Kon Tiki Restaurant (Sheraton Hotel), Cleveland, OH (restaurant)

Name:Kon Tiki Restaurant (Sheraton Hotel)
Type:restaurant
Street:Public Square
City:Cleveland
State:OH
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
The Kon Tiki restaurant in Cleveland seems to be one of the lesser publicized locations in the Steven Crane chain. It was located in the Sheraton Hotel at the Public Square in Cleveland. It was the third Kon Tiki restaurant to be built in partnership with Sheraton Hotels, following the Montreal and Portland locations. There was a fourth located in Cincinnati at the Hotel Gibson.

This is a great postcard of the interior. Really a lot going on here from the wall decorations down to the drinks, lamps and serving bowls on the tables.

Here is a postcard showing the lunch buffet at the Kon Tiki with the cannibal carvings watching over the food.

Here is a souvenir menu from the Kon Tiki.

The manager was Allen James Lowe

Some of the illustrated drink pages

I found some pictures of another menu from Cleveland.

I also found this article on-line that talks about the restaurant and has a great map of the interior layout showing the various rooms and features. Unfortunately you only get to see the first page of the article for free.

I read that there is a great a picture of the entrance to the Cleveland Kon Tiki on Superior Avenue in the book "Cleveland Food Memories". If anybody out there has that book, please post.

This listing is on the back of a Kon Tiki matchbook, and the second listing from the menu show all of Steve Crane restaurants.

It seems as though some of the names changes?

I don't remember seeing anything for the Ports o Call in Beverly Hills?

DC

Great job as usual Dusty. I like the view of the floor plan I don't think I have seen that one before.

I just found some recipes in an old cookbook from the Kon-Tiki in Cleveland. I posted a blog and images about it, including the recipes.

http://tourdetiki2010.com/?p=417

Emetiki,

Thanks for the link. I grabbed the awesome exterior photo of the Kon tiki from your blog to post here. Was that photo in the cookbook? If not, where where did you find it?

First time I have seen this one.

As I stated before, there is another great a picture of the entrance to the Cleveland Kon Tiki on Superior Avenue in the book "Cleveland Food Memories". If anybody out there has that book, please post.

DC

Most excellent pic! Had no idea it looked this good. I flattened the gamma a little, and though I still can't make out the A-frame gable inside design, you now see that two full sized Tikis are flanking the doorway.

This is what you do when you put a Tiki restaurant into a space that is hard to modify and not "right" for you theme. I am sure this all had to also be semi-easily removed for later use.

A brochure of the buffet at Kon Tiki Cleveland.

Lunch had hours, dinner had hours, but "Cocktails Anytime" ... I like the sound of that!

DC

Funny little ad for a date weekend at the Kon Tiki in Cleveland.

DC

Here is another funny little ad promoting group events at the Cleveland Kon Tiki.

And the matchbook.

DC

Close up of the entrance and the doors....

That were recently found by Tiki David.

Great score on a cool piece of history.

DC

Some more of Tiki David's finds from the Kon Tiki in Cleveland, as presented on Tiki Finds:

On 2013-02-05 05:22, TIKI DAVID wrote:
LAST WEEKS SCORE;
OUTRRIGER from the Kon Tiki cleveland.


And one of the 6' Tikis from inside.

On 2013-01-27 15:16, TIKI DAVID wrote:
scored a couple thing's today.from the 'KON TIKI' Cleveland.



10ft. tall

Great stuff!

DC, Great way of showing David's great finds in the original settings. Also many thanks for your continuous posts on one the best threads on TC. You are relentless. OGR

Yes. Dusty great job ,thanks.
Hang on, when I get back home there are going to be 20 more panels,and,a boat load of bamboo.

"Pets are welcome,Children 'MUST' be on leash" TD

[ Edited by: TIKI DAVID 2013-02-24 12:11 ]

Tiki David,

Would like to see some more photos of your Kon Tiki artifacts, and hear the story on how you found them.

DC

On 2013-02-23 21:35, Dustycajun wrote:
Close up of the entrance and the doors....

That were recently found by Tiki David.

Great score on a cool piece of history.

DC
[/quote
Dustycajun,
do you happen to know if any of the other Steve Crane Kon Tiki's had these doors?
If so, do they still exist out there somewhere?

Great find! Do you own them, or just find them? Would be hard to find a use for them. The handles look great. Can you get a better image?

Tiki David,

Looks like the same doors at the Kon Tiki in Montreal.

