Door pulls or handles thread

I don't have much information on these pulls purchased on eBay, but thought I'd share. The seller had them in their collection for about 15 years and were purchased from an estate sale in Palos Verdes. Maybe they saw some action at Steve Crane's Luau? I checked with Leroy and he said the two people associated with the Luau that might know something about them have passed way. Anyway, the pulls are 5 1/2” tall and made of a pretty heavy metal.

They appear to be from the same mold of pulls Humuhumu posted from the restroom of the now defunct San Francisco Trader Vic's.


I also purchased from the seller another interesting pair of metal door pulls that are a little smaller and lighter. The only information I have is they have also been in his collection for 15 years.

I could use a set of door handles like the gold ones that you found above on ebay, or the shinier gold ones in Humu's pic from Trader Vic's San Francisco, for the doors that I found from the original Trader Vic's at 6500 San Pablo Ave in Oakland. I wonder if the Trader Vic's warehouse still has any like those shiny ones? Great find, btw! :)

Mai Tai,
Nice doors, did you get them fixed up?

I picked up a set of drawer handles about 20 years ago at the swap meet, they seem to have a similar gold paint over metal (aluminum) look as the first photo, maybe someone commercially produced all these way back when?

Bosko

On 2010-11-14 19:35, senioraqua wrote:

They appear to be from the same mold of pulls Humuhumu posted from the restroom of the now defunct San Francisco Trader Vic's.

FWIW, here's the handle on the Emeryville Vic's mens room, from the tiki crawl '08.

I wonder if they have the same handles now, post-remodel.

-Randy

Yup, these door handles are definitely based on the Luau logo Tiki. It was used on the menu, matchbooks, swizzle stick, S&P shakers, and the table lamps:

Here are the actual Luau door pulls, on the entrance door to the (now also gone) Hanalei's Islands restaurant, which took over the Luau's decor:

once the molds for these were cast, there were more copies made.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-11-15 20:15 ]

On 2010-11-15 09:04, senioraqua wrote:
Mai Tai,
Nice doors, did you get them fixed up?

No, not yet. I've had several people come over and look at them, as well as talking to Kier Fullmer and her woodworking specialist over at the Trader Vic's warehouse. And the best solution we can think of to strip them is with a chemical stripper, either that citrus strip stuff, or Jasco. Even though the carved ironwood panels are pretty tough wood, if I use a power washer it could round off or remove most or all of the tooling marks, which are still heavily prominent. Same goes with if I did a light sanding on the areas tagged with graffiti, or if I dipped them. Right now, the doors are on the list of unfinished projects that I need to strip and refinish, including a 1950 Seeburg Jukebox, a coffee table, and some rattan furniture, as well as other unfinished projects including replacing the sliding glass door in my soon to be home bar area, as well as the entire home bar build out, and my rain window effect. I've got the time to work on them, I'm currently working on freeing up a permanent workspace area, I've got just about all of the materials, all I need is money. Anyone finish on that money printing press yet?

On 2010-11-15 16:25, aquarj wrote:
I wonder if they have the same handles now, post-remodel.

-Randy

Me, too, Randy! Me too.

Just for kicks, here's a Bali Hai men's room handle, also 2008 and pre-remodel.

-Randy

These carved wooden Tikis were the door handles on the JADE TIKI Restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, MI. It recently closed. They are about 35 years old and stand 13 inches tall. Can anyone tell from the style who might have carved them? Thanks.

Door pull can be found on pg. 187 of BOT. Didn't Sven get it from The Tikis?

[ Edited by: senioraqua 2011-10-20 05:26 ]

Here are some door pulls that I made.
Just made a mold of Kahiki salt and pepper shakers, so
these are made of painted plaster.

This one is a mystery. I found these while Googling images of tiki doors. The third floor of the McLennan County Courthouse in Waco, TX has tiki door pulls! Waco is the home of Dr. Pepper and that is about as exotic as that place gets.

The courthouse was built in 1901 and as you can see from the outside it's fairly ornate. Most of the county courthouses in Texas are elaborate looking.

The only tiki connection I could figure out is McLennan County is next to Limestone County which is where Donn Beach was born. That is definitely stretching probability.

I found a reddit post that said the door handles were installed because the wrong ones were ordered and they decided to go with what was shipped to them.

On 2014-08-27 08:31, tikilongbeach wrote:
This one is a mystery. I found these while Googling images of tiki doors. The third floor of the McLennan County Courthouse in Waco, TX has tiki door pulls! Waco is the home of Dr. Pepper and that is about as exotic as that place gets.

The courthouse was built in 1901 and as you can see from the outside it's fairly ornate. Most of the county courthouses in Texas are elaborate looking.

The only tiki connection I could figure out is McLennan County is next to Limestone County which is where Donn Beach was born. That is definitely stretching probability.

I found a reddit post that said the door handles were installed because the wrong ones were ordered and they decided to go with what was shipped to them.

Ok that is just flippin' cool! Never thought I would have a reason to visit tth McLennan County courthouse. :)