The Leilani... Brookfield, WI

Very cool! I always wondered if that was a real carving, or just an illustration.
That's a familiar face, huh?

-Duke

Excellent! I never would have made that connection in a million years, the colors were just too blinding. But there it is!

And now I seem to remember that crazy grin and snub nose from some other image....???

On Sunday while out and about, I thought I'd check out an anonymous bit of rumor that some carvings from the Brookfield, WI. Leilani could be found located south of Waukesha, WI.

I did pass them up several times, but finally spotted them. Not the Hawaiian style shown being carved in the newspaper article, but the postcard shows at least one smaller carving. These are Moais about 5 or 6 feet tall, black(lava?) on stone or cement bases. Not sure of the Leilani credentials, but definitely not indigenous to the area - farmland USA. I'm not sure if this is a residential or commercial building, though it is among other residential properties.

Great find. Those have to have a Lelani connection. Here is a quote from the newspaper article about the sculptor "The lightweight rock he is using actually is lava. Its porosity makes it easy to work. Saws, axes and knives replace the traditional hammer and chisel. Kroll expects to work a large pile of the stones into figures in about two weeks." You may be able to find some answers by asking the building owners or some folks in the area that may remember when and why these came to be in front of the buildings. Any way we can get some closeups as well? Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your find.

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

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2010-11-18 04:37 ]

Would it be possible to ask the owners of the building about their history?
Unfortunately we have not heard back from the TC member who had found the wife of the sculptor, and was trying to get material from her. Apparently she did not understand out interest.

I wish I'd have found out about these earlier. Due to health problems and winter bearing down on us, I would have had more time to flesh this out. It is my intention to find out more info, and whatever that information turns out to be...I'll post it here first thing.

Wow! What a great find!

Wanted to share a recently found architectural rendering. I believe its watercolor and pencil on crescent illustraion board, Dated 1961.

Wow, very cool!

This is odd, it looks like someone copied the professionally done rendering somewhat less skilled:

...and added a row of Motel rooms on the left, in place of the heli-pad

I did noticed that the intitals A. L. W. stand for the Architect and designer Alen Wiederman. The detail up close is very good. Could have this been a different design option that was shown to the client? Another interesting difference is the signage is quite different. Who is creditied with doing the other renderings? Maybe a different draftsman from the firm? I also wanted to add that this rendering is fairly big the atual size is approx. 29" long x 10.5"H.

[ Edited by: Bail Tekey 2011-02-19 15:15 ]

Big Bro Tiki,

I find it funny that you are calling the actual designer/architect "less skilled" then the other so-called "professional" rendering. What information do you have that backs that the other rendering with a helicopter pad is more professional? Are you basing this on artistic ability? Being an Engineer/Architect myself the type of image that was posted earlier today seems more in line with what is actually presented to a client in a design development type of application.

On 2011-02-19 17:50, Maui Chimes wrote:
Big Bro Tiki,
I find it funny that you are calling the actual designer/architect "less skilled" then the other so-called "professional" rendering. What information do you have that backs that the other rendering with a helicopter pad is more professional? Are you basing this on artistic ability? Being an Engineer/Architect myself the type of image that was posted earlier today seems more in line with what is actually presented to a client in a design development type of application.

Well, purely based on my eye. I am a purely visual person, and I base all my work on my eye, and its experience. I trust it more than the written word.

I felt that the details in the Wiederman version, like the foliage and the background...

...are not as tightly and lovingly rendered as in the "original" version:

...so that made it look like a copy to me. So yes, I was using the term "professional" more in terms of artistic ability, and not in terms of architectural requirements.

The difference though might be heavily influenced by the medium used, the Wiederman brush work looks more like a water color, which makes detail work much harder:

And I must admit I am just acting on hunch when I call the helicopter version the original. It's based on the fact that an expansion, like those extra Motel rooms, usually FOLLOWS a smaller scale building. That theory however is nixed by the date of the Wiederman rendering being 1961. It is unlikely that the owner asked for an expansion the same year the place was built. Maybe they decided to scale the project DOWN.

