Your holy grail...

So whats is that one item that you are dying to find and have? Possibly that velvet leeteg painting, or those killer witco stools, or maybe evan that elusive viscious virgin mug? So what the item that keep you scouring those thrift store?

Me personally it's gotta be one of those lamps that ol laney girl snap up.The one with the starfish in it, man what I wouldnt do for one of those.Im sure some one will come up with something that will make me change my mind, but for the moment, thats what keeps me going, finding one of those bad boys at my local store for 5 bucks,HA.

A Mark Thomas Outrigger mug.

My Holy Grail is actually a wish-list of items that I will never obtain!

Kahiki Moai
Flanking the entrance to my house.

Wall of Tropical Fish
In the entrance foyer.

Kahiki Fireplace
On the main wall in my Polynesian room.

Pitcairn Neon Googie Sign
Mounted on the wall opposite of the Kahiki fireplace.

Kon-Tiki Neon Sign
In my tropical backyard oasis just before you enter the grotto.

1961 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible
In the garage.

And the piece-de-resistance...

Big Daddy Olu - In MY front yard!

HEY, A GUY CAN DREAM RIGHT?!

*** * * The Polynesian Popster * * ***

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2002-12-26 09:22 ]

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2002-12-26 09:22 ]

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2002-12-26 09:26 ]

Keep house hunting, pop, maybe you'll find all this in a house! It's not healthy to want so much you can't have!
Seriously, the things I really want are a Witco fountain and the Firedancers Art piece to go with my lamp. Most of the fun is finding tikis at a killer price so I take what I can get. I did drop some dough on my witco bars as a gift to myself for selling my condo. I earned it! The few mugs I really want are my Mom's and she wont let me have them until she dies. They have memories and stories attached which make them far more valueable than the high prices they could fetch on ebay.
Non-tiki wise I want a '59 Cadi. Eldo. convert.or a '53 Cadi. Eldo. convert. like my Dad had (good luck finding the '53) I'll keep dreaming!

I know... my holy grail stuff is just beyond fantasy. Now, realistically, my holy grail stuff would include things like an original Mai Kai or Kahiki Mystery Drink bowl. Still, I'm too cheap to dish out the cash required to obtain one.

I agree - my holy grail is a Mauna Loa mug, which can be aquired for about 200 of my Canadian dollars on Ebay. But to me, that would take all the fun out if it. The point of a holy grail is really the long, arduous crusade of looking for it - not the simple handing over of scads of cash!!!

So, I continue to scour thrift stores from Toronto to Toledo....

Well, it's not exactly a Holy Grail, but I keep looking for a pair of those silly little glasses with ribs around the botton that many tiki places served a drink in called a Deep Sea Diver, or a Skin Diver, or a Pearl Diver or some kind o' diver or other. I've always figured they would be super easy to find, but Nooooo. Finding these glasses is driving me crazy.

I want this mug from the Kona Hawaii. It's not all that rare, but, I like it.
Mahalo,
Al

That's one my Mom has. I saved it from her paintbrushes and pens. I want that one too but have to wait for her to die. I like having my Mom around more but if she upsets me.....:wink: Last one sold on ebay for $75+ I hope I don't run into Al at a tiki yard sale! It's on!

There is a Tiki still life painted by August Holland that is my holiest of grails.

It depicts a Tiki holding a bowl, and light from inside the bowl is illuminating the tiki. He is standing to one side of a bowl of fruit, and the background is a blue wash with tikis subtly placed in the design. The foreground is a reflective surface with the tiki and background being present as reflections.

I WANT THE ORIGINAL!!!

Laney,

I hope nothing happens to your mom, kinda unexpectedly, if ya know what I mean (wink, wink).

OC Homicide might not understand all the posts refering to items you desire of hers but must wait until her passing to get!

'Nuff Said??

:drink:

I'm still scouring the net and the thrift stores for the elusive polynesian, alabaster, ibex moai as seen here at the Trader Vics in Beverly Hilly with LapuRocker. Still easily the most sought after and rarest tiki collectable.

