Hawaiian Village , New Westminster BC, CANADA (Restaurant)

Name:Hawaiian Village
Type:Restaurant
Street:45 Eighth Street
City:New Westminster
State:BC
Zip:-
country:CANADA
Phone:525-9222
Status:defunct

Description:
I thought I had completed a Location post about this old restaurant but couldn't find it so here it is.

The Hawaiian Village was established in 1980 in New Westminster, BC, Canada, which is about 30 minutes away from Vancouver. The restaurant was open for 18 years and closed it's doors in 1998. The Hawaiian Village had two floors and was very heavily decorated with all the tropical foliage one could find!

The down stairs featured a bar, a few Tiki Masks, palm trees, rattan furniture and lamps, bamboo dividers, thatching, matting, and an area that was used for Karaoke. If you ask anybody who went there, they remember the place for it's karaoke! This was a bit before everywhere was doing it and when it still was fun and not so annoying! Is that okay to say or is it just me?? Heading downstairs, I remember was matting on either side of the walls and a bamboo handrail.

Interestingly, after it had changed names and themes for over 8 years, when you walked in through the front entrance of the Sushi Restaurant, there was still the stair way that went down stairs and it still had the matting and bamboo rail that went down to a closed door. I would have loved to get down there and seen what else lurked below! When that Sushi place changed owners, they did an overhaul and filled in the stair way. I lost my chance!! I did try but there was a bit of a language barrier and they did not want to give me any spare time.

I believe there was also a separate bar upstairs along with the private dining huts. I managed to go there once when I was 17 or so and remember thinking the place as being pretty cool but really didn't get out to it again. I thought the drinks were good and I kept one of those plastic monkey rim hangers and the matchbook which I still have. This matchbook is actually the only one I have seen since!

The drinks came in different Tiki mugs and and I remember the food coming to the plates steaming and sizzling hot!!

Here's some great information off their hard to find matchbook:

" ALOHA!.....Hawaiian Tonight! We welcome you as our guests at the exotic Hawaiian Village. Let us entertain you with the best of Hawaiian songs and music....pamper you with the finest Polynesian hospitality.

Dine in our torch-lit Tropical Garden Dining Room or in our Hawaiian Village Dining Room (Individual thatched huts for more romantic dining pleasure) Let your taste be for the spice of life accompanied with EXOTIC DRINKS AND FOODS WHICH INCLUDES:

Luau Bo-Bo
Kau-Kau
Lobster Mani
Steak Bora
Seafood Mahi
And the best loved legs in town
Alaska King Crab - Hawaiian Style!

Do come and enjoy the exotic Hawaiian Village for a lovely evening.
Mahalo - Thank you
Your Host - J.C. "Aloha" KAI 525-9222/3 "

I will be posting a few more things shortly.

TabooDan

[ Edited by: TabooDan 2009-05-01 18:28 ]

Hawaiian Village had Live music and or Hula Dancers on Friday and Saturdays and I know that in the late 1980's, Paul Tavai-Latta, a well-known Hawaiian Dance Instructor and performer, did the entertainment and dancing. He still has a school of Hawaiian Dance today and are featured in competions around the world.

This following scan is of how their advertisements looked when they first opened. This Ad dates from 1980:

Here is the only cool Ad I have ever been able to find for the Hawaiian Village that actually has some half decent artwork. This one dates from 1989:

Here is a scan (sorry for the quality right now) of the matchbook showing the dining area:

I have shown this before here on TC but as of right now, these are the only shots of the inside that I have so far. I am trying to get more information and get it all here in one place.

Here is one of the private dining Huts that was mentioned in last post:

Sorry about these scans. I don't want to loose too much clarity. I will see what I can do. This picture is from the other side of the matchbook.
Here you can see the booth area surrounded by bamboo, Witco style mask but I think it is a Orchid of Hawaii mask, and the waitress doing a delivery of two Orchid of Hawaii Hula Dancer mugs with some cool round paper fan drink decorations. It also features a drawing of a Village with thatched roofs, water, and palm trees.

I have had trouble locating the owners but I have recently been given a hot lead so I am still working on that one.

More to come.
Mahalo, TabooDan

[ Edited by: TabooDan 2009-05-01 19:22 ]

The Hawaiian Village, when first opened, served their tropical cocktails in Orchid Of Hawaii Mugs. A little later, I am told early to mid 1980's, they did offer two different mugs that were specifically made for them. These mugs were custom done and were only available at this establishment. One was a wahine with a Hibiscus in her hair and was all white with a handle and the other was a taller, skinny mug that featured two palm trees on it which has been seen in browns and yellow colors.

It is sometimes thought, or used to be believed, that these mugs were made by a company or person named Erneli in Canada. This is incorrect. Erneli was actually a restaurant supply company. Erneli Food Equipment Ltd. was a supplier and distributor of restaurant equipment. They sold restaurant equipment, repairs and supplied chinaware with and without logos.

An employee of Erneli was asked to make a mug for the Hawaiian Village and drew up the Wahine design. Once the design was approved by the owners, it was sent to Japan where the mugs were produced and then exported back here to Canada. That is why these mugs were marked Erneli, Canada and Made in Japan on the bottom.

