pub tiki

greetings! anyone out there have any pics of the interior of the former 'Pub Tiki' of philadelphia..(postcard or personal). I've always been intrigued by their logo tiki with the 1 1/2 on his chest. i know that there were originally three pubs (only one being tiki), two in philly and one in pennsauken, new jersey. the two in philly are gone but 'The Pub' in new jersey is still around and is a great remenant of fifties restaurant culture with an odd medieval flare.
'The Pub' in NJ still advertises their original 1 1/2 relish bar a nice connection to their tiki. i have also heard that the 1 1/2 is the amount of shots they use in mix drinks that usually require 1.
anyhow.. i would love to see any pics of the inside of the original Pub Tiki!

Ekman welcome! I too am a Pub Tiki fan, not ever having been there or even seen where it was located, but bcause it was about an hours drive away from my home in northern Maryland, I kinda consider it a local tiki bar! I have never seen interior photos of the place but their fantastic logo alone is worthy of respect...I have a swizzle, matchbook and the beloved signature mug but no postcards! Sabu - can you help us out here?

thanks for the reply johntiki.. i was able to find a few articles on 'the pub tiki' and now really need to see the inside... "the Pub Tiki, with its exotic dishes, waterfall, and glowing map of Polynesia..." sounds good!!
here are the links to the articles.. check them out:

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/sasalum/newsltr/winter98/richman.html

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/061898/food.shtml

That original "Pub" sounds like a great place!
No int/ext. shots of the "pub tiki" in my archive either, I am very curious too. I have a menu cover with an nice ornamental border, the logo Tiki used as "I" in the word "TIKI", and a full color photo of a Polynesian family at a Luau.

The only clue I had for the cryptic "1 1/2" was on the matchbook:
"Park Free 1 1/2 Hours"

I thought they must have been on some expensive real estate to put that on a mug! The shot theory makes more sense.

On 2004-03-24 07:44, ekman spiral wrote:
"the Pub Tiki, with its exotic dishes, waterfall, and glowing map of Polynesia..." sounds good!!

I'm with you, now I've GOT to see the inside! It sounds like more than what I expected from the Pub Tiki - I only pictured a hole-in-the-wall not an exotic paradise!

Ekman, where exactly is the Pub restaurant in NJ? Since Im a fan of the 50s I want to go there but cant recall where it is, even though I know Ive driven past it. Thanks!

ok tikigoddess . . . its on route 130 in pennsauken right outside collingswood. if you take the benjamin franklin bridge.. once over the bridge stay to the left (the road splits) once through camden there will be an exit on the right for 130 (i believe its marked) at the end of the ramp there will be a light.. you should see 'The Pub' on your right. its literally about 5 minutes, if that, once over the bridge.
next to the pub is a huge K-mart sized thrift store called village thrift.. check that out when your in the area.. i've never actually found anything besides some clothes, but the potential is there for some good tiki finds.
a side note about 'The Pub'.. if you go around dinner time do yourself a favor and order a main dish.. they are very odd about that...it must date back to their 'Pub Tiki' days as i have a small postcard size menu that states:
"If no order main dish, getting free, one clean glass schuylkill punch and one dirty look"
can you believe that!!

anyhow ... ENJOY!!

Here's a pic of the Pub Tiki mug I have...anyone else have any variations?

E. Spiral, thanks so much for the directions! Today my husband and I went to the flea market in NJ (no tiki-related purchases made) and then headed over to the PUB for lunch but when we got there it was closed, it doesnt open til 2pm on Sundays. We did sneak inside to check out the decor, and its really neat-o!! Wowsville! Cant wait to eat there! We went in the Village Thrift too, it was a disgusting dump. We lasted about 10 seconds in there.

johntiki... thats him!
tikigoddess... yes the village thrift is a 'disgusting dump'.. glad you at least got to see inside the pub.. i'm now learning that there were 5 pubs originally.. the best one of course being the pub tiki!

I have a very odd set of pub tiki s&p's

On 2004-03-31 17:53, fatuhiva wrote:
I have a very odd set of pub tiki s&p's

I'd be shocked if you didn't! :lol:

fatuhiva.. what do they look like.. do they have the 1 1/2 tiki on them?

i think they just say "pub tiki"

i will get a pic of them up..

to anyone following the pub tiki interior quest thread.. i have just written a letter to the owner of the PUB .. he is from the original family of owners so he may have something.. we'll see!

