Hawaiian Gardens Apartments/Condiminiums, Lauderdale Lakes, FL (apartments)

Name:Hawaiian Gardens Apartments/Condiminiums
Type:apartments
Street:5101 W Oakland Park Blvd
City:Lauderdale Lakes
State:FL
Zip:33319
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational

Description:
This is one of the most preserved, well maintained remnants of Polynesian Pop I've ever seen. It is primarily a retirement community now but was once a spot where visitors from the North would rent the apartments while on vacation or as a 2nd home. The fact that it is a retirement community now is probably why it's maintained in the highest regard. The flowers and grounds are beautiful. I had such a great time exploring here! This post is image heavy and I apologize but I just thought you'd enjoy seeing as much as possible. I visit here often. There are actually more pictures but I thought this might be enough to wet your appetite.

The sign as you enter.

A pond just in the rear area of the 1st clubhouse was my first sign of Tiki!

The drive as you approach the apartment buildings.

A close up of the light fixtures that top the columns.

A night shot.

The stairs even have bamboo accents

Closeup to see detail

Clubhouse on the grounds

Spaghetti glass panels!

Light shining through the spaghetti glass!

Furniture inside - there's lots of it.

more rattan inside!

A hidden Tiki on an island inside a pond.

I held the bush down while I snapped this shot - a duck was biting my other ankle!

The pool area.

Closeup of the amazing Tiki that was recently stolen.

All buildings are named after tropical plants or flowers found in the South Pacific.

More clubhouse finds. I wonder if these are all Witco?

Another pool area shot

An amazing planter

Pool in Phase 2 - incredible Tiki!

[ Edited by: tiki_kiliki 2005-10-20 10:14 ]

i had the pleasure of getting a personal tour of this place from the lovely Tiki Kiliki. we went post-stolen tiki though :( -- it is every bit as amazing as she described. i want to live there!!!

DAH-ham, girl!!

You've found the future TC retirement community all right!! Put me on the waiting list!!

I could just spit I'm so mad about the stolen mask! That's possibly my favorite style, the Hawaiian Eye eyes. I bought an old '50's-ish tiki (or "tikie"!) from BK at Hukilau with that face. Now I'll possibly never get to see it :( :(

(The bus tour was going to see this place, wasn't it, before the delay squashed it? Rats!!!)

Fantastic!

Yep - this was to be on the Bus Tour but due to the delay and how huge this place is, we couldn't make it. Next year though - don't forget next year!

WOW!

For me this is one of those "you don't know what you have until you don't have it no more" moments. My grandparents used to live on the other side of Oakland Park Blvd. right across from Hawaiian Gardens in a similar (but not Tiki) retirement community called Stonebridge Gardens. They moved there in 1973, and I hear that now that place (Stonebridge) has gotten really shabby.

When I was a kid I occasionally bugged them to drive me over to Hawaiian Gardens so I could see what it was like, but they never did. It seemed kinda Disney-esque to me as a kid. When I actually moved to the area in the mid-70s I think I stopped caring about what it was like over there. And by the time I was in high school and had a car I must have driven past it literally thousands of times. Pretty crazy to see what it's like all these years later. Looks like they've kept it together pretty well. I'll have to check it out on my next visit.

[ Edited by: donhonyc 2005-10-20 14:57 ]

I'm with Formikahini...put me on the Hawaiian Gardens waiting list. I truly hope the tiki gets returned safely and soon. I am disappointed that we had to forgo this part of the home bar tour this year but Tiki Kiliki made a wise choice with the available options, and the event could not have been better! That's another list I want to get on...the home bar tour for next year!

Also FYI: there was a go-go lounge in the Tiki style a mile or two, or maybe three miles east of Hawaiian Gardens on Oakland Park Blvd. called The Islander. Back in the day...70s and early 80s, it had a HUGE tiki god statue in the parking lot. Probably 15-20 feet tall and an A-frame structure where all the go-go-ing went on. Today it is a used car lot. Sadly the giant Tiki is gone, but the A-frame remains as the office of the car dealership. Tiki-Kiliki, if you're up that way again, if you drive east (toward the beach) and look on the south side of Oakland Park Blvd., you'll see what I'm talking about. I can't remember the intersection of where it's at, but it's..as far as I know...the only A-frame structure on that road. Check it out.

