The Kahiki, Columbus, OH (restaurant )

Name:The Kahiki
Type:restaurant
Street:3583 East Broad Street
City:Columbus
State:OH
Zip:43213
country:USA
Phone:(614) 237-5425
Status:defunct

Description:
http://www.tikifish.com/kahiki.html

What can I say that hasn't been said? Click above for my Kahiki review... it was the first tiki bar I ever went to, so it kind of spoiled me for the rest...

I'm sure there are plenty more links concerning the Kahiki so please post them here!

Here's the company's web page about the restaurant (with small photo gallery):

http://www.kahiki.com/aloha.cfm

EDITED TO FIX URLS 27 AUG 2005

Here are some pictures I took of the Kahiki salvage operation:

Rescuing the giant moai fireplace:

The tiki fountain:

Saving the giant flaming moai sentinels:

Gutted interior:

View the full album here:

http://www.haxan.com/kahikisalvage/

"Level 4 Breach! Level 4 Breach! The monkey's are free! The monkeys are free!"

[ Edited by: TheMuggler 2005-08-26 21:01 ]

[ Edited by: TheMuggler 2005-08-26 21:07 ]

Those are definitely some historically important photos, for those of us tiki geeks anyway! I recall them from the days of yahoo, right?

Hey could you please repost a link so I can check out the Kahiki salvage operation pics??
JAy

I had to take the pictures down, as I was housing them on Reemco and it seems the blogging community recently discovered Reemco so the traffic is going through the roof. I've already had to purchase an extra 7 GB of bandwidth.

Now if only I could figure out how to make a buck out of all that traffic!

I will re-post the Kahiki pictures as soon as I can.

A nice view of the Kahiki in it's heyday.

What is the salvage operation? I have been there twice, I loved that place, to bad it isn't open anymore!

I grew up a few miles from the once grand Kahiki Supper Club. There is nothing to replace those childhood memories of driving by at night when the Tiki Gods in front were blazing with fire. Unfortunately, it appears that "business sense" outweighed nostalgia. I was able to take my daughter to the Kahiki only once, but she still talks about it. Four years and counting and still no ground broken on a new Kahiki like what was offered when the announcement came that the original was being sold to Walgreen's.

I am selling some kahiki artifacts for michael tsao (owner) He still wants to open a new restaurant.But he is having some storage issues plz watch on ebay if anyone has interest
thanks
bdler3

Huhh? Storage issues?

A 15 inch tiki,
a plate,
and a napkin?

Did I miss some items? Or perhaps there are more substantially sized items yet to be listed?

Please disclose....

The Kahiki frozen food factory is in the process of moving into their new headquarters. This is the reason they are selling some of the artifacts. There will be more items and some big stuff but I don't know exactly what at this time.
barry

bdler3, in another thread ( http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11001&forum=5 ) you mention that the frozen food plant and offices display some of the restaurant's artifacts. Could you (or anyone else) post some pics?

Heard an unconfirmed rumor from a friend that a large Polynesian restaurant is planned for the upscale Polaris area of the city (20 miles north of Columbus). Since I now live in Florida, I don't know if it was mentioned in any Ohio media, but if anyone has any info, please post it.

Has anyone taken video off the inside of the KAHIKI?

The Kahiki now has an outlet store at 1100 Morrison Road, Gahanna, Ohio. They sell many of the food items that they still sell in grocery stores but also some resturant items.

They sell the standard Kahiki mug as well as the skull mug and the barrell tumbler. They also sell the volcano bowl and a slightly smaller bowl. There were napkins and tiki picks too.

I also saw Trader Vic's brand grenadine, orgeat and rock syrup.

Sweet!

On 2005-05-15 17:47, Nokala Rocky wrote:
Has anyone taken video off the inside of the KAHIKI?

If you mean the Kahiki as it was, Sven says the closing the Kahiki party was shot and the interior was very well documented, but when the guy who did the video got home, his equipment was stolen, including the Kahiki footage, and it was lost forever...

I was in the Kahiki many a nite before they closed and saw people documenting the interior. I asked Jim the bartender what they were up to and he said they were doing it so they could reproduce it exactly as it was when the new Kahiki was built.that will most likely never happen but someone has all of the photos/video they took. maybe if someone asked them at the outlet store they would know more about it.