I have an old mug or vase from Pub Tiki in Philadelphia. I have a pic of it, but it doesn't have the 1 1/2 on it. It is simply a face, with the back side reading Pub Tiki Philadelphia, PA. I'm about to place it on ebay to see what it brings. Had no idea there was such in interest in tiki! But in researching this mug I came across this site, and someone mentioned if anyone else had a mug of different variety...no idea how to submit the pic though on here.

my uncle and his two partners built all the pubs, the one in pennsauken and the rest in phila. my father was general manager until his death in 1971.

I have a full and rich memory and history of all the pubs and would be delighed to answer any questions that anyone may have.

i was a busboy from 1964 (summer job) at Pub Tiki until i started college in 1968.

the only picture i have of Pub Tiki are home movies when we closed tiki on a saturday afternoon in 1965 and had my younger brother's bar mitzvah party there.

Aloha Drushov....got any memory of any mugs or matchbooks layin around that you wanna get rid of.

sorry, i have no physical memorabilia except for the home movies. have many many memories, tho.

drushoy

I recently found a set of salt-n-pepper shakers from the PUB TIKI, they are small and brown in the shape of a tiki and one says pub on it and the other says tiki on it, i discovered them at the Berlin Farmers Market.They are in fair condition and have no stoppers in the bottoms. A lady there had many gems from old South Jersey restaurants which are long gone. I was hoping she had stuff from the Hawaiian Cottage another former tiki restaurant here in south jersey but she did not...better luck next time! Hope to get a pic of them up soon!

TikiMike - I've got a couple Hawaiian Cottage mugs that I'd be more than happy to trade or sell if you're interested. My parents bought a big lot of mugs from the H.C. at a flea market in Berlin MD last fall and I offered them to anyone interested and got no response...

well... i am selling off my Pub Tiki memorabilia... including the original 1 1/2 mug, the cocktail menu, a matchbook cover and a 1 1/2 swizzle stick. anyone interested PM me....

On 2004-03-22 23:05, ekman spiral wrote:
greetings! anyone out there have any pics of the interior of the former 'Pub Tiki' of philadelphia..(postcard or personal). I've always been intrigued by their logo tiki with the 1 1/2 on his chest. i know that there were originally three pubs (only one being tiki), two in philly and one in pennsauken, new jersey. the two in philly are gone but 'The Pub' in new jersey is still around and is a great remenant of fifties restaurant culture with an odd medieval flare.
'The Pub' in NJ still advertises their original 1 1/2 relish bar a nice connection to their tiki. i have also heard that the 1 1/2 is the amount of shots they use in mix drinks that usually require 1.
anyhow.. i would love to see any pics of the inside of the original Pub Tiki!

I believe 1 1/2 referred to the free 1 1/2 hour free parking at Pub Tiki .

I was kind of surprised to go through this thread and see that "drushoy" signed up on TC to let us know about the Restaurant, specifically the Pub Tiki, that he worked at for four years in the sixties and nobody asked him any questions! This was over 5 years ago! We gotta take advantage of these situations when they come up. These memories of these places are very quickly fading!

It would have been cool to get his description of the restaurant and maybe even hound him a bit to possibly get that home video he talked about possibly digitized so he could grab some still shots of the interior. It might have been the only time we could have seen inside this very elusive Tiki Bar.
Good thing we asked him if he had anything to sell! :(

I only bring this place up as I has seen this ashtray:

It's of the location in New Jersey and the non-tiki one but still thought it would be good to put here. Neat to see the 1 1/2 that they are so famous for on the ashtray as well and also the font of the "Pub" which was the same on their Tiki items. Really isn't too much on here as the previous photos are all gone. Maybe we should get some on here.

TabooDan

[ Edited by: TabooDan 2010-07-15 20:48 ]

I'll add a couple more mugs that I have seen from Pub Tiki:

The Moai from OMC:

The Fogcutter version with their logo Tiki and the 1 1/2 (For free parking) :

Here are some rare salt and peppers I saw a while ago and saved the image:

Mahalo!
TabooDan

Here's two matchbooks that I have:

These are pretty common and are seen regularly. These have the same cool glassware drawings as the ashtray posted previously. I really like their Logo Tiki. It's quite unique.

Here's the other:

This one is pretty much the same except it says "The 5 Pubs". Both these matchbooks clearly state the "PARK FREE 1 1/2 Hrs.".

