Hawaiian Village, Tampa, FL (restaurant), Tampa, FL (restaurant)

Name:Hawaiian Village, Tampa, FL (restaurant)
Type:restaurant
Street:2522 N. Dale Mabry, US Hwy 92
City:Tampa
State:FL
Zip:33607
country:USA
Phone:813-877-5871
Status:defunct

Description:
Hawaiian Village was a massive Polynesian themed complex that offered a slice of "Hawaii In Tampa". There were several dining rooms including a Polynesian floor show, a cocktail lounge, and coffee shop.

Here are some nuggets culled from The Tampa Times microfilm.

Senioraqua,

Nice research.

I have a few postcards from the famous Hawaiian Village in Tampa.

Here are a few blow-ups of the Hawaiian Village card.

This graphic is from the menu

Nice Outrigger in the dining room.

Great mural on the wall

These pics are from the hotel brochure

DC

Mahalo for the postcards DC

HV menus:
Dinner

Lunch

Breakfast

Drinks


Dessert

Wow, that's a great collection of menus. Don't think I have seen the dessert menu before.

Here is the killer matchbook from the Hawaiian Village.

They had a lot of wild mugs, here is one of them.

DC

Senioraqua,

Just noticed on the drink menu the Hawaiian Eye drink which came in that weird face-in-the-mug Good Luck mug.

Looks like this one and the Barrel of Rum were add on drinks after the menu was printed.

DC

Here's some stuff from my collection including the matchbook that launched a thousand copycats...well maybe not a thousand. The mug put me back twelve and a half cents. Two for a quarter.

"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2009-10-13 05:05 ]

This was on ebay a few weeks ago.
280409236133

I recently obtained this postcard with an artist's rendering of the restaurant. If the artwork is true to life, then it looks like they had a handful of nice big tikis on the grounds.

Here's an old snapshot pic of Hawaiian Village I got from Jordan Smith. Thanks Jordan!

The good old days of live accordian music at Happy Hour in the TIki bar!

On 2011-03-11 09:25, Swanky wrote:
The good old days of live accordian music at Happy Hour in the TIki bar!

True true...that and Hammond organ playing, too.

Here's A nice crisp color shot of Hawaiian village Tampa I found recently. Look close at how many tikis are around the pool.

Well, unbeknownst to most folks outside of Tampa, a few years ago the Hawaiian Village was purchased by a local restaurant chain called "the green iguana". The old Hawaiian Village had been turned into a Days Inn, and Green Iguana converted the restaurant out front, and reopened part of it as the Hawaiian Village, mainly as a concert venue.

It just so happens that my neighbor is a red bull rep and is good friends with the owners. For a while there I had her talking to them about having me do some tikis for them, but it kinda never happened.

And then the news hit that the property had been sold, and the whole thing would be bulldozed to make room for a car dealership...so yeah, briefly reopened, just to be closed again....

bummer...

http://www.tampabay.com/features/food/restaurants/tampas-stadium-green-iguana-hawaiian-village-to-close/1237152

I am from Tampa but never got to experience the Hawaiian Village ---although it was there when i was there I was just too young. Didn't think the Green Iguana would make it in that spot.

Just what Tampa needs..another car dealership. What does that make, 300 now?

Thanks for the update.

Picked up this old postcard with a nice rendering of the Hawaiian Village in Tampa.

DC

My first Bob was from Hawaiian Village, marked with the lei & logo like the mug above. Being a Florida boy, I considered that a two-fer.

Nice addition to the rendering collection, DC!

I don't collect Tiki memorabilia, but I can share my memories with you of The Hawaiian Village in Tampa in late 1960s - 1970s. I was the day "barmaid". It was a fun place to work & Sam Taub could be difficult but was a good boss. At the time it was the place to go in Tampa to see a live show and to be seen by who's who in Tampa. One of my duties during day was to make some of those rum drinks that went into those mugs some of you collect. Anyone who could finish 2 drinks and still walk were good, anyone that could finish 2 Tiki Bowls were darn near miracles. They didn't hold back the rum, that's fact. My crowd during the day were mostly business men. I also saw the adds for the waitresses in the lounge, there uniforms were no where that long. They were sleeveless kimonos that stopped right at the top of the leg & of course stockings/tights & spike heels. Those days are far behind me now but I remember it all with fondness.

On 2012-11-03 11:37, Tampa2647 wrote:
I don't collect Tiki memorabilia, but I can share my memories with you of The Hawaiian Village in Tampa in late 1960s - 1970s. I was the day "barmaid". It was a fun place to work & Sam Taub could be difficult but was a good boss. At the time it was the place to go in Tampa to see a live show and to be seen by who's who in Tampa. One of my duties during day was to make some of those rum drinks that went into those mugs some of you collect. Anyone who could finish 2 drinks and still walk were good, anyone that could finish 2 Tiki Bowls were darn near miracles. They didn't hold back the rum, that's fact. My crowd during the day were mostly business men. I also saw the adds for the waitresses in the lounge, there uniforms were no where that long. They were sleeveless kimonos that stopped right at the top of the leg & of course stockings/tights & spike heels. Those days are far behind me now but I remember it all with fondness.

Thanks for your post. A contribution from someone who "was there" is always appreciated.

An old ashtray from the Hawaiian Village in Tampa.

DC

Found this today

My grandfather used to manage the lounge for many years at the Hawaiian Village. I've heard all about it growing up so it's amazing to find this thread! He would host the Traficante family on a regular basis and would always be sure to get them the best service possible for obvious reasons, haha! My grandparents still have a lot of different items from the Hawaiian Village (even some old uniforms) but I'm sure there is so much they are missing! Would you all be so kind as to provide me with some high-quality scans of anything you have? Also, if anyone is interested in selling anything they have, I'd love to know! Thank you!

Ahhh good ol' Hawaiian Village. Here is a few:

I recently picked up a three menu set from the Hawaiian Village.

There were two mini menus hiding inside one of the diner menus. The first is the "American Menu" which featured steaks and beef and lobster.

The Aloha story on the back of the menu.

The second menu is a 25 cent souvenir menu.

A nice little bonus.

I also found this photo on-line that purports to be from the entrance to the Hawaiian Village, but I am not too sure????

DC

Great score! I still don't have all three of those menus.

I also found this photo on-line that purports to be from the entrance to the Hawaiian Village, but I am not too sure????

Those tikis look like the work of Manuel Lopez!

I found this ashtray from the Hawaiian Village on eBay today. I'm not bidding on it, just sharing that it's out there.

Additional pages of the souvenir menu from the Culinary Institute of America website.