Wow! I would hope someone has some footage! I keep kicking myself, I knew about the Kahiki about 20 years ago, and wanted to roadtrip to see it, but never did. Would love to have been inside enough times to really get to know the place.

read a pretty great article about the kahiki here

There are parts of the Kahiki burned into my memory forever, there are other details that I'd have no idea where in all those layers the piece was originally. The overall layout is easy though- it had such coherence, each 'room' was a logical progression of the one before.

As for the outlet store, I have a few pictures from our last trip through Ohio- http://www.sevenpleasures.org/gallery/Kahiki-Outlet.

The store itself had a few Tikis, chairs, lamps, spears, sheilds, and other paraphanalia on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. When we went through, the artifacts were oddly sitting in a realitively sterile white room.

However the wonderful Wahine behind the counter explained their 'designer' (?) was going to come in and make the store less white and more Kahiki.

Another wonderful detail she shared- they were carrying a number of new Kahiki mugs, the headhunter/Moai, the skull mug, and a Kahiki Rum barrel. She mentioned that as the outlet store opened the most recent mug maker for the restaurant FOUND THEM and offered to make more mugs- can't verrify that, but the mugs each came with a Kahiki Stir stick- some of the older(?) dark green ones with the concave markings, and then other with the newer(?) lighter green stir paddles with the convex markings. There were no markings on the mugs to diffentiate these from those sold at the restaurant.

Finally, a picture of the entry fountain she took us into the glassed off room to see, she affectionately refered to him as "George", Kahiki folks may remember him from the entry hut with a flame burning atop his head. The 'designer' is alledgedly going to come in and make his habitat a bit less sterile- perhaps he'll get ferns at his base or something. In any case, he's in the foyer with other Tikis as part of the staircase with glass floats upon their heads.

I have a video that kahiki used to sell for $10 in the gift shop. it's about 5 min. long an is basically an ad for the kahiki but there is alot of great shots. michael tsao takes you on a guided tour. I had the foresight to buy up all their s/p shakers when I was there last, but should have bought more videos...anyway, I'm going to burn it to disc. perhaps I can get some of these out to fellow tc'ers.....

Hey Johnny, your article is in the members only area, so the public can't see it.

So I moved your post content here for ya:

From: 'Society for Commercial Archaeology (SCA) Journal' - Spring 1998

larger page 1

larger page 2

larger page 3

larger page 4

larger page 5

larger page 6

[edited down the size of the larger images -Ahu]

[ Edited by: KuKuAhu on 2005-05-19 23:21 ]

Tipsy let me know if you could burn one for me, I want to see what I missed! :^(

On 2005-05-19 10:58, KuKuAhu wrote:
Hey Johnny, your article is in the members only area, so the public can't see it.

ooo, silly me. :embarassed:

On 2005-05-19 10:58, KuKuAhu wrote:
So I moved your post content here for ya:

mahalo ahu!

Hey man, no problem at all. I'm just thrilled you went to the trouble to get it and post it with us in the first place.

Mahalo!

Ahu

I just returned from the newly opened Kahiki Outlet Store. They have many decorations from the restaurant and they are selling various mugs. They are selling coconut, skull and coffee mugs. As well as the easy to find mug #1 (is is not marked mug #1 on the bottom). They also have available the volcano bowl as well as the drink bowl. They have leis, postcards, swizzle sticks and napkins. They also sell necklaces based on the tiki head seen on thier plates and logo.
The prices are very good so, don't buy from those overpriced guys on E-bay! See if the Kahiki will ship. They are at 1100 Morrison Road, Gahanna, OH 43230.

Here are some pics of the newly finished showroom and office lobby.

This is the exterior, easily seen from I-270:
http://www.clicshare.com/cs/lib/WKMQOSIEJDSWODFNEIIIHSTAJSJEGD/ZBOZOTHTTAQOUNEQAKSYFVVYTGECCO/AXMITCWVHPDRAQHGJMENVZNSHLDBSY.jpg

Here is the infamous fountain seen in the Mystery Drink Girl postcard:
http://www.clicshare.com/cs/lib/WKMQOSIEJDSWODFNEIIIHSTAJSJEGD/ZBOZOTHTTAQOUNEQAKSYFVVYTGECCO/VDTAJMFFLLPBNHQHYPBYBVBDHXFHNX.jpg

Here is a really cool mask:
http://www.clicshare.com/cs/lib/WKMQOSIEJDSWODFNEIIIHSTAJSJEGD/ZBOZOTHTTAQOUNEQAKSYFVVYTGECCO/FXBGIQORZQNBMOKEQMQLWLOGODRSUK.jpg

