Cajun Tiki

Being a big fan of New Orleans and Cajun culture, I thought it only appropriate that I put together this collection of Tiki restaurants from the Bayou state of Louisiana.

This postcard is from the Hawaiian Luau Restaurant at Fontainebleau Motor Hotel in New Orleans. Look at all that stuff crammed into the rafters!

Here is a matchbook from the Hawaiian Luau Restaurant from Mimi Payne's collection.

I just got this postcard from the Bamboo Restaurant in Shreveport.

Check out the Tiki Lounge. That place was swinging!

These next two postcards are from the famous Bali Hai at the Beach Restaurant in New Orleans.

Also a matchbook from the Bali Hai at the Beach Restaurant

Some additional menu and mug items from the Bali Hai.

(This menu from Mimi Payne collection)

Here are a couple mugs that I have from the Huki Lau in the Metaire area of New Orleans. I have never seen any paper items from this place, has anyone else?

I would love to hear about other Tiki places in Louisiana.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2010-01-13 07:15 ]

Another outstanding post, Dustycajun! Thank you, sincerely, for all the time you take to collect & share these images, I'm starting to develop a Pavlovian response every time I see you've posted something new.

Here's another Louisiana location I have in Critiki, this is an item from Mimi Payne's collection, which she added to Critiki:

Kon Tiki, Shreveport
A visitor to Critiki told me this place was open for ages, and only closed a few weeks ago. (!) I don't know much about it, though.

The sign of the Bamboo looks like it was a great one! Anybody know if it survived?

On 2008-09-29 22:06, bigbrotiki wrote:
The sign of the Bamboo looks like it was a great one! Anybody know if it survived?

Brace yourself:

I'm sorry you had to see that. But who knows, maybe the sign was relocated?

On 2008-09-29 21:03, Humuhumu wrote:
Another outstanding post, Dustycajun! Thank you, sincerely, for all the time you take to collect & share these images, I'm starting to develop a Pavlovian response every time I see you've posted something new.

Here's another Louisiana location I have in Critiki, this is an item from Mimi Payne's collection, which she added to Critiki:

Kon Tiki, Shreveport
A visitor to Critiki told me this place was open for ages, and only closed a few weeks ago. (!) I don't know much about it, though.

That looks like the Kahiki fireplace. I wonder if the matchbook manufacturer supplied both restaurants?

LOL Tiki!

[ Edited by: LOL Tiki 2008-09-29 22:42 ]

Humuhumu,

Thanks for the kind words, I am glad you enjoy the posts. I have fun putting them together. Thanks also for posting the matchbook from the Kon Tiki in Shreveport. I had not heard about that one before. I checked on the web and found this article about the restaurant closing. What is it with the names of these Tiki restaurant owners anyway? Check Wing Joe!!

Kon Tiki Restaurant, Savoie's The Cajun Restaurant and On the Border Grill and Cantina are making changes and, in some cases, closing altogether.

Kon Tiki will shut down Friday and reopen in early September as a Trejo's Mexican Restaurant. After 38 years in business, Kon Tiki, 5815 Youree Drive, will reopen as the fifth Trejo's Mexican Restaurant in the Shreveport-Bossier City area.

Former owner Check Wing Joe said it is time for him to move on. "My body just can't handle it anymore. Thirty-eight years is a long time. It's time to pass the baton to someone else."

Unlike Don's Seafood & Steakhouse, a Shreveport restaurant closing because of poor sales, Joe said he feels like he is leaving on his own terms.

"It's been a great ride. The people have been great. We had a lot of good, loyal customers."

Bev Martin is one of them. "It's a wonderful atmosphere, and the people who go there are absolutely fabulous," she said of Kon Tiki. Martin and her friends frequent Kon Tiki weekly. Lately, the restaurant has provided entertainment Thursday nights. "We really didn't need to have entertainment," Martin said. "Each individual is entertainment in their own right." Martin said she is sad to see Kon Tiki close. "It's the end of an era. The building may still be there, but the moments and mood will definitely be different."

