Photos of my top-ten Tiki Bar Interiors for International Tiki Day

Hi All,

Yesterday I posted the exterior shots; today I'm posting some interiors. Again, I've tried to choose images you might not have seen before. There are too many great tiki-bar postcards to create a real "top ten", so these are just a sampling of some of the nicer ones in no particular order. Next year I'll post a different top ten.

#1. The Papeete room at the Kon Tiki Ports Restaurant in the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.

#2. Four views of the Zamboanga nightclub in Los Angeles - A great pre-tiki Polynesian supper club. Home of the "Tailess Monkey" cocktail. The murals in this club were simply stunning. What I wouldn't have given to see them in person.

#3. the Bamboo Cabana Room located in the Hotel Windemere overlooking the Blue Pacific, 1431 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, California.

#4. The Outrigger at The Surf and Sand Hotel in Laguna Beach, California.

#5. The Mah Jong Restaurant on Long Island, NY. Any of you New Yorkers heard about this one?

#6. This one kills me. All my young life I used to see the Holiday Inn across the street from Disneyland on Harbor Blvd. Who knew that lurking inside was this:

The Polynesian Dining Room. I'm sick that I missed it. Did any of you Orange County folks visit it before it was torn down?

#7. Don The Beachcomber's in Hollywood, CA.

#8. Pantley's Pagan Hut. Depoe Bay, Oregon. Puamana found this postcard for me at a local show in Seattle. I love the moody lighting of this bar and the great use of modern, 1950s chairs. I believe Puamana also has some menus from this location and might be gracious enough to add them to this thread in a few days.

#9. "Howdy Reynolds'" real-estate office. "I am Hawaii's BIGGEST real estate man, (over 300 lbs.), and ONE of the DOLLS in the picture is "G-MAN JOE", famous on radio and television in islands, as "Hawaii's Charlie McCarthy".

#10. Bob Lee's Islander in Boston. Did Bob Lee copy the Paul Marshall mugs? Or did Paul Marshall copy Bob Lee's Islander?

And as a bonus:

The Bali-Hai Hair Stylists, Ltd., West Islip, New York.

Well, that's it for this year. Hope you enjoyed them and I'll see you tonight at Baxdog's!

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2003-08-09 14:15 ]

Dude,these are all really sweet! Im rather partial to the Kon Tiki Ports pic! Being from Chicago it's nice to see some of the cool old places that used to be here. Thanx and Happy ITD to everyone!
Ciao Baby!

That Islander postcard is incredible....here's a 1964 Playbill Advertisement for the place: https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=3649&forum=1

Talk about inspiration! Awesome!

In a word AWESOME! Nice collection of postcards! wish I knew the history on the Mah Jong. Wow!

I never knew the Surf and Sand in Laguna had an Outrigger rest. Great history, thanks Sabu.

Sabu, you must put out a coffee table book of these postcards. We must all buy it. Just fantastic!

Also of note on that Kon Tiki Ports Papeete room postcard is the impressive weapons array on the wall....I also like the illusion of the clipper ship pulled up beside the dining room.

This is in reference to this thread, but it applies the same to other threads I have seen here: It's really amazing how much documentation of this stuff people have saved and posted. Tiki is still here as much as it is gone, or maybe it has been translated into a timeless cyber-reality--you know, you can only look at photos of so many of these places, but on the other hand, you can look at far more photos than you ever dreamed existed.

Great stuff Sabu! Thanks for sharing.

Incredible documentation, Sabu! I especially love that postcard of Bob Lee's.

And how about that wahine next to Howdy Reynolds? Yowza!

Many mahalos for dedication to urban archeology.

Aloha,

Arty

IN THE ZEN OF STEN

[ Edited by: stentiki on 2003-08-10 13:46 ]

That second picture of Bob Lee's suddenly has me thinking about tikis and blacklights. Finally, something us and the club kids can agree on!

The Papeete room is splendid. What I wouldn't give for those totems... The Holiday Inn bar is simply amazing, too - wish you could have gotten to visit. I think my favorite is the bar lighting at Don the Beachcomber's. How anyone could tear down these works of art is beyond me. Thanks a bunch, Sabu. You have made my day.

~Tex

Searching for mural shots and came across this thread. WOW! Love these old photos.

Thanks Sabu! I love the mural in the Zamboanga. Do you have any pics of the mural in color?

Those are stunning!

Makes me want to master time travel and have some cocktails.

Thank you for posting them!

Hey Flounder!

Unfortunately, the Zamboanga was too oldschool to have any good color photographs taken, (at least as far as I know). There is an old color linen postcard of the Zamboanga from the 1930s or 40s showing a tiny detail of the mural, but it is less clear than the b/w photos above, and the linen postcard colors leave a lot to be desired. I'd love to know when the Zamboanga was torn down and what was done with the murals.

Sabu

What beautiful postcards Sabu! They make me go "sigh" when I see them. They are just such fantastic inerior shots.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

-Tikiwahine

On 2004-01-06 16:19, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
Hey Flounder!

Unfortunately, the Zamboanga was too oldschool to have any good color photographs taken, (at least as far as I know). There is an old color linen postcard of the Zamboanga from the 1930s or 40s showing a tiny detail of the mural, but it is less clear than the b/w photos above, and the linen postcard colors leave a lot to be desired. I'd love to know when the Zamboanga was torn down and what was done with the murals.

Sabu

hi everyone.im new to Tiki Central.my name is Kaleigh and im 10 years old and in the 5th grade. i live in Kuna,Idaho and my dad is in Tiki Central too.Please write to me soon.
from,kaleigh.s.moore