Here is a shield (I think:
http://www.clicshare.com/cs/lib/WKMQOSIEJDSWODFNEIIIHSTAJSJEGD/ZBOZOTHTTAQOUNEQAKSYFVVYTGECCO/PSOUIMKZOKRUGECQOQJVCSIGTVGUIQ.jpg

Here is a fountain in the corner of the store:
http://www.clicshare.com/cs/lib/WKMQOSIEJDSWODFNEIIIHSTAJSJEGD/ZBOZOTHTTAQOUNEQAKSYFVVYTGECCO/WJCDWIKOEOKMWEIKUJYSIHNDWLXJRK.jpg

Here are some really cool posts that lead to the offices:
http://www.clicshare.com/cs/lib/WKMQOSIEJDSWODFNEIIIHSTAJSJEGD/ZBOZOTHTTAQOUNEQAKSYFVVYTGECCO/ROLVFALVBRNIPGHXHUUWVQSRLTNPTQ.jpg

I was rolling through the video footage I have of the Kahiki salvage and hastily threw together a 3 minute video of the salvage crew removing the Moai fireplace from a hole in the roof. You can see the video here:

http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2006/05/video_and_photo.html

I also created a flickr photoset of the salvage operation, which is linked above as well.

Great footage!

Holy Moly! Thanks for the article from SCA magazine. That one completely slipped by me. I am an Architectural Historian at the University of Georgia and am in the process of writing a series of articles on Polynesian influences on the American Landscape. The Kahiki is a flagship example due to the large amount of custom detail and long history. Its destruction is a horrible example why local historic preservation ordinances need to have teeth.
Anyway,...I better stop here before I get on my soapbox and make a speech.

Thanks Again!

Swamp

Awesome Footage!! Thanks for posting that Mike. Much appreciated.

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

Excellent footage!

It's still beyond description what a loss the Kahiki was.
I refuse to do any business with Walgreens.

-Ron

[ Edited by: TelefunkenU47 2006-05-11 10:17 ]

Thanks. I'm actually surprised at how many people commented on the blog and the youtube page that the Walgreens was "an improvement."

Who the hell ARE these people?!?!?!

On 2006-05-11 11:52, TheMuggler wrote:
Who the hell ARE these people?!?!?!

the "Normals." damn them.

the "Normals." damn them.

amen, brother.

damn them all to HELL!!!

I am originally from just outside Columbus and my Mom still lives back there (Mt.Vernon). She is very normal and even she was upset by the Kahiki being suplanted by another friggin Walgreen's. Remember, most of us were "normal" once.

I have a DVD of the promo video that Mr. Tsao made back in '98. If anyone would like a copy PM me. It was copied directly from the betacam master by the video production house that made it for the Kahiki. So, the quality is wonderful. Lots of great shots of the interior.

I just checked out the Kahiki Web site and found that they've uploaded the promotional video done in 1999. Check out the link on the lower right corner:

http://www.kahiki.com/about-us/supper-club.aspx

On 2009-06-23 10:06, Tattoo wrote:
I just checked out the Kahiki Web site and found that they've uploaded the promotional video done in 1999. Check out the link on the lower right corner:

http://www.kahiki.com/about-us/supper-club.aspx

Ya Tattoo,
I just found this video by accident.
A great caption in time of a great place.

"The Kahiki Supper Club Restaurant has been closed since 2000 and our focus is now dedicated to Asian frozen foods"

Sniff Sniff Sob.......NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I love the part o the video that says that it was recently added to the National Registry of Historic Places....WTF ? It's a fuckin Walgreens now.

Here's the video of the fireplace being removed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28TTiyqh8aM

On 2009-11-30 16:22, dewey-surf wrote:

"The Kahiki Supper Club Restaurant has been closed since 2000 and our focus is now dedicated to Asian frozen foods"

Sniff Sniff Sob.......NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

And their frozen food is CRAP!

What a shame .. I almost cried after seeing that place torn down.

When it comes to history and Walgreens money Talks!

They probably used that money to create the frozen food company and when that fails and the money is gone... then what?

My parents had their first date here in 1976. Knowing that I love polynesian collectibles, they gave me the matchbook that they picked up there that night. I was born about a year and a half later :)

My parents had their first date here in 1976. Knowing that I love polynesian collectibles, they gave me the matchbook that they picked up there that night. I was born about a year and a half later :)