Aku Aku . Cadillac Sands Resort, Cadillac Mi., new photos (restaurant)

Name:Aku Aku . Cadillac Sands Resort, Cadillac Mi.
Type:restaurant
Street:6319 E. M-115
City:Cadillac
State:MI
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
I did a search of TC and couldn't find this one so here we go. I just picked this menu up today. I live here in Michigan so anything Tiki from this far north catches my eye. The resort is still in operation. They do have a restaurant called the Clipper Room and a lounge called The Porthole. The menu is in great shape with some good graphics. I am not sure of the date but looking at the prices I would put it in the early 60's. The photo of the Porthole lounge is bad but it still has a nautical theme and a float light or two. The bamboo chairs maybe a holdover from the original Aku Aku as well as some of the decor. The font for the resort includes a torch which looks classic. That's all I have for now but a good start. I'll post the pics below. Thanks for looking.

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2008-09-28 15:41 ]

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2008-09-28 19:16 ]

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2008-10-16 14:42 ]

The two page menu and front and back.

The Porthole Lounge which maybe is all that is left of the old Aku Aku. Sorry for the bad quality of the pic. I''l have to do some more digg'n for some more information.

Love this font with the torch....classic.

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

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2008-09-28 15:43 ]

With a little help from Savage Sissy we now think the Clipper Room was originally the Aka Aku as the Clipper is pool side at the resort today as the Aku Aku was in the past. What appears to be a lava rock wall in the Clipper along with a fish trap and some netting as well as some decor in the Porthole may have come from the Aku Aku. Soooo a little more info as we go along.

Fantastic find, thank you so much for sharing it, and taking the time to do some digging. Will you be making a field trip to Cadillac?

Thanks Humuhumu. I hope to get up there soon. If I can't I'll have to deploy my Tiki agents to the location (my inlaws). Thanks for looking.

On 2008-09-28 15:35, uncle trav wrote:
The two page menu and front and back.

Nice Menu, the graphics look like the same ones from The Tahitian Lanai (Stanley Stubenberg) and the prices are comparable on both menus for the 60's.

Oooh, good eye, naugatiki. Sounds like another one of those cases where inspiration struck after a vacation to Hawaii. I've added both the Aku Aku and the Clipper Room/Porthole Lounge to Critiki:

Aku Aku, Cadillac
Clipper Room and Porthole Lounge, Cadillac

...plus the Aku Aku typeface is from the Las Vegas original one, and the "Romance of Rum" is from another menu, too...I think a Crane Kon Tiki menu. The Ku looks like the often copied Coco Joe's/Brady Bunch tourist piece.

All this is part of the Polynesian pop "Chain of Transmission". :)

On 2008-09-29 11:21, bigbrotiki wrote:
...plus the Aku Aku typeface is from the Las Vegas original one, and the "Romance of Rum" is from another menu, too...I think a Crane Kon Tiki menu. The Ku looks like the often copied Coco Joe's/Brady Bunch tourist piece.

All this is part of the Polynesian pop "Chain of Transmission". :)

actually, the tiki is identical to the cocojoes tiki bookends tiki, minus the sculpted grass wall background with bamboo frame which makes up the rest of the bookend....they probably took a photo of the bookend then traced the tiki and base in pencil..adding the detail in for the final printing.

Heres one of my bookends, it's unmarked or if it was, it's not anymore.
Sorry for the poor quality, it's late and the rum was good.

Wow, I love those old Frankenstein's monster menus. Too much. Thanks for sharing!

On 2008-09-29 11:21, bigbrotiki wrote:
....The Ku looks like the often copied Coco Joe's/Brady Bunch tourist piece....

NOT! What was I thinking/drinking? That was a complete mis-filing in my brain, tiz tiz.

WOW !! Great detective work everyone. Amazing how people on TC can look at an item and cross reference to another. We have this menu down almost to the brand of paper it was printed on. Good stuff. I still have to get up there and check it out soon. Hopefully there are some folks that can give me a little history of the place. Thanks for all of your help.

