The Leilani... Brookfield, WI

Gerhard Kroll's Moai?
I am driving out next week to make sure these are lava sculptures and attempt to interview the present owners.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=461183873960547&set=a.414017955343806.100912.100002068165333&type=1&theater

Folks were asking about the tiki motel in the Dells. We spent our honeymoon there in 1966 .... so very long ago. It had some cool tiki carvings out front but the rooms weren't very island culture. It it long gone now. Only us old people remember it.

Following a tip posted on a blog written by the gentleman below in 2010;
Robert Simonson, "Our Man in the Liquor-Soaked Trenches"-New York Times
I located these 2 Moais that once decorated the Leilai. For being carved in 1961 they are in amazing shape. No one would open the door when I knocked/rang the bell so how they got there remains a mystery. The original tip read "Take a drive down county highway x south of highway 59 in Waukesha right about Glendale road you will find one of the Leilani tiki statues".

And here is another authentic Leilani artifact, a tiki necklace with haunting green eyes that my sister obtained during a visit in the 1960's. Unfortunately there are no inscriptions or other markings identifying it as being from the Leilani but I know it to be true!

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

[ Edited by: TropicDrinkBoy 2013-07-06 09:50 ]

Spotted this 1970's matchbook from Giles' Leilani.

Lets have a party indeed!

DC

Nice photo of the classic Leilani Sign from Signs, Streets and Storefronts by Martin Treu.

What a beauty.

DC

Nice photo Dusty!

Total copy of the sign the old Islander restaurant in LA had!

I found this brochure from Harold's Leilani, check it out!

Awesome find!

A shame... It looks to be stripped of all of its tiki and Polynesian Pop decor. Traces of mid century design, but even the new sign looks dull.

It's time for a round of "I wonder if..."

Just today, a friend of ours stumbled on this wonderful abstract nearly 7ft tall Tiki, just about 20 minutes directly east of where the mighty Leilani once stood in Brookfield...
Unfortunately there wasn't any other information on it.

Needless to say, a deal was struck, and now he's standing in our garage.

It's far from the most "professional" job in the world, so it's entirely possible this was someone's "practice Tiki" they made for their home. From the linear, very minimal MCM-abstract design of it, I suspect it's older (new hobbyist Tikis seem to tend more towards the grinning pineapple-head style), but there's pretty light wear so he's spent his life indoors. It's lightweight and the wood kind of sheds and is splinter-y, so I think it's probably pine or was some kind of fir tree.

So now I wonder IF maybe, just maybe... he started his life at the Leilani?

Another distinct (and perhaps more likely) possibility is the also-lost Mai Khi in West Allis which was also pretty close from where this guy turned up (and that building still stands at 5630 W Lincoln, and was still a bar - albeit a crappy one - up until a couple years ago)

A mystery, regardless, as I've yet to see any photos of the inside of either the Leilani or the Mai Khi when it was still a Tiki bar (or Judges Beyond the Reef... or the Bali Hai, both also in Brookfield many moons ago)

But we certainly couldn't leave him at the price they were asking ... just look at that face!

With the bark on it I'd say homebrew.

[ Edited by: Maui Chimes 2016-08-26 05:43 ]

[ Edited by: Maui Chimes 2016-08-26 05:42 ]

[ Edited by: Maui Chimes 2016-08-26 05:41 ]

[ Edited by: Maui Chimes 2016-08-25 22:43 ]

Happy Buddah -

I suspect you're right. And, moving it around more, it's definitely palm. Those are clearly not native to Wisconsin (ahem), so there's some kind of fun story hiding there.

Should say, too, the photos don't really do it much good... it's much more pleasant to look at in person! And in the dark of our basement bar, underlit, it'll look fantastic (along with the....uhh...7 other 6ft+ tall Tikis currently in our garage waiting for their time to shine.)

Either way, for $40, we couldn't leave 'im there.

Not saying at all it's from the Leilani (and the Mai Khi would be more probable anyway... I've read this whole thread a several times over the years and am fascinated with the place, the lava carvings, etc) just "wondering if..." like I mentioned. It's fun to think maybe it lived in a back corner by the bathroom there or something, watching Vic Damone from the shadows.

OK... enough of my derailing this thread! Now back to daydreaming about what the inside of this place must have been like...

--Pete