That and the fact that the sign is more simple might make the Wiederman art work the original, and the postcard rendering the second version, which maybe was ordered AFTER the fact, after the place was built, with more effort spent on detail, for promotional purposes, since the Leilani owners had such big chain expansion plans for other locations.

I do spy with my little eye a copyright date in bottom right corner of the postcard above, which might clear up that question...but I don't have the postcard with me, someone who does please zoom in on that detail.

Whichever way, the find of that rendering is an incredible stroke of good luck, congrats Bail Tekey. Where did you find it? Do you have any info about where it came from, as in the person and location?

Bigbro,

I scanned the postcard and it looks like the copyright date is 1958 - 61, but hard to tell exactly.

I would guess the postcard predated the painting. Nice score on that painting Bail Tekey.

Also grabbed some images on matchbooks that show the restaurant and motel were run be separate owners at some point.

The Giles' Leilani restaurant matchbook with a funny rendering of the Tiki that looks to be smiling.

And Harold's Leilani Motel.

DC

That does indeed look like 1958 - 61 ! How odd, does that mean it was worked on and altered and adjusted over the years? Why then do a whole separate rendering in '61 ? Any theories anybody?

While I was looking for information on “Beyond the Reef” (focused on the Ormond Beach restaurant, not Judge’s in Brookfield, WI), I ran across some information on the Leilani Supper Club and its successors. The original newspaper clippings posted by Lake Surfer are great, supplemented by additional fine research by meega and Mo-Eye, with DC doing his usual superlative job on visuals and bigbrotiki putting in some context along with others.

First, that 1983 news article on the sale of the motel from Lake Surfer also included a photo with a portion of the motel sign in the background...

The Milwaukee Journal March 2, 1983

An excerpt from that same article indicates that the Leilani Supper Club in its original incarnation ended in 1966 with a bankruptcy sale...

This 1967 article hints at the reason things went awry (high prices for big name entertainers) and indicates that the Leilani reopened at the beginning of 1967 under new management, Beefeaters Table, Inc, with a more limited scope...

The Milwaukee Sentinel January 31, 1967

Leilani Supper Club entertainers mentioned in the 1965 and 1966 gossip columns included Wayne Newton and Vic Damone.

Starting in 1970, the Leilani Restaurant started focusing on wedding receptions, according to newspaper editions of the time. Then in 1974, I ran across this ad which was the first explicit mention of Giles’ Leilani that I had run across...

The Milwaukee Sentinel August 21, 1974

This 1980 article suggests that Giles’ Leilani Restaurant was doing a great brunch business...

The Milwaukee Sentinel January 19, 1980

To survive, this 1983 article shows that Giles’ Leilani introduced a “legal” casino in November, 1982 and renamed the business to Giles’ Leilani Fifth Season Lounge and Restaurant...

The Milwaukee Journal June 9, 1983

Seems that by 1985, Giles crossed the line on the “legal” casino...

The Milwaukee Journal October 24, 1985

And, in spite of stating that the Leilani was “a restaurant first and a casino second,” the local food critics thought otherwise...

The Milwaukee Journal November 15, 1985

This 1984 ad indicates that Giles’ Leilani still relied on the wedding reception trade...

The Milwaukee Sentinel January 18, 1984

By the end of 1987, the business had devolved to a large extent...

The Milwaukee Journal December 12, 1987

By the beginning of 1989, it looks like the Leilani was experiencing a final incarnation on its way to the wrecking ball in the 1990s...

The Milwaukee Journal January 17, 1989

-Tom

In mid-1962 the Leilani began to offer Island Dancing several nights a week and was a part of their entertainment line-up at least thru 1965.


If mid-1964 thru '65 weren't it's heyday, it was the period it promoted itself the most with live entertainment.

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It looks like everything dropped off after the New Years season, with most promotions being for special occasions, banquets, and weddings. I couldn't find any evidence that those last January appearances ever took place as there were no archives for that period.

