paradise park...lost & found again by LOST!

This may sound a bit weird and some of you may already know about this but I found no threads discussing it after a lot of searching. Here goes.....I found this postcard the other day and wanted to add the image to an existing thread about the location if it wasn't already done. The tikis take a back seat to the birds in this photo.

I couldn't find any information on TC so I went to google to learn more. WOW, I found something much different than I expected. It seems that the park, which specialized in Tropical Bird shows, opened in 1968 and closed in 1994. Now it is being used to film some of the scenes from the tv show LOST.

Here is a link to the website I found which shows how parts of the park look today. Perhaps some of you have been there and have photos of it before it closed? The postcard is dated 1977. Any locals or vacationers who could go there to get some recent photos might be interesting also.

http://www.lostvirtualtour.com/lost/filming_locations/paradisepark/index.html

An article from 2006:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Mar/03/ln/FP603030358.html

I once was lost............but now I'm found

[ Edited by: 8FT Tiki 2009-01-04 11:24 ]

[ Edited by: 8ft tiki 2009-01-04 16:33 ]

Hey 8ft. That is a cool card!
I don't have too much information on this place either.
I do have the same card though and mine is dated 1968 so I guess they used it right form the beginning.
Hopefully some more info. will surface on here.

TabooDan

Hey, that's where I got bit by a tiki! Somewhere on this site is that picture-I'll see if I can find it. It was taken in 1980. That place was really cool-it was a botanical garden with bird shows and you could get your picture with macaws on your arms. Got those somewhere around, too. Great landscaping-tikis hidden here and there. Fantastic place. I'm sad that it's closed.

:drink:
Tacky

LOOOSST ! yep thats all from season 3, Im a complete lost addict, always wondered wher those polar bear cages were.

I have that first postcard from Paradise Park shown above as well as this one. They expanded to babes, tikis and birds. It is dated 1976.

Also here is the pic of the front entrance from the Lost website FYI.

DC

Matchbook

Found in Mexico city

With a map so you don't get lost...

It was a great family place to go back in the day, unless you had a bird phobia. I attended many weddings and receptions there at their restaurant upstairs called "Treetops". My wedding was held there in the early 1980's. In the old VHS tape of my wedding, while we were exchanging vows we were practically drowned out by the fowl screeches of macaws and cockatoos. In the buffet line, one always wondered if that was really chicken. Yep those were fun times.

Oh, this is all so cool! Yes, the matchbooks and postcards were from Paradise Park. As a matter of fact, I'm typing this at Paradise Park right now! The Park did open in 1968 and closed in 1994 and all 6 seasons of Lost were filmed at Paradise Park at one time or another. The show travelled around Oahu but filmed quite a few times at the Park. The three remaining sets from Lost were taken down earlier this year at the request of ABC Studios and those were the Orchid set (the greenhouse where Ben moved the island), the polar bear cages (Hydra station), and the Temple from the last season. It was way too much fun - you shoulda been here! The tikis were mostly stolen or eaten up by termites. There are a couple of pretty ragged looking guys left but they are the link to the past glories of Paradise Park. It's so cool that people remember it, even if the chicken in the restaurant was suspicious.

Back in the 1980's, shortly after moving to Hawaii, I was visiting the park with a friend and we, completely cluelessly, walked right in front on a bride & groom making their way down the path to the alter. Duh. They had weddings there often and had a nice restaurant there that actually stayed in business longer than the park, as I recall. Too bad they went under...Hawaii needs more "diversions" other than high end shopping in Waikiki.

Treetops Restaurant at Paradise Park is still open! I'm having lunch there today. Wanna come? There are still some tiki remnants in the place. If you're ever back in Honolulu, you have to come up here for a visit. My treat!

Aloha,

Yes, there still is some tiki there as documented in Waikiki Tiki. Check the back room for the best of the remaining stuff.

1980 by the cage.

2012 what remains by the cage.

and long LOST...

...And there's a bit more I'm being greedy about for II.

Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
Available now from Bess Press Hawaii.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2012-07-25 13:18 ]

Some 1978 ad information:

We went on a family vacation to Hawaii in 1976, when I was 17. Recently, my brother-in-law has been scanning some of my parent's slides, including from that trip. This turned up... me with the tiki Phillip posted above.

Here's my mom with some other tikis in the Park.

"The rum's the thing..."

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2018-06-19 10:01 ]