marquesan tiki L A county Arboretum

three years ago i stumbled upon a marquesan style carved hardwood tiki at the arboretum in Arcadia Ca. the carving is not very deep and it appears that the ears were tacked on after the tiki was "complete:" but he is one good-looking dude (imho) this will be a long narrative so grab a seat and a mai tai. pix will be added by my brother tikivato as soon as he sees this post.
the past two years i was unable to get any info on this tiki other than "he's always been around" this year i could not find the tiki and lucky for me i asked .one of the workers at the arboretum if she knew were the tiki was. she pointed me in the right direction and shortly after i located him she showed up. "she" being Jill Vig, Curator, water conservation garden, L A county Arboretum. i asked Jill a jillion questions about this tiki. she seemed to be amused that anyone had such interest in their "hawaiian idol". Jill took me to see a couple of her coworkers- they thought that the tiki was leftover from a Hawaiian themed luncheon during the 70's. Jill and i parted-Jill promising to email me anything that she might learn about this mystery tiki. a week later Jill found me at the arboretum and told me the following;
Otis Chandler's estate donated his orchid collection , this 6-8' tiki and 2 small kine tikis (2') in the early 90's. the tikis were soon on display, the little bruddahs quickly disappeared and attempts were made to dig up the big guy by persons unknown. the big guy was put into "secure storage" at the arboretum until about three years ago. i happened to see Leroy at O A on one of my weekly visits and i showed him the pix that you should be seeing soon. Leroy continues to amaze. he said that this tiki was likely carved in Samoa by craftsmen working for Bob Carter-Carter was an importer bringing in lotsa tiki stuff in the 60's. Leroy added that Chandler was so wealthy that he probably sailed to Samoa to collect his tikis.
Jill has told me that there is renewed interest in the Hawaiian idol by the arboretum staff-even talk of relocating the "Chandler"tiki to a better spot. currently about 2' of his base is buried in the rich moist soil in the jungle area. i liked this tiki so much that i visit him any time that i am at the arboretum. i am a member of the L A international fern society. we have a growing area for our ferns at the arboretum and the society meets there monthly. the tiki is located about 20' south of the orchid room , the orchid room is on the n/e quadrant of the property. unfortunately most visitors don't notice the tiki as they traverse the concrete walkway to the orchid room. check Chandler out.

Thank you for all that info, Umi!
I guess I haven't been to the L.A. Arboretum for more than three years, because I know that place well, but never saw him!

All these years, I could SMELL Tiki there, but did not find any :)

Apparently, Tiki Tony and Marquesan art lover and artist Michael Uhlencott found it, too!:

It sure does look Island-, not mainland-carved. I'm just glad it's not there because they used it as a prop for Fantasy Island,
which was shot at the Queen Anne Cottage there:

Here are the pictures that my brother, Nui-Umi-Umi took of the above mentioned Tikis.

On 2011-08-01 15:19, nui 'umi 'umi wrote:
currently about 2' of his base is buried in the rich moist soil in the jungle area.

What a great tiki! What a shame they chose to bury part of it, as it will rot. Maybe if they relocate it, they will secure it in a better fashion.

[i]On 2011-08-01 15:19, nui 'umi 'umi wrote:

the tiki is located about 20' south of the orchid room , the orchid room is on the n/e quadrant of the property. unfortunately most visitors don't notice the tiki as they traverse the concrete walkway to the orchid room. check Chandler out.

Amazing urban archeology!
Nice (second) post, Nui 'umi 'umi.

I will be by shortly to take a first hand look.

Here are some pictures of the Marquesan that I took on Monday.

Random giant clam shell. Maybe it used to be part of a fountain?

This would be a good place for a stone tiki.

Lori,
Looks like “Chandler” is holding up well-Mahalo for the pix.
Btw, where is the clamshell? I’ve never seen it.

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2013-12-27 17:49 ]

Just added that place to my itinerary for my next trip.

The clam shell is by the guest house, close to what looks like a circulating pump for the pond. I managed to snap a picture in between children beating the shell with a stick.
Big Kahuna, the arboretum took us about 4 hours to go through and it wasn't our first time there. Very interesting history at the old Lucky Baldwin residence. Very fancy horse barn too.
The neighboring Huntington Gardens and Library are even more impressive, but no tikis. Henry Huntington had an extremely large house and library. If you like very rare books and art its worth a look too. If you like gardens than the Huntington Gardens would be my first choice.

-Lori

[ Edited by: tikilongbeach 2014-07-26 04:00 ]

Went to the Arboretum this morning to see if any of my plants won anything at the Fern and Exotic plant Show. I thought I’d check out Chandler. He is a bit more weathered but the cracks in his face don’t seem any worse than back in ’11. He has a couple of new cracks at the base but what concerns me is the rot I have not noticed before at the very bottom.
The “shelter “ has not been erected and I suspect that Chandlers days are numbered.

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2014-07-26 06:22 ]