[ Edited by: meega 2011-08-09 20:05 ]

Kudos for the great research, both Tiki Tom and meega. Some of your findings aptly point at the reasons for the decline of Tiki in the late 60s:

The merciless food critic aptly mirrors the evolving tastes of Americans to who faux Polynesian Chinese food had lost its exotic thrill, and the impressive string of lounge acts at the Leilani seems like the last hurrah before the changing of the guard at the dawn of the Beatles craze. In the case of the Leilani, their fading into the sunset was even cut shorter by the 1966 bankruptcy of the venue, compared to the Aku Aku in Toledo which lasted until the LATE 60s:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22122&forum=2&start=15

On top of a new generation with different musical tastes growing up, I believe the entertainment genre of the supper club where music and meals went together was gradually killed by the growing numbers and use of color television. More people stayed home more often. With a dwindling audience the venues could not support the cost, and the entertainers who could switched to appearances on the tube themselves.

The final devolution happened when TV-sets started appearing in bars....it now continues with invasion of the internet in the form of the I-phone, and Facebooking in bars.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2013-06-10 22:08 ]

On 2011-08-09 10:34, bigbrotiki wrote:
Kudos for the great research, both Tiki Tom and meega. Some of your findings aptly point at the reasons for the decline of Tiki in the late 60s:

The merciless food critic mirror's the evolving tastes of Americans to who faux Polynesian Chinese food had lost its exotic thrill, and the impressive string of lounge acts at the Leilani seems like the last hurrah before the changing of the guard at the dawn of the Beatles craze. In the case of the Leilani, their fading into the sunset was even cut shorter by the 1966 bankruptcy of the venue, compared to the Aku Aku in Toledo which lasted until the LATE 60s:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22122&forum=2&start=15

On top of a new generation with different musical tastes growing up, I believe the entertainment genre of the supper club where music and meals went together was gradually killed by the growing numbers and use of color television. More people stayed home more often. With a dwindling audience the venues could not support the cost, and the entertainers who could switched to appearances on the tube themselves.

The final devolution happened when TV-sets started appearing in bars....it now continues with invasion of the internet in the form of the I-phone, and Facebooking in bars.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-08-09 11:55 ]

Add to that,the increasing volume at which most modern music is played these days....doesn't really make for a nice, classy dinner and show experience.
When Tikiyaki do our shows that occur during dinner, we keep the fist set, aka dinner set, "low and slow" for the most part to give people a chance to dine and talk without having to yell too much over the music.
I think the dinner show, needs to make a comeback, before we all become deaf and have upset stomachs :)

Photo postcard of the Harold's Leilani Motel, Brookfield, Wisconsin

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Hand written notes on back dated 11/3/1969
2 double beds $18.50 per nite
Color TV
Continental Breakfast
Indoor swimming

I found this postcard going through some things. I never posted it because it was one already posted.....but the back of the card says "The NEW Leilani Motel", totes 31 air-conditioned rooms, and makes no mention of the Leilani Supper Club. The area where the Supper Club should be is wooded. This card bares a strong likeness to the Alan Wiederman illustration, but that shows the Supper Club along with added motel rooms on the other side of the restaurant. More like a rough draft of a future expansion.
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The long "Village" card says "Milwaukee's Famous Suburban Motel" as if it had developed a reputation, includes the Supper Club, and says 60 air-conditioned rooms. More of a finalized design and closer to the actual layout, sans the heliport.
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FYI: After re-reading the original article on page one......Alan Wiederman was the architect for the motel & supper club along with the motel's expansion. It seems likely that all three of these illustrations were, if not his, someone in that firm - medium, artists, and speed in fleshing out ideas could all account for the variations. As to the heliport east of the restaurant....after looking at the aerials I posted on page 3, it probably did exist in a less exotic "big parking lot" kind of way. It was in the plan to expand the surrounding land, but I'm not sure that was all Paul Fechner's plans, or to rely on others to invest in the "Village" concept.

