how cool is that - a tiki-plane ! ! !

On 2009-04-10 21:32, RevBambooBen wrote:
... I misplaced my card that has the shots of all the tikis.
I'm hoping it didn't fall out of the bag ...

hahahha ... for a second i thought you were serious,
but it must be a late april fool´s joke ...

... wait a second ...

... ARE YOU SERIOUS ? ! ?

Well of course he's serious! The photos of ALL THE TIKIS fell out of his bag at the VOLCANO when he was distracted by the virgin sacrifice !!! :wink:

...sorry Ben, I am just teasing you, that actually must be very frustrating. I hope you'll find the card, and I will not annoy you anymore. Perhaps the desert gods want their secret to remain hidden.

I'm thinking it's somewhere between the top of the crater ( this pic) and way down there next to my truck.

If worse comes to worse....

...it's another excuse to go back!

It's cool as heck out there.

p.s. Sven, you can tease me all you want with pics of virgins being sacrificed! :)

On 2009-04-11 08:51, RevBambooBen wrote:
I'm thinking it's somewhere between the top of the crater ...
and way down there next to my truck.

... It's cool as heck out there ...

looks amazing - what is that round thing on the other side of the "road"
opposite your car ?
is it a (small) crater, too ??

ps:

how many pictures did you take ?

... and why did you have to CHANGE the card in the midst of nowhere ??
:)

Ben had to make a hasty descend from the rim of the volcano when he caught sight of the approaching flash flood that was threatening to separate him from his car. It's treacherous terrain out there!

Too lazy to buy a mega card. Have 2, 16's. Can't find that sucka anywhere.

D'oh!

But, I might be heading back out there in the near future....

.....possible Hawaiiana Hotel.

Amy???

Ben, it's all your fault, you dragged me out there to that volcano and the hidden lake loreen and I have found so many cool, desert archeology places that I keep going back. This week twice. I am intrigued with all the lakes and people and the weird cool places out there. old covered wagons, caves, it's all so cool.

Amy

On 2009-04-15 18:35, Queen Kamehameha wrote:
... the hidden lake loreen ...
... so many cool, desert archeology places ...
I am intrigued with all the lakes and people and the weird cool places out there.
old covered wagons, caves, it's all so cool ...

sounds amazing :)

ps:
is there still water in lake loreen or is it 100% empty ?

On 2009-03-31 13:17, icebaer69 wrote:
...and here some info (only 4 days old) about the cool guy -
his name is "darrell" or "uncle darrell" -
in all of the pictures.
he is in a hospice at the moment :

"...
Dad and I went out to visit Uncle Darrell today.
He's doing pretty good and was glad to see us.
I asked him about his Mustang and he said
it had a 390 with a 4 barrel carburetor. He sold it in 1974.
He also recalled that it was very hot when this photo was taken at Lake Loreen ...
..."

... oh no ... this can´t be true ...

... this is very very very sad news :

i just found out through a post from "Roadsidepictures"
that this great guy and amazing personality

"Uncle Darrell" ...

... has left us way to early last monday ...

aloha "Uncle Darrell" - RIP Darrell H. Jackson
April 29, 1947 - April 13, 2009

[ Edited by: icebaer69 2009-04-17 14:01 ]

[ Edited by: icebaer69 2009-04-17 14:10 ]

[ Edited by: icebaer69 2009-04-28 16:37 ]

that is sad, another Tiki visionary gone......

I was in Newberry Springs yesterday, I met a real estate woman who knew Gus and Loreen well, she used to go to the Cantonese restaurant when she was young.

She took me to the Lake Loreen site, it was barren, all the poles, cut at the base, the buildings were down, she said there was a well issue at this site, that is why Gus built the other 2 sites, taking all pieces of the Loreen site with him. The other 2 sites are thriving and there are many homes around the lakes he built.She also said that the place Bamboo Ben, The family and I found was also his site and was funded by the dentist. It was working and doing well till the dentist sold it.She had a map of the complete build out of the property and the map has the tiki bird plane on it, tikis, amazing drawings. I will take some photos of it later and post them here. Amazing place Newberry springs.