Here is a picture of the restaurant interior from the article.

sad news....now when is the auction for all the decor????!!!!!

Bigbro,

Here is a close up of the sign from The Bamboo restaurant in Shreveport, a beauty indeed. Sad to see it gone.

Here is a photo from google streets of the recently closed Kon Tiki in Shreveport that Humuhumu posted. Not much in the way of a building but again a pretty cool sign. Would suspect that it too will be demo'd.

DC

and then i found this on the web......

there was another picture of the same sign, but an earlier incarnation...probably the 1970's from the look of the font, but it was an unsupported file so i could not use it here.....this version of the sign was probably the last before they closed..looks to be about 1980's revamp....

I found another old Tiki place in New Orleans on Mimi Payne's website. It is The Outrigger Bar and Lounge that was once located at the Sheraton-Charles Hotel.

Here is the great menu.

From the back cover of menu " Komo Mai, Now Ka Hale ( Come in, the house is yours)."

"Delightful island custom. Enchanted invitation. We echo it whole-heartedly, because we want this visit to be the memorable fore-runner of many pleasant "voyages" to this tropical paradise. And for the sheer joy of it, go native in this climate of Eden...sip those exotic island drinks."

"By the way, before that native mood sets in completely, you may order your favorite American cocktail, too. Aloha"

On 2008-10-04 12:18, Dustycajun wrote:
I found another old Tiki place in New Orleans on Mimi Payne's website. It is The Outrigger Bar and Lounge that was once located at the Sheraton-Charles Hotel.

Here is the great menu.

From the back cover of menu " Komo Mai, Now Ka Hale ( Come in, the house is yours)."

"Delightful island custom. Enchanted invitation. We echo it whole-heartedly, because we want this visit to be the memorable fore-runner of many pleasant "voyages" to this tropical paradise. And for the sheer joy of it, go native in this climate of Eden...sip those exotic island drinks."

"By the way, before that native mood sets in completely, you may order your favorite American cocktail, too. Aloha"

I beleive this was a Dinkler Hotel, who also had the Surf Rider in their Nashville and Alabama hotels and who did the Luau in Atlanta which later became the Dobb's House Luau cahin.

Dang Swanky,

You are the master of knowledge on the Dinkler Hotel chain. Nice call on this one. A quick check on ebay found the hotel postcard that indeed confirms it is a "Dinkler Entertainment" hotel. Too bad that the card does not have the interior bar shot like the other Surfrider Lounge postcards.

This swizzle stick from The Outrigger is also on ebay.

DC

Dusty, I just came across this thread. Big thanks for spending the time to put it together. I love threads like this. It's like Tiki Central of old. Wish I had something to contribute to this one, but I'll be content to enjoy the eye candy. :wink:

Great Thread! I live in New Orleans, so I have a special place in my heart for their tiki history. Never knew about the outrigger before. It's amazing how easy it is to find tiki mugs down here, every time I go out I find something new. The culture must have been huge here in it's heydey. A few tougher local pieces I have found are the 1st version of the "Ponchartrain Beach Comber" mug & a Huki Lau Swizzle from Metairie (Next door suburb). I'll try to get some pics up.

The other good thing about New Orleans, is Many of the asian restaurants still sell tropical drinks in tiki mugs! You can have Sushi & sip a zombie out of an orchids mug. too cool!

I am attaching a pic of a recent rattan/ bamboo piece I found down here. Usually this sort of stuff is common at flea markets, but just too beat up.

Came across this menu from the Hawaiian Luau Restaurant at Fontainebleau Motor Hotel on Mike's Tiki Gallery web page. Same graphics as the matchbook.

DC

On 2008-09-29 17:54, Dustycajun wrote:
Here are a couple mugs that I have from the Huki Lau in the Metairie area of New Orleans. I have never seen any paper items from this place, has anyone else?

At last, a matchbook surfaced from the Huki Lau in Metairie. One of the more expensive matchbooks I have seen sold on ebay at $66. And, KC didn't even win it.

We now have an address! Here is the image.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2009-01-21 22:25 ]

Found another mug from the Huki Lau in Metairie.