Mahalo,
TabooDan

pub tiki swizzle...skull top -bone bottom-pub tiki on back

Since this thread began I have been to The PUB many times, the decor is killer (Its sort of medieval) and the food is AWESOME!!!! Seriously excellent food. I asked the bartender about the 1 1/2 and he said The 1 1/2 refers to the fact that the drinks have 1 1/2 oz of liquor in them rather than just 1 oz. Doesnt refer to free parking at the current establishment. I didnt see any references to PUB TIKI inside, just old PUB menus which were pretty neat-o.

Make mine a mai tai!

[ Edited by: TikiGoddess 2010-07-17 19:46 ]

Taboo Dan and all,

Great pics on the swag from this classic Tiki mecca. I saw this unusual mug from Pub Tiki on ebay that had the signature Tiki on the handle, don't remember seeing this one before.

DC

dusty
what a cool mug!! i've never seen this one before..

check it out foobooze a local philly blog just ran this artiicle on pub tiki? http://foobooz.com/2010/07/retro-raunt-pub-tiki/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Foobooz+%28Foobooz+Posts%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

I finally picked up one the Pub Tiki menus that has the Hawaiian family luau photo on the cover. The menu has some great graphics on the front and back.

The inside of the menu with some humorous attempts at pigeon English.

Bloody Mary was the waitress.

No cheap bastards allowed.

And, the cross-over listing for of the 1 1/2 logo: For 1.5 hours of parking and 1.5 shots in a drink at the bar.

DC

Awesome menu Scott...congrads !

Reposting my old Pub Tiki ad done by Jack Davis:

I just got two of the Pub Tiki swizzles featuring, you guessed it, the old 1 1/2 logo on the Tiki.

I also saw this interesting little bird topper that went into the top of the crispy "Noodle Nest" dish.

Pub Tiki certainly liked to use a bit of humor in their advertising!

DC

I saw this ad for the Pub Tiki Luau on ebay.

If you read the fine print, parking is 50 cents for 2 hours! This must have been before they went with the 1 1/2 hour free parking that is listed on all of their merchandise.

DC

I picked up another nice illustrated menu from Pub Tiki.

The cover.

Some Enchanted Eating - you just have to love the Pub Tiki humor.

The back, advertising large party events.

More humor on the inside.

DC

Wow. No one would ever be able to get away with that kind of cultural stereotype these days. Some of it's funny, some of it's just baaaaddddd.

Pub Tiki truck on flikr.

These flikr photos say they were taken at Pub Tiki in November 1969.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/19517090@N07/7904457792/in/photostream/

I cleaned up those pictures a bit (there's also a few labeled as Mariott Inn but I'm not sure which was which. I guess someone was into the polynesian places):

On 2010-09-02 17:53, Dustycajun wrote:

i wouldn't drink the schuylkill punch!

On 2013-07-17 09:17, Hale Tiki wrote:
Wow. No one would ever be able to get away with that kind of cultural stereotype these days. Some of it's funny, some of it's just baaaaddddd.

have you been to philly?
it took them 44 years to change the name of chink's steaks, and there are still "speak english" signs at geno's 2 years after vento's death.

Two versions

i found this pub/pub-tiki bicentennial glass a while ago.

Nice glass, reminds me of the Trader Vic's Bicentennial Menehune match-cover.

Here is a Pub Tiki matchbox from my collection.

And a nice teacup with the logo Tiki.

DC

Her is another funny ad drawn by Jack Davis for the Pub Tiki. Davis was an illustrator for Mad Magazine.

This ad is a take off on the "Road to" movies done by Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, the Saronged Siren.

Is it sarong... Funny stuff!

DC

Classic! It even has that damn "1 1/2" in it. Bing and Bob sing of "double-sized potions" which does hint the 1 1/2 refers to the ounces of liquor (NOT the parking), as suggested before - but that's not double!

Those "Road to.." movies must have been the longest running Exotica movie concept ever!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_to_...

Umm...talk about "just a bit too late":"In 1977, an eighth Road to ... movie was planned, titled Road to the Fountain of Youth; however, Crosby died that year of a heart attack."

I found a few more of the Jack Davis ads for Pub Tiki announcing the opening day on July 10, 1961.

This is a great one featuring the cast and crew of the Tiki from Adventures in Paradise.

Another one with Confucius weighing in on the opening.

And this one is like the one Sabu posted but it is announcing the opening on July 10.

Another ad listing all of the freebies offered at the bar.

Somewhere along the way the vaunted 1 1/2 hours of free parking morphed into reduced parking!

DC