Mai Kai help

I was wondering if anyone on TC could help me out with some photos. I am looking for some clear shots of the Mai Kai's main A-frame building. Mainly a side view shot showing the details of the roof. I search TC, Google images and my own photos but couldn't find any good shots. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Trav, always good to hear from you! Do I detect a new A-frame model in the making? :)

Which one is the main building, there are so many? :D

I'm sure you don't mean this little hut:

...and my exterior shot of it is not of much use, either:

I believe you mean the building on the left of this rendering:

...which initially was just open A-shaped beams, and then got covered with glass, best seen in this interior shot:

..if you can manage to focus past the girl. :)

I don't know of any clear side shots, the building was always sunk into the landscaping. There is an early construction shot that they used to sell in their gift shop, I don't have it in my files, that one could maybe give you some more pointers.

That is one great frame!

Any of these help? I can send you bigger images directly.

Thanks for the help Sven and Swanky. I fear another long cold winter again this year so I am getting some ideas to fend of cabin fever. If I attempt a model I will have to try some new materials so I guess this is the pre planning stage. Thanks again.

Aloha, Trav!

Love the montage of historical Mai-Kai photos and artwork Sven and Swanky reprised here.

In trying to puzzle out the whole architectural context of the central A-frame amidst the rest of the Mai-Kai building complex, you might turn to Google Maps, especially the overhead satellite photos. There are so many intersecting visual features from the ground level that it's virtually impossible to understand what's going on with the entirety of the A-frame. I've included a few Google snapshots for illustration...

All the tropical foliage, intersecting roof lines, and exterior perimeter features bury the much less interesting rectilinear shape that comprises much of the Mai-Kai building acreage. From the ground level, visual magic results from superimposing all of these elements. This is unmasked only when viewed from the parking lot, but valet parking preserves the magic.

So Trav, your challenge as an artist is to capture in a model the splendor of the Mai-Kai A-frame, without losing it amidst perpendicular building lines.

-Tom

Excellent armchair archeology there, Tom. revealing how much of Polynesian pop's romantic effects are based on film set concepts, facades that hide the less evocative functionalities of the building.

Hmmm. Did someone say model? Already been done! :D

But hey, if you can replicate that model, I'll be first in line to buy!

Here's the construction shot Sven mentioned. Such humble beginnings...

And here's one that shows how it was originally screened in before they came to their senses and discovered air conditioning! :D

Finally, a shot from underneath showing the window pane pattern:

When you get right down to it, the main A-frame is really quite simple. Not a whole lot of detail. But where it lacks in detail, it makes up in SIZE!

Here are some more to add. I mean, why not? Can we ever get enough? :D

A few shots I took in 2007 before renovations were done to repair hurricane damage from 2004. She was pretty rough in these shots. The detail on the front of the A-frame that faces Hwy 1 can be seen in these.

Here's a bonus pic that has nothing to do with the A frame. Something about it I just like. Like an old faded, yellowed party invitation...

GatorRob, your photo of the Mai-Kai A-frame face detail made me think of the A-frame at Julian's in Ormond Beach. A comparison of your Mai-Kai photo with one I took in June at Julian's suggests they are remarkably similar. Since Julian's opened in December of 1967, I assume that their inspiration came from the Mai-Kai...

So, what was the original source of this pattern?

-Tom

Thank You, Rob!

I think it is a "modern interpretation" of Maori art. Definitely done by the same artist. Amazing that nobody noticed this so far, Tom! I always kinda assumed that pattern was a later fix up job, but it is the exact same style than the one on the original Julian's rendering on their menu! And it is the same than in the famous Mai Kai rendering by Al Kocab. Swanky?

WOW !! Thanks for the eye candy Rob. I don't think I am in the same league as the modeler that built the one in your post. Great to see all of the details of the A-frame in one post. Here is a closeup of the street side of the building that I took in 2008. Thanks for the input.

It is certainly a later addition, but when is the harder question. It appears it came along when Bora Bora came along. Was that the 1970 renovation, or earlier? I am not 100% sure. All the images that show Bora Bora have that front design. Before that, I don't see it. Kocab did a tremendous amount of the artwork and design for the Mai-Kai. But if this was done for Julian's in 67 and the Mai-Kai had it for their 70 renovation, who knows?

And AC didn't come along for a while. The A-frame was glassed in due to rain, not heat. Even then it was kept open except in rain. They had live plants in there. The cooling came via large fans in the main room.

I don't think the model pictured is very accurate though.

This shows the Mai-Kai as it originally opened.

This is the matching rendering by McKirahan.

That model is too plain and the wings on the sides are more interesting in reality.

Swanky, this post from the past by GatorRob suggests that the Bora Bora existed as far back as 1961...

