Tiki-Tiki, Calgary, Canada (restaurant)

Name:Tiki-Tiki
Type:restaurant
Street:718 8th Avenue SW
City:Calgary
State:
Zip:
country:Canada
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
I had seen some info on the Tiki Tiki in Edmonton, but not much on the Clagary location. I came across this article from May 1974 that heralds the opening of the Calgary restaurant.

Great photos of the interior and exterior.

An ad for the restaurant feattures and entertainment.

There were two stories.

Great looking place, especially for a 1974 start. Would be nice to see more on this one.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2011-12-14 19:15 ]

The first article posted above quotes the manager Mr. Mah as wanting to open a new restaurant every two years or so. I found this ad from the Saskatoon location indicating that there were a total of 4 Tiki Tiki restaurants in 1982.

A pretty undocumented chain up till now. Anybody ever hear about the Vancouver location?

DC

DC, nice logo graphics and A-frame entry. Tiki Tiki sounded like the real deal in Poly Pop. You indicated an opening in 1974, past the heyday of Polynesian restaurants in the USA. Did Tiki peak later in Canada?

-Tom

Wow. I've found a few things from phone books, but this is great. Thanks dustycajun!

I've also seen interior photos that my cousin's had from when they visited as kids. I'll post those here one of these days/years.

My buddy Marlena visited her mom this week and went through some old family photos. She sent me the scans below of pictures from the Tiki Tiki in Calgary. She writes:

"The photo folder is 4 1/2" X 6 1/4" (folded size). My Dad is at the right front of the table, and Mom is beside him in the pink polyester pant suit (that I am pretty sure she would have sewn) with the lei around her neck. This trip to the Tiki Tiki in Calgary was in 1975 (Bless Oto Atoonga for dating it) and they went with two other couples from neighboring farms. Their friend in the red shirt sitting at the left back of the table is Freddy Keeler of the Rockyford band "Freddy Keeler and the Feedmill Five" fame."

I've looked at the table closely to see if there are any tiki mugs, but I can only see standard glass barware and the old stubby beer bottles.

Excellent find! Did you happen to see any of the colored Tiki Tiki swizzle spoons in the photo?

DC

On 2012-08-11 21:22, Dustycajun wrote:
Excellent find! Did you happen to see any of the colored Tiki Tiki swizzle spoons in the photo?

As a matter of fact, I was able to borrow the photo to do a high-res scan, and yes, you can see some swizzle spoons on the table:

and what appears to be a coconut mug filled with sugar packets:

There are also a couple of lamps on the table with brass shades and straight sided chimneys that appear to have the Tiki Tiki logo printed on them (the same logo as on the front of the photo folder):

Check out the afro on the guitarist. I miss the Tiki tiki in Calgary. I can not remember if they had Tiki mugs. Any collectors with a mug from any of the Tiki tikis in Canada?

Kilaeuakyd, check the Tiki Tiki Edmonton thread for pictures of mugs.