I hear ya GeekyTiki that was also on my wish list along with the puffer fish light set. I can handle on a print thou. But I'm in hog heaven when I find anything at the thrift store-here in Bradenton, Florida you're extremely lucky to find much at all. The snowbirds don't bring much when their here except the essentials to stay at their condos.

I want a crisp photo of a stylish beehived early 60's beauty drinking out of that damn headhunter mug at Ren Clark's. The ultimate image of modern primitivism!
It must exist somewhere somehow. I mean would you not have posed with that mug for giggles at the time?

"I want a crisp photo of a stylish beehived early 60's beauty drinking out of that damn headhunter mug at Ren Clark's. The ultimate image of modern primitivism!
It must exist somewhere somehow. I mean would you not have posed with that mug for giggles at the time?"

YES!!! I WOULD!!! I agree, this must exist somewhere. And we will find it. But this is a great idea for a picture, even now. I have several friends whose looks and style are so 60's it's almost painful. And I have the dresses, that's for sure. Now all I need is the mug...or even a loaner...

Shall I risk the disdain and horror of others when I say, I am not a fan of that gruesome mug at all?

If I ever find one, it's up for sale or trade immediately.

Not that I'm likely to. But just so you know here's one fish lookin' out for youse guys.

On 2002-12-27 17:50, tikifish wrote:
Shall I risk the disdain and horror of others when I say, I am not a fan of that gruesome mug at all?

Gasp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can understand your lack of enthusiasm for this mug. My wife, who is quite tiki friendly, finds the mug revolting and gruesome. I on the other appeciate that it IS so revolting and gruesome...As Sven said...

On 2002-12-27 11:07, bigbrotiki wrote:
The ultimate image of modern primitivism!

:drink:

Hey, PolyPop: why don't you tell everyone the truth about that mug? You told me at Vic's in Emeryville and I was too blitzed to remember everything.

-martin

I want to build with my own hands my dream tiki item - convert the basement of a house into a ship's hull, curved wood plank walls and all, with portholes looking out onto a faux tropical beach... the room would contain large rum barrels artifacts traded from the islanders...
I would have at least 2 special effects options - flip a switch and creaking sounds emanate from the walls with occasional spurts of water, there is lighting and thunder outside the portholes etc... or, flip a switch and the room turns into a disco with 60's inspired lighting effects...

Uh, you lost me at "disco" -- but other than that, it sounds very cool. Sounds like quite a job, but acheivable. For the ceiling, you could mount fluorescent lights behind pale blue gels behind aged wooden slats, so that slits of light were barely visible here and there. Of course, the ultimate would be if you could snag an audio-animatronic parrot.

Martin,
Are you talking about the Ren Clark Severed Head? Here's the story on that mug:

Ren Clark was the President of a magician's society in Texas. As a matter of fact, if you type in "Ren Clark" on Yahoo you'll most likely get links to his past as a reknowned magician. He had a regular magic act at his restaurant, the Polynesian Village. His show ended with an act that consisted of a person losing their head to a guillotine - hence, the severed head souvenir mug.

The question is, "Is this mug tiki?" In my opinion no. However, Ren Clark's Polynesian Village certainly was a tiki establishment of Polynesian Pop proportions. As such, the mug has a connection to the tiki/polynesian pop genre as it is definitely an artifact from a now defunct tiki temple.

I personally love the mug because its so different. It's just one of those mugs that I think would look way cool on my shelf. Will I ever get one? Probably not. As I've said before, I'm too cheap to dish out the kind of bucks required to obtain a find like that one.

*** * * The Polynesian Popster * * ***

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2002-12-30 18:26 ]

Thanks for the info Pop- that explains the mug being a severed head! Can I add this info to the tiki gallery under BBTD's great pics of this mug?

Mike, of course you can post that info! Make's the mug a little more interesting now doesn't it?