Here are the drawings and the comments

this says " Valley of Lakes" Newberry Springs, There's even a Road over 29 palms to Palm Springs on this map.

Lake Wainani under construction, which is actually built and looking great, it is a private retreat

Fabulous Fishing and Fishing Farms

twin -engine beechcraft- "The Tiki Bird" bring passengers to the Raigosa's for one of 4 anual Luau's

I will try to get it scanned and post some better pictures

Amy

[ Edited by: Queen Kamehameha 2009-04-18 22:46 ]

amazing: tiki + tikiplane

On 2009-04-18 10:53, Queen Kamehameha wrote:
...
twin -engine beechcraft- "The Tiki Bird" ...

.

If I'm not mistaken, Huell Howser did a Californias Gold on Newberry Springs, and he toured a private lake that hosts annual luaus. He was chatting it up with the owners...

edit I found the link, but it was dead, so i used googles cache view...

Link to Huells archived story

[ Edited by: Tom Slick 2009-04-28 16:29 ]

On 2009-04-06 20:37, RevBambooBen wrote:
Drove around Newberry Springs today ...
Went to several lakes and oddities.
THIS PLACE IS TIKI MECCA !!!
Pics soon..........

small world -

RevBambooBen visited the lake loreen area ...

... and "roadsidepictures" ...

(= he posted the uncle Darrell/lake loreen/tiki-plane/etc-pictures
i found @ flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidepictures/sets/72157615896855882/ )

... was at Frankie's Cocktails a few years ago:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidepictures/3471880213/

ps:
maybe someone who is a member @ flickr
could contact "roadsidepictures" ! ?

maybe someone who is a member @ flickr
could contact "roadsidepictures" ! ?

Icebaer69, thanks for the post, on your Flickr link I noticed that there is a picture of a pirate ship in what appears to be lake Loreen, can that be??? someone said Pirate and Tiki don't go....lol :wink:

Amy

any news in that tiki-plane-case ?

Here I am (eight months later)! My Uncle Darrell and Uncle Don both worked on the buildings at Lake Loreen. Though we lost Darrell earlier this year, Don is still very much alive and well.

Hello! Was it you who posted those photos on Flickr initially?
Did they work on THIS place also?:

...and WHO in Newberry built this Volcano House!!?

"This is a concrete modernist masterpiece house design with spectacular landscaping area sited upon small volcanic cone in the high desert midway between Las Vegas & Los Angeles, in Newberry Springs-San Bernardino."

Wild!

Yep! I'm the one who posted the photos to my Flickr site. I'll have to ask Uncle Don if they worked on that. I know they worked on buildings through the summer of 1969. My cousin loved the place! She was only eight years old, but has fond memories of Lake Loreen.

Well welcome on Tiki Central! As you can see, your photos aroused a lot of curiosity and research into the Tiki-ness of Newberry and Lake Loreen. The combination of a faux Polynesia located by an artificially built lake in the desert is just irresistible...to me at least, I wrote two books on Tiki culture, and would really like to incorporate two shots of the Tiki Bird (and your uncle) in my next book. Do you know anything about the plane, and who painted it? Maybe your uncle Don does? I sent you a Personal Message with my contact info.

On 2009-12-20 19:34, Roadsidepictures wrote:
Here I am (eight months later)! ...

On 2009-12-20 21:21, bigbrotiki wrote:
...and WHO in Newberry built this Volcano House!!?

Wasn't this house used in a James Bond film?

Possibly "Diamonds are Forever"?

Nope, that was the Elrod house in Palm Springs:

Not to be mixed up with the Bob Hope house in Palm Springs:

Both by architect John Lautner. The Newberry Volcano house is much smaller in scale, but indubitably inspired by Lautner.

Well I'll be...!!! :D

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/01/owner_of_secret_desert_lair_revealed_to_be_local_celebrity.php

http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/hotprop/la-hmw-hotprophowser9-2009dec09,0,4992408.story

THAT is gonna be the inspiration for MY house (if I ever build one):
An information Center at a nuclear power plant! Genius!:

"Completed in 1968 and designed by Harold Bissner Jr., the spaceship-shaped home was envisioned to resemble the information center at the construction site of the nuclear generating plant at San Onofre." :lol:

This thread has kept me captivated to say the least .

