the lost chapter: Hop Louie and the Stockton Islander (image heavy)

I found this awesome photo of The Stockton Islander at the Bank of Stockton Archives. The information sheet will be arriving soon by U.S. Mail so I'll update this post with that info later.

Note the Moai lights on the tables!

Nice job Abstractiki!

Great photo. Who would have thought to find Tiki archives in the bank vault. How the hell did you figure that one out?

DC

That's a great photo - nice and clear. I'm curious as to why the Bank of Stockton has the photo; was is taken during a company lunch/dinner/event? What was it that prompted you to contact them?

Those moai lamps are cool! I think I've spotted a mug just in front of the guy in the foreground; looks like its one of the "peanut" maori or ku mugs.

There's a short pole/carving just behind the rail on the lower right, but I can't make out what it is.

Thanks again for posting these photos, it's nice to see this thread come back to life!

Thanks Dusty & LOL T!

I was diggin on the Bali Hai Apartments and contacted a reporter who had written about the Bali Hai Moai in one of his columns a few years ago. He gave me the tip! The bank has over 26,000 photos. They use them in there calenders and art shows and such. The bank got most of the photos donated to them by the estates of area photographers. These photographers had long standing photo businesses in the community and worked on many projects over their life times. They never threw any thing out. The families recognizing the old picture as history of the community wanted to preserve them, but didn't want to store them and wanted their loved ones pictures to live on and benefit the citizens.

[ Edited by: abstractiki 2009-10-13 19:17 ]

excellent idea!! after driving around for years on hwy 99 and seeing those "bank of stockton" billboards with all of the historical photos, it kills me that the thought never crossed my mind to further explore. fantastic!!!

it's pretty cool to see these photos side by side. can you spot the differences?

You mean the "Supremes" cover act? You certainly could not be pointing out the thatch-less ceiling and the ugly-ass disco mirror ball spaceship. :) Nice catch Mr. Cleen. Also keep up the great work all.

looks like some wall elements have changed but its hard to tell...

OGR....that ain't no mirror disco ball spaceship...that's a frosted glass swag lamp. Fairly popullar in Tiki establishments back then.
Sven sold a few of those at Tikiyaki Lodge Night 1, and they ended up in Kirby's Rumpus Room....

Note upper left....round version of that saucer lamp.

Duh, It is also in the first pic. Many thanks for the info. The thatch is gone though, right?

I just received these pics from the Bank of Stockton. There is only one more that they have but it is almost the same as the one with the girls on stage I posted a few days ago. I included two current Pit Bar photos for comparison.

Lani

Pit Bar

current Pit Bar photo for comparison

current Pit Bar photo for comparison

Exterior

Aeriel Photo

Happy Hunting!
Abstractiki

Abstractiki,

I wish there was something more to say to you other than "Great Job!" but you really are doing excellent work. Thank you!

When you get done with Stockton please feel free to drive the 2 hours North to Fresno and find some good Tropicana Lodge stuff. :)

On 2009-10-19 18:29, abstractiki wrote:

Exterior

Classic!!

Amazing pictures, abstractiki! Thanks for sharing those.

On 2009-10-07 05:20, bigbrotiki wrote:
It would be great to find a better picture of the Bumatay Tiki to get confirmation that it was indeed the prototype for the mug.

My wish has been answered! Amazing. I never knew that banks have photo archives. So they're good for something! :wink:

One thought, please humor me: Now for us all here, heavily educated Tikiphiles that we are, urban archeologists who appreciate the faintest remnant of a lost Tiki temple, this is a fantastic find...BUT is it not also, after years of staring at that great exterior, and the endless parade of great Tiki mugs, a little bit of a let down?

I am not saying for me, I now like the clean, modernist style this place apparently had as opposed to the fully cluttered, nook'n'cranny full of tschotchkies look that some other Polynesian palaces sported. But I don't know if I would have put the bar photo in the Book of Tiki as a prime example of the style. For example, I left the interior postcard of Tiki Bob's consciously out of the book because it did not live up to the greatness of the name, the menu, and the mug. Sometimes it is more alluring to leave a mystery...

