Lanai Island, Waltham, MA (restaurant)

Name:Lanai Island
Type:restaurant
Street:Rt. 128 Exit 48
City:Waltham
State:MA
Zip:?????
country:USA
Phone:???-???-????
Status:defunct

Description:
I know nothing about this place. I have a mug.

Does anyone know anything about Lanai Island? I have a mug, but I can't find anything on the forum.

[ Edited by: StolenIdols 2018-06-23 16:32 ]

There were two locations for Lanai Island: 479 Winter Street, Waltham, MA and 147 Lowell, Wakefield, MA.

I actually have two addresses for Lanai Island in Waltham: one at 455 Totten Pond Road and one at 479 Winter Street. The 479 Winter Street address was next to a cinema and definitely verified. Not sure if the 455 Totten Pond address was a business or a corporate address, as the business entity was Lanai Island Inc. Totten Pond Road also turns into Winter Street, which may have something to do with it. The phone number was 890-6460.

It was owned by a guy called Frank Lee and they advertised as a Cantonese and Polynesian restaurant. I can place it in Waltham between 1975 and 1990 but am unable to say for certain when it actually opened and closed.

...and a bit of local colour:

*Right off the highway exit for Totten Pond Road there used be a shopping center that housed The Waltham Cinema and one of our city’s only Chinese restaurants, Lanai Island. There was also a liquor store in that complex. It is long gone now and has been supplanted with newer fancy buildings but what used to be is the stuff of memory.

Where now sits a 16-plex fancy movie house with all the bells and whistles was once a modest two-movie cinema where people from Waltham enjoyed coming attractions, popcorn, beers in the seats (smuggled in of course), and feature presentations. The movie theater, the liquor store, and Lanai Island functioned as an equilateral triangle of fun and good times for kids from Waltham in the 80s and years prior.*

https://walthamboy.wordpress.com/

Hi, I recently bought a matchbook from a flea market that was from the Lanai Island cocktail lounge, I am also looking to learn more about this place and see if anyone may have some old photos or other ephemera they can share from this place. Or if anyone is interested in these matches let me know. Thank you!

[ Edited by AllyAlchemy on 2024-05-30 09:05:30 ]