[ Edited by: meega 2011-08-14 07:34 ]

Here is an article from the September 5, 1961 Milwaukee Sentinel that mentions the August 31, 1961 opening of the Leilani Supper Club:

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Meega, nice capstone article for this thread.

It would have been a treat to accompany Buck Herzog as he visited that enchanting isle of Tiki 50 years ago... another epochal "bookmark" for my yet-to-be developed time machine.

-Tom

Some newspaper clippings, this first article has been covered already by Max's earlier text.

:down: Milwaukee Journal 10-25-1961

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:down: Leilani Ad 1961

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:down:Leilani Ad 1962

• Note how many of the room names are now different from the previous year's ad.

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:down:Milwaukee Journal 10-27-1962

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:down:Leilani Ad 1963

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[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2011-11-14 02:44 ]

Great info and pics Dave. Thanks!!!!! :)

A few more ads from the Leilani.

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This one features the old fashion Fish Fry.

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And the Leilani Luau with a drink, buffet, a Hawaiian movie and entertainment all for only $4.95.

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Now that's living!

DC

Picked up another matchbook from the Leilani that has the Tiki shield logo for just the motel, and under the Best Western banner.

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Also saw these two on the web, had not seen the one on the right with the Luau Room before.

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DC

The sculptor Gerhard Kroll is still alive and working. Other works by him can be seen in Milwaukee. He did the facade panels for the bank on the corner of Capital Dr. and Oakland Ave. He has a granite piece in the Manpower Collection displayed on the Milwaukee River downtown. He has a huge welded steel piece displayed at Manpower's suburban HQ and even did the brass gate for the J.I. Case Family Crypt! The original door handle for the Leilani Lodge is attached to a hamburger joint in the Wisconsin Dells as well as the huge brass sunburst that adorned the double front door.

On 2010-05-10 12:13, exotica59 wrote:
I tracked down Gerhard Kroll. He is still alive although in frail health. His wife seems to be in better health. I emailed them asking if they might have any info that they could share. Mrs. Kroll asked me why would I want to know about Gerhard, I tried to put her mind at ease and let her know that we were only interested in preserving history, but she never returned my email.
I suppose I should try again, as it was around the the holidays and prehaps she or whoever was helping her with the computer just forgot about my request.
Mr Kroll stayed in WI all his life and went on to teach art and is very well thought of by his former students.

Attempts were made in 2010 to contact him, but it seems his wife is protective or is not taking the interest in his Tiki work serious. As is sometimes the case, "commercial" jobs such as Tikis done for a Motel may not seem resume-worthy to artists that strive to be recognized for their more "serious" work.

Ms Kroll is very excited about present interest in Gerhard's tiki's and looking for photos and articles. I may try and get a podcast of Mr Kroll explaining their "origination". Her and Gerhard are constantly at work on projects and don't have time for cataloging. When contacted originally she did not know how to use email or the internet. :)

Great news! Thanks for the update, that is very nice to hear! I hope she can find some good photos of the artist at work on the Tikis.

This is quite an excellent piece of research.

Tiki lava sculptures by Gerhard Kroll-Racine, Wisconsin for Leilani Supper Club-Brookfield, Wisconsin.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grtlks233/

Excellent!!

Wonderful! Thank you very much! Wonderful examples of original Polynesian POP Tikis!

Did he start at the opening of the Leilani and added on more Tikis over the years?

Also these are the first PHOTOS of this vanished Tiki Temple I have seen!

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These photos are from the artist Gerhard Kroll's private collection and haven't been seen outside the family.

Gerhard Kroll carved all 16 original tiki inspired lava sculptures in the summer of 1961 for the owners of the Leilani Supper Club. It was his first gig after graduating from Milwaukee's Layton School of the Arts. The owners provided the stone (shipped from Mexico) and Gerhard was paid $1,500.00 for labor. He and his wife bought a brand new VW Bus with the money and an abandoned WWII era factory that they rehabbed and live in to this day. According to Mr. Kroll the original owners claimed that all of the sculptures were shipped in from "the islands" and denied him credit until confronted by his Mother in Law!!
The final "Giles" of Gile's Lelani owns a small restaurant in the Wisconsin Dells area and has "lots of stuff in storage". I will see him this summer.

grtlks233...Thank you very much for your diligence....it is much appreciated. Your contribution is awesome, for so little is known about this Brookfield wonder. OGR

Awesome work grtlkes233. I've been too swamped with carving and my new son to get out and do more research.
It's so cool to see the new contributions to this thread, and more info about this Wisconsin tiki temple!

