The Tiki - Condominiums On The Beach, South Padre Island, TX (hotel)

Name:The Tiki - Condominiums On The Beach
Type:hotel
Street:6608 Padre Blvd
City:South Padre Island
State:TX
Zip:78597
country:USA
Phone:(800) 551-8454
Status:operational

Description:
Beach Condominium and restaurant complex that seems to have been around a while.

http://www.thetiki.com/

Has anyone visited this Condominium resort? http://www.thetiki.com/

A New York Times newspaper article from back in 1981 describes The Tiki as follows:

*"We chose the Tiki because it was the only one of the larger places we had checked that had three-bedroom, two-bath condominium apartments that could house our party of eight in a single unit. The price quoted was $87.50 a night, plus a 7 percent state and city occupancy tax. A few days before we left on our trip, the Tiki advised us that all its three-bedroom units would be occupied by their owners over the holiday period (every apartment there is privately owned, and the availability of each is contingent on the plans of the owner). But we were offered a two-bedroom, two-bath unit at $82.50 a night, plus the 7 percent tax, ''because of any inconvenience to you.''

For our family, losing one bedroom meant that two of us had to sleep on a sofa bed in the living room, but the inconvenience was minimal. The apartment was spacious and clean and wholly livable. Like all the major hotels at South Padre, the Tiki faces the Gulf of Mexico; it has two heated pools, a sauna, a laundry room and the kind of Polynesian-style restaurant that features sarong-clad waitresses, flaming appetizers and tiny umbrellas in the mixed drinks."*

I wonder if the restaurant still exists.

Stopped by March 14 2009 and took some pics - 2 pools roof repairs and new sign after the hurricane last year.
Witco hiding in the bushes

witco hiding in the bush

where the sign will go

I saw no restaurant - and the front desk said there was no snack bar or amenities

[ Edited by: sneakyjack 2009-03-14 13:21 ]

Here's a vintage ashtray from The Tiki.

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

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2009-03-16 05:14 ]

Picked up this matchbook from The Tiki.

DC

A magazine ad from 1984:

The picture above intrigues me the more I look at it. Here we have three tikis in 1984 that look like they were fairly freshly carved.

The tikis on the left and on the ground look like they were influenced by the Bumatay and Guanko-styled tikis from 20 years in the past. The tiki on the right though - he looks like he's morphing into the Florida-style of today. I can almost picture a pineapple carved into his forehead and delineated teeth as the next steps in the evolution/devolution. Wonder if these are missing links.

I love the fact that it looks like the kids are sucking down a couple of tiki drinks. Can you get a close up of that? Are they drinking out of tiki mugs?

looks like the pool side furniture hasn't changed too much!

Sabu, that is a great magazine ad. I would think it was very rare that a vintage tiki place outside of Hawaii was still using Tikis in 1984 to promote its business. Magazine ads are special in that there so few of them still floating around.

Sneaky, that witco is a great find, on the verge of being gone forever I'm afraid. If they decide to plant some new flowers the manager might think it looks old and just throw it in the dumpster.

The witco has me wondering. Does any one know if there is a common agreed upon standard among Tiki people that allows them to preserve artifacts (purchase from business) when the owners are showing negligence in their appreciation and preservation. Or they possibly abandoned the Tiki when out of business. Most likely in a case where the devolution of the place is moving fast and the artifacts may be lost or discarded as common trash?

Would it be a good thing if done with good intentions or Taboo?

On 2009-03-14 13:19, sneakyjack wrote:
Stopped by March 14 2009 and took some pics - 2 pools roof repairs and new sign after the hurricane last year.
Witco hiding in the bushes

Rescued! This guy as well as a good number of other Witco items from the restaurant interior. Just got these last week from a guy in Brownsville, the city closest to Padre Island. He said the restaurant had been shuttered, furniture in place, since the 80's. It is all in pretty damn good shape considering, except that lamp that sat out in the bushes, and even that is still in repairable condition. I will post more pics when I get everything cleaned off.

The seller is now trying to sell some carved, hinged pieces from the restaurant that he calls room dividers. I think he said he has about 19 of these. He wants $250-300 for the lot. His email is [email protected]. I do not know the seller at all. Just passing along the info.

Wow! Who knew! All these years the Padre Island TIKI Hotel was assumed to have been Tiki in name only.
Did the restaurant have a name?...I wonder. And nobody has any photos of the place in its heyday?

Bigbro,
I haven't researched this place, but the seller said the restaurant was called "Tiki". A phone call to their leasing office provided no further info except to confirm there was a restaurant there at one time. When I get a chance I'll look into this more. I have family that have lived in Brownsville for several generations so maybe I can unearth some photos, or at least tales of a fun evening spent there!

That would be great. I do not recall anybody here finding any of the classic ephemera employed by Polynesian restaurants like matchbooks, menus, or postcards from this location. Maybe it wasn't a full scale restaurant, just sort of a coffee/breakfast bar?

glad to hear it was saved - I felt wrong snagging it so I left it. SEND ME THE HEAD!

And Yeah post pics as stuff come in!

Mahalo

Here is the lamp in it's new home

More pics of the room here: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=33500&forum=20&start=0

I have not found anyone who remembers going to that restaurant, even people with family members who owned a condo there! More research required...

cool!

Sven just pointed me to this thread and WOW! Sneaky's photos triggered a long forgotten memory--I actually stayed here during my senior trip in 1988! I distinctly remember the pool area and those goldfish -shaped loungers. Alas, I was more interested in girls at the time and wouldn't discover tiki for almost 30 (!) years.

Here's a fun fact--The Tiki pictured here on South Padre had a sister restaurant--also called The Tiki--over in McAllen 30 miles inland. Both had the same owner. Here's a matchbook that was used at both but is most associated with the McAllen outpost.