Tahitian Resort and Tahitian Gardens, Holiday, FL (motel)

Name:Tahitian Resort and Tahitian Gardens
Type:motel
Street:2337 US Highway 19 North
City:Holiday
State:FL
Zip:34691
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational

Description:
there was a thread located at http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=3191&forum=1 but it was general tiki, not locating tiki, and there was no address etc etc.

the original picture links were lost in the great shutterfly massacree, but this post by tikisgrl has some great images:

On 2007-04-22 14:53, Tikisgrl wrote:
Well Best Western no longer runs the Tahitian Resort and it has sure seen better days. The old pictures that were linked here are gone so I will post mine. Worth a look see but, not much Tiki left or much care taken of the Tiki's that are there. I wouldn't recommend staying there unless you need to be right in that area as the accommodations did not merit even 1 star.

I was told that this particular area was pretty Tikified back in the "day". There may be a new Tiki Bar near here very soon as I bumped into a fellow Tiki freak and she is going to open one very soon.

Tikisgrl

i'll go ahead and add my photos of the tahitian resort and gardens although there is a bit of redundancy.

yeesh.

That place looks a little neglected.

Not sure I'd stay there unless I was wrapped in plastic.
Which happens a lot more than you'd think.

Amazing that as run down as it is, the tikis seem to have been repaired in J$ pics since the previous pics. I am assuming that white stuff is bondo or some other patch material.

I have been intrigued by this place ever since Jeff Berry showed me his first Florida trip pics in the 90s, because its architecture and Tikis are such unique examples of mid-century Tiki Modern....and I have never made it there, nor have I seen any good vintage paper ephemera that do these Tikis justice. I am glad it is still standing and is being documented.

I wonder if they'd be amenable to the Gumbo Limbos coming in and doing some painting on those tikis. They're probably some of the foremost experts in the world at this time in painting concrete tikis to look vintage.

That would be a killer party.

Tell them we're coming in for a weekend to restore the tikis, clean the place up a bit and throw a luau and we'll bring some press people and in return we get free room and board for that event and a subsequent event.

I'd bring my weed-eater, tree trimmer, hedge clippers, ukuleles and a bunch of paint and rum to an event like that.

I'll bet you Palm Farmer Johnny would bring some palms and bamboo and (lesser) grasses there too.

from my observation of (not interaction with) the current management staff, we would need someone who spoke urdu or something along those lines to communicate effectively.

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar 2008-09-03 11:07 ]

tiki
ur duin it rong

Anybody go in the Starlanding Lounge?

i found a postcard of this place this weekend. will scan and post soon - HELLO

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar 2010-08-30 09:52 ]

So Johnny Dollar, lets see the postcard. Can't remeber seeing one from here before.

DC

my scanner, she is busted :( - so here is the best i can do until i can get it scanned and re-upped.

so this tiki is the one whose butt we see in the above postcard -

OK, now I remember this postcard. The first few postcards I got from the Tahitian Motor Lodge listed the location as Tarpon Springs. Then I got an older card that listed it as a Quality Inn in Holiday.

Here are the cards, a slightly different view of the Tiki than the one Johnny Dollar posted.

The Tiki

The pool area at night. Sure looked cool in its prime.

DC

That place needs to be put back together before some developer comes along and razes it for parking space or a Taco Bell.

if you look at tripadvisor.com or similar, the place is considered the worst of the worst as far as accomodations go. someone with deep pockets would be required to make it viable again imho

Where are all the insanely rich Texas oilman that make outlandish purchases at?

Here is the the current view of the pool area. I can't imagine this property being revitalized or redeveloped anytime soon. Tahitian Resort is situated in a region of US 19 best described as a land that time forgot where strip mall dilapidation runs amok.

The Tahitian Resort is in dire need of some of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money.

..and more responsible management.That property could at least you a groundskeeper. Nobody wants to stay in a place that run down. Spend a little money and fix it up and it may bring in more customers. I just hate seeing unique places falling into decline.

