Kono Hawaii, Santa Ana, CA (restaurant)

It's hard to believe that the Kono Hawaii didn't have its own Locating thread. I was looking for a place to post a few things that I had picked up, and all I came across was thejab's old Kono Hawaii postcard thread.

I picked up two of these cocktail umbrellas last month. They're not in very good shape, but I'm fairly amazed that they survived at all.

I also have these two matchboxes.

And this mug.

These three belong to Boris.

Here are a few things from other posts.

I think this is from a really big post card that Boris owns.

And a few more from Dustycajun.

Name:Kono Hawaii
Type:restaurant
Street:226 S. Harbor Blvd.
City:Santa Ana
State:CA
Zip:92704
country:USA
Phone:531-1232
Status:defunct

Description:
From the back of a post card that Dustycajun posted:

Diners marvel at a blend of the finest in Hawaiian-Japanese food in a setting of the tropics and the Far East. Hawaiian and Japanese waitresses provide the best in warmth and hospitality of Pacific splendor in the Kono Room (family room), Tea House (Sukiyaki) or Luau Shack (tropical cocktails). Kono's Gift Shop offers unusual imported gifts from the 50th State and the Orient.

I'm really impressed with those cocktail umbrellas. You hardly ever see them with a logo on them. The only other examples I remember are from the Mauna Loa in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada:

Here are a few more items from the Kono Hawaii:

:up: Thanks to bongofury for this scan

:down: the original door handles

:down: the drink menu, which seems to prove this was one of the restaurants that used the Kelvin's tiki mug, or one very similar.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2009-08-28 21:39 ]

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2009-08-29 01:53 ]

Nice work, Sabu. That place existed for the longest time, albeit in de-tikied form (not that it had many Tikis to begin with), but well into the 90s. It was notable for being one of the Polynesian places (together with the Royal Hawaiian Anaheim) that Walt Disney used to frequent.

Always one of my favorite postcards. Nice to see all of the images put together on this thread.

Walt used to swing here you say?

Here is another cool little ad.

DC

Thanks for the great pictures and additional info, Sabu.

I completely forgot about the phone book ads.

Here is another matchbook I posted previously.

And a cool black and white photo from Flickr.

DC

Thanks for these memorabilia posts everyone - Kono Hawaii is my personal number one Polynesian-pop temple even though its gone now.

My father took my mother there on their second date together in the early 1960s..as a family we went there for all special family celebrations and in later years my father would make special visits when The Society of Seven appeared there (I tagged along once to see that group but since that was so anti-hip in my teenage mind (at that time) I don't remember details of Kono Hawaii being de-tikified.

It seems to me Kono Hawaii was demolished before the 1990s, but I may be wrong..foggy in the memory bank you know :wink:

TikiG

[ Edited by: TikiG 2009-08-31 07:28 ]

Here is a red version of that cool matchbox.

DC

awesome! use to go to this place with my parents and my grandparents. there use to be a cool go cart track near there also. awesome memories!

Dang, this place looks awesome.

They used to have a new wave dance night there in the 80's & a pre-rave club called Happy House in the 90's
before it closed down.

I could kick my parents for never taking me there, or Sam's seafood.
at least I made it to Sam's on my own,
but sadly this place closed before I knew it was doomed.
:(

Jeff(btd)

Fond child hood memories of Kono .When we moved to OC in the early 70's Kono was
within just a few miles of our house, so we would visit often.I remember they had
a Benehana style chef that would cook food and toss it right in front of you.

Last month I was tipped by Carmen Sanders to check out:

Kona Hawaii Restaurant Family and Friends

• on Facebook (Note spelling of Kona...not Kono(?) )

Since I don't Facebook maybe one of you post(ers) can take a peek and report back what you find. :wink:

Maybe this is related to the old KONO HAWAII in Santa Ana w/some cool trivia as is this thread...maybe it has nothing to do with KONO HAWAII at all.

Here's a photo posted on Facebook by my friend Bryan Thomas, who posted it in an album of shots of vintage vans. However, I recognized from the building and the partial sign that this is outside Kono Hawaii. Most of the flyers and brochure shots seem to be taken from the other side looking this way, so here's a rarer reverse view.

Caltiki Brent

PS - This shot may be of particular interest to Jim Bacchi (if he hasn't seen it before)

Serious wide meat on those rear tires !

I saw this more modern drink menu from Kono Hawaii.

In doing a little research on the web, I found a facebook page with tons of old photos.

Here are a few from the golden Tiki era.

Good stuff!

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2012-07-28 12:45 ]

Nice finds DC. Thanks!

Great stuff, love the "Haoles doin' the Hula" shot.

