Tiki Restaurants - Vintage Drink Girls

McTiki,

Thanks for the info on the Samoa. I also posted your thread on the Samoa post I started in the Locating Tiki forum.

Did it look like the original restaurant building was still there and just remodeled with the hotel built next door?

I'll have to do some archeology this week. I'll update in Finding Tiki thread.

Recently aquired server gals:

More HERE

Cool card, Have not heard about the one in Filey much...and the fact they called it ButlinLAND !
That African carving is rad, and the gals look like they're naked, which is certainly more appropriate than the look of the server in this Butlins's Beachcomber photo:

I like the white lines on the floor though, so the drunks can find their way out, I guess.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-05-20 13:17 ]

Spotted this interesting add for outdoor carpet that was shot at the Mai Kai. The carpet is stated to be "Poi Proof"! More of the great Mai Kai serving gals in action. Who could that lucky guy in the chair be??

A classic. I am still bummed that that kneeling girl's head fell into the crease between page 80 and 81 in Tiki Modern (...and I still hate those unreadable page numbers, the 8 just looked like a 5 to me!)

On 2008-06-30 13:13, Dustycajun wrote:
Who could that lucky guy in the chair be??

Don't know who the guy is, but the dancing girl is Lita from Hawaii. She was featured in the 1963 Mai-Kai calendar. Here she is in some other luscious photos from that time:

GatorRob,

Thanks for sharing, we've now gone from Swanky's Awesome Annie to your Lovely Lita! Nice transition man.

Absolutely great pics from all of you.Nice info on this thread.
Great job from all of you.I learn something new every time I
check out TC.I think I was born in the wrong era.
Everything looks so damn cool back then, its amazing !

Here's a Mai Kai Mystery Girl painting that just sold on ebay. This one is also in Tiki Modern on page 63. Cheers

You sure it was a painting? Looks more like a color copy/blow up of that photo in Tiki Modern to me...maybe printed on giclee/canvassy material to make it look more painted? In any case, I bet they got it from my book, the original is a slide that Tiki Kiliki provided, and I doubt there are any copies of it. How much did it fetch?

It went for $161.61. It says in the description that it is a canvas print.

Bigbro,

Kohalacharms won the item which, as reported by Tiki Kate, is a print on canvas. So the only published copy of this picture is in Tiki Modern? I guess copyright infringement is a form of flattery?

A form of flattery endlessly repeated since the Book of Tiki. :D
I generally don't mind, it is part of spreading Tiki culture, but if the seller continues to sell these, I'd like to have a word with him/her, do you still have that link? The printing and the frame should have cost more than half of what he/she made, so maybe he'll see it's not worth it, like that gentleman that was printing T-shirts with BOT designs.

Here's the link to the auction.

It is an enlarged copy on canvas, by the way. Not a painting. I asked the seller when the auction was still on. Either way, it is still nice. I thought about bidding on it, but figured if I want one, I can make it myself. It IS one of my favorite pics in the book.

Bongofury,

Thanks for the post, where did the pictures come from? I am assuming the Mystery Girl is another Mai Kai piece?

Here are a couple more advertising photo shots I have of the serving gals at a more modern looking Mai Kai.

Well, you've given me another opening for more Mai-Kai serving gals! Is there such a thing as too much? :D They may be familiar, but who cares. They belong in this thread.

On 2008-08-01 18:13, GatorRob wrote:
Well, you've given me another opening for more Mai-Kai serving gals! Is there such a thing as too much? :D They may be familiar, but who cares. They belong in this thread.

GatorRob,

No such thing as too much. This one just in time for the Super Bowl. How about these Mai Kai gals setting the table for a quarterback to go deep for a quick score in the end zone! (who is that guy?)

DC

That's the late Bob Thornton, Mai-Kai owner/co-founder. Looks like the gal on the left is the same one holding the Mystery Bowl in my earlier post. And where DID you get this photo?? Never seen this one.

Yeh, that's mystery girl Linda Spengle, Cathy(sometimes mystery girl)and Pam with Bob.

[ Edited by: nibblegribitz 2010-06-06 09:43 ]

[ Edited by: nibblegribitz 2010-06-09 09:31 ]

On 2008-08-01 18:13, GatorRob wrote:
Well, you've given me another opening for more Mai-Kai serving gals! Is there such a thing as too much? :D They may be familiar, but who cares. They belong in this thread.

On 2010-06-10 Nibblegribitz wrote:
Mystery girl Linda Spengle.

On 2010-06-10 Nibblegribitz wrote:
Sisters Kellie and Susan(who married Kern Mattei).

On 2009-01-21 22:58, Dustycajun wrote:

On 2008-08-01 18:13, GatorRob wrote:
Well, you've given me another opening for more Mai-Kai serving gals! Is there such a thing as too much? :D They may be familiar, but who cares. They belong in this thread.

GatorRob,

No such thing as too much. This one just in time for the Super Bowl. How about these Mai Kai gals setting the table for a quarterback to go deep for a quick score in the end zone! (who is that guy?)

On 2010-06-10 Nibblegribitz wrote:
Yes that's Bob with mMystery girl Linda Spengle, sometimes mystery girl Cathy and Pam.

DC

On 2008-08-01 18:13, GatorRob wrote:
Well, you've given me another opening for more Mai-Kai serving gals! Is there such a thing as too much? :D They may be familiar, but who cares. They belong in this thread.

Mystery girl Linda Spengle. - Nibblegribitz

Sisters Kelli and Susan(who married Kern Mattei Sr.). - Nibblegribitz

GROG always appreciate a picture of a pretty girl, especially the women of the Mai Kai, but can you please edit the posts each time you hit "quote", so we don't have to see the same photos posted over and over down the whole page of the thread.

-OR-

Sometimes when you hit submit, if TC is running slow it may not post right away. If you keep hitting "submit", then you get multiple posts of the same thing all in a row. So, when you post and hit submit, be patient if it doesn't work right away.

GROG
Get better soon Tiki-Kate and Marie.

[ Edited by: GROG 2010-06-11 18:00 ]

I am with Grog!

Guys, some new members, especially who are also older Tiki veterans, might not be too familiar with that fandangled computer posting thang. A good suggestion, but it could have been worded more supportively. :)

On 2010-06-11 12:49, bigbrotiki wrote:
Guys, some new members, especially who are also older Tiki veterans, might not be too familiar with that fandangled computer posting thang. A good suggestion, but it could have been worded more supportively. :)

I was trying to post a photo yesterday. Isn't there a way to post photos that are stored elsewhere using a link?
Sorry about getting off topic, but I just thought I'd point out that this board works differently than others.

Here is a new postcard I got from the Luau Restaurant in Miami Beach. That's the owner Trader Syd being served up a frosty-chilly from a sarong clad siren.

DC

Siren is right! That's a great photo, DC, and I've never seen it before. That server is iconic of the right kind of fake-polynesian wahini of American tiki restaurants of the 60s, (in my book).

Not really a drink girl, but I didn't know where else to put this picture. I found it in a book titled "The Professional Approach to Journalistic Photography" by Sellmeyer and Moore, copyright 1967.

The caption in the book says that the props were borrowed from a local department store, but doesn't say where.

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2011-09-04 00:43 ]