Tahitian Lanai/Papeete Bar, Honolulu, HI (restaurant)

Name:Tahitian Lanai/Papeete Bar
Type:restaurant
Street:Waikikian Hotel
City:Honolulu
State:HI
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
There have been lots of different posts on the Tahitian Lanai and the Papeete Bar at the Waikikian Hotel, but nothing consolidated here on Locating Tiki so I thought I would start one.

Lets start with the signs - they tell you where to go - to the Tahitian Lanai!

Once you are there, this is what you find, the restaurant and bar on the pool by the Blue Lagoon.

Some images from a brochure I have.

A pic of the Papeete bar from the Gregg's great website

http://gregg-n.tripod.com/waikikian_tiki_gardens.htm

I had seen this postcard on ebay and it said it was from the Tahitian Lanai, but I am not sure.

Menus and Matchbooks
(some form Mimi and Greggs websites)

Here is a rendering from the brochure that gives you an idea of the layout and location.

What a cool place this must have been

DC

The Tahitian Lanai had a few great, strange mugs.

The Bamboo Mug.

The Palm Tree Mug.

They also had this nice double old fashioned. (From the collection of Tattoo.)

Kate,

Cool mugs, I was hoping someone would post those. Here is another version from Gregg's website:

There was even a song for this place!

ACROSS THE ALLEY FROM THE ILIKAI
by Paul Page © 1973

Across the alley from the Ilikai
There's a tavern
And I can't deny
It's like home away from home to me

There beside a blue lagoon we knew
Be it morning, noon, or nitetime too
You will find me
Underneath a coconut tree

Follow the sound of a happy song
Follow the pathway
You can't go wrong
'Round the piano bar, how time goes by

Ia o ra na my friend
And aloha 'til we meet again
'Til we meet again
At the Tahitian Lanai

DC

Here is another shot of the Tahitian Lanai by the pool.

It came from this oversized postcard with a variety of pictures from the Waikikian.

DC

(extra 4 sale on ebay)

The Waikikian and Tahitian Lanai are the first place on the Time Machine travel destination list. This place was just amazing.

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

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2009-11-21 07:49 ]

Here's one from the Tahitian Lanai, I believe the pole inside extended to the roof and is depicted in the yellow menu. I like the way it was opened up like dining outside, probably why it was called a "Lanai".

Forget Tiki evolution how about tiki mutation. I guess Daga was trying to save a few ducktes with the same mug but a different logo. Anyone been to The Bum Steer?

Naugatiki,

Here are a couple more old photos I have from a 1958 version of House Beautiful. You can see the pole through the roof. The expanse of opening widows was an awesome feature.

DC

Found some more old photos of the Tahitian Lanai on the internet.

Here is a picture from the main dining area.

This photo is of a Princess N? Room. I think this confirms that the Prince Hinoi Room postcard I listed previously was located at the Tahitian Lanai and not the Waioli Tea Room. They must have been a his and hers matching dining hut kind of think.

Sabu found an old Polaroid shot of the Prince Hinoi room mixed in with some Waioli Tea Room items in a scrap book.

DC

Here is another old photo from the net. They really spared no expense on those chairs used for the patio dining!

Here is an excerpt from a Hawaiian trivia book that details how the Tahitian Lanai got its name from the owner Spencer Weaver.

DC

An unusual drink mug from the Tahitian Lanai

and a different matchbook from ebay.

DC

Here's a complete pic of that last matchbook.

~kele

Here’s a peak into one of the rooms circa 1971, not exactly the 4 Seasons but you wouldn’t expect that in a faux hut anyway. It gets bonus points for the red mid century Ericofon by the Moai Lamp.

[ Edited by: naugatiki 2010-03-06 10:50 ]

Wow! This is something that I am so excited to see - candid shots of the Waikikian! (I've seen a couple from the Tahitian Lanai, but more of those would be wonderful, too!) I thought that someone somewhere must have taken some but this is the first that I've seen.
Thanks for identifying the Ericofon. When I first saw it, I must say that it looked like something else a bit more... umm... personal had been left as an offering beside the Moai lamp. lol
Thank you so much for sharing this picture, you truly made my day!
~Kele

Naugatiki,

Great photo!

I have to admit I did not know what this Ericofon reference was all about. Thank god for the internet.

It's a phone and not a......

DC

Another plus to the phone is when it rings it makes a birdlike sound which probably makes staying there like being in the recording booth of Martin Denny’s Exotic Moog. A great nuance (If not intentional) to the hotel.

