Hukilau, Captains' Inn, Long Beach, CA (restaurant)

Name:Hukilau, Captains' Inn
Type:restaurant
Street:215 Marina Dr
City:Long Beach
State:CA
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:unknown

Description:
Looked up on Google street view. Doesn't appear to be there anymore. The Hukilau was apart of Captains' Inn, which included The Hukilau, The Commodores' Lounge, The Marina Room and The Captains' Grill and Bar.

[ Edited by: Tiki Shaker 2008-11-09 17:24 ]

The Crab Pot Restaurant is now at that location.

I believe the Hukilau was the upstairs banquet room. The photo shows just the stairs leading to it.

[i]On 2008-11-10 09:19, King Bushwich the 33rd wrote

I believe the Hukilau was the upstairs banquet room. The photo shows just the stairs leading to it.

The Hukilau was the upstairs Polynesian lounge that served exotic drinks and Pu-Pus. This menu was on ebay and can be seen on Arkiva Tropika.

Some interesting art on the cover, an almost oriental style.

The drinks.

The Pu-Pus.

Quite a mysterious place. Need more pics.

DC

Found another menu from Captains' Inn. Wish I could find some more from The Hukilau.

I recently found this brochure dating to around 1960 for the new Long Beach Marina. Inside, it mentions the Captain's Inn as having "luxurious surroundings from nautical to Polynesian".

This map drawing is from the Gold Cup recipe page in Beachbum Berry's Original Grog Log.

There were also a few nice aerial photos of the marina in the brochure. You can see how large the building was in this photo, the Inn is between the 4's.

Here's the Alamitos Bay marina looking out to the Pacific with the Captain's Inn a little above
nine o'clock. The large "snakelike" hotel building in the bottom right corner was called the Edgewater Hyatt House at the time.

I haven't been able to find the timing of the Captain's Inn's demise, but the building was a Charthouse restaurant for many years prior to it becoming the Crab Pot restaurant. Please add me to the list of people who'd like to see some photos of the Hukilau, they're out there somewhere!

The opening credits of Gilligan's Island season 2 & 3 were filmed at the Alamitos Bay (Long Beach) Marina

YouTube: Gilligan's Island Intro

The first shot must have been filmed near, if not on, the Captain's Inn patio. If you go to The Crabpot, you can see this same view.

Matches

Ashtray

Still not entirely clear on when the Hukilau opened, but I did find the following early review in the May 14, 1961, Southland Magazine from the Independent Press Telegram. The review refers to it as the "new" Hukilau Polynesian lounge, so infer from that what you will. Also posting images of the review, mostly so fans of mid-century Long Beach area Poly Pop can enjoy the multiple other ads on the page. Anyone ever heard of the "Restaurant Bali"? By my count there are 7 or 8 restaurants here (out of 24 total ads - about a third!) that adopted a South Seas/Polynesian/etc., theme at some point. I also love how they refer to what we would call "tiki mugs" as "statuary".

meet your host

GEORGE HEINRICH

A WATERFALL shimmering under colorful lights . . . A broad, red-carpeted stairway, gently curved . . . Luxurious tropical furnishings. . . .
These are some of the sights which greet visitors to the new Hukilau Polynesian lounge at the Captain's Inn, 215 Marina Drive, on the south shore of the beautiful Long Beach Marina.
Located on the second floor of the greatly-enlarged Inn, the Hukilau lounge provides its guests with fascinating views of the yacht fleet, smooth blue waters and tall palms. Furnished with polished monkey pod wood tables, bamboo, nettings and other authentic tropical touches, the lounge offers delicious island appetizers, such as rumaki, pua pua, Hong Kong won ton, Hawaiian barbecued ribs and fried sui gow. The beverages, prepared by Popo, an award-winning Polynesian mixologist, include such exotic creations as Tahitian Tiki Punch, Scorpion Bowl, Montego, Flaming Virgin, Yacht Club Special, Tiger Shark and Mai Tai. They are served in bowls, cups, glasses or even statuary designed to accentuate the charms of each.
HOST GEORGE Heinrich and his large staff also supervise the activities of five other dining rooms and lounges, which brings the total seating capacity of the Inn to 325. Most of these have picture windows overlooking the yacht anchorage. The rooms include the Commodore's Lounge, where Adrian is featured at the piano bar, the Corinthian Room, Marine Room, Captain's Bar and Captain's Grill. The Hukilau lounge, open from 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, is reserved Mondays and Tuesdays for special parties (to 80 persons.) The dinner menu at the Inn offers a variety of sea foods, charcoal-broiled steaks and gourmet tropical entrees, priced from $3.65. These include assorted relishes, delicious soup, chilled salad, potatoes, spaghetti or vegetable du jour, beverage and dessert mints. Luncheon is served from 11:30 a.m. on.

[ Edited by: HotelCharlieEcho 2019-12-09 17:24 ]