The Islander Go-Go Lounge. i f I was old enough...i woulda went in!!!

I'll definitely check that out and take some pics to post. Do you have any memorabilia from the Islander? I'll start looking around for things here! I'm surprised that I've never seen this before - I've got an eagle eye for architecture and I can scan a yard sale is half a second from the car while driving, the only other person I've ever met like that is Charles Phoenix.

What a great retirement complex. You can see the over all care taken. Love those spaghetti windows, so cool.
I sure hope the missing tiki returns. From the pictures he looks pretty big. I am always browsing eBay, as many do, looking for tiki masks so I'll keep watch.
Very much bad luck for the person who took this....

A great time capsule!
OK, put me on that waiting list, too.
I have enough Hawaiian shirts and plaid shorts to fit in. Oh, and the gray hair, too.
Beautiful place, with style to spare...

On 2005-10-21 04:58, tiki_kiliki wrote:
Do you have any memorabilia from the Islander?

Only in my head...only, in my head.

Christie, how many careers DO you have? Now you're selling real estate too? Put me down for a nice corner unit, the wahine and I are ready to start planning for our "golden years".
That's an incredible community and I hope the weasel that took the wall tiki gets attacked by palm mites. How (not to mention WHY) do you just walk off with something like that?!?

I've ridden through here many times on my bike
and have taken many pics. It is pretty huge with
like 9 phases or somthing. the only thing is after
like phase 4 the living quality goes down.....way down.
the apartments in the back of the complex are pretty
rundown and low,low income. also there is a place next
door called Tahiti garden apartments,but after noseing
around there is nada to be found. this neighborhood
was definatly pretty hip in it's day but unfortunatly
not anymore. Hawaiian Gardens however have weathered
the storm and are pretty freakin' cool!

Here is a rather disheartening update about Hawaiian Gardens:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/13224062.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_broward_county

A reporter contacted me just after the hurricane for a comment. I was completely speechless. The first I heard of it was from Tikilicious and Steve at the gathering at the Mai Kai when it reopened. It's a huge blow - I'm going to try to stop by this week and take some pictures. Very sad indeed..

Apparently there is a big threat of mold in a lot of the units now, and it seems most of these folks aren't insured for that sort of thing. Makes me afraid for this fine old relic. Please keep everyone posted, tiki_kiliki, and thanks for all those terrific photos.

[ Edited by: TikiTex 2005-12-19 15:18 ]

Having gone through the 2004 hurricanes up here in Central Florida- I'd say its at best 50/50 for whether or not that place will get dozed.

Alot of the older places that got damaged up here- apts, hotels, etc, simply sold out to developers, who plowed them to put in new condos.

I still see new doze-jobs going down every week up here along the A1A. The landscape around here is changing pretty quickly as a result of Frances and Jeanne. Not that its necessarily a bad thing in my case, as for the most part the losses weren't anything tiki or overly googie but the Hawaiian Gardens is a really awesome place. I about fainted when I first saw that entry hut.

By the sound of it, that place got it pretty bad, and may very likely fall to the ball.

If enough units are unscathed, it may end up that they just rebuild the damaged ones, but if half or more is getting mold infested.. everyone might just decide to sell out.

Either way, somebody needs to get down there and investigate, as they might be hauling off or tossing out tikis as I write this.

[ Edited by: fatuhiva 2006-02-11 18:03 ]

Any update on the fate of Hawaiian Gardens??
I'll be down that way in June and was hoping to swing by and check it out!

Hello Everyone, I am new to Tiki Central. I found you because I was doing a search on my mama's condo and there you were ! I have been going to Hawaiian gardens since the mid 70's when my parents bought their condo and moved from Queen's New York. Dad was actually the president of Phase V in the late 70's and soon after he passed on to Tiki Heaven. I will send some photos as soon as I can. I'm on my way there and need to sell a lot of Mama's things and her condo ! She's going to be 90 this year and can't stay alone anymore but she is still beautiful in heart & spirit. By the way my aunt and uncles' condo, about 20 miles away, was almost blown away and they ended up staying at Hawaiian Gardens last year while their apt was rebuilt so as far as I know HG is holding on strong, blessed.