DC

I found this glass at a local thrift store a few months ago.

[ Edited by: Fugu 2009-01-30 15:11 ]

Sorry the picture is sideways. It's upright on my computer, but somehow turns sideways when I upload it. (I tried rotating it on my computer and then uploading and it doesn't change.)

Fugu,

Very nice find. We now know what the exterior of the Huki Lau looked like from the rendering on the glass.

About the sideways picture, this is Bigbro's advice posted a while back:

"Very nice...but Fugu, you gotta figure out how to fix those sideways photos! You have to put them into your I-Photo or whatever photo program you have and rotate and save them THERE, saving the corrections on your desktop is not enough!"

See if that works and edit your post so I can see the photo right-side-up.

Thanks

DC

...and I thought there was some old fruit juice residue making the bottom of the glass sticky! :D

And here is an even better rendering of the same image:

Seeing the design on the glass triggered my visual memory and I remembered I had a xerox of a matchbook somewhere...voila!

Hiltiki, you fixed it! Thanks

Bigbro,

Thanks for the matchbook image, very nice. Looks like they had a couple of nice tikis out front. Would love to see a photo of the place.

Another mug from the Huki Lau (from Ooga Mooga).

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2009-01-30 17:42 ]

Hey, I have that same one from the Mt. Fuji Inn in Omaha Nebraska. I never could figure out that "Moai with wood grain around the eyes and in the mouth" concept of design, to me this one is only superseded in oriental weirdness by that strange late Hawaiian Village Tampa "Good Luck" Moai mug. I think we are talking late Chinese Tiki devolution period of the "Orchids of Hawaii" kind, here.

Great posts, as usual, Dusty. It's funny how many different ways Huke Lau was spelled. Is any one of them actually correct?

On 2009-01-30 18:21, bigbrotiki wrote:
I think we are talking late Chinese Tiki devolution period of the "Orchids of Hawaii" kind, here.

Then again, I might be totally wrong. The lab I use is not very precise in its age estimates:

"Geochronology Japan Inc., a lab in Tokyo, calculated the age of the mug by analyzing the grime that covered it, Mokhtar said. The result has a margin of error of 610,000 years, he said."

I have those 2 mugs from the Huki-Lau and the Mt. Fuji Inn but mine are all wood grain not just around the eyes and in the mouth.

Tikiphil,

The Huki Lau and Mt. Fuji Inn both had the two mugs. Thanks for posting the comparison.

This matchbook is from the Tiki Club in Thibodaux, LA from Bigbro and the Book of Tiki. Any cajun folk out there know anything about this place?

DC

DC - Here's a photo I think you'll like. This is from the "This Week in New Orleans" theater-guide from 10/26/1963. It's a rare photo of the outside of the Hawaiian Luau at the FontainBleau Motor Hotel.

:up: It looks like there might even be some kind of ghastly cannibal-tiki eating its human victim in front of the building to the right.

But on closer inspection, it looks more like a giant New Zealand Hei-Tiki with his fists held close together over his chest and his head tilted :down:

:down: close-up of the front door.

Going a little Cajun crazy tonight! Here is another menu from the Bali Hai at the Beach in New Orleans (courtesy of the Tiki Gallery).

The Bali Hai at the Beach started out as the Beachcomber at Pontchartrain in 1959, lasted for a year or so and then changed to the Bali Hai. Here is an early Tiki Bob's style mug from the Pontchartrain Beachcomber (from Ooga Mooga).

There was also one of these mugs from the Bali Hai.

DC

On 2009-01-30 23:04, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
DC - Here's a photo I think you'll like.

Way to go Sabu, that is an awesome find. Thanks for posting it on the Cajun Tiki thread. Got to see the exterior of the Huki Lau and the Hawaiian Luau all in one night, spectacular! And Mardi Gras is right around the corner.

DC

Here's another ad for the Bali Hai:

And here's an interesting matchbook from the Hawaiian Blue Room in the New Orleans Roosevelt Hotel

Sabu,

Your working late tonight! Nice ad from the Bali Hai.