I would buy that for $750,000.

On 2009-12-20 19:34, Roadsidepictures wrote:
Here I am (eight months later)!
My Uncle Darrell and Uncle Don both worked on the buildings at Lake Loreen ...

i had hoped he would write some more background-infos etc

Greetings all,
While doing some research I discovered this site and I thought you folks would be interested in these pics. We obtained some artist renderings from the grandson of someone that was involved in the development of Newberry Springs.

Great site and I learned a lot. Hope you enjoy the photos I took! I'm sure the area does not look like this now :)

J

[ Edited by: SDJoe 2010-05-13 14:34 ]

Wow, what a great find! SD Joe, if you have read the previous pages, you can see that I am very interested in this place.
As an author of two books on American Tiki culture it just seems like such a great example of wanting to bring a Polynesian paradise to America -even if it was in THE DESERT!

Please send me a personal message with your contact info, I really would love to obtain high res images of the renderings, either by me photographing them, or you sending them to me. I am always working on the next project/book on Tiki style, and would love to use these in one of my upcoming works. And I love maps and renderings! And the whole failed desert resort scene, like the Salton Sea...

Here are my books to show you that I am not just a crazy guy (well I am, but not THAT crazy):

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Tiki-Midsize-Sven-Kirsten/dp/382282433X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273268321&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Tiki-Modern-Sven-Kirsten/dp/3822847178/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273268321&sr=8-2

Beautiful renderings SDJoe, Thanks for posting.

Ha! Bigbro - I bet you fell over backwards, off of your chair, as these were posted.

Not everyday we see something like this surface. Great to see you're on top of it. G

Thanks for the comments! I'm pleased that the pics were appreciated! Every now and then something cool turns up!

J

MORE! This thread has been so interesting!!!

Uncle Don said they did not work on the volcano house, only the buildings at Lake Loreen. He and Darrell worked the whole summer until the project was completed. Once the place was finished they never went back. He may have a couple more photos of the place. I'll scan them and post them here.

That would be great, Roadsidepictures, thank you! Is there any chance you could scan them and the earlier ones in higher resolution, like 2-3 MB, I am planning to do a Lake Loreen segment in one of my next books (see above), and would love to use some of them for that. Please check your personal messages.

I am always hoping for something like this: Coming upon one little mosaic piece of Tiki's glorious past (like the Tiki Bird plane here) and stirring up interest and attention so that other elements surface, and help to eventually uncover a forgotten story from Tiki's glorious heyday. I could smell that there was a great story here:

Together with others here, including Bosko, I am fascinated by the failed dream development of the Salton Sea, where hopes for a glamourous Lake resort like Palm Springs got dashed by the water turning brackish and smelly:

Now, was it possible that there was a POLYNESIAN version of the Salton Sea out there !? Sort of "The Tikis" in the sand dunes?
An exciting prospect, but to temper everybody's excitement, it did not turn out that way. What I did find though was that there was not one, but MANY Polynesian paradises of the mind. The renderings that Joe posted above are two of SIX proposed Polynesian style desert developments envisioned by Gus Raigosa in the late 1960s !

Knowing that I had no money and no space to adequately display these amazing Desert Polynesia renderings that Joe and Eileen had discovered at a yard sale in San Diego, I was racking my brains over WHO in the Tiki community could afford these, before the rightful owners would sell them at their regular booth at the Rose Bowl, which is their business. I knew of a handful of folks who probably would have taken some, but likely would have picked the best and left the rest... but I wanted them to stay together.

Luckily, I thought of the right person, someone who has her own little Desert Polynesia, and is acutely interested in the Newberry Springs area and history, as can be witnessed in this thread: Queen Kamehameha/ Amy :)

So I contacted her and she was all into it, and I brokered a deal between her and the sellers. My pay-off was that I got to photograph these amazing time documents of America's Polynesian dream period. I drove down to San Diego to pick them up and brought them to my house. Two weeks later at Tiki Caliente I delivered them to the happy new owner.

Watch for the next post, the first of many: Lake Aloha !

