Seal Beach A-Frame apartment - formerly tiki ?

Passed by this pretty dramatic A-Frame apartment building in Seal Beach the other day. The Lava rock walls on either side makes me think that this was Tiki back in the day, given it's location in Seal beach, pretty close to the ocean. Lots of nice Mid Century architecture apartments in the area, but this one really caught my eye.

Note the lava rock walls on either side of the entrance.

Nice concrete block mosaic walls on either side of the entrance.

The entrance way had a wall of terrazzo tiles.

The pool inside was a classic kidney shape with a planter bed shaped like a sharp boomerang (didn't get a photo of it) The pool was empty and the inside stripped of it's vegetation...The building seemed to be going through a renovation.

Given the name of the apartment building, it makes me think that it would be great if they had Marina the mermaid swimming in the pool :D

Address is 350 Marina way in Seal Beach. Any info on this, anyone ?

Do you have your TIKIYAKI ORCHESTRA CD YET ?
http://www.myspace.com/tikiyaki
http://www.tikiyakiorchestra.com

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2009-02-08 11:05 ]

Very cool, the way the lava rock wall is piercing the A-frame asymmetrically. Wonder if the boring fascia with the two sliding glass windows was covered with bamboo or rattan or something at some point. And if it had another name, initially.

Took some pictures there this morning totally Tiki enjoy----it was open house---I also got some shots of the lobby area and one of the tikis near pool...Wasn't brave enough to walk down to pool area (didn't want to bother apartment dwellers)

Pictures to follow

The apartments I believe is now Mahalo apartments---I should have taken a picture of the sign as well

Tikis chilling out in front

The Pineappleman photographing tiki where ever he finds them

Let's take a trip to the lobby shall we

The Pineappleman
http://www.myspace.com/Pineapplemanmrdiff

The Pineappleman song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mID31rm7OU&feature=channel_page

Very cool! I met the guy who did that Tiki refurb at the opening of Trader Vic's. Never thought that the revival would reach even apartment buildings! :) :) :)

WTF? This is a joke, right? Brand new tikis, bamboo, a shag print...all that in some nameless apartment?

Hey, are you calling me a liar??? :D This is no joke, this is to my knowledge the first example of a mid-century A-frame apartment building refurbished in Tiki style on account of the owners. The fellow who did this is named Peter Cate, and I have been meaning to get in touch with him and get pics and info. And it's not nameless, it's called the Marina Apartments.

On 2009-05-17 13:36, bigbrotiki wrote:
Hey, are you calling me a liar??? :.

No, of course not!

I didn't read the entire post. Just saw that someone discovered an old apt. complex, yet inside was totally brand new tikis and decor. Didn't realize this was a refurbish job, as I found it highly unlikely that there are any tiki people out there that we don't know about! If anyone had a cache of tiki this great, we would be aware of it. Turns out we are!

Just messin' with ya! :)
Unfortunately, the gent who worked this job jutted down his contact info as " petercate.us" on a Trader Vic napkin, and I cannot figure out how to contact him on any version of that, or I would have more info to share.

Hey BigBro,

We met Peter that night also. I think he said
he was an old long lost friend of Holden's. He gave us a card.
I'll try to find it too. I also remember him saying that he
spends much of his time in Hawai'i.

Hey Sven go here...
http://www.petercate.us/

there's his ## on the bottom etc...

Aloha's braddah!!

scott

Duh! Thanks! I googled that address (sans dash), and "Peter Cate design" to no avail, guess his search engine ranking is somewhere way back.

O.K., here is the scoop:

Jim (tikiyaki) was right! This place WAS a Tiki apartment building initially, called the Marina Lani, and the Tikis had been removed with age. That was years ago before Jim found it in its above state. Here is what Peter said about the new look:

"The owner of this building has had me do many buildings over the years. Our track record together has built and he has given me his trust on design work."

Here is another example of the DESIGNERS bringing Tiki back. Thanks to Peter ( http://www.petercate.us ) it was re-tikied. He also re-named it the Marina Palms. The Tikis came from Smokin Tikis. Great work guys. Congrats to the first Tiki apartments being recreated! This must have just happened after Jim found the place! Thanks to pineappleman for the re-discovery. Zulu Magoo, are you reading this? :)

Check out the pics Peter sent me:

If you lived there, you would be close to Don The Beachcomber!

Only problem....No Pets :(

I was early for a DTB meeting and decided to drive around Seal beach, and just stumbled on it.

Looking at it, I thought, "how could it NOT have been a Tiki apartment ?"

Glad I was right.

Funny, I'm pretty sure it was that night at Don's that I met Peter Cates...He came over to our table and just started talking to us.

That's awesome that he is RE-Tikifying places like this. It Really is cool inside...I stopped by there yesterday and walked through. That lamp definitely jumped out at me, as well as the BIG ASS Doug Horne masks.

So, can we dub this "Tiki Re-Evolution" ?

I had seen this a few weeks back also.
I was driving to Busters, and saw the tiki's on the outside of the Building.
SCREEEEEEEEECHHH!!!! I pulled over and was like holly cow, look at this place.
How come I never noticed it before?
Then I realized it all looked very new, except for the Building and rocks.
Dummy me, I don't ever have a camera with me.

the following monday I met/saw Peter and A Frame at Dons and he said he had done the remodel and had plans to do more.

The use of the LAVA ROCK WALL piercing the A-frame on the left, and supporting it on the right....

...reminds me of this great motel I pictured in Tiki Modern:

Yes, and Peter drives a bitch'n limo.

Article about the apartment.
https://sbfoundersday.wordpress.com/2017/09/06/tdisbh249/

(Cut & paste article in case link goes bad in future.)

September 6th in Seal Beach History
Posted on September 6, 2017 by Michael Dobkins
On this date in 1964, the Marina Lanai Apartments ran this ad in the Long Beach Independent.

The apartment building was constructed in 1962 and had its open house launch on December 2nd, 1962. The new apartments were modern and up-to-date with Medallion all-electric kitchens, all the latest appliances, sound proofing, a built-in vacuum, and FM background music systems. The inner courtyard had an oversized swimming pool and recreation facilities. Another selling point 1962 was the proximity to the relatively new Long Beach Marina, which was opened in 1957 (and motivated the changing the name of this section of Bolsa Avenue to Marina Drive.)

The main attraction of the building for kids in the neighborhood was two tall Tiki totems and Tiki torches with gas jet flames stationed on either side of the steps to the main entrance. That and playing hide-and-go-seek in the ungated subterranean garage.

The Tiki totems and torches are gone, but the Marina Lanai apartments are still there at 350 Marina Drive (They call it Marina Palms). And, if you examine the front facade of today’s building, you’ll find a few subtle nods to the building’s exotic Tiki decor of yesteryear.