I love the caption above the Bali Hai ad:
"Poise is when you raise your eyebrows instead of the roof."

Not sure if that one plays on TC!

Here is a menu I remembered seeing from the Hawaiian Blue Room on Mimi's website:

The Hawaiian Blue Room was located at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. This New Year's Day dinner menu is dated 1939.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2009-01-30 23:51 ]

Yea, I finally got a matchbook from the Huki Lau in Metairie.

The other half of the matchbook advertises a sister restaurant.

DC

There was a Bamboo Restaurant in Monroe, LA. I don't know if it was tiki themed or just a chinese place. I can't find out much info on it, but at one point it was called the Mai Tai, too.

Another Cajun Tiki artifact has surfaced - a mug from the Bamboo Villa in New Orleans.

The mug is marked as being made by Johnny Sens with a date of that looks like 1963, which gives us a time frame.

DC

Very nice! I think these Johnny Sens "Frankenstein Tiki" mugs were manufactured for a number of smaller restaurants in the South.

I have one that was made in New Orleans in 1961 for Allman's Restaurant in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

:up: The marking-pen lettering is actually under the glaze.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2009-10-09 00:59 ]

A new one from New Orleans. Tried for this on ebay to no avail.

The Luau Room located at 3500 Airline Hwy. at Shrewsbury Rd.
Formerly St. Regis Restaurant.

DC

Saw this matchbook on ebay from the Outrigger Bar and Lounge at the Sheraton-Charles Hotel in New Orleans.

Sure wish there was an interior shot of this place.

DC

Here's the other side of the Hawaiian Luau matchcover:

Puamana,

Thanks for posting the back of that matchbook. A knock off on the Trader Vic knock-offs, this time a Skipper - Skipper Vince. I have that matchbook and never really looked at the cool inside.

Here is a matchbook from the Luau Room in New Orleans from ebay, goes with the menu posted previously.

DC

Cool, love it when they include the lamps! That, with bamboo font and a Tiki, and you get the style in a nutshell.

Bigbro,

I agree, that is one complete matchbook montage.

I have seen that Luau Room tiki before. First I thought it was from the Redondo Polynesian, but not quite.

Any other ideas?

DC

Yes, it most closely resembles this particular version of the Trader Vic's logo Tiki:

...which can be found on the largest of all Tiki swizzles, the 9 and 1/2 inch Trader Vic's Maori ceremonial paddle:

Here we have a great rendering from the Bali Hai restaurant at Pontchartrain Beach in New Orleans from one of the Ford cook books.

Also a nice little write up on the owner Harry J. Batt and his travels for materials to the South Seas.

DC

I just picked up a little army of the classic Moai swizzles from the Hawaiian Luau at the Fontainebleau Hotel in New Orleans.

I also visited the remains of the old Bali Hai at the Beach Restaurant that have been moved to the City Park in Kenner when I was back in NO for Jazz Fest. Snapped a few late-night and Daiquiri infused!) photos.

It was really cool to see a piece of Tiki history up close and personal.

The Tikis are looking a little rough, the bases are starting to rot away due to watering and weed-whacking.

DC

Here is another mug I spotted on ebay that was made by Johnny Sens for a place called Barneys in New Orleans. The listing stated that Barneys was a popular bar on the Chef (Highway 90) in Eastern New Orleans.

And, a matchbook from the Diamond head restaurant located in Baton Rouge.

DC

I acquired two of the Tiki Bob mugs from New Orleans, one from the original Beach Comber and the second from the Bali Hai. The Bali Hai mug is several inches bigger than the Beach Comber mug and has a different style. Did the San Francisco Bob mugs also come in different sizes and styles as well?

A few Tiki Bob ads that were on ebay.

I also found these two photos on line showing the exterior, somehow not as romantic looking as the postcard and the rendering.

Finally, I found a video of the New Orleans Cocktail Chicks interviewing Jay Batt who is the grandson of the original owner of the Bali Hai. Some comical stories of underage Fog Cutter drinking in the Big Easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUOMgaD9Cyo

DC