A little off topic but I have a story about the golden age of the Salton Sea. About 20 years ago I was driving from the Salton Sea to Borrego Springs, a small high desert community about 30 miles west of the sea. I came across an abandoned casino out in the middle of the desert. I knew that there had been some development in the area in the 50s but this was remarkably well preserved. I parked in the paved parking lot and went to check it out. The door was opened so I went inside. The lobby was empty of furnishings but was in great shape except for no ceiling, it all looked very mid-century. I open the door at the back of the lobby to do more exploring and there was nothing but desert! Moreover, the back was unfinished and there were plastic paint buckets out there.

Now I was really curious. What I thought was a stone wall was really a rubber panel and the dead grass in front was rolled out sod, neither of which are very mid-century. Turned out it was the set for the movie Bugsy starring Warren Beaty :lol:

It was built on BLM land with the understanding that the area would be returned to it's former state. I drove by there monthly on business for several months. They torn down the building, ripped out the parking lot and foundation, and replanted desert vegetation. At the end of 6 months, you couldn't tell where the casino had been.

Perhaps not so much off topic as one might think. I believe it wasn't a coincidence that Don The Beachcomber started in Hollywood: On one hand, a Tiki lounge interior was not so different from a South Seas movie film set, and on the other, the notion that "everything is possible" and to "follow your dream" was certainly nurtured by the film industry. Plus many film architects and art directors lent their talents to LA theme architecture.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-06-21 13:12 ]

Welcome to LAKE ALOHA !

Great corner art, and intricate tropical flora frame work

This rendering was the only one with its complete frame and plastic overlay intact. Because of the descriptions on the plastic sheet we now can tie in the plane to its own Fly-In Tiki Bird Lounge (!) ....housed in an A-frame of course:

(and also as a Sail-In on the other side like at the Bali Hai or Christian's Hut)

Now that these desert islands were conceived as Fly-In communities makes perfect sense when we consider that Gus and Loreen Raigosa worked for Douglas Aircraft in Downey. The mid-century Sci Fi vision of everyone eventually owning their own flying machine was still very much alive in the late 60s. And a precedent for this concept existed in Palm Springs, with the Desert Air Hotel:

This 1950s Hotel also staged large Luaus in its Luau Hut, sort of Fly -In Luaus (see a whole chapter on this place in Pete Moruzzi's book Palm Springs Holiday)

If we look at other details of Lake Aloha, like the "Escape Islands"...

...we can see another source of inspiration:

The Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu, a self-contained Polynesian triangle! Also, yet another Polynesia Americana might have inspired the Raigosas:

Considering the fact that Danny Balsz stated that at The Tikis they would bus in 1000s of employees from the airplane plants in South Los Angeles every weekend, I would not be surprised if Gus and Loreen had been among them.

Coming up ext: LAKE TAHITI

The fly-in community concept is not completely dead: John Travolta lives in Jumbolair of Ocala FL. He moved there from another fly-in community in Daytona because they complained his Boeing 707 was too big and too loud :lol:

Bump I need to move this up front so i can find it.

bump agaim for reference

Thanks for the bump...I never saw this thread...AMAZING. That last hut concept picture is just wonderful and the plane is to die for. RIP Darrell H. Jackson.

I still think thers a much resource material to gleen from here. At first look at the maps I wasnt to interested, but Ive been studying them for a while now and have changed my mind. Lots of good stuff here

Hi All, I have a bit of an update on the Tiki Bird. I have a friend who buys and sells planes and I asked him to track down the Tiki Bird, he has found the owner. Seems the same man has owned the plane for many many years and it is still in one piece. We are attempting to contact him to get photos and more info. I will post here as soon as I have more to post.

Amy

Amy did you find it up in Seward Alaska?
It was up there for many years.

Hi Murph, yes and no, Seward led me to another town with another owner since 1985 I believe. I have my aviation broker Friend doing all the communications as I don't want to bother anyone and the guy doesn't have email. I will email you all the info as soon as I get it! It would be amazing if this plane was still in it's original state...

Amy

[ Edited by: Queen kamehameha 2010-11-30 07:34 ]

So cool with the Tiki Archaeology!!! Hope the story continues!