estate sale-west coast tiki

anyone on the west coast get to this sale today ?? had some tiki, bamboo and what looked like a nice record collection. read the info- apparently this guy was the inventer of the pole lamp from the 50's... at least that's how they are spinning it.

http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales/416394.aspx?highlight=tiki/rattan+tiki

I didn't make it. Drats!

However, you are going to get me addicted to this estate sale site. Here's one in Michigan that has a great Fern Wood Tiki, a slit drum, and more up for grabs:

http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales/418392.aspx

A buddy of mine in Ypsilanti just complained to me today that he can't find any Tiki stuff for me, so I had to see if there was anything in his region. I have a feeling this stuff is out of his budget, though.

It's happening next weekend, though, so there's time to prepare for any mid-westerners who are interested.

This one has a Witco stool and mask in New Jersey.

http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales/416694.aspx?highlight=tiki

That's just a stone's throw from Oceanic Arts. Did anybody go?

O.K. I went. This is the picture in the add that caught my eye -

Went in the house... sad and messy... someone wasn't keeping tabs on their aging parents... went to the room that had the tiki stuff and found only an empty (clean) space on the wall where this had been. Hopefully it went to a T.C. person. There was some rattan furniture. One interesting housing for an old T.V., but the rest was not too exciting or in very good shape. Nothing else in the house piqued my interest so exited through the back...

Wish I'd brought a camera! The back had someone's tiki paradise in ruins. The garage/rec room/dark room was surrounded by a mote, now dry and forgotten, with two bridges, both leading to the dark and filthy interior. One of the doors had a large A-frame entry with a fixture that might have had a lighted float. Inside was a large bamboo bar with a palapa shade and a nicely painted tropical diorama on the wall. Also a small window to pass drinks through to the darkroom! All in disrepair and obviously forgotten for years. This as well as boxes and household goods scattered everywhere made it a very sad sight. In a trash heap was the remnants of an expanding rattan dining table left to the elements for years and beyond rescue. This backyard paradise had clearly been the place to be and quite a treasure years ago, but now forgotten to the ravages of time.

This was the second day of the estate sale so I imagine many of the treasures were plucked up on Friday. It's hard to imagine there weren't other poly-pop treasures in and around the property. Hopefully it was a T.C. member who will share pics of their trophies with us. If anyone is in the area it would be simple to get a picture over the wall of the A-frame and mote. Perhaps even hop the wall and get a shot if the interior.

You DIDN'T TAKE A CAMERA? That's half of the fun of going to these estate sales!

This one was a killer, one of those you hope for, wading through TONS of "old lady furniture" photos that leave you numb with the awareness of the conventionality of mass taste - but even if I would be home in LA and not in Hamburg right now, I probably would have missed it.

I guess there's no chance that any TC member ended up with these items:

A rattan TV set, PLUS a set of photos that show it in its proper environment! IF by any remote chance the lucky winner reads this, I would LOVE to borrow them for a Tiki exhibition I am working on - it would be so perfect to screen clips from Hawaiian Eye and Adventures in Paradise in.

In lieu of the rattan cover, does anybody know of a vintage late 50s TV set available from which I can take out the tube and replace it with a modern monitor?

UGH! I wonder if there were any pics of the Tiki Paradise, in its heyday?

If you read through the posting, it mentions home movies...that would be cool to see.

As I mentioned, it was the second (last) day. That T.V. case was the only thing in good condition. Pretty picked over by the time I got there (9 in the morning)... and things just strewn about. They put up an add on Craigslist later in the day that they were giving things away free. Too long a trip twice in one day. I actually gave some thought to dismantling the A frame and putting it on the roof of my convertible. Still hoping for a T.C. members victory photos.

...I'll take a camera from now on.

apparently the owner took pics of the furniture in his house- those must be his photos, He must have had more if he was a photo buff.

I am absolutely in love with those pics! I hope the TV cabinet got recued. What was the asking price on it?

Don't remember the prices. I thought some of them were a little high (even at half off the second day) considering the condition. Most everything in the pics was gone.

I was musing about the fact that I had never seen such a rattan TV cabinet before, and that he had those photos:

Considering the owner designed the pole lamp, perhaps he was into rattan furniture design in the early 50s, and the cabinet was his creation? Perhaps he worked with the Ritts company or another LA-based rattan furniture maker in creating it?

Those B&W photos sure look like sales photos, and the fact that he kept them all these years might indicate that he was not just a buyer, but the maker and seller.

I wonder what the owner's name was...maybe the folks at O.A. know something.

P.S.: What I am looking for otherwise, for my show, is something like this:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2013-04-14 23:37 ]

The first item to show up on Craigslist. The T.V. enclosure.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/for/3749965603.html

ask and you shall receive - here's your chance sven !! i expect to see that t.v. stand in your display for the show.

Thanks to the dedicated, ear-to-the-ground urban archeologists here on TC (and to my wife!), I am now the happy owner of said set - pur-chased all the way from Germany. :) And thanks to the interim possessors Gris Grimly and wife who, as being a part of the creative community in LA, knew of my work and gladly let me have the rare cabinet.

Now I just have to find those B&W photos that show it in situ....

Awesome Sven...glad you acquired it. OGR

Excellent. Maybe the people that sold the estate might be able to help, or a posting on an estate sale site. Congrats!

way to go, sven !! saved from the scrap heap. nice score, congrats !!

It takes a village to save a Tiki! Nice job Sven, that set is going to rock Paris!

DC

.....and a big thanks to tipsy mcstagger for posting this estate sale here, without which, all of this might have gone unnoticed until it was too late.

We're fortunate to have him around !!

:up: True Story

That is some good team work there...with Tips leading the clan!!! Way to go.

Awesome! I can't wait to see the exhibit.

excellent story, . I'll stay tuned in to see if the photos surface.