Kon Tiki Room, Kansas City, MO (restaurant)

Name:Kon Tiki Room
Type:restaurant
Street:3251 Main Street
City:Kansas City
State:MO
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:

OK, here is a new one for our Tiki ohana in Kansas City. The Kon Tiki Room.

I had always been curious about the illustration on this Kon Tiki menu that was on Mimi's website. The drinks and vessels were certainly Tiki, but I could not understand the graphic on the cover.

Here is an article from 1963 from the grand opening of the La Louisiane restaurant and the Kon Tiki Room.

From the ad, it looks like they had Tikis.

The menu illustration is a rendering of the Kon Tiki Room building entrance. And what a great sign on the front of the building directing you to it!

A few ads that used the same rendering.

In the early 1970s it shifted to Cantonese cuisine.

And then became House of Chun with the Kon Tiki Room intact.

Obviously named after the chef who was lured from the Polynesian Room at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago to start the restaurant.

The Kon Tiki Room became secondary.

Then disappeared altogether.

I have read that it became a gay bar named the Kon Tiki Room later in the 1980s.

DC

I always thought it was a Tiki outhouse! :D

Your research also answers the age-old question of WHERE this dilapidated Kon Tiki neon I used as an example of Tiki devolution in TIKI MODERN came from:

It was a photo that Mark Ryden had given me, and he could not remember where he took it.

ALL WILL BE REVEALED IN TIME !

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2015-03-26 14:32 ]

Well it took a long time but I finally found a piece from Kon Tiki. Just a lonely "half" matchbook but it was exciting to find. Hopefully some more things will surface. We can always hope for swizzles, mugs, napkins and ashtrays but this will have to do for now. Don't be fooled by the small print at the bottom that says Kansas City, Kan. That is where the matchbook maker was located. This restaurant was on the Missouri side.

Got this message from Judy Chun

My parents,Edward and Nancy Chun, owned the House of Chun/Kon Tiki in the 60-70's. It was good to see some pictures of the old place. Thanks for sharing~~

I'll see if I can pump her for some memories to post here :D