Here's some more info on Ren Clark:

*Taken from magictricks.com:

International Brotherhood of Magicians President 1947-1948. Founded Texas Association of Magicians in 1948. His home reportedly had a stage and could accomodate 100 seats for magic shows.*

Apparantly, Ol' Ren also formed the Fort Worth Magician's Club in 1940. Here's a link to the history of this club:

http://fortworthmagicclub.com/html/club_history.html

*** * * The Polynesian Popster * * ***

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2002-12-31 11:57 ]

That's good hunting, Pol Pop!
A while back I had sent Tiki Centralist Reever (who lives in Dallas) on Ren Clark's trail but he could not find his house OR any relatives.
Maybe this Magic Club has some photos of Ren performing at the Polynesian Village, or at least at his home stage....

I would say a winning Big Game lotto ticket....everything else would take care of itself. :)

Here is another holy grail Tiki:
BOT page 95, B&W group shot:
One of those wooden Marquesan Tikis those happy skiers are holding as trophies from the Tiki race in Lake Tahoe....best would be the big one that the Trader is resting his hand on.
Singular samples of Polynesian Pop history.

Yes, the thought of owning one of those tiki trophies has crossed my mind many times! That would definitely be at the top of the holy grail list - especially, if it still had the inscription of the event it came from.

bigbrotiki wrote:
One of those wooden Marquesan Tikis those happy skiers are holding as trophies from the Tiki race in Lake Tahoe....

Closest I came to this "grail" was a gold medal from one of the races. It was one nice little item....went to a good home though.
The medal was an Ebay auction and the eventual winner was Pete Seeley.

midnite...back from the Great White East for holidays.

I want to win one of those Bong-made tiki bowling trophies.

Without a doubt, I needs me one of those Tikiccino coffee machines shown in the Book of Tiki. That or an original Shag painting depicting me as a suave supervillain.

But stepping back into the realm of realistic aspirations, I sure wouldn't mind one of those posters showing all of the different celebrities having a good time at the Kahiki.

there's gotta be somebody out there who was involved in ren clark's polynesian village or knew of ren clark- especially since he was such a famous magician- how many of those are there?

Those Polynesian village mugs are quite rare- and im not just talking about the head- there are a few other varieties too- i barely seen any in years of hunting

On the old board someone had posted photos of 6 or 8 Ren Clark mugs. Who was this? Could you post them again? Please?.
Mahalo,
Al

that was me- but i dont have the pics anymore, and my mugs are boxed up still after a move. ill bust em out when i get to the bar stage and take some pics

I'm very keen to get hold of a mug from the Mayfair Beachcomber, which used to be based in London. While I've managed to get mugs from the other UK Tiki establishments, I've only managed to get a rather cheesy LP from the Mayfair Beachcomber. The archive film, freely downloadable from Pathe, shows drinks being served in some sort of Tiki mug there, but it would be nice to actually find one.

Trader Woody

A big Barney West.

whats a big barney west?

Barney WAS big, but by now I bet he is sort of crumpled, and would smell bad. I would reconsider....

No but seriously, good taste. Together with Milan Guanko he is my favourite carver, and there must be some of his Tikis around somewhere. Hey, if you found those Pompano Beach Tikis, you'l find one of his... BOT page 246/247

On 2003-01-04 07:39, hula hula wrote:
whats a big barney west?

Hula,
Barney West was an old carver who carved tikis for such places as Trader Vic's in Emeryville and the now defunct Lanai restaurant in San Mateo. Aquarj of this board actually acquired the old Barney West carved tiki that stood in front of the Lanai for many years. The tiki now stands in Aquarj's front porch. It's one tall MUTHA! Here is a pic of me with it:

Wow, that's a beaut! What's the story behind the aquisition? Is it outdoors in all weather? Has it been treated?

Is there a story behind that particular style of Tiki? I've a little 10 inch version with Hawaii on the bottom, but the combination of his sad eyes and angry mouth throws me.

Trader Woody

sweet!

mental note:plan to hit aquarj house soon :)

On 2003-01-04 12:15, PolynesianPop wrote:

Barney West was an old carver who carved tikis for such places as Trader Vic's in Emeryville and the now defunct Lanai restaurant in San Mateo. Aquarj of this board actually acquired the old Barney West carved tiki that stood in front of the Lanai for many years. The tiki now stands in Aquarj's front porch.

