Urban Archeology with BigBro, Sabu & Tangaroa (WARNING: Image heavy! About 4 megs...)

Jab,
Any bump of this thread is so welcome, as IMHO, it was one of TC's best ever!
It should be one of those "required reading" threads. Hmmmmm. (lightbulb moment)
I wonder how we could convince Tangaroa to re-link those initial photos?
Has there ever been discussion of an actual Polynesian restaurant on POP?
If that episode provides footage, this could be an incredible find!
Any chance you could post screen grabs?

I've seen the I-Spy episode shot at P.O.P. - I don't recall any shots of a polynesian restaurant...

Could the South Seas Island attraction on the end of the pier be mistaken here as a polynesian restaurant?

Perhaps it wasn't a restaurant. Maybe it's a museum or gift shop. It looked big enough to be a restaurant in the show. I found this photo online that shows the building in the left background. Correct, it's part of South Sea Village.

http://pacificoceanpark.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/00022765.jpg

From:
http://pacificoceanpark.tripod.com/

[ Edited by: thejab 2011-09-14 16:47 ]

Here's another shot. It looks even smaller here.

http://pacificoceanpark.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/pop51.jpg

I was more familiar with this view of the attraction on the end of the pier. I didn't know about the South Seas Village before.

http://pacificoceanpark.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/pop52.jpg

[ Edited by: thejab 2011-09-14 16:48 ]

Can't view the pics you posted :( - all I get is "image hosted by tripod"...

Sorry, the photos showed initially, then stopped loading. Tripod.com must block embedding of their photos.

I found all the same photos in this old thread (posted by DustyCajun and TikiPhil):
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=31715&forum=5

Now I'm thinking it was a snack bar because it looks smaller in these postcard shots, and there's a sign that reads "...Whip".

A-ha!

That A-frame, thatched roof building housed the "Gift Shop Mystic Isles" or "Pacific Island Gifts" - either way a gift shop. One half of the building (backside) housed the "Hula Horseshoe Game."

The "...Whip" is actually P.O.P.'s version of a standard Scrambler flat-ride, in P.O.P.'s instance called the "Jungle Whip" - obscured in the postcard view.

Hope this helps to clarify!

Ai yo, Mama Ko!

Did this visit really happen SEVEN years ago? Or was it all a strange dream...

Unfortunately, I don't have an archive of those photos in the order I originally posted them - and that was all lost when that rotten Japanese company hijacked my website many years ago... sorry! I could re-upload them here at some point, but I gotta find them on the external hard drive, then upload them to a website, then do the whole img url link thing.... I'm tired just thinking about it! Maybe later when I have more time on my hands after the P.O.P. book is out...

I just tried to link a few from my Facebook page... but it doesn't work in preview - sorry... Maybe the folks who currently run this board can add a function to easily upload pics, rather than linking them from another website? Dunno.

Chris, you can easily upload pix from your desktop here - that's the only way I have done it since day one. Anything else gets lost in the ebb and flow of the internet...

Now I see it! Ai yi yi... Sadly I don't have the fun pics of Sven & Sabu & myself horsing around before hand nearby - but I do have these on my laptop.

Jim & his wife Neri.

Whew! That's enough for now - gotta get back to work!

Wow! Amazingly beautiful carvings and art. Thanks for taking the time to re-post these photos for us Chris.

I'll keep an eye out for the ones of the three of us too - as I recall it was a very cool & retro little diner Sabu & Sven introduced me to.

Thanks for reposting the pics!

TikiG: Thanks for clarifying what that building was. Didn't know about a P.O.P. book coming out. Looking forward to that!

On 2011-09-14 18:19, TikiG wrote:
A-ha!

That A-frame, thatched roof building housed the "Gift Shop Mystic Isles" or "Pacific Island Gifts" - either way a gift shop. One half of the building (backside) housed the "Hula Horseshoe Game."

The "...Whip" is actually P.O.P.'s version of a standard Scrambler flat-ride, in P.O.P.'s instance called the "Jungle Whip" - obscured in the postcard view.

Hope this helps to clarify!

Is this the building that everyone is referring to?...

An attraction map of POP shows this building near a ride called "Mrs. Squid" (hidden?). Did that become "The Whip"? Obviously that's the iconic "Mr. Dolphin" ride in the background.

Taken from Jeffrey Stanton's book "Venice California, Coney Island of the Pacific".

Obviously not Tiki but it is interesting to compare that late 1950's photo above with how that area of POP looked in the 1970's when the park was shuttered and crumbling...

There may be POP Tikis at the bottom of Santa Monica bay. :)

Wow - blast from the past! I'd have to dig them all up again & re-upload them here, since my website was "swiped" from me a few years ago... Maybe when I have some more time to kill. By the way - myself and Domenic Priore are doing a book on Pacific Ocean Park, planned for release sometime next year. It will feature work by Mr. Casey and a goodly amount of tikis!

Pacific Ocean Park! I remember going there when I was a really little kid. I have vivid memories of the diving bell ride taking us below the water... Very cool! When your book comes out I'll definitely get a copy, will have to share it with my 82-year-old mom. Don't remember a whole lot more than that, it was one of the places my parents liked to take us on family outings.

I missed this thread, and am thankful to those that dug it up.

On 2012-11-14 03:35, AceExplorer wrote:
Pacific Ocean Park! I remember going there when I was a really little kid. I have vivid memories of the diving bell ride taking us below the water...

The best part about the diving bell was when you surfaced. It came up so fast the you experienced a moment of weightlessness.