My father retired a few years back after being an architect in the Pinellas County area of Florida for almost 40 years. Most of the places he worked on were school renovations and some restaurants from what I could recall. I have been able to find a few postcards of some of the places he designed (such as the Kapok Tree Inn in Madiera Beach, the Chief Charley's restaurants and a few churches) and I wanted to give them to him as a gift. I wasn't sure of how many places he designed so I asked him if he could recall them (so I could secretly buy up some memorabilia for him).
He rattled off some names of places that I knew of, and then he said "and that Tahitian hotel up near Tarpon Springs". My jaw dropped. "The Tahitian Motor Lodge?" I stammered back. "Yep, that and the Tahitian Gardens nearby". I was floored. He didn't recall much, other than the project was one of the first he worked on with his new partners. I asked him if he knew where they got the tikis and decorations from, and he just said they came from a California company that had a a catalog. He couldn't remember the name, but when I mentioned Oceanic Arts, he said that sounded familiar.
Looking back, I remember now there was a small scale model of the place in his firm's front lobby and I used to love to look at the thatched roofs on it, but I was very young (probably 3-4 years old) and never made the connection until he mentioned it.
Unfortunately, most everything was thrown out when the company folded and everyone retired. No blueprints or renderings survived.
I have since purchased some photos for him that were in a newspaper archive that show the buildings during the construction phase and thought I should share them here...

dated June 16, 1969

Entrance, dated August 13, 1969

Tahitian Gardens "Handcraft Huts", dated June 6, 1970

The cafeteria at Tahitian Gardens, dated June 21, 1969

Closeup of tiki outside cafeteria

Closeup of tiki on wall of cafeteria

Wow, that must have been a shock! Love the pics you DID find, but this story goes to show how much material of Tiki culture got lost. When the son of the architect of such a Tiki temple as this is a committed Tikiphile but has to accept the fact that nuthin' got saved, it's the proof of the ephemeral nature of the much-too-short Tiki phnomenon.

Yep. Wished I had known/remembered/asked about it when he retired, but tiki wasn't a high priority for me then (gasp!).
My father is astounded that there is even a passing interest in his work. I'll be trying to pull more info out of him regarding this property. He says he has a bunch of old blueprints he has saved, but doesn't think there are any from there, but I can always hope.

JonPez,

So glad you got those photos for your Dad, has he seen them yet?

Here is another location that I have seen a postcard from called the Tahitian Gardens, it was located on Sanibel Island. I always thought that the same architectural firm may have done this one as well given the similarities in design and name. Maybe you can ask your Dad if his firm was involved in this one.

DC

Jon, that's incredible. What a great surprise that must have been. Here's hoping you can dig up some more treasures. Great story and thanks for the pics.

We need to get together again soon. The Florida ohana is in need of a shot in the arm...

DC: I'll ask him this weekend.
GatorRob: Yes, we do need to all get together. I haven't seen too many of the Ohana recently, but I did get a chance to see Kailuageoff before he went up north...

I know the Tahitian Gardens on Sanibel very well. I used to pass by the location while working on the island from time to time. It is now the Tahitian Gardens Shopping Plaza but the restaurant and the main structure of the complex are still intact..for now. It's been a couple of years since I was by there. Here is a view from "Polysat 1" in orbit :D

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

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2011-01-12 16:55 ]

On 2011-01-10 08:29, JonPez wrote:
He didn't recall much, other than the project was one of the first he worked on with his new partners. I asked him if he knew where they got the tikis and decorations from, and he just said they came from a California company that had a a catalog. He couldn't remember the name, but when I mentioned Oceanic Arts, he said that sounded familiar.

Maybe that was the going wisdom among many builders at the time, but the Tikis at the Tahitian resort are really unique, and were most likely ALL carved by Frank Schmudde:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=32101&forum=1&vpost=450179

Maybe if you mention his name and show your dad some of the pics, he'll remember more. It is such a bummer that this artist passed on before one of us could get to him. I am considering paying the Tahitian Resort a visit to document it as a "lost civilization"!

