Colonial Manor Hotel, Irwin, PA (South of Pittsburgh), Irwin, PA, (hotel)

Name:Colonial Manor Hotel, Irwin, PA (South of Pittsburgh)
Type:hotel
Street:Colonial Manor Road
City:Irwin, PA
State:
Zip:15642
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
Well, here's a fun story. We ended up unearthing some unknown Tiki history when we bought our house and were tearing up the old carpets we found the newspaper under it was from 1958-- being tiki bar fans we were astounded to see the following article about the "Colonial Manor Hotel" which talks about the owner putting in a plush Hawaiian room.

We put this piece of paper away in a drawer in 2006 and never thought much of it until seeing that there were only two places listed in Pittsburgh area on Critiki... my wife says "Hey, what about that article we found?" and the quick google adventure began to figure out what the Colonial Manor was and where it went. Here are some of the facts I found while digging through google news searches and archives:

The Colonial Manor Hotel was owned and operated by Nick Nigro, and he would bring in big acts from New York's rainbow room, etc. One of the groups he brought in was "Johnny Pineapple and the Aloha Maids" See photo:

Mr. Nigro seemed to switch ownership back and forth of the property with a family named Jones, and they would buy it when he almost lost it, and vice versa, but ultimately in the late 50's Nigro owned the property again and the Hawaii shows were so popular he decided to expand and have a plush Hawaiian room that was decorated with tikis, etc. Nigro would also host Hawaain style weddings at the manor and some articles in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette mention how he would fly in fresh orchids from the islands and give them to the first 50 guests at special events.

The manor also had a swimming pool and bowling alley according to some articles.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/rss/s_511182.html

Obviously this place has some history... in 1960 a knife thrower from the Hawaain performers was jailed! HAH!

I'm doing some local on the ground research to find the actual location. Will post more here when I uncover more. I'm hoping some of the local history places have photos of the interior. CRAZY. I can't believe this was unearthed under the carpet in my house.

wow, tiki CSI! very cool story, i hope you can dig up more! have you looked for postcards etc.?

Can't find any postcards or anything, but I'm going to hunt down the local history society and bend their ear. I'm sure they'll have something!

Update: Found out from a local antique dealer that indeed this place burned down in the early 1980s. He said there are postcards of the hotel AND the tiki show out there somewhere. Something to hunt for!

Nice hunting Yirmumah!!! It's always nice to dig up more on the small but cool Pgh tiki history!

That means Irwin, PA had two establishments with Hawaiian floor shows?! Wow.
Found a postcard online, not that tiki, but:

is that carving on the bar, and a tropical mural behind it?
The back mentions the "Plantation Room", could that have become the "Hawaiian Room"?

Looks like a trip to Irwin's in order!