Hawaiian Village story...

So I am sure everyone knows that there used to be a tiki place in Tampa called Hawaiian Village. Some of us have the mugs, which as I understand are fairly rare, but can be found for between about $100-200 on ebay. Anyway...

So I have my mother over the other night and we are all sitting around having drinks when my wife brings up the fact that I am taking bartending classes. My mom starts talking about how great a bartender my grandmother (her mom) was and that she made more money doing that than being a microbiologist. Then she busts out with, "Yeah, the best place she worked at was Hawaiian Village", at which point I almost choked on my grog. I was like, how come you never told me that before when I showed you my Hawaiian Village mugs, etc, etc... Apparently it just didn't click that they were the same place until the whole bartending aspect came into play, lol.

Of course, my grandmother died in '92 (which, ironically, was caused by an exploding autoclave in her lab), so I can not really get any info from that source. And my mom was only a kid then, so she really doesn't remember details about the place...except that they used to wear bathing suit tops with grass skirts.

I just thought it was a neat coincidence, and how oddly connected so many things are in life. Maybe by some weird cosmic crap shoot, the mugs I have were once occupied by drinks she made...who knows...

• Jason :drink:

Maybe by some weird cosmic crap shoot, the mugs I have were once occupied by drinks she made...who knows...

Oh! That would be so cool!

Thanks for the story!

... such a coincidence...

I believe that was a little sign from your grandmother to you. Great story.

WOW! No photos from Grand-Ma's days at Hawaiian village???

Very interesting story about another Sun Coast Tiki Haven.

thats so great!! isn't it amazing when you find out your parents & grandparent had this whole other life! A life where they were cool??? gives me hope for myself

Thanks for the comments, and glad you like the story!

TikiGardener, I have not been able to find any photos yet, but I am still hopeful. I think my mom and uncle have different sets of photos, so there could be something.

It's funny that I still have not been able to find any photos of the Hawaiian Village, except for the random postcards that appear on ebay. There is even a book about the mafia people in Tampa during the 50's and 60's called Cigar City Mafia, but even with numerous mentions of Hawaiian Villiage (and the Tahitian Inn right down the street)as a hangout for all these guys, there are no photos...

http://www.tikihappy.net
Code of the Moai Blog

[ Edited by: Jawa 2005-10-18 09:06 ]

Your grandmother was a bartender in a tiki bar, AND a microbiologist?? Wow. Sounds like my kind of lady; I would have loved to have met her. That she was doing these things in a time when women were waitresses and lab techs is very, very impressive. I'm sorry you lost her in such sudden circumstances, that must have been hard.

Ybor city was notorious for the cigar mafia. Still kinda is.

Thanks Humuhumu, you are right on.

And Tikigardener, I have heard that too, but I don't generally smoke cigars so I don't have much experience :wink:

*On 2005-10-17 12:06, Jawa wrote:*Apparently it just didn't click that they were the same place until the whole bartending aspect came into play, lol.

I think she just needed a strong drink to make it remember...
Great story, thanks