Pol. Pop, a little correction here: The Tiki stood in front of LANAI LIQUORS, which to my knowledge was unaffiliated with the Restaurant. The Liquor store probably took the name from there since it is in the same neighbourhood.

See the Tiki being moved at aquarj's website: http://www.goofspot.com/bamboo/see/sfrm.htm

Barney drank himself to death decades ago, but you can see his fine Tikis at Trader Vic's all over the world. The big ones in Emeryville, the one's at the Atlanta T.V.'s old entrance (now the rear), and most of those medium size Tikis that sit on the booths in Trader Vics are Barney Wests. He also did great masks for them.
My holy grail would be one of his Tiki chairs he made (BOT p.246). He also did figureheads and totem poles.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2003-01-04 16:17 ]

Hmmm... I always thought that tiki stood in front of The Lanai first and then Lanai Liquor second - after The Lanai closed down.

*** * * The Polynesian Popster * * ***

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2003-01-06 07:41 ]

I love when people post pics of themselves so it shows you who your talking to. PolynesianPop you're not how I picture ya. It's funny how you imagine how people look even thou you've never met. Love the tiki pic maybe one day I be able to post pics on here myself.

This is definitely one mug I want to acquire:

Frankoma War God

Not gettin' this one though. Frankoma collectors are rather "fervent". Maybe next time.

midnite

Hey, fun to see talk of the Lanai tiki by Barney West! If you think that tiki looks big, just consider that PolyPop is about 6'6" tall!

Thanks for mentioning my slideshow of the move, BigBro. In case it helps for anyone following that link, use the "Photos" link on the page BigBro listed to get to the Lanai tiki slideshow link.

So, here's some longwinded additions to the discussion...

Yes, the tiki is out in the elements all the time, just as he has been for the last 40 years, I guess. Actually, I keep wishing I could gather more facts about his age and so on. I've contacted some restoration / preservation experts in the bay area, and the consensus from most of them is to do nothing, since it has lasted well all these years. There are a couple things I will do though.

And yes, this tiki was most recently in front of the Lanai Liquors, which is still there and which still has a neat, but flickering neon sign. But the store owner is the one (among others) who told me that it used to stand in front of the Lanai restaurant. Having never seen the restaurant before it was Walgreen'd, I can't say for sure. Here's part of an old brochure that shows a couple shots of the front of the restaurant:

There's actually some kind of moai guy shown in this photo! But no sign of the other tiki in these pics, or any others that I've seen of the restaurant. The story I heard was that there were originally two big Barney West tikis out front of the Lanai, and that one ended up at the liquor store and one went somewhere in southern CA. Supposedly the owner thought they were bad luck. I can say it has brought me good luck since I've had it though!

The other story I heard was that the liquor store was indeed originally associated with the restaurant, and also with the Villa hotel and the Chartier restaurant, which were all in the same plaza called Villa Square (see the note on the brochure). One stop shopping - stay at the Villa, dine in simulated paradise at the Lanai, and then get stock up at the liquor store for the late nite hotel room escapades. Today that plaza is a Kinkos and a Walgreens, but the hotel and the liquor store are still there.

And yes, hulahula, stop on by! It's always a pleasure having TC'ers over, since as a lot, they tend to be very gracious guests!

-Randy

There's a restaurant in Fresno, CA called the Leilani and it has exactly the same palm tree sign as the Lanai. Were these signs mass produced, or were the two restaurants related?

[email protected]
http://www.tikigardens.com

And yes, this tiki was most recently in front of the Lanai Liquors, which is still there and which still has a neat, but flickering neon sign. But the store owner is the one (among others) who told me that it used to stand in front of the Lanai restaurant. Having never seen the restaurant before it was Walgreen'd, I can't say for sure. Here's part of an old brochure that shows a couple shots of the front of the restaurant:

[ Edited by: traderfranks on 2003-01-05 23:30 ]