I got another brochure from the Waikikian that has a few more nice photos of the Tahitian Lani and the Papeete Bar.

The poolside area.

A few interior scenes.

Tahitian Lanai Restaurant

Papeete Bar

DC

Great pics, DC!
I just got a new Waikikian Hotel item.

~Kele

Mahalo nui loa to each and every one of you for posting these treasures from my all time favorite place in all the world! How glad I am that I wasn't there to see it destroyed.

All I have are sixteen years of wonderful memories (even met the love of my life at the TL), but not one single memento. The one treasure I did have, a cassette tape recorded by the "Tahitian Lanai Singers" at the TL back in the late '80s, was somehow lost in our move back to the mainland. Anyone know how I might get another copy?

Again, Mahalo!

D.

D~
Welcome to TC! I'm so jealous that you have 16 years of memories at the Tahitian Lanai. I have only one night, but it was magical. And a tape of the TL singers?!? That would be so great to hear. There is one YouTube video that I know about of "The Gang" singing "Honolulu City Lights." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO9dAe_v7Sc
In case you haven't seen it, another wonderful site is Naugatiki's "The Waikikian Hotel Tiki Gardens & Tahitian Lanai Memorial Page" http://gregg-n.tripod.com/waikikian_tiki_gardens.htm

DC~
I guess this thread is technically for the Tahitian Lanai & Papeete Bar. Since you started it, is it ok to keep posting Waikikian Hotel stuff here too?
~kele

ACROSS THE ALLEY FROM THE ILIKAI
by Paul Page © 1973

Across the alley from the Ilikai
There's a tavern
And I can't deny
It's like home away from home to me

There beside a blue lagoon we knew
Be it morning, noon, or nitetime too
You will find me
Underneath a coconut tree

Follow the sound of a happy song
Follow the pathway
You can't go wrong
'Round the piano bar, how time goes by

Ia o ra na my friend
And aloha 'til we meet again
'Til we meet again
At the Tahitian Lanai

Wish that I could find the music for that song so I'd have a tune to go with the words.
~kele

Aloha,

There are LOADS of eyecandy of the Waikikian Hotel, Gardens, and the Tahitian Lanai restaurant in "Waikiki Tiki, Art, History and Photographs." I'm sorry that you will have to wait until October 1, 2010 to see it all.

Oil on Velvet once hung at the Tahitian Lanai. This currently resides in Gecko's collection. I couldn't find a place for it in the book. Too much other good stuff to fit in. :(

Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
October 1st, 2010 from Bess Press Hawaii.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2010-08-12 16:57 ]

Phillip~
Mahalo! I was hoping that the Waikikian & Tahitian Lanai would be well represented in your book, but it is so great to know that there will be much from there to look forward to! (Now I just have to wait til Oct. 1)
~kele

And coincidentally today is the day I finally uploaded a rough short video I recieved years ago of The Tahitian Lanai from 1994 during a hapa haole piano singalong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AviVw9MQuDA

[ Edited by: naugatiki 2010-08-12 18:59 ]

Wow, that's really bad quality home video. But nevertheless: Yeah, that's the spirit I remember. It was great staying at one of the rooms and just having to walk down the gardens and find a gathering of old timers and Hapa Haole musicians that would just drop in in the course of an evening and join the circle of old school merry makers.

Yes, but it's bad quality home video in HD!

Anyone know where this sign was located? Thanx!

I think this sign was on the wall in the side alley between the Waikikian Hotel grounds and the Ilikai Hotel, whose high rise building overshadowed the one floor buildings of the hotel rooms and the bar. The Tahitian Lanai didn't have a fancy entrance from the street, just sort of an opening in the wall, if I remember correctly, having been primarily conceived as a hotel bar and restaurant to be reached from the Waikikian grounds.

Here are a couple pics of the Tahitian Lanai from the 80s.

This one shows how you could sort of see in from the street

The Queen Pomare IV dining hut

I was going to post a handful of photos of the Waikikian, but have the darndest time figuring out where to put them. Maybe together with the Tahitian Lanai, here? Or should there be a separate Locating Tiki thread for the Waikikian Hotel itself? Or maybe just use the 2003 thread started by ZuluMagoo?

-Randy

Carried over from page 2

On 2010-09-01 23:06, aquarj wrote:
Here are a couple pics of the Tahitian Lanai from the 80s.

This one shows how you could sort of see in from the street

The Queen Pomare IV dining hut

I was going to post a handful of photos of the Waikikian, but have the darndest time figuring out where to put them. Maybe together with the Tahitian Lanai, here? Or should there be a separate Locating Tiki thread for the Waikikian Hotel itself? Or maybe just use the 2003 thread started by ZuluMagoo?

