Skipper Frank Kent and Lucille Kent

A picture taken in Siam while cruising asia and the south pacific!

Thanks for posting, hope to see more of your Skipper Kent photos and archives.

DC

Aloha,

And more important, your memories, please. We would like to know more about the man. I for instance have a question or two.

Can you tell me about the Kona location?

Mahalo Mangogirl808!

Indeed! Great shirt, great monkey, great photo! Keep'em coming, please.

Phillip -
I actually found some info about the proposed Kona location right here on Tiki Central from a post by tikiboy back in 2005:

"Frank (Skipper) Kent and his wife Lucille did live on the Kona Coast and planned to built a hotel and restaurant there on the spit of land along the coastline. However a lost heiau and other artifacts of the ancient Hawaiians were found on the property and the project was never started.
My Dad and the Skipper were ship mates and both enjoyed sailing the San Francisco Bay.
The last time I saw him was after a visit to our family home as he and Lucille drove away in their RED 1941 La Salle.
tikiboy"

Pretty cool - I had overlooked that previously.

-Trad'r Bill

Found this great article about Skipper Kent living in Moss Beach(aka known as Half Moon Bay)
Half Moon Bay Memories & El Granada Observer

Looking out back window to backyard (granite waterfall in progress) House Reef Point Road in Moss Landing, CA where Skipper Kent built and lived. It was bought by famous magician Channing Pollock.

"Because I am curious and loved tracking things down I found Skipper Kent, not in Moss Beach, but in Hawaii on the Big Island where he had moved.

By now I knew that Skipper Kent had been a famous restaurateur in San Francisco, second in popularity to Trader Vic’s. John and I flew to Hawaii and spent a day or two on the Big Island. While there we contacted Skipper Kent who kindly invited us to his home–but I forgot to bring my camera! I do recall the long landscaped uphill driveway to the house, reminiscent, in a way, of Moss Beach."

Foolow up from another article:

Kendra Says She's Skipper Kent's Goddaughter

Dear June,

I recently discovered some coverage you had written about Skipper Kent.

He did not build the house at Moss Beach, but bought an existing structure and greatly enhanced it. My grandfather, William Tombling, did the carpentry. It included an expansive library for Frank’s vast collection of books and a wing for Lucille’s painting studio with a walk-in closet to house her canvasses.

Prior to moving to the coast Frank and Lucille had a beautiful home in Walnut Creek that had vast gardens, greenhouses, glass houses for Frank’s orchid collection, magnolia trees, fountain and much more. A magical attic covered the length of the home. There you could explore cabinets filled with shells, rocks, books, and items collected from all over the world.

I am the Kent’s goddaughter. Currently my husband and I are working with a collection of letters that Lucille wrote to my mother, Eileen, while the Kents were sailing their newest boat (White Cloud) from the Great Lakes to the San Francisco Yacht Club in 1945. It was quite an adventure.

Sincerely, Kendra Barron

Wow!Great responces! Mahalo! And I learned some new stuff about Skipper Kent. for example, the heiau that blocked the building of their dream project. Skipper and Lucile built a house in Holualoa. The house is still there and the current owners are taking care of it really well. There is an Orchid house that the skipper built and the grounds are filled with exotic trees from various trips across the pacific. I never knew the Kents but have been collecting their memories in photos and picing their lives together that way. @ Traderbill: What's your father's name. I have so many pictures but no name to put to the face. Could you post a picture of your pops, and don't forget his name? If you love memories and biographies, Lucille was the original note taker, letter writer, we had a box, filled with recipts from Lunch on Saturday (then the date) from many years. (this is just a memory) I had another box filled with albums of Christmas Cards. Lucille was quite the accomplished artist. Skipper built her a little bungalow attached to the car port, and that was her studio! She had many galleryopenings in Kona during the 60's in Kona. Kendra Barron's Book White Cloud Chronicles can be found at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2124761! Mahalo Nui Loa, Ms. M

Enjoy!

Hi Mangogirl - it wasn't actually my father who was friends with the Kents, it was another user here on TC "tikiboy"... I emailed him asking for more stories, but didn't hear much back from him.

Thanks for posting those pictures! You should post the other ones of Skipper Kent's you showed me :) I'm dying to post the ones you sent me, but I don't want to steal your thunder!

-Trad'r Bill

Great Stuff keep it coming!