But this is mere mind babble, I love the fact that the Bumatay Tiki is clearly identified as the Islander's logo Tiki now, and I will never leave any image unpublished because I am trying to protect the myth. We have grown past that. :D

My sofa corner lamp

Sometimes, maybe most of the time, mysteries are alluring and exciting until their solved. remember watching Scooby Doo in the Mystery Machine 1973? exciting until the the last 3 minutes when they tell you the farmer did it or whatever and it all seamed so logical, mystery gone, fun gone, and then on to some Captain Crunch and Jonny Quest.

For me the Islander photos are as Unga Bunga said "Classic" and Bigbro & Jab said "Amazing". I didn't have years to dream of the Islander mysteries. Although I remember it as a teenager I didn't catch Islander fever until this summer. I had no real good idea of what I would find i just new I wanted to find it. When I finally found these photos, when I first laid my eyes on them it was so exciting. I couldn't wait to share them with everyone at TC. It was like finding buried pirate treasure, or a pot of gold. It wasn't a let down for me personally and I look forward to uncovering more Islander mysteries in the future.

So hears the latest:

Islander recipe for chicken in foil and a picture of the Islander in 1986 before it was moved to Pollardville.

recipe from Islander Chef Henry Lim 1964

1986

oh ya, I found out that most of the Tikis inside and outside were carved by Modesto Artisans from Palm trees dug up from downtown Stockton's Hunters square area. Also many of the decorations inside were from Hop Louie's own collection.

and this; there is a brand new 8ft tall chain link fence with a big padlock around the Islander, :( the guard, the dog and the trailer are gone.

Happy Hunting!
Abstractiki

[ Edited by: abstractiki 2009-10-27 20:56 ]

All of the interior shots have fairly low ceilings (fine looking ceilings they are), but what was in the center of the restaurant under that massive a-frame? There is still a mystery here, bigbro. :wink:

On 2009-10-28 12:55, thejab wrote:
All of the interior shots have fairly low ceilings (fine looking ceilings they are), but what was in the center of the restaurant under that massive a-frame? There is still a mystery here, bigbro. :wink:

excellent question!! what exactly did the mezzanine look like? before pollardville met its demise, neil told me how the center dining room opened up where you could look up at the mezzanine and see the tall ceiling with floatsam. most of the pictures seem to be of the side rooms.

When I was inside the place this summer I went up an unstable small stair case like the drop down ladder kind. I got up far enough to take some pictures of the "attic" where the main A- Frame is. I took pictures of the window area and you can see that pic earlier in this post. The floor in the attic was plywood and it was covered with old boxes and some old Christmas decorations and paper files and such. It was a mess. I wanted to look around up there but got cold feet and came back down. The dinning room underneath was nondescript and striped. I took a lot of pictures but missed this area unfortunately. I may have to go back, but the new fence, hmmm... I have to think about that one.

I just got back from a major Tiki expedition to Stockton and will be working on that post for a few hours. Found big treasure and it possibly will shed light on this attic A-Frame mystery.

The other day I looked up The Islander architect Warren Wong’s name in a directory on the chance he was still alive and in the area. He is 85 yrs old and to my surprise he answered the phone! I explained the whole urban archeology /Tiki thing to him and asked him if he had the old blue prints or any pictures of the Islander. He said maybe but he needed help searching for them. I quickly agreed to help out and met him at his home today. Come to find out he’s got a great MCM home that he designed in the 50’s on the Port of Stockton main channel.

So next thing I know I’m in his car and we are driving around Stockton. We arrive at a huge old Mansion (14,000 sq ft) that he said he grew up in. He took me inside, we wondered around a maze of rooms filled with old stuff and then wound up in the living room. This room was filled with big drawers that contained his old blueprints. There were lots and lots of drawers and each one contained probably 75-100 blue prints. After searching about 30 drawers I spotted the words Pollardville. I pulled it out and there it was, The Islander.

