Tiki Apartments in Bremerton

I was the paperboy at the Tiki Village apartments in Bremerton Washington. (I was 12)

I saw on CNN they burned down a few years ago, but I suspect the 20' tall tikis outside were safe.

Anyone know anythng about them?

I know someone who lives in Bremerton so asked for you. She said:

"Ah yes, the Kona Village Apartments. I am not sure what happened to the tikis....that was a while ago...1997? The spot is now a retired living home for independent seniors and the tikis are no where in sight. I live near there.

Just to be certain, the Kona Village apartments are the ones that were located near the Junior High.....just to be clear. I assume that is the one he is talking about since it is the most infamous fire in Bremerton."

Hmmm...there are/were several Tiki apartments in Bremerton, it being a Navy shipyard town:

There is the Tongaroa (Book of Tiki p. 219), the Polynesia Village (not pictured), and the Kona Village, which had two tall Tikis like you mentioned guarding the entrance (see pic with old lady in BOT p. 226), so that must be the one. Phew, I photographed it in July '94, glad I got there in time.

All the Tikis in the area were pretty much the same long and slender style, and carved from fir (since needle trees are more common up there than palm trees :) ). I wonder who the carver was, he must have been local.

(Also, Tacoma has the Hawaiian Village (Barney West Tikis, BOT p.217/227), and the Tiki Apartments.)

I was just up in the Bremerton area last week, and I was walking past a tattoo place called "Lucky Boy's" in Silverdale. Inside the front window they have a tiki, about 4 foot high, that looks like it may have come from another place. It was of a light wood, perhaps fir.

It certainly wasn't new...and it looked pretty nice. I wish I'd had my camera or even my phone with me at the time to take a picture, but the best I can do is give an address for anyone who wants to check it out on their own:

9472 Silverdale Way NW # A
Silverdale, Washington 98383

Hmm, 4 feet sounds a little small for Bremerton apartment Tikis. "Primitiva Washingtonia" grew rather tall, as the following slides will show:

First the apparently no longer extant Kona Village apartments, Bremerton. Though the Tiki settlements up North did not quite have the architectural finesse and detail than their Southern California counterparts, they nevertheless feature tall Tikis, gas-fed torches, and other unique touches:

An important rule in Tiki photography: When aiming to convey Tiki size, always try to engage a human to pose with the godhead. When seen mit-out homo erectus, as in the photo above, one can merely guess at the scale of these babies...

..but with the addition of a friendly Kona Village native, things are truly put in proportion:

Inside, water features and Tiki torches ad to the theme. In the background, we see the balconies lined with simple, cut out Tiki masks:

Next, let's visit the Tongaroa apartments in Bremerton, with their strange sawed fishing gods:

These unique carvings are backlit, and have a distinct style of their own.

Now on to some of the Tacoma Tiki settlements, first the Polynesia Village:

Would that be...the Tiki Gardener?

Though architecturally basic Northern woods style, the Polynesia is inhabited by quiet a few slender Tiki gods.

The Hawaiian Village must have been quite a sight in its heyday (see brochure BOT p.217, rendering in B.G of p.218/219, and Barney West Moai on p.227)

Now this is one of the few gods left on the grounds:

And last not least, a tall one at Tacoma's "Tiki Apartments"...need we say more?

wow, great photos of my paper route. It was a plush asignment. Three floors of customers, all I had to do was race down the halls on my BMX bike delivering to the 60-odd customers.

Of course I do remember that it was quite the swingers enclave. Lots of mustaches on the men, and tall hair ruled the day on the women. The place had a pool in the center. Plus a sauna. It was not unususl to see frolicing in the pool on a sunny afternoon. Must have been the tiki influence.

Found a photo in the FEMA report on the kona village fire showing the tikis in front of the building during the fire. From their diagrams of the lack of damage to the buildings in the front with the two entry tikis and the rec room with it's one big tiki they appear to have survived the fire. Most of the complex was destroyed though and I still have no idea what happened to the idols.

I cleaned up the photo a bit sorry about the quality but you can just make out the tikis on either side of the entry. aloha, tikicoma