Jon Pez, can you also ask your dad if he did this restaurant as part of the Tahitian Gardens condo development:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=32239&forum=2

BigBroTiki: I'll ask him. That appears to be the same as the "cafeteria" in the pic above. I'll post more info on the other thread...

Well, it looks like some things DID survive.
I was going through some boxes with my father and he pulled out a box of slides containing some old work photos. One set was a portfolio of sorts. There, dated late 1969, were these slides of the resort:

The rendering of the property. Says "Tahitian Motor Lodge" in the inset.

The front of the resort

The view that somewhat matches the iconic postcard

The big boy carved tiki

The pool was the place to be

View of pool with railing details

Rendering of the Tahitian Gardens

I am so happy to have found these! You know I'll be looking for more!

On 2011-01-10 15:59, Dustycajun wrote:
JonPez,

So glad you got those photos for your Dad, has he seen them yet?

Here is another location that I have seen a postcard from called the Tahitian Gardens, it was located on Sanibel Island. I always thought that the same architectural firm may have done this one as well given the similarities in design and name. Maybe you can ask your Dad if his firm was involved in this one.

DC

Nope, sorry.
I asked him and he said they never worked on any projests down there...

Yipeee! Bingo! Or, most appropriately, EUREKA!

Congrats to this find, how great. Photos AND renderings! Of course this brings up more questions :) :

Did the tops of the two main huts really have active torches going at night?

And what did the post holding up the slanted A-frame porte cochere look like?

Does your dad have any memory of Frank Schmudde at work?:

And doesn't anybody here have any old brochures of this gem?

On 2011-03-30 15:16, bigbrotiki wrote:
Yipeee! Bingo! Or, most appropriately, EUREKA!

Congrats to this find, how great. Photos AND renderings! Of course this brings up more questions :) :

And what did the post holding up the slanted A-frame porte cochere look like?

I'll ask him.
As for the post, Here is a cleaned up zoom in from the slide. Hard to tell from the side...

That is very PNG inspired. Perhaps even PNG original, but the carving looks a bit too large in the design for PNG. Those lines would be more compact.

Like this:

Mai-Kai Memories Series Custom ceramic mugs coming Spring 2011!

[ Edited by: swanky 2011-04-05 09:52 ]

hey JohnPez, those renderings KICK ASS! thanks for sharing! :D

Jon Pez,

Great score on finding all of those slides in the family files. I picked up this photo of a rendering that was done for the Tahitian Gardens condominiums. The back is dated 1965.

DC

I picked up another news wire photo from 1965 showing a rendering showing the entire Tahitian Gardens complex.

A few close ups of the restaurant building and the lake area.

The back of the photo had this piece from the article.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2011-08-29 17:47 ]

This is awesome! Now we can compare DC's artist's-rendering of the proposed complex to this actual 1978 press photo from the St. Petersburg Times, that I recently obtained, showing the still fairly fresh Tahitian Gardens development and all the new housing complexes around it:

:up: Most of the complex is made up of those great square, hut-shaped condominiums, but the motor hotel and other unique buildings appear to be grouped at the upper right-hand end of the division.

:down: These hexagonal buildings from Jonpez's 1969 renderings...

:down: ...appear to have been simplified into a straight line of buildings.

:down: And this building...

:down: ...I would guess is the cafeteria in JonPez's photo

:down: ...surrounded by the groups of the quaint, hut-like condominiums from DustyCajun's 1965 rendering.

:down: Finally, you can see the motor lodge itself...

:down: ...which corresponds to these photos

So now we have DC's early artist's renderings from 1965, then JonPez's renderings from 1969, some construction photos from 1970, and then a jump to the final complex in 1978, still looking fairly bare of vegetation, and lots of new housing complexes springing up all around it.

Here's the newspaper text from the back of my 8x10" press photo:

*"The continuing growth of West Pasco is illustrated in this aerial photograph taken last week. Pictured is the Tahitian Gardens development in Holiday. In the photo, U.S. 19 is at the upper right, along with First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Tarpon Springs.