Awesome pics, thanks for posting DC

It's funny, I remember going by here in the Mid 80s, on the way to the beach,
(either bus or by car) and thinking that place looks so cool, like the tiki room at Disneyland, only better. And wanting to go so much.
Yet never did. ;-(
and this 10 to 12 years before I found out about the "tiki scene"

damn parents.
Jeff(btd)

[ Edited by: bigtikidude 2012-07-29 11:44 ]

I realize that i'm very late to this thread, but i'm a newbie to TC. I grew up as a kid in Santa Ana through the 70's, and my father was a musician who's band performed at the Kona Hawaii . They played top 40's music, oldies, and also did a Hawaiian set with hula dancers and multi percussionists. We moved away in the 80's , but , as the world turns, I ended up moving back in the mid 90's and remember seeing the placed closed with chain link fencing around the property . This would of been around 1995/'96. That city was completely different in its heyday , and simply couldn't last in that area in later years. Sad. Another one gone.
Axle

Axle do you remember Kona having a "New Wave" dance night in the 80s?

On 2012-07-28 12:04, Dustycajun wrote:

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2012-07-28 12:45 ]

Dustycajun, I joined this forum 100% because of this post. I'm dying to know where you found this picture. That is my father in the picture between dancers Pua and Lei, who were very good friends of my mother. So good, in fact, that I'm named after Lei and my sister is named after Pua. I have never in my life seen this photo, and I see Lei's name is written on it...do you know if it came from her or perhaps one of her children? I've found Pua on Facebook and we're back in touch, but have not been able to locate Lei and would love to if at all possible.

EDIT TO ADD:

Nevermind! I found a Kono page on FB, and thru that I found Lei's husband :) Thank you for posting this picture!! If I hadn't seen this, I may never have found her :)

[ Edited by: VoniLei 2014-06-16 20:43 ]

Wow, that's cool. Welcome to Tiki Central, and good luck to you in finding Lei, VoniLei!

DustyCajun, you're on deck!

What a great story from VoniLei, glad she saw the photo! Here are a few more from Facebook:

Some of the staff

Band

Nice Tiki on stage right

The modern sign.

This ad shows that Kono Hawaii was established in 1955.

Some of the entertainment.

1970's version of the ad.

DC

So who here on TC have been to the Kono Hawaii?

Went there many times with my Grandparents and family. Eli had an "In" with them so I'm guessing he did some work there.

Ben, you ever go to New Wave night in the 80s?
Unfortunately most of the vintage decor was gone by then, to make the rooms larger.

1966 ad

Found in this

Ashtray from the Kono Hawaii with some paint wear at the bottom. Picked up last year at a flea market.

Thank you so much for the memories, I had forgotten about this place until we were having dinner with some Tiki friends and we recalled the place. I went there with my folks and grandparents, as a kid, I thought this place was magical, inside there were bridges and catwalks with streams, waterfalls connecting all the "rooms" inside. One of the rooms was a Teppanyaki type restaurant. My favorite of course was the Polynesian showroom. We went there when my wife & I when we were dating with friends and after we were married in 1982. We saw Society of Seven and other Hawaiian groups. It was so awesome, it was a large showroom, you were served drinks, and then a Polynesian dinner and then you would watch the show. Such a cool place, so sad it's not there anymore.

This may be an odd question here, but this seems like the right place to ask it:

I grew up in Orange, but my family moved away in the mid '70s when I was only 12, so I have only dim memories. But this place is ringing a bell for me.

I remember my folks taking me to what I remember as a tiki-themed miniature golf course, and I'm pretty sure it was in this same general area. I'm also pretty sure it was named "Kono" or "Kona" something, although I could be wrong about that.

Could it have been close by, or even part of Kono Hawaii? I do seem to remember there were "adult activities" (i.e. alcohol consumption) nearby - this place? Were they neighbors?

Does anyone out there even remember the miniature golf course I'm thinking of? I'd dearly love to find out whatever happened to the place.

(this is my first post here... please be gentle!)

On 2017-02-09 16:36, beerslayer wrote:

I remember my folks taking me to what I remember as a tiki-themed miniature golf course, and I'm pretty sure it was in this same general area. I'm also pretty sure it was named "Kono" or "Kona" something, although I could be wrong about that.

Could it have been close by, or even part of Kono Hawaii? I do seem to remember there were "adult activities" (i.e. alcohol consumption) nearby - this place? Were they neighbors?

Welcome aboard. I think you are remembering the Holo Wai golf course located on South Glassell in Orange. About 6 miles away from the Kono Hawaii.

There is a thread for that here:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22578&forum=2&hilite=holo%20wi

DC

On 2017-02-09 16:53, Dustycajun wrote:
Welcome aboard. I think you are remembering the Holo Wai golf course located on South Glassell in Orange. About 6 miles away from the Kono Hawaii.

There is a thread for that here:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22578&forum=2&hilite=holo%20wi

Thanks for the response, Dustycajun. I guess that's probably it. While I lived right off Glassell, and the theme certainly seems right, somehow I'm not 100% convinced that's the place. I thought I remembered we had to drive quite a ways to get there... of course, to an 11-year-old, any drive of more than a few miles seems like an eternity!

I hesitate to even ask this, but is there even a slight possibility there might have been another tiki-themed mini golf course somewhere in Orange County back in the early '70s?

Stolen off an ebay auction

Sharing images of an ashtray and matchbox from the Kono Hawaii Restaurant that I rescued from a local swap meet...