Cool to see this tiki being carved in this photo...

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And then the finished tiki in this photo...

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I can't help but notice how the Leilani borrowed the "shield" sign design from the Islander of Los Angeles.

Hello Lake Surfer and all on thread, this is the finished sculpture in the newspaper article.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grtlks233/8670166213/in/photostream
also Lake Surfer, not to change the thread, but still on a Wisconsin note, do you know anything about the tiki style structures constructed on Bradford Beach, WI?

Looks like you found a fellow Wisconsin Tiki archeologist, Dave! Very good...- and with stellar results!

I was at the Dells two years ago to photograph the Del Bar for Pete Moruzzi's "Classic Dining" book - wish I would have known about Giles! The only once-Polynesian place I found was Tommy Bartlett's water ski show:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=28811&forum=1&vpost=492046

Glad to see this thread revived so successfully, I am looking forward to new discoveries.

Grtlks233,

Thanks for all of your great contributions to this thread. Hopefully you will find some more photos and history to add.

On 2013-04-23 11:32, bigbrotiki wrote:
I was at the Dells two years ago to photograph the Del Bar for Pete Moruzzi's "Classic Dining" book - wish I would have known about Giles! The only once-Polynesian place I found was Tommy Bartlett's water ski show:

What about the Tiki Motel in the Dells?

Tiki Motel

DC

*On 2013-04-23 09:54, grtlks233 wrote:*also Lake Surfer, not to change the thread, but still on a Wisconsin note, do you know anything about the tiki style structures constructed on Bradford Beach, WI?

Unfortunately, the only tiki on Bradford Beach is when I am down there carving one. The bars down there are owned by a local restaurant group and they just put fake thatch on the top of them. That was inspired by every beach bar in Florida I imagine. Nothing Hawaiian or tiki on Bradford, and their yearly beach parties are exclusively reggae.

On 2013-04-23 15:39, Dustycajun wrote:

What about the Tiki Motel in the Dells?

Dustycajun, no tiki in the Dells, though there was a Hawaiian gift shop downtown the last time I was there. That was 4 years ago. They had aloha shorts, dresses and all the knickknacks you'd find in an ABC Store.

The Polynesian hotel that is currently in business has no tiki now to my knowledge.

Aloha Hawaiian Shop on Broadway was the finest shop left on the main drag of the old Dells last summer (besides the hand made candy and fudge and Ripley's). The owner ships many of the items in from Hawaii and is VERY keen to talk about Hawaiian culture. Sorry to hear about Bradford Beach, I was hoping for more. Just today I was photographing an abandoned sailboat on 2nd St, in Milwaukee, and drove past a new bar:
http://www.luckyjoestiki.com
I know nothing about it and may check it out next month. Milwaukee now has 2 tiki lounges? Lake Surfer where do you sell your carvings? I am new to this group where have you posted any photos?

Lava abstract bird by Gerhard Kroll, practice piece for Leilani Supper Club tikis. Kept out side in a garden in Oregon,Il for 50 years! Now in writers collection.
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grtlks233, good to hear the Hawaiian shop is still in business.

Lucky Joe's is a fun little place. The decor is well done and the drinks are good. It's a bit of neo tiki, as opposed to the traditional look of Foundation Tiki Bar, and it features art by Tiki Tower, Bosko, me and some other artists. Get there early if its on a weekend, as the place gets a little packed and seats are hard to come by. Foundation is still my favorite bar, but another tiki bar is nice to have around!

[ Edited by: grtlks233 2013-04-24 22:37 ]