Indeed, it is great when collectors and scholars from outside the Tiki community join in and contribute. I just noticed that two of the most important TC threads on Skipper Kent are not linked here. On top of the valuable findings by Trad'r Bill and DustyCajun, some of the best material was unearthed by Bifcozz. I am really saddened by his recent passing, and just want to re-iterate that his paper ephemera posts on Frank Kent are some of the most elaborate postings on TC ever, in my opinion. Here is the one on Zombie Village:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22238&forum=2&vpost=515175

...and here are pages 1 and 2 on the Polynesian Village in Chicago:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=34213&forum=2

An incredible collection of material. We lost a fervent Tiki archaeologist in Bifcozz. May his work continue to enlighten and inspire.

Look what I found?!!! &

Happy Day! I have paintings by Lucille too!

Hugs
Mangogirl!

I found something new! Ther must have been three locations for the Kent's places of business. #1 SkipperKents 1040 Columbus Blvd. San Fransisco
Building started in 1949
1950 1952 Curio Shop
Volume 2 1929-1936
#2 The Skipper 3253 Adeline St S. Berkley Calif. 1938.
#3 Zombie Village 1949 thru May 12 1942 Oakland 1949 1950
Today's Little morsel
[ Edited by: mangogirl 2012-03-06 18:30 ]

[ Edited by: mangogirl 2012-03-06 18:36 ]

OOOPS here is part 2

Happy Day,
Mangogirl

Mangogirl,

That is a great menu, thanks for posting. There is a thread started by Bifcozz in Locating Tiki for The Skipper, you should post those photos there as well.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22555&forum=2&hilite=skipper

Bifcozz acquired a treasure trove of items from the Skipper Kent estate and listed this time-line of the various restaurants he was involved in:

Frank Kent started the skipper, 3253 adeline st south berkley california with frank bilek

He started the zombie village may 12th 1942 with hafe hafer.

he next started skipper kents we are not sure of the date.

He also started the West indies reno nevado.

next he started the polynesian room at the edgewaterbeach hotel dec 31st 1954

He also had correspondence with the Marmonte hotel chain in santa barbara california about doing skipper kents as a chain.

After he started the Polynesian room at the edgewaterbeach hotel he went on to start the polynesian room at the sommerset hotel in boston.

After that we have cost analysis at 6 different sheraton hotels for doing a skipper kents resturants in the sheraton hotel chain which he ended up giving to steve crane.

Beacause at the same time he was doing this His real estate agent in Hawaii contacted him and told him about a 14.65 acre piece of land was available on the kona coast on the big island of Hawaii. He apparently decided to pursue his dream of the ultamate resort on Hawaii and passed on the sheraton offer. and concentrated on developing his land on the kona coast of which we have the original prospectus of the property.

You can read more here.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=34213&forum=2&vpost=513023&hilite=skipper

Look forward to more of your posts!

DC

Wow, nice summation and timeline there, DC, thank you.

An arial view of Skipper Kent and Lucille Kent's house in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii!
The big house had Skipper Kent's Library and Office. Filled with artifacts and their entire family history. The little cottage in the back was where Lucille painted and had the girls over for cards and lunch! Skipper and Lucille brought back many plants and Tiki from their travels.

[ Edited by: mangogirl 2012-04-07 12:43 ]

[ Edited by: mangogirl 2012-04-07 12:43 ]

Skipper Kent brought back these Tiki from their South Pacific excursions.

But they seemed to be carved out of Marble. Any feed back would be helpful.
Mahalo,
Mangogirl

A Tiki and a picture of the carver. This Tiki was at Skipper Kents.
Wouldn't it be great to find it 50 years later?

On 2012-04-07 12:38, mangogirl wrote:
An arial view of Skipper Kent and Lucille Kent's house in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii!
The big house had Skipper Kent's Library and Office. Filled with artifacts and their entire family history. The little cottage in the back was where Lucille painted and had the girls over for cards and lunch! Skipper and Lucille brought back many plants and Tiki from their travels.

[ Edited by: mangogirl 2012-04-07 12:43 ]

[ Edited by: mangogirl 2012-04-07 12:43 ]

I know exactly where that property is, my cousin lives just a few houses down the road. Thanks for sharing all this history mangogirl !!! Any chance to get a tour of the place sometime?

I found these old screen captures from Skipper Kent's estate sale... some great info in here:

-Trad'r Bill

Some pictures from my 2012 visit of Skipper Kent's estate:

The driveway

The house

The view

Me and my son pondering whose rocky grave this might be…

Farewell, Skipper, you shall not be forgotten