Several other new residential developments are planned or are under way as West Pasco's construction-oriented economy continues to flourish. The new homes mean new residents, which in turn leads to more businesses and jobs, which generates more money in circulation" - Aug 25 1978*

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2011-09-14 23:33 ]

I came across a few newspaper clippings that my father held onto. This one shows the announcement for the Motor Lodge opening up in 1969.

And here is a detail (as best as I could get) of the monster Ku that is still there (I believe), painted red and called "The God of War"...

I'll keep digging for more!

JonPez
http://www.playgroundzero.net/
------_-

[ Edited by: JonPez 2013-06-13 13:51 ]

For comparison, the two shots of that Tiki from the previous pages:

...most likely also sculpted by Frank Schmudde:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=32101&forum=1&start=15

That article answers my earlier question....

On 2011-03-30 15:16, bigbrotiki wrote:
Did the tops of the two main huts really have active torches going at night?

"...lighted at night by Polynesian fire pots atop the peaked dual roofs"

Found a postcard over the weekend with just a slightly different view of the pool than DC's card.

Spotted this matchbox from the Tahitian Motor Lodge. I really like how the designer used the palm tree as the "T" for the logo.

DC

December 2015 Tahitian resort / Holiday hotel updated information:
I currently work at the front desk of the hotel and I am also part of the renovation team. The hotel is under new ownership and is in the process of changing the name from Tahitian resort to holiday hotel. The bar and restaurant have been sub-leased out recently. The new name for the bar is "Prohibition" and will have its own identity and theme. There is a lot of improvements being implemented currently to bring the hotel back to life. I will be posting before and after pictures of the improvements we do very soon. Feel free to Let me know if you have any questions you would like answered about the hotel.

Oh wow! That sounds like bidding bye bye to the Tiki theme, then?

On 2015-12-01 10:16, Merkel City wrote:
December 2015 Tahitian resort / Holiday hotel updated information:
I currently work at the front desk of the hotel and I am also part of the renovation team. The hotel is under new ownership and is in the process of changing the name from Tahitian resort to holiday hotel. The bar and restaurant have been sub-leased out recently. The new name for the bar is "Prohibition" and will have its own identity and theme. There is a lot of improvements being implemented currently to bring the hotel back to life. I will be posting before and after pictures of the improvements we do very soon. Feel free to Let me know if you have any questions you would like answered about the hotel.

Hello,

Thank you so much for reaching out to Tiki Central and for posting about your plans for the property!

We visited the Tahitian several years ago to document the state of the property. We took many photos and had a very thorough look at the property as it was at the time. Although the management at the time very obviously had no idea what they had, and had let it fall into a less than ideal state, there was so much original tiki and historic elements left that we hoped an investor or buyer would come to carefully restore it. Tampa Bay had one of the largest concentrations of tiki in the country, and it's heartbreaking to see how much of it has disappeared -- so the Tahitian is really something special.

We hope that the present owners feel that way too, and it's a really good feeling to know that the renovation team is reaching out and posting online on Tiki Central about it! We'll be happy to help you in this project in any way we can, and we know that a lot of the other experts here on Tiki Central will do the same. The Tahitian is a mid-century modern tiki landmark, and we'd love to see it get carefully restored and become a Tampa Bay destination again!

Has anyone been out there lately?

We were in touch with one of the owners. They seemed very enthusiastic about the place and its great tiki history, so we got them connected with people who could help but we haven't heard anything in some time. We tried to help them get the place on the National Register of Historic Places and start applying for preservation grants. They didn't follow up with that.

It has the potential to be great but obviously needs a lot of work and a strong vision. AND people who are dedicated to preserving the history and keeping it going. We were hoping this place would become the backbone of a great annual tiki festival, among other things. But it needs a lot to get there, and it's beginning to look like that's not going to happen at all...

[ Edited by: mike and marie 2017-12-06 10:43 ]