Tiki Archaeology: Moon Islander, South Titusville, Florida

I was born and raised here. I don't think I ever went but my parents went, often. They would bring me the drink umbrellas which I loved playing with. It was the coolest looking place. Especially at night. They had colored floods on the trees like you used to see all over south Florida.
Steve

I thought that I had exhausted the newspaper archives on the subject of the Moon Islander, but happily came across a couple more articles to flesh out this memorable Space Coast tiki palace. The following article indicates that my prior estimate of the opening date needs to be revised to 1965, several years earlier than previously inferred from the archives. So now the evidence is that the Moon Islander operated from 1965 to 1982, approximately 17 years.

We also find that there were two main dining rooms, the Canton Room and the Polynesian Room, and that it was a favorite of aerospace workers (underscoring, Sven, your hoped for tie-in to the space program)...

Florida Today October 19, 1979

This article adds just a bit to the interior visualization...

Florida Today April 30, 1969

-Tom

Finally, a tribute article to Moon Lueg, the late proprietor of the Moon Islander. In this you can see the extraordinarily long hours and effort it took to make his business a success. Mr. Moon was devoted to business, family and friends. His employees thought him fair and held him in high regard. He created a tiki palace that many current and former Space Coast residents fondly recall for its exotic atmosphere and decor, good and strong tropical drinks, and excellent food, save for the occasional tough steak :wink:. You can see it reflected in comments posted here, as well as on Facebook and Flickr.

I wonder if Moon ever got to take that longed-for vacation in Germany...

Florida Today April 11, 1971

-Tom

Moon Garden closed in '64 and Moon Islander opened in '65. It's a pretty safe bet that the cooking and refrigeration equipment, plus the decor (at least in the Canton room) probably came from the the Moon Garden.

howlinowl

You should've asked me. I went to the Moon Islander frequently as a child. I LOVED the place. It was actually kind of a fine-dining sort of restaurant. they had a koi pond that ran all around the dining room (we'd call it a planter now, but they used it for the fish), strolling musicians, and my favorite thing was the HUGE gardenia bushes out front that always seemed to be blooming. I wish I could tell you more about the decor, but as a child, these are the things that stuck out for me.

Hi everyone, I came upon this post online and had to join in.. I lived in Titusville during the mid 60's. The Moon Islander was my favorite restaurant and I remember it well. The place was impressive for being south of town. The building had an erupting volcano on one side and koi pond with a bridge over to the waterfall by the front door.. the decor inside was very mixed, with live bamboo, glittering mosaics, Japanese lanterns, mirrors,and the fish swam in tanks that were between the tables and set low to the floor. The food was Polynesian and I recall the sweet and sour tempura shrimp as my favorite. Sadly the place no longer exists. I wish I had some pictures.. To this day when I listen to my Martin Denny CDs I remember it. Aloha

Shambie and birdonfire, thank you for sharing your remembrances of the Moon Islander. I scarcely ever talk to anyone who lived in the Titusville area at the time who doesn't have fond memories of that long-extinct but never forgotten Polynesian palace. The food, the drink, the decor, the characters (for me, Uncle Louie) remain a vivid memory of that time in my life. We never really knew what we had 'till we lost it. It's a bittersweet memory...

-Tom

new member here.

i live about 3-4 miles from the old moon garden and what appears to be moon's "compound" on old dixie. i was always fascinated with this building. i moved out of the area some years ago but relocated back and sadly the building was gone.

does anyone know where moon's fort pierce farms where?

thanks.

[ Edited by: ynnek4 2012-04-10 15:34 ]

Been a while, figured I'd do a little web-searching on Moon and his restaurants and see if anything new popped up.

Found a PDF of "The Voice" from 2-1-63 with an article and photos of Moon's family celebrating the Chinese New Year at the Moon Garden, their chinese restaurant in Fort Pierce.

http://library.stu.edu/ulma/va/3005/1963/02-01-1963.pdf

This was before the tragic auto accident that claimed the life of Ida Lueg....that preceded the closing of Moon Garden. The article mentions that Ida and some of her siblings were in New York at the time.

howlinowl

....and of course, there was always the chance I'd come across an article detailing the unfortunate passing of Ida.

I believe in a previous post, it was stated that she had been struck outside of the Moon Garden in Fort Pierce. Actually, she was living in NY as a newlywed at the time.

http://newspaperarchive.com/us/florida/fort-pierce/fort-pierce-news-tribune/1964/10-26/

howlinowl

I know it was already posted on page 3, but it was pretty cool I found a matchbook from the moon islander today out in the wild.

As I was sorting through memorabilia, I came across this cocktail napkin, a relic of my junior high school prom dinner with Pat about fifty years ago at the Moon Islander Polynesian Restaurant in Titusville, Florida...

Great napkin Tom. I bet there are a lot of memories held in that little piece of paper.

Indeed there are, Trav... That is where I sealed the deal with the "dusky" maiden of my dreams!

-Tom

Been scrolling through Ebay, looking at postcards.

Found one of the old Moon Garden in Fort Pierce, Florida, the restaurant Moon Leug owned in Fort Pierce before the Moon Islander.

The restaurant was closed in 1964 and the building and sign stood until 2005 when it was demolished (mentioned in my previous posts).

Link to auction if anyone is interested:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Unused-Pre-1980-RESTAURANT-SCENE-Fort-Pierce-Florida-FL-B8050-/372090103156?hash=item56a24c6574:g:dZwAAOSwpuBZzcBY

howlinowl