass partition up when I was there, so you could swim right in!

Ugh, where is that sort of creativity these days...

Aaaargh! Photos, who has photos !? Did it change owners? Anyone left there that was there in the heyday?

This place is spectacular even today...I can only imagine what it looked like back in it's original state....geez !

That indoor outdoor pool is just so awesome...MCM at it's finest.

I wanna move in there.

Hi Tiki famliy,
I currently live at 4444 West Point Loma Blvd.
If anyone wants a private tour of the place let me know.
paradise girl

On 2010-06-19 08:30, bigbrotiki wrote:
Aaaargh! Photos, who has photos !? Did it change owners? Anyone left there that was there in the heyday?

Bigbro,

I came across this amazing postcard on flickr showing the original apartment grounds.

Painted storyboard A-Frames, a big Tiki mask on the wall and outrigger beams.

The incredible pool lobby.

The back of the card.

DC

Truly a great postcard DC!

Indeed, what a find! I knew SOMETHING must exist of the glory days of this place. Ironically, Zulu Magoo had just found a copy of this card last week (turns out it's the same one). It is most gratifying to see proof of the PNG painted gables, and the outrigger beams. And that Moai mask on the building - and be wondering about some of the other details that are too hard to make out...

Oh to find good quality photos of this Tiki village in its original state! In size and A-frame multitude it surely was one of the most spectacular Polynesian apartment complexes ever built. I took the opportunity to visit when attending Tiki Oasis 12, and paradise girl showed me an original brochure she borrowed from one of the older tenants:

I also took some more photos of the building and rec room:

Imagine this A-frame face fully painted as in the postcard above!:

Side view of the rec room building:

Interior of rec room:

From the pool side:

From the 2nd level:

And of course, the last surviving outrigger (as shown on other buildings on the postcard):

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2012-10-12 01:46 ]

Now that's a proper A-Frame!

DC amazing, I would have killed to have those for my SD talk, that building has/had so much potential.