Found some postcards of the resort. The resort today looks nothing like these vintage views. The first card shows the mid-century modern design of the building and the interior of the Aku Aku.

Her are a couple of blown up views. Sorry for the bad quality of the scan. Looks to be a velvet painting on the wall flanked by what maybe Witcos. Crossed war clubs or paddles mounted on grass mat with a tiki above can be seen. Float lights, and some other classic lights can be seen hanging. There is a small lounge in the background behind the fish netting. The rattan chairs appear to be the same as the chairs in the newer Porthole Lounge.

The main dinning room with a turtle shell on the wall.

This is the pool that the Aku Aku looked out on complete with fake palm trees.

Another exterior view.

Thanks for looking.

Nice find for the A-frame fanatic! Wish that rendering would be bigger, bet it falls apart once you blow it up like the interiors.

Here's some photos of the card. Love the giant torch on the sign.

i know where to find that same lamp that hangs over the pool..there is one at an antique shop but the owner says it's not for sale...i been tryin though!!!...it is way cool up close....very atomic and the cylinder has small holes all over it to let light out the sides ....the whole lamp is metal and in great shape...makes me wonder now if it is from this place on the postcard....i've never seen this lamp before and i have been thrifting for years now and never came across one...i'll have to ask where they got it from.....

Hey, Cool post and pictures!!!
Don't those things on either side of that velvet painting (especially the one further away)

look like this thing hanging on the far left side of the bar in this picture of the Porthole Lounge????

It is very hard to say in these pictures but it does sort of have the same shape/style. Somebody earlier said they sort of look like Witco's but can't tell.
Someone's got to go do some Investigating!!

Anyone, anyone??

TabooDan

Good eye Dan. Looking at the card with a magnifying glass is how I thought they maybe Witcos but it is hard to tell. The Thing to the left in the Porthole is what looks like a ships figurehead the "bare breasted lady type".

Hey Uncle Trav, thanks, I can see that bare breasted woman bang on now! Funny, I couldn't really see that before.
They do look different now.

Not much to report on the Aku Aku or it's connection to the Leilani in Wi. But I did see this little ad on eBay. It appears that not only did the Aku Aku use images from the Tahitian Lanai in their menu they named the outdoor patio the Tahitian Lanai Patio as well.

I finally was able to do a one day expedition to Cadillac this past weekend. I headed to the local library with hopes of finding a trove of history for both the Sands and the Aku Aku. Blank expressions greeted me as I started asking questions. The research librarian was helpful and very nice but could not help me with any of my questions. The library had zero information on the restaurant and very very little on the resort. I did leave my contact info with her and received a call from another librarian yesterday. I was given the name and number of a nice gentleman at the resort and gave him a call. This gentleman was very nice and helpful but since the resort has changed hands over the years he could not offer any more information on the history of the resort. I did get the name of one of the sons of the original owners who is now in his sixties that would have remembered the resort in the early days of operation. A quick check of the white pages has turned up only a disconnected number. For now the Aku Aku at the Sands Resort only lives on in this thread. I'll keep digging more info and hold down the Tiki fort here in Michigan. Thanks for taking a look.

On 2008-10-16 19:05, Tipsy McStagger wrote:

i know where to find that same lamp that hangs over the pool..there is one at an antique shop but the owner says it's not for sale...i been tryin though!!!...it is way cool up close....very atomic and the cylinder has small holes all over it to let light out the sides ....the whole lamp is metal and in great shape...makes me wonder now if it is from this place on the postcard....i've never seen this lamp before and i have been thrifting for years now and never came across one...i'll have to ask where they got it from.....

they finally sold me the lamp !! after 10 yrs of waiting.... It now hangs over our kitchen table.

Past by the Cadillac Sands this summer. Did not have a chance to stop in. It looks like the original bones of the building are still intact though with some updates.