Hawaiian/Tiki Hotel Postcard Art

The Hawaiian and Tiki hotels and motels of the 1950s and 1960s had this great tradition of commissioning a cool water color painting showing an artist view of the hotel grounds. These paintings were then reproduced as postcards available to the hotel guests.

I have collected quite a few of these over the years and added some of them to the individual hotel threads here on TC. I thought it would be nice to put these little pieces of art together in one thread so that more could be added as they surface.

Lets start with the Hawaiian islands. Many of these look be be done by the same artist but few of the postcards have the artist name on them.

A classic, the Kanaapali Hotel in Mauai

The Outrigger Hotel at Waikiki Beach.

The Keauhou Beach Hotel

The Kona Hilton

The Naniloa

Switching styles a little, the Kauai Surf

The Breakers

A more modern looking Sheraton Maui Hotel

Slightly off topic, the Lihue Shopping Center

An interesting one from the Kalakauan in Waikiki with interior/exterior renderings.

The Waikiki Outrigger

And The Fijian, not Hawaii but still cool looking.

Next installment will hit some mainland Tiki hotel/motels.

DC

DC,
let us not forget the Waikikian...

Really looking forward to your next posting.
~kele

Great stuff DC!

FWIW, this is actually another example where you and Sabu are "on the same page". He started a very similar topic a long time ago. It'd be great if the two were merged, but in any case, unfortunately the older thread has almost no active image links anymore.

Anyway, these are fantastic images. I really dig the Kauai Surf - it looks so familiar, but somehow I don't remember it. The Kalakauan one is cool too. Thanks,

-Randy

Kele,

I was saving the Waikikian post for you!

Randy,

Breaks my heart to see the missing photos on that thread. I have it on my list to update that one someday.

Now, onto some mainland Tiki motel postcard art. Not quite as dramatic as the Hawaiian images, but still great.

First up the great looking Aku Aku in California.

The Aku Tiki in Florida.

The Hanalei Hotel in San Diego in its old glory.

Del Webbs Ocean House in San Diego.

Great card from the Makai in Florida.

And a Holiday Inn in Virginia Beach that sported some A-Frame elements.

DC

Lovely! Interesting to see the Aku Tiki Inn went BEYOND the rendering with their sign. Usually the reality is scaled down from the rendering.

Any one up for a little coast-to-coast Tiki road trip from California to Florida with Poly Pop hotels, motels and restaurants along the way?

Starting on the west coast at the Waikiki Motel next to Disneyland.

With a quick day-trip to Adventureland.

Then over to the Beverly Hills Hilton for dinner at Trader Vic's.

Next its off to Palm Springs for a stay at the Tropics motel.

Heading east, a quick overnight stop at the Tropics motel in Blythe.

On to Arizona where we hit the famous Kon Tiki motel in Phoenix.

Another night in Phoenix at the Samoan Village motel.

Texas is a long drive, lets spend the night at the Trade Winds motel in Amarillo.

Working our way east for a few days in Myrtle Beach. Starting with the Hawaiian Village motel.

Next up is the Hawaii Kai motel.

One more night in Myrtle Beach at the Polynesian Motel.

Finally make it to Florida. First night stay is at the Royal Hawaiian in Daytona Beach.

Then a quick hop down to the Islander Beach Lodge at New Smyrna Beach.

Continuing south to the Palm Beach Hawaiian in Palm Beach.
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Might as well stop for dinner at the South Pacific Restaurant in Hallandale (Hollywood) on our way south.
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Since we made it this far, how about a quick boat ride to Havana, Cuba, where we stay at the Habana Hilton.
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And have dinner at Trader Vic's.
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Back to the States for a fitting end to the trip - a celebration at the Mai Kai in Fort Lauderdale.

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You really could have had a fun road trip back in the day!

DC

Excellent work as always DC, I love that post card from Palm Beach Hawaiian, want to stay there.

aloha,

Yes what she said! Hey DC check out the Waikiki Tiki official thread for some neat pics of the Matson Navigation Waikiki Ticket Office with Brownlee carvings.