DC

On 2013-03-13 09:55, Dustycajun wrote:
Tiki David,

Looks like the same doors at the Kon Tiki in Montreal.

DC

Yes the do seem to be the same doors,in the drawing,
but in any of the photos I've seen,the doors are not clearly seen.
(this does not mean clearer photos do not exist,just that I have not seen them.)
Since ,Montreal & Cleveland were built about the same time,could this just be a artistic conception of what the Montreal location would/could /should look like?
The reason I ask is ,IF I should choose to sell these,would I be out of line
saying they are, "the only ones known to exist"/"one of a kind"/"very rare"?

I'm sorry, TWENTY MORE PANELS?!?!

On 2013-03-14 06:47, Hale Tiki wrote:
I'm sorry, TWENTY MORE PANELS?!?!

not quite sure,but what exactly are you sorry about?

Twenty more panels;

That's amazing. Absolutely amazing. They're beautiful. Wow. Don't know how you did it, but good on ya for tracking them down. Wow.

I've been working on this for 8 years.

This is probably already posted somewhere on TC, but I couldn't find it. 3 of the carved tikis are in the pool atrium at the now Cleveland Rennaisance Hotel.

Thinking of Tiki David. What a great urban archaeologist and contributor to Tiki Central. He will be missed.

Here is another postcard I spotted showing the interior of the Cleveland Kon Tiki.

DC

Holy COW! I have that big-headed seated marquesan tiki from the Kon Tiki Cleveland in the last photo!

I got her (and it is a she) from an old man that rescued her when the Kon Tiki closed. I've been scouring the net to find a pic of her in situ since I picked her up a few years ago.. And there she is, behind the fried rice at the buffet!!!

Thanks Dusty!! I'm sending you a pm! :)

Will post some pics of her & more info tonite if I get a chance for those interested.

On 2014-04-24 07:36, happy buddha wrote:
Thanks Dusty!! I'm sending you a pm! :)

Will post some pics of her & more info tonite if I get a chance for those interested.

Would love to see some pics of the Tiki. I clipped the image of the card from ebay a while back, so I don't have a good scan, but here is a close up of the Tiki.

Did anybody on Tiki Central get that card for a better close-up?

DC

Ok here she is. I will post better pictures of her once my bar is finished. She is an amazing and unique piece, being that she's a female big-headed Marq, she's seated (the base is a seperate piece that she fits into with pegs, and that she's got such prominent, well... t&a. Then again, this is Steve Crane we're talking about :)

Anyway hope you enjoy these quick shots, thanks to Dusty once again for the pic of her in situ.

5 slightly different versions

I picked up this great old photo of the interior entrance to the Kon Tiki. While not labeled, I am almost positive it is from the Cleveland location.

What a grand entrance design, with those great doors, Tikis, Tapa and Spears!

Here is a close up of the Tiki with the Moai head and those unmistakable doors with the Kon tiki handles and hinges.

And the original exotica girls posing with the three cannibal carvings!

The cannibal carving posted by Tikilongbeach that resides in the hotel seems to be a match for the middle Tiki.

DC

The Temptations hanging at the Kon Tiki circa 1966

"At 16, I won a contest with WJMO radio. I wrote in 25 words or less why I wanted to have dinner with the Temptations. I thanked them for their inspiration and what they did for race relations.

I won second place. They picked the two of us up in a limo and took us to the old Kon-Tiki right down in what's now the Renaissance. David Ruffin sort of sat off to himself. I didn't know about his problems then. The other four were absolutely delightful. They put up with silly 16-year-old-girl adoration and questions like, "What's your favorite song?"

Then they took us to Leo's Casino. They took us on stage and sang "My Girl" to us.

I was the most popular girl in my school for about a week. "

from...

http://www.cleveland.com/mycleveland/index.ssf/2011/05/urban_leagues_marcia_mockabee.html

Neat story Tattoo. I wonder if that lady who won the contest has any more photos of the place? Maybe someone should ask her.

President John F. Kennedy in his motorcade, driving past the Kon-Tiki during his last visit to Cleveland in Oct 1962:

The original site seems to be down now, alas. You can see the exterior of the doors in the first two frames, and that's a great interior shot of the same door in Dustycajun's last pic.

Very cool pics of the JFK motorcade out front of the Kon Tiki!

I picked up an odd menu from the Cleveland Kon Tiki that was produced by the Ad Art Litho company in Cleveland.

Not like any of the others I have seen before.

DC

Interesting profile shot from 1971. Entrance on the side left.