Does anyone know about the Kapu-Kai in CA?

Great film; I really enjoyed it. Thank you!

Kevin

This is one of the gems in my collection. Found it at a flea market about 7 years ago. I sure wish I had gone to the Kapu Kai.

I altered this postcard to add a reference to Roller City, a local hangout in the 70's.
I took a walk with my mom to the Kapu-Kai after the flood destroyed it, you could see
inside the bowling alley, mud everywhere. What a shame it was torn down. Such
beautiful architecture!

Hi Kapu Kid, are you related to the family?

Yup!! I watched the video numerous times. It truly is a great documentary. Plus you get a insider on the O.G's who started the Tiki revival. Colin Sato did a great job.:D

coming soon to a t-shirt near you, painstakingly retraced from a match book scan!

Colin,
Glad this thread re-surfaced. I had not seen the documentary. Very nice job. I'm curious to know if your family had a background in restaurant management or an association with the hotels in Hawaii before coming to California and opening the Kapu-Kai. Do you know what inspired such a grand vision and their ability to turn it into reality?
Mahalo.

On 2014-05-14 22:36, Kailuageoff wrote:
Colin,
Glad this thread re-surfaced. I had not seen the documentary. Very nice job. I'm curious to know if your family had a background in restaurant management or an association with the hotels in Hawaii before coming to California and opening the Kapu-Kai. Do you know what inspired such a grand vision and their ability to turn it into reality?
Mahalo.

Not really, my Dad had managed bowling alleys both in HI and in LA. I guess when they bought the Kai, he had sufficient experience to run it. Note, my dad and partners did not create it, they bought it after it was already up.

Wow, I didn't know: There was a previous owner? Or owners? Does your mom rememeber anything bout that? That place couldn't have been erected on spec...

Colin, here are pages 294 and 295 of the catalog for my Tiki exhibit in Paris, opening the end of the month:

That looks great Sven. Kapu Kai was truly a Tiki marvel. Just throwing in my 2 cents. :)

Kapu_Kai_Son, I just went through the early pages of this thread to see the old photos you posted. Unfortunately those photo links have expired and all of your great original photos have disappeared. Would you consider uploading the photos to Tiki Central directly and pasting new links into your earlier posts? Some really excellent material originally appeared in your early posts, and it would be great to get them back for the benefit of the many who so appreciate the Kapu Kai.

I was born not too far from the Kapu Kai, and in later years I spent a lot of time in the mountains above and behind the Kapu Kai. That whole area is a part of my personal past, and as a kid my family drove by there many times although I never remember any of us stopping there and going inside.

Thanks.

GREAT video Colin!
Having grown up in a restaurant family I know how important the restaurant is to the family
that owns one.
My mother used to call our places the sixth child as many times the restaurants came first before the family.
It’s awesome to be able to see the décor of the Kapu-Kai and I got many ideas for lights so
thanks for that too!

Good luck!!

¤(¯*•.(¯•..TIKISKIP..•´¯).•*´¯)¤

Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

Don't remember where or when I got them....never noticed the bottom until I went to catalog them on Ooga Mooga...

Time to bump this great thread. Some news clippings from the Kapu Kai.

Aloha Lanes!

Talent Night.

Grand Opening.

Here is a matchbook image I clipped that I had never seen before.

I used to be in on a bowling league team sponsored by the Toes on the Nose Tavern - we had Hawaiian bowling shirts so I can really relate to this place.

DC

They had a talent show night too?
I really wish I could have seen this place.

Somebody should come out with / make a commemorative mug.

The big storm and flooding which came down from the mountains will happen again someday. I wonder how their flood control is different now than it was back in the late 60's when the Kapu Kai was damaged and forced to close?

I was born not too far from the Kapu Kai, in Pomona, and I lived my first 11 years in the Pomona Valley. It was always a hot and dry place in the foothills, but when it stormed and rained, look out! As I got older, I came to spend quite a bit of time in the mountains surrounding that part of So Cal. I wish I had been more aware of the demise of the many things I grew up seeing. The valley was rich with mid-century neon from bowling alleys, huge and glamorous car-hop restaurants, and many other cool things. It's a very different place today, but it still retains that hot and dry feel I remember when I lived there.

Another Floridian here who grew up in the area of the Kapu-Kai. It appeared suddenly, there in Cucamonga, on Foothill Boulevard. It was fantastic! My parents asked me where I wanted to celebrate my 12th birthday. I wanted to celebrate at the Kapu-Kai; where else! My parents drove a blue American Motors Rambler station wagon full of 12-year-old girls to the Kapu-Kai for my birthday dinner. Nine months later, my family moved away from California to Florida. We had visited Florida for many years, and frequented The Luau, another fantastic tiki palace in Miami Beach, now gone. But the Kapu-Kai was, and is, very, very special to me.

On 2015-03-24 12:09, Unga Bunga wrote:

Somebody should come out with / make a commemorative mug.

What an excellent idea. I hope it is shaped like the matchbook tiki with it's tongue protruding and the boss 'Kapu-Kai' sign logo with each letter on a shield... are you listening, Wendy? : )

Isn't it amazing how something so wonderful [the Kapu-Kai] sometimes appears out of nowhere, yet we just take it for granted? And often it goes away, and suddenly everybody misses it..

Here I go off-topic again. Could the Kapu-Kai be opened again today? Could a combination Food/Bar/Bowling facility with a Poly Pop theme survive as a viable, profitable business? With the Tiki Revival going strong, perhaps - but I feel only Cali has enough true devotees. The bowling crowd would come. The food would bring the hungry. The Surf and/or Rockabilly people would come [bowling; bands or car shows in parking lot..?] Like Tikiyaki said, what a great evening it could be.

A few more images from the Kapu Kai. Another shot of the great sign.

Bigbro with a miniature of the sign made by Dave Hansen purchased at Don the Beachcomber's Tiki Market Place.

Bosko's Kapu Kai hut with the Milan Guanko Tiki post as the center piece.

Some of the entertainment at the Kapu Kai over the years.

This is from 1967 before the flood, it looks like there was a new owner/remodel of the Kapu Kai.

DC

Very cool DC. Always enjoyed hearing about the Kapu Kai. Thanks for sharing the current photos.

I thought you Kapu-Kai fans might like to see this new enamel pin tribute to the amazing Kapu-Kai.

From http://www.PinTiki.com Use discount code "tikicentral-10" for 10% off.

I got this e-mail from Carl:

My father bought Red Hill Bowl and built the Kapu-kai bar and restaurant. I remember it fondly. My folks had Polynesian bowling shirts we had tiki things around the house. Dad had the contractor build a lava rock waterfall at our house like the one in front of the bar.

I will have to do some research to see what may have survived in the family. The man my dad had running the business did a bad job and he got out of the business before the Sato purchase.

I wish I could pick his brain but he passed away in 1990. My mom is pretty old and her memory is not very good but I will try to get what I can.

There are several previous post on this thread from kapu_kai_son. This isn't Carl but rather the son of someone who owned the Kapu Kai after Carl's dad owned it.

Really nice color slide of the iconic sign from the Kapu Kai.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2019-12-27 10:39 ]

bump

A wonderful thread! How cool to have found this through Ohana, next time Ill search Kapu-Kai instead of a search for Tahitian Fire Room

So sad and big ironies for me. I was such a great place and I wouldn't mind visiting it back in the day. Ironically I move from Hawaii and now live in Rancho Cucamonga. The property is now an Albertsons (I believe), my favorite food market around here. So I feel so conflicted shopping there :(.