A most enjoyable journey DC! Thanks.

my favorite thread

Glad you all enjoyed that trip to the mainland, now back to the Islands and a few more little artistic gems.

The Pacific Beach Hotel on Kalakaua Ave in Waikiki
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The Kalia Hotel in Waikiki across the street from the Hawaiian Village Hotel.
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The Maui Surf Hotel (some pretty cool looking hut structures on this one).
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And the Maui Hilton.
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It's too bad we don't see this kind of travel art tradition anymore.

DC

It just dawned on me that it looks like most all of these postcards were painted while the artist was sitting in a hot air balloon or something. For every postcard I would bet that there is or was a photograph that matches it. Photographers probably went up in planes, cranes or helicopters to get the pics then artists painted from the pics. The only other way would be to paint while looking at an architects scale model.

Does any one have any info on how these were done?

Are there any cards of the Queen Kapiolani in Waikiki? I stayed there once in 2004, run down now but I bet it was a looker back in the 1960's.

Have not seen a card from the Queen Kapiolani. But here are a few more little gems.

The White Sands Hotel.
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The Surf Rider Hotel. Love the seen on Waikiki Beach with all of the action and Diamond Head in the background.
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Found these images online of the Princess Kualani.
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Check out the room views!
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Makes you want to jump on a jet and head to the Islands.

DC

A new find. I scored a few oversized postcards from the Hawaii Kai residential development at Nana Moana.

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Developed by the Kaiser Hawaii Kai development Co.

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Amazing looking place.

DC

On 2012-10-17 15:47, Dustycajun wrote:
A new find. I scored a few oversized postcards from the Hawaii Kai residential development at Nana Moana.

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Developed by the Kaiser Hawaii Kai development Co.

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Amazing looking place.

DC

Cool. This is where Martin Denny retired to and where I visited him with Gecko.

Always wonderful to return to this thread. Mahalo, DC

Great story Sven. Is that where the photo of you and Mr. Denny came from?

A few more recent additions from today's shopping trip.

The Kona Surf.
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And the King Kamehameha Hotel
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With the historic grounds depicted.
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DC

Yep, that's where that pic of me with him and his poodle was taken, DC.

The King Kam Hotel in Kona is still among my faves because it retains some of its old style features. Interesting that the temple replica is right by the hotel in the rendering, not where it ended up, further out in the lagoon. Here's a photo I took in August:

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...entitled "Tourists and Tikis"

In their lobby, they have several museum-style display cases on Hawaiian culture:

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I do not want to mar this fine Hotel Rendering thread with further tourist snapshots, but DC, if you start a post on the King Kam Hotel in Locating Tiki, I will put up the rest of my pics. :)

Picked up a new one from the Sheraton in Waikiki. This is a two-for-one as it also shows the Royal Hawaiian on the right side of the rendering.

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DC

Great example of the difference in scale between the old and the new Hawaii. Kind of reminds me of the old and new Las Vegas.

Here is an older small scale hotel from Hawaii - The Orchid Island Hotel in Hilo.

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And from the mainland, and nice architectural rendering of the Aloha Motel in Miami.
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The Polynesian Motel in Ocean Shores, Washington.
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Finally, two motels that had the same architect:

The Cadillac Sands in Cadillac, Michigan
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And the Leilani outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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Larger postcard from the Leilani which includes the adjacent restaurant.
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DC

Man DC. These are awesome!!!!!!!! This thread takes me to a Tiki dream world. Its great how everything was back then. :D

fwowah ! - DANG IT !

Time for a few more.

Two from the venerable Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Hawaii.

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While in Hawaii, you must stop at the City of Refuge historical park.

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Back to the mainland, Florida style.

The Hawaiian Village in Tampa.

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And the Polynesian Village resort at Disney World.

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Last stop, Hollywood Tropics!

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DC

Forgot this one from the Kona Trade Winds.

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DC