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=30482&forum=1&vpost=420015

-Tom

An afternoon at the county office and a search for building permits may help put some of the building into chronological order

On 2011-11-08 10:52, TikiTomD wrote:
Swanky, this post from the past by GatorRob suggests that the Bora Bora existed as far back as 1961...

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=30482&forum=1&vpost=420015

-Tom

Well, whatever this building is:




Is it an added front porch on Bora Bora?

[ Edited by: Swanky 2011-11-08 13:03 ]

Swanky, I’ll have to defer to someone else on your question.

Trav, that’s an excellent urban archaeology assignment for someone in the neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale. I’d recommend a call to the Building Department in advance to determine records accessibility. It’s pretty unlikely that 50 years of permits will be available in the same place, especially South Florida where the population growth means whole forests of paper have been received and processed over the decades. I’m sure that official records like real estate transactions are all on microfiche, but building permits and their associated design and drawing submittals may not be.

I searched the Broward County Property Appraiser’s records and came up with the following outline sketch of the Mai-Kai with perimeter dimensions in feet. I labeled the A-frame portion. The left side of the drawing faces east and the top of the drawing faces south. The driveway is at the bottom. That may be useful to you in creating your model...

-Tom

On 2011-11-08 13:01, Swanky wrote:
Well, whatever this building is:
Is it an added front porch on Bora Bora?

I'm a little confused by the question. The first pic is (I always assumed) the hut in front - that was destroyed at the hands of Mother Nature - that housed the pumps for the water features. Am I wrong?

Thanks for all of the input guys. Here is what all of the questions were for. Still a work in progress.Thanks again.

Here is a link to the build.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=33960&forum=18&start=90

"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2011-11-14 12:52 ]

WOW!! Nice work trav!! :)

Nice Trav.

It seems I took a picture of that Julians work when I was there a bit ago too.

That little hut covered the water pipe connections and pumps for the water features. It, unfortunately, was lost to the hurricanes of 2005. Creative landscaping is doing the job of visual concealment now.

GatorRob... The picture you have with Bob and Molokai Maiden sitting on the little balcony is the 'original' hut that was rebuilt in the 1972 remodel/expansion, which coincided with the expansion of US 1. The 'version 2' of the hut was smaller and looked less like an actual house with windows and such. Still attractive, just simpler and smaller.

On 2011-11-08 13:01, Swanky wrote:
Well, whatever this building is:

To give a reference point, the Tiki and Torches were on the corner of the drive way. And if you stand in the same spot today as that picture was taken you would be standing in the middle of the right lane of US1. The current sidewalk runs on a line from the coral pillar down to the papyrus reeds in the shot above.

And the back of that water feature is what you see from inside of the Molokai Bat. It still looks mostly like it does in the photo above from the street.

That fernwood tiki is still in the carport but today only looks like some kind of weird bit of wooden lumpy thing sitting over the top edge of the little fountain by the valet. The fernwood tikis were beautiful in their day but did not stand up to south florida weather very well (some not at all)

Here it is the backdrop to the Barwick Mills carpet ad. This was a popular place for commercial shoots at the Mai-Kai due to the open land out front. I have an Eastern Airlines ad shot in the same location. There are lots of great visual places at the Mai-Kai, but wide open spaces are not so easy to find and far harder now than then.

On 2011-11-16 08:10, Chip and Andy wrote:
The 'version 2' of the hut was smaller and looked less like an actual house with windows and such. Still attractive, just simpler and smaller.

Isn't that just the way it goes with so many things we adore? Thanks Chip.

Another question I have is what is this structure at the street end of the A-frame? If I remember right on the interior was the waterfall feature of the garden but I can't remember what the exterior looked like. I am going with the Maori painted end for the A-frame instead of the glass but would like to get the structure and roof line somewhat right at this end. Thanks to everyone for all of the photos and history and a big thanks to Swanky for some closeups of the buildings from his collection and background history.

"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2011-11-18 06:26 ]

Trav, look at the first picture I posted on the previous page. I believe the structure below the A frame is what you're referring to. It's fairly weathered in that pic, but I believe the structure is all in place. I'm afraid I don't have any other exterior shots of that. Maybe someone else does.

Your model is lookin' good btw. :wink:

EDIT: To clarify, I'm talking about the first pic in my second post with the color shots from 2007. But that was probably obvious.

[ Edited by: GatorRob 2011-11-18 08:11 ]

GB I think the at front covered some of the pumps for the water falls it was mostly bamboo
I'll look for a pict of it I have a few from the near the sign..

from 05

sign is to a little behind (the dude)
Picture taken from the street near pull in / drive area.

Hope it helps

We may have said "Hi" right at this spot!

idolmakerfilms.com

[ Edited by: sneakyjack 2011-11-18 12:04 ]

Just about have the model wrapped up, thanks again for all of the help. Here is a night shot of the model and a link to the build. http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=33960&forum=18&start=last&137