-Randy

I vote for the Zulu Magoo thread and maybe Sabu could repost his images from the April 1957 issue of INTERIORS magazine.

Maybe? :wink:

On 2010-09-01 23:14, Bora Boris wrote:
I vote for the Zulu Magoo thread and maybe Sabu could repost his images from the April 1957 issue of INTERIORS magazine.

Done, and I totally agree about refreshing the dead (or "shutterflown") links on that thread!

-Randy

I'll see if I can re-scan those pictures from the other thread.

In the meantime, here is an image that DC posted earlier. This is just a little more of a close-up, showing the colors the tiki pole was painted by the 1970s.

Placemats...

Must find our room pics in the future. (pre digital)

Bamboo Ben
Custom Tropical Decor
I build stuff for you!
http://www.myspace.com/bambooben

[ Edited by: RevBambooBen 2010-11-08 18:54 ]

Was just lucky enough to obtain one of the tiki from the old Tahitian Lanai!
Three of them ended up on Kauai and the Historical Society was selling them off.
I have one, my neighbor has one and so does a friend. There were 40 of them from Tahiti.
This one is pretty happy to be here in Hanalei.

Where did you find this? & I want one! Altho I suppose it would be difficult to get it to Pennsylvania. :)
~kele

[ Edited by: WaikikianMoeKele 2010-11-16 07:19 ]

The Historical Society here had 3 for sale as fundraisers.
They came over from Oahu, brought by someone at the auction when the
old Waikikian Tahitian Lanai was torn down.
I'm one lucky Goddess!

I discovered this photograph in the the Huntington Library Archives.

"Title: Hawaii: Tahitian Lanai restaurant. Exterior. Honolulu, HI
Creator/Contributor: Yerkes, Charles E.
Date: 1957
Contributing Institution: The Huntington Library"

Aloha

Nice one. It's one of the hotel room buildings at the Waikikian. You can see one of the Edward M. Brownlee gables on the top. Was there a side view or any others there?

Aloha Phillip, the only other pictures of this place were these three. They were already posted on the first page of this thread by DC so i didn't include them in my post.

These rare and sought after set of Tahitian palm tree mugs sold within the last several days
on flea bay .Same tiki mugs that Tiki Kate posted prior on this thread.Not my photos.
Photos by Kooky kitsch .Tiki petroglyphs on lower part of mug .I would think these would be
considered crypto mugs, since they are so rare .

I would very much like to connect with someone who would like to have extended conversations about the Waikikian/Tahitian Lanai.
~kele

Another cool feature of these Huntington Library photos of the Tahitian Lanai, is that they have a feature to let you Zoom-In on the details to quite a high degree. And because these were good negatives, you can really get into the pictures. With a few screen-grabbing tricks, I was able to get the images below:

nice work!

Wow! The detail on those pics is amazing.

On 2010-11-26 12:28, 1961surf wrote:
These rare and sought after set of Tahitian palm tree mugs.

Dan from 'Polynesian Pottery' told me they were used for "Some kind of flaming drink..." I've wanted one for a long time, but have never come across one in the wild. I did go to a garage sale this morning in Waikiki where the lady had one of the green bamboo handled mugs. I asked how much, even though I have a few already...

"$35 Dollars." Ouch! That's a bit much and I passed. Dan estimates that they hand poured about 10,000 back in the day.

Just added Outtake from my book. Edward M. Brownlee homage...

Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
Available now from Bess Press Hawaii.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2010-12-04 15:42 ]

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2010-12-05 22:48 ]

Phillip,

I couldn't help notice how that Ed Brownlee-copy tiki above is very similar to this tiki from the Luau in Miami:

I wonder if it was inspired by the Brownlee tiki as well. Maybe from the Tahitian Lanai menu.

On 2010-12-07 16:41, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
I couldn't help notice how that Ed Brownlee-copy tiki above is very similar to this tiki from the Luau in Miami:

I wonder if it was inspired by the Brownlee tiki as well. Maybe from the Tahitian Lanai menu.

Very quite possible Sabu. Wonderful image...

heres another swell scene from the lot. Here's Brownlee pounding away at the Waikikian detailing the pole. Bad quality scan of a microfilm from the Advertiser 1955 insert Hawaiian Holiday. (I tried the newspaper's archive off but they couldn't locate...)and a couple of bad photgraphs

Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
Available now from Bess Press Hawaii.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2010-12-08 14:53 ]