Warren told me that these were original prints that include new notes and new instructions/drawings added to facilitate the moving of the Islander to Palardville and its reassembly.

I took pictures of all the prints, there must have been 10 separate prints in all. I asked Warren some questions about the Islander and there wasn't much that he could remember that I didn't already know. He didn't have any photos or menus or any of that stuff. He told me that Hop Louie was a nice man and that he ran into him in LA a long time ago. I showed him a copy of the Islander artist’s rendering and asked if he new who drew it and he said he did! I asked if he new where it was and he took me through more rooms to the basement.

I was feeling pretty good about this expedition already having found the blueprints. If I could just find the original artist rendering, what a great treasure that would be.

Once in the basement we looked through a weird print hanging cabinet where he had more blue prints and artist renderings of different projects. No luck. He said one more place to look. A tall metal cabinet with long narrow boxes for prints that were rolled up. One by one I shined the flashlight on the labels on the lids. One by one I read them off to him. After about 100 boxes I was on the next to the last row at the bottom of the cabinet. Then I saw it “Hop Louie Islander” !! My eyes were popping out, “I found it” I yelled. I got down on my knees and pried the little metal door open. I shined the light inside and… my heart sank, it was empty.

We looked around some more but he said if it wasn't in there then he doesn't have them any more. I helped him dust and clean his cabinets and then we left for his house. In the car I gave him an 8x10 print I made of the color Islander photo, and some from the Bank of Stockton photo Archives. He was happy to have them and poured over them with his old eyes. I thanked him for his time and he thanked me for the visit. He had been wanting to go over there and rummage around for a while now. Mr. Wong is a nice man who is still busy working and donating his time to help American Indians obtain affordable “green” housing and further their education.

I then left his house and headed south, in search of Tahiti Iti… but that’s another story…

Happy Hunting!
Abstractiki

[ Edited by: abstractiki 2009-10-29 18:31 ]

Holy Cow!!! That's amazing. What a way to spend a day.

Can't wait to hear about the Tahiti Iti. :D

I think my head may explode! :o You struck a motherload! A shame about the rendering, but those blueprints - what a find! Thank you! :drink:

Good job, abstractiki!

You're getting me inspired to go out and do some more archeology and interviews. Really love the images on those blueprints. Now see if you can hunt down the company that did the Islander sign! :wink:

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2009-10-29 19:01 ]

Thanks for sharing all your work - so many discoveries - so interesting!!

That's pretty good, son. :)

You my friend, are on FIRE! DyNOmite work!

Great job Abstract!
Colleen may have an orgasm when she reads this. :D

This keeps getting better!

I wish I had looked closer at the interior when I had lunch at Pollardville years ago. I don't remember seeing the a-frame ceiling. I wouldn't be surprised if a lower "dropped" ceiling had been installed. I do remember looking at the old bar in the side room (the same one in the bank's photograph).

Abstractiki,

Keep up the great research!

Here is a matchbook from the Islander/Latitude 20.

DC

Thanks every one for the great comments and encouragement, I do appreciate it.

Sabu, inspiring a vet like you? an honor for me indeed. I called Ad Art last week and they told me that they only keep records including sales invoices for 5 years or so. Another dead end on the sign.

Jab, I just got back, (hopping fences isn't as easy as i remember!) from another expedition bringing back some great stuff on the A-Frame, look for the full report soon.

Dusty, wow, great match book! never seen it before.

One thing I noticed in the blue prints was a fish tank listed. I don't remember reading about that or having any info on that before. Could the pollards have installed it for the Chicken Kitchen? Was it part of the Islander?

thanks again to everyone.
Abstractiki

I had the privilege of working at the "real" Ad Art many years ago, shortly before they went belly-up. The "current" Ad Art is really a sales front who licenses the name and subcontracts the manufacturing. I know one of the former floor managers, who stayed around until the bitter end (I believe it was around the end of 2000 or beginning of 2001) and he said that the parent company at the time had them destroy literally thousands and thousands of documents including drawings, photographs and artist renderings as part of their final liquidation. Some of the more impressive renderings landed in the hands of a few of the managers, some went back to the artists who created them, most were trashed, much to the dismay of the old timers.

Ad Art at its peak in the 60's through the late 80's, was truly an amazing company to work for in terms of scale and artistic talent in the sign industry. They had offices in Stockton (their main manufacturing facility and corporate headquarters), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Dallas. Their sign presence was evident all over the United States and the world. Their work in Vegas and Reno covered some of the biggest names of the great, classic, old style casinos. Ad Art in its heyday, probably had the most talented sign display artists and craftsmen on its roster and was considered a true innovator in the industry.

The main art director was Charles (Chuck) Bernard, who was a visionary when it came to signage as a statement of style, culture and artistic merit, and was definitely at the helm around the time of the Islander's inception, although I don't know if he personally designed the sign. His architectural renderings were airbrushed masterpieces of gouache, watercolor and ink, often coveted by the clients and sales staff. His work decorated the halls and offices of manangement until the end. As far as I know, he's still around, but don't know where he lives presently. He has written a book about his sign work, although I believe it is extremely rare.

Another Ad Art artist, Betty Willis actually designed the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign when she worked at Western Sign, which is still one of the most recognizable signs on the planet. Betty was a very sweet and humble person, who in my mind, created some of the greatest Googie signage for Ad Art during her tenure and remained active with the company well into her 70's. Don't know if she lives in L.A. or Las Vegas, but she could also have been involved in the Islander's sign design as well.

[ Edited by: quickiki 2009-11-02 08:27 ]

On 2009-11-02 08:26, quickiki wrote:
.....and he said that the parent company at the time had them destroy literally thousands and thousands of documents including drawings, photographs and artist renderings as part of their final liquidation. Some of the more impressive renderings landed in the hands of a few of the managers, some went back to the artists who created them, most were trashed, much to the dismay of the old timers.

Arrghhh....sob...sniff! (Anger-denial-surrender) The same thing that happened at the menu companies...all this great art lost...like tears in the rain.

I always point out the supreme irony of that Las Vegas sign: In the 90s the city wanted to tear it down, and some citizens group fought them and won , and now it is plastered on every poster and ad that features Vegas as THE icon/logo. That is branding that they couldn't buy if they wanted to. Plus, considering the huge neon signs that the city allowed to get razed, the real sign is so small, it's funny/sad. And they are using it to advertise a Vegas esthetic that is just not there anymore, because they allowed it to be destroyed.

I know, Bigbro, I was pretty upset myself when I heard what they had done to their archives. They should have at least offered it to the city of Stockton, especially considering the historical significance, but Ad Art in the last years of existence was acquired by a large corporation that also held various other sign companies around the country. Their big push into the LED market was ultimately their undoing after a couple of very large projects ended disastrously. The corporation hired an outside firm to liquidate their properties, who obviously had no interest in preserving history, but to get every last buck out of the building as part of their bankruptcy agreement. If they felt that it had no monetary value, they simply threw it out. They were ruthless knuckleheads, but welcome to the world of big business.

On a brighter note, Betty Willis got her moment of fame when they saved her beloved Las Vegas sign and gained national notice as the designer. She even got to see her sign transformed into a popular Vegas miniature novelty item. I hope she's making some money off of it. Lord knows she deserves some recognition for her talent.

Thanks quickiki for this great historical background on Ad Art and the Islander sign! :)

Sunday November 1, 2009

I had been wanting to do a second expedition to The Islander for a while now and with the finding of the blue prints and questions coming up about the interior of the A-frame, I thought this morning would be a good time. The daylight savings time change would mean that the natives would most likely still be sleeping upon my arrival.

Knowing that the new fence was up I had to go in light, and fast. Just me and the Cannon. Right before leaving base camp I grabbed a Lei for good luck and thinking this may be the last visit I thought I might leave it there with the Islander.

I had done some recon of the area last week and new over the fence was the only way in. Up and over, in and around I snapped pics as fast as could. Trying to get everything photographed that I could. I made it to the rickety stair case to the attic, the drop down fold out one with just one cable still hanging on, every step I took it sagged and leaned over. All the way up and in, I walked around, the floor was creaky plywood but looked newer than the stuff on the lower side walls, an old bit of Christmas garland stapled high on the beam. Markings were found on the beams, from the reconstruction no doubt. I snapped a bunch of pics and back down again. Back to the pit bar and pried off a 3ft section of bamboo as my treasure.

As I was making my way back out side I remembered the Lei, I spotted an outrigger beam out side near the front door, perfect, got an old 5-gallon bucked to stand on and put the Lei on the jagged end of the bamboo, reached up and hung the Lei around the beam. Now for the exit, up and… and… uhhh well two tears in the seat of my new ditch diggin jeans and a few chunks missing from my right hand and I was back in my trusty 4x4. Pull around, snapped a pic or two of the Lei and I was headed back to camp.

Next day; The blue prints show a regular size stair case leading to the “Office Mezzanine Above”. In my new photos you can see a place where they once entered the Mezzanine but it is now sealed off, the stairs are gone and the fold down ladder is now right next to that.

Also it would seam that the A-Frame once was open due to the Christmas Garland still attached high on the beam.

Ok here are the new pics, more questions I’m afraid?

Happy Hunting!
Abstractiki

Here is a drawing of the Stockton Islander Sign done in 1964. The artist is unknown.

Islander sign drawing done 1964

Wow. That is EXACTLY how it was built.

On 2009-11-11 10:07, bigbrotiki wrote:
Wow. That is EXACTLY how it was built.

Sure is! I don't know why I hadn't noticed this before, but it appears that "islander" portion of the sign is a representation of the building's profile.

Another nice find Abstract! Where did this one come from?

It was as from a "recipe of the month" newspaper column featuring the Islander Chicken in Foil recipe that I posted a while back. Somehow I dismissed it's significance in the rush to post new discoveries this last month.

abstractiki, good work! I now realize I didn't see the inside of the A-frame when I visited Pollardville because it was used as an attic.

Abstract,

Don't know if you saw this on Tiki Marketplace, but someone has a whole bunch of Bamboo trim from the Islander for sale.

On 2009-11-10 07:13, Gadart wrote:
Relics from Stockton's temple of tiki, The Islander. This material has been in indoor storage since The Islander was removed. The trim ranges from 1” to an amazing 5 1/2” wide, in lengths up to 12 feet! Make an offer! Available for pick-up only in Stockton, CA. E-mail [email protected] if interested.

DC

No I hadn't seen this, thanks dusty. I'm going to have to look into this and get the full story. Seems odd that after all these years this stuff is just now popin up.

Well I checked out this Bamboo for sale and it’s legit, genuine Islander! I went to Stockton to look at it the other day and I asked a lot of questions. Turns out that this guy Greg who was selling it used to work at Pollardville. He started when he was about 14 in 1967 and worked there for about 10 years before becoming an electrical contractor. He became good friends with the Neil Pollard and often went back to do electrical work for the Pollards. He built Theater sets and did maintenance on the buildings. He even was there when they moved the Islander to Pollardville and did the electrical work on it during its set up as the new Chicken Kitchen. He said he was the one who guided the A-Frame down into place as it was hanging from the crane. He had the big sign from the Showboat Theater in his shop as well as some old theater stage sets he had built.

The Bamboo looked just like the piece I got from the Pit Bar overhang a while back. It was dusty and dirty and had spiders and such on it. There was 125 pieces in all with some about 3ft long and a lot were 12ft long. They were split for trim work and were anywhere from 1 inch to 6 inches wide. Some of them were flattened and molded so they were kind of a rectangle shape.

When I asked how he got the bamboo he explained that Neil Pollard never threw anything away. When the Islander was being prepared for the transformation into the Chicken Kitchen Neil had all the bamboo stripped and put in a huge warehouse in back of the Showboat Theater. This place was packed with old junk, lumber, spare parts and scraps and such. When Neil decided to close the place he of course packed up a bunch of the stuff he wanted, and had a big yard sale so to speak. Toward the end Neil let Greg have the Sign and whatever else he wanted. Neil salvaged some other cool stuff and the Bamboo. He said it was covered by a whole bunch of lumber and stuff; the place was so packed you could hardly walk in there.

Greg kept it in his own warehouse and let it sit until he heard about all this recent interest in the Islander. Someone hooked him up to TC and then, I’m assuming, decided it was a good time to sell. Greg is a real nice guy and I enjoyed talking to him. I told him I wanted it all and he made me a fair deal. He helped me load it up and off I went with 125 pieces of vintage Islander bamboo sticking out the back of my 4-Runner.

Here are a few random pictures, some before cleaning and some after. On the ones that I cleaned I used soap and water and old English oil.

end part of 12ft piece, cleaned

smaller piece, cleaned

this is the fattest size at 5.5 or 6 inches, uncleaned, this is by far the dirtiest piece

fat piece with others, 8ft uncleaned

a small section of one of the rectangular shaped ones, uncleaned 8ft

In a few days I'll post my plan on what to do with it all.

Happy Hunting!
Abstractiki

Way to go Abstractiki! Nice score. What are you going to do with it?

DC

Thanks Dusty! I'll try to swap some of it for tiki mugs and such, keep some for myself and give most of it away to TC ohana if anyone is interested. I want it to be put to good use so we'll see what happens. I'll post the details of my plan tonight before dinner on Tiki Marketplace.

I discovered some Islander Artifacts last Sunday! Three Tikis and two lamps.

I was out in the Modesto area doing some flea market Tiki hunting and decided to visit Minnie's. I was born in Modesto in 1965 and moved away in about 1970 but don't ever remember being inside.

I walked in, ordered a Tahitian beer and had a look around. I was very impressed and asked if there were any Tiki mugs for sale. I was then introduced to Mik, the resident Artisan/Tiki carver who showed me around a bit. I ended up purchasing a couple of his Tikis and he told me one of the owners would soon be here if I wanted to meet him.

I waited a few minutes and Co-owner Stuart Mah walked in. I introduced myself and we talked a bit. I told him the story of my research and about the Islander photos, blue prints and bamboo. Then he tells me they got some some Islander stuff when they cosed it down.

I couldn't believe my luck, I quickly asked him to show me everything they got from the Islander. He led me on a tour of the whole place and showed me three Tikis and two Lamps that he said came from The Islander.

Yesterday I went back to take these pictures.

Happy Hunting!
Abstractiki

Nice job on the pics abstract .

Thanks 1961 Surf!

Posted: 2005-08-16 02:07 am
Hop Louie's wrote - "Each restaurant was unique; as many of you know. I can't recall the name nor the type of motif of my parent's second restaurant in Lodi, CA. (I will check with my family)."

Here is a Lodi News Sentinel article announcing Hop Louie's opening of a new restaurant in "The Volcano" in Lodi. It was now to be Chinese food but they kept the Volcano name.

Before I new of the Hop Louie conection I read somewhere that the Volcano had been built and operated by someone else and was built with rocks from the nearby foothill town of Volcano.

Interesting Note: The article states that Hop Louie was a chef at Trader Vic's in Oakland and later was at the Coral Reef in Sacramento.