Here is a old Erneli Ad dating from June of 1979:

I was in contact with the employee that actually did the mug design at Erneli but didn't really have too much to add. He just was told to come up with a design and then it was sent to Japan for production.

After a while, I think the mid to late eighties and carrying on to the 90's, they were having their own mugs made. A local ceramic artist, who didn't live too far from the Hawaiian Village, was asked to make molds of original Orchid of Hawaii mugs but change them so the Hawaiian Village could have their name and phone number on them. This would have been cheaper than getting them from Orchids I would imagine and ordering through Erneli. Plus, technically, they would be their own mugs.

These are mugs you see that are a little smaller in size, cruder in shape and have less detailing than the originals. They even became more cruder once the molds got older.

Here is a picture of some of the mugs that they offered:

The two mugs on the outside, and the one in the center in white with the handle, are the ones made specifically by Erneli. The four mugs in the back are the copied Orchids of Hawaii ones. The second from the right, known as the Headhunter, I have seen in a few different colors. Also pictured is the matchbook and small plastic drink monkey from the Hawaiian Village.

Once the molds were made, they were given to a ceramic artist who actually made the mugs and sent them to the restaurant in large boxes.
These are the same people, the mold maker and ceramic artist, who also made the mugs for the Tropic Isle in Surrey as well as The Outrigger in Prince George, BC. They also made a Trader Vic coconut mug for the Vancouver location. These ones are pretty much the same as the US ones except they are marked "Trader Vics Canada" on the bottom.

Here is a close up of their cool original Wahine handled mug:

Another mug that they offered, which I only have a picture of the front, was the three face bucket mug that was changed a bit. It has the Ku face on one side and on the reverse are only the initials "HV" which obviously stood for Hawaiian Village. I haven't been able to find one yet in the wild but did see one that sold on ebay a few years back. Maybe someone has it here and can post a pic of the reverse.

Here is the front of the mug which isn't too fantastic but here it is anyway:

I have seen one other mug which is a coconut mug that says Hawaiian Village on it but I have yet to get a photo or find one in the wild.

That's it for now. I will post some more info. when I get it.

Mahalo, TabooDan

Great thread Dan!!

The Hawaiian Village has always sparked my curiosity, and I'm always eager to hear more about them and their history.

I have one each of the yellow palm tree mug, the leilani style mug, the mermaid, the surfer, and the wahine(my favorite for sure) I've never seen the bucket one, and I had no idea they did the Vic's coconuts! I know I have one of them, maybe two? It's sooo cool to see the matchbooks and various other items and photographs relating to this location.

Thank you for all the research you have done. I wish I lived closer, so I could help look into all these mysteries!!

Great job Dan, and thanks again!

Hey TikiWahine, thanks!! Glad you like the post. I have a thing, like alot of people on here, for places that were close to where they grew up or even went to.

The Hawaiian Village was very cool and was the last Tiki establishment to close (1998) it's doors here in BC.

Now I got some investigating for you to do!! I did a post a while ago about a place that was on the Island. I do not think it was a Tiki Bar but the decor of the room was bang on and exactly like another favorite spot of ours!

I started a new post here: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=30856&forum=2&hilite=nanaimo%20bc
but never heard anything more about it. The name sure was not cool but the decor is very much, almost exactly like the Tahitian Lounge at the Waldorf.

If you could post something in that thread, even if you don't know it, it might spark some interest in the place. Kind of just cool to look at those postcards anyway. It would be great to get a menu from there to see if they had a cocktail list or something.

Oops, don't want to hijack my own thread!!
Mahalo, TabooDan

[ Edited by: TabooDan 2009-05-02 09:40 ]

Taboo Dan,

I saw these mugs on ebay - you were spot on with the assessment on the quality.

One of the mugs looks like it came from an early casting and looks pretty good, the other is from a much later casting and shows the poorer quality

Here is the bottom with the Erneli logo.

DC

With a few other posts on TC today in Locating Tiki all from Canadian spots, here's something cool I found a little while ago.

It's an actual 1984 TV Commercial featuring the Hawaiian Village!!

https://youtu.be/khW5fOfKBRs

Sure, it's a little cheesy but I can't believe it actually exists!!
Great to see a quick shot of one of the entry Tiki Poles and some other decor inside. Also good to see some of the Hawaiian Dancers and musicians they offered as entertainment some nights. Makes me miss this place.

The majority of the video is taken downstairs in what I think was the called the Tropical Garden Dining Room. You can just make out the stairs behind the server. I remember coming down those really dark stairs as a punk skateboarder and then the room opening up with all the trees and plants. It was great!

Just real cool to see!!

Mahalo,
TabooDan

Great video! I remember those plastic lei's very well from when we were kids.

Swizzle sticks from the Hawaiian Village.

I don't know why the picture is sideways.

Nice sticks but pretty sure those ones pictured above are from the Hawaiian Village that was located in Tampa(?) Florida, not up here in Canada. I've never seen these used at HV at all. They mainly used generic stix and little monkeys and the likes at this restaurant.

Thanks, TabooDan