ebay: The Luau Beverly Hills original carved wood cannibal statues

Not my auction , but well worth mentioning.These are the original 12" LUAU carvings that
were on the inside of the restaurant.I never had the opportunity to go to the LUAU
before it was closed and torn down in 1979.I have actually been talking to this seller
about these statues.I will post more info after I talk to him more today.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Maori-Tikis-The-Luau-Tiki-Bar-Beverly-Hills_W0QQitemZ230369951118QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a31e7d8e&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

[ Edited by: 1961surf 2009-08-23 22:00 ]

[ Edited by: Tikiwahine - to add 'ebay' to the title - 2009-08-30 12:49 ]

Hmmm, that's an interesting variation on the cannibal tiki trio. Includes tasting and, ah... playing with your food? Doggie style?

If these statues could talk, they would have enough material to write a script.
I heard there were some crazy antics and parties that went on there back in the day.
Steven Crane purchased The Tropics tiki bar in 1953 and changed the name to The Luau.
Movie star Johnny Weismuller (who played Tarzan) was known to dive into The Luaus
waterfall lagoon after consuming a zombie or two .In tribute to the Tropics three
monkeys, Steve Crane used what I thought was three , but apparently it was four
cannibal style carvings.

[ Edited by: 1961surf 2009-08-24 12:11 ]

Man, those are spectacular! What I wouldn't give to win that auction. Thanks for posting!

I was asked about these earlier, and this is my subjective assessment of these guys:

These are actually 2 sets of the same 2 Cannibal Carving characters ( the "Caught" and the "Eater"), but in different styles -the third one, the "Full belly" guy, is missing in each set.

The two front ones are close copies of the Don The Beachcomber cannibals, the back two are copies of the Marquesan (not Maori) tourist style that O.A. has an example off. All four are in -my opinion- modern Asian knock offs. They didn't bother with copying the "full" guy because he's not as attractive.

I must ad that I don't think they are offered under false pretense, the seller probably bought them with that erroneous information of origin and is merely passing it on.

Really knock offs Sven ?? I am waiting to hear back from seller after I left him a message
today.

As I said, I don't think he knows, so what can he say.
I had commented on these guys here before when they were offered, and had pegged them as Asian copies. I have looked at a lot of Cannibal Carvings, they are a pet concept of mine ever since I wrote about them in the Book of Tiki. And I have seen a lot of Asian copies of various classic American Poly pop Tikis. These fellas here have never seen the inside of The Luau, sorry.

I'm a bit skeptical as well. You might try emailing Bob & Leroy at OA. As I recall, they're pretty knowledgeable about the decor that was at the original Beverly Hills Luau and own some of it in their shop.

If someone is going to check into these cannibals with OA, can someone ask about the mouths? Mine has a very small gap/slit all the way across that will fit a sheet of paper or post card in it. And it was done when it was made. I posted pictures in Tiki Finds back in December and I'm just curious.

Sven, have you seen them with this slit?

Speaking of Asian knock-offs, here is a 3 foot high carving that looks very much like the "Sven-Tiki" mug.

Never seen the slit in the mouth, that one looks rather recent too.
I could write a whole chapter on the cannibals, but I am still on a shoot and don't have the time. There are four basic styles in carving:

1.) The original Don The Beachcomber style:

2.) The Steve Crane Luau and Kon Tiki style:

3.) The Tahitian tourist Tiki style (seen at O.A.):

4.) The "Asian eyes mistake" Bora Bora post style:

The last ones grew out of the sloppy rendering done of Don's Tikis done on the original Don the Beachcomber menu, which failed to recognize the Marquesan "wrap around eyes":

... a mistake which was perpetuated by the Luau:

The Mai Kai artist did more justice to the Don style cannibals:

But the graphic history of the cannibals is another story. Back to the CARVINGS:
The original Don cannibals were his only pet Tikis, he had them in his back bar in Hollywood..

in his home in Encino:

...and used them as POSTS in his bars in Chicago:

...and Waikiki:

Darn....sorry, gotta go to work, -to be continued

On 2009-08-24 18:08, senioraqua wrote:
Speaking of Asian knock-offs, here is a 3 foot high carving that looks very much like the "Sven-Tiki" mug.

I don't recall Sven ever looking like that when he posed for me. After a few Mai Tais however..... :D

So, should I be flattered or just annoyed? If they were really trying to knock off the Sven-Tiki, they did a suck-ass job.

Wow, thanks for the info, Sven. So, as knock-offs, what do you think these pieces are worth? Whatever the outcome, I still think they look cool.

They are COOL , however if they were not in the original Luau , they are not $3000 COOL.

So the bidding is up to 1495.00 interesting. Are they worth 1495.00 fake or does someone think they are real?

Amy

Or someone "Pumping Up The Volume"...

I was going to buy these, but the owner has not returned my last call, and Sven has
got me dis interested now.I still think they are very unique and interesting .
I am going to put a call into Bob at OA tomorrow morning

[ Edited by: 1961surf 2009-08-25 16:49 ]

Sven,

Thanks for that great collection of cannibals. Nice to see all of the different styles put together like that.

1961 Surf,

Looking forward to what you find out about these.

DC

Thanks DC .Well I can not seem to get a returned telephone call back from this guy,
so I offered to call him on my dime in an email.He sent me his tel #, but I still
have had no luck reaching him.I just received an email from him about five minutes
a go .... and heres what he has to say;

Hi Bill....thank you for following up. I have been collecting Hawaiiana & tiki's for about thirty years and asked a few friends in the biz to verify these pieces.They seem to think they are the real deal as do I so I will let the auction run. I have had three offers to end the auction early for $1200 - $1700 so there are at least a few others who think they are the real deal. Thanks again for your input, very much appreciated.Have a wonderful evening.

Aloha & Mahalo,

Robert Hayes

Without any documentation or photos from the Luau depicting these exact carvings, I would not think his sources have any real factual information to back up his claim..... all hear say .I know this guy is a big surf and Hawaiian collector and probably has $20,000 worth of stuff on ebay right now, however that doesn't have any bearing on the authenticity of these carvings.

[ Edited by: 1961surf 2009-12-02 16:58 ]

I stay away from private bidder auctions.....Ebay already scrambles and * out the names, so whats the point? I wouldnt doubt if this auction is legit, that KC is on top of this auction, with that type of action... :P

After Contacting Bob at Oceanic , here is what he had to say .

Kia Orana Bill:
LeRoy and I do not remember these at the Luau. Frank asked us about this same ebay offering. I told him that I believe they are recent carvings from Bali. The seller apparently says they are from the original Luau, perhaps because the Luau had 3 of the figures on their matchbook, as did the Kon tiki Ports. .

One cannot be sure of their authenticity and we doubt if anyone can prove they were used at the Luau. Maybe leftovers from the new Luau or Trader Vic's as both have Bali carvings.

We think it would be a gamble-----but then who really know's if they are authentic.
Bob

I would think if anyone would know the answers, or have some pictures of interior shots
as well as know first hand -Bob and Leroy would know.Sounds like KC has also inquired
about this since I have posted as well.

Looks like the seller ended auction early for some reason .

Just to add to the "History Lesson" portion of this thread, here's some photos of the cannibals as pedastle totems. I got these years ago, and the consensus was that they were from O.A., but no one was sure if they were ever used in a bar or restaraunt.

Mahaloz!

Very nice carved posts Tiki Lee

Looks what's listed back on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230405169319&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT