Anyone have any info about this place...

I did a search here and couldn't find anything, so if this has been covered already I apologize. There's an old tiki restaurant/bar in Punaluu at black sand beach. While there I scraped up what little info I could which unfortunately wasn't much. One person I talked to said it was supposed to be demolished a long time ago and still is, but noone knows for sure. I'm trying to figure out the name of the place, find photos, memorabilia, etc. It has definitely been sitting a long time and has obviously been the object of much vandalism. I try to imagine what this place looked like in its glory days as a destination for vacationers and tiki enthusiasts. The layout is set up like a village with multiple hales: a dining room, a lounge, a kitchen a large entertainment room with stage and a split level outdoor area to just hang out. The roofs and rock columns and walls are impressive. A section of the main square is connected by a roof structure (protection from rain no doubt) and patio walkway. Very cool to say the least. Walking around the place was a little creepy. Furniture (beat up) is strewn everywhere and the kitchen still has trays and stoves. It looks like the owners just upped and walked away leaving everything behind. I contributed a lot of blood that day to the mosquito population even with cutter on. Anyone up for a little restoration?

Dining room with roof breezeway leading to it

da lounge

second dining area

entertainment room

Whoa, that place is kinda creepy! :?

It would be my advice to contact a Realtor in Punaluu or there abouts if you want to find out more about the building, history, past owners and so on! That's how I'd do it!

That ROOF! :o What the HELL is up with that ROOF? :o

It looks as if a MOUNTAIN is sitting on top of a few stilts!
THAT'S the part that creeps me out the most! It looks as if it could squash you like a bug at any minute! The ceilings look too low!

I think it's the ANCIENT CURSED TIKI BAR!

Some tourist from the mainland stole an ancient family Tiki of Prosperity as a souvenir and the place was struck by a Hurricane as the plane landed on the mainland. Later no one wanted to return and the owners fell into bankruptcy and left the island in shame!

Not a HAPPY story, but just look at the property...that's what it speaks to me! Besides it also illustrates why it's bad Mojo to take things that don't belong to you off the islands!

Mrs.Mojo and I might be back in Oahu by March.
If we go to Punaluu to check it out how did you find it?

I like it! It looks like a great place for a weekend LSD excursion.

"I think it's the ANCIENT CURSED TIKI BAR!" Ditto on that.

If ya had the mula....it would be fun to fix up the place and hold weekly saonces and and sacrifice some flaming liquor drinks. That roof looks like the top of a muffin...how thick is it?

I think that may be the abandoned Black Sand Restaurant, which was part of the Sea Mountain at Punaluu Resort, built in the 1970's. The Sea Mountain Resort has been in the news recently, as there are proposed plans for more development. Here's a few articles about it:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Sep/25/ln/FP609250338.html

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2006/09/25/focus1.html

an earlier article from 2003:
http://hawaiiislandjournal.com/2003/10a03b.html

Its mentioned in the Hawaiian Island Journal article that the restaurant had a mural painted by artist Herb Kane, depicting pre-contact Punaluu. The 20 ft. mural was stolen last year, by removing the whole wall from the restaurant. There's a photo of the painting and an article about that here:

http://starbulletin.com/2005/07/20/news/story5.html

I don't think I have any ephemera from there, but I'll check. Though its sad to see the dilapidated state of the buildings, at least you got to document them before they're completely gone. And I can't help but wonder what it may have been like to wander around the grounds, and see the building interiors back in their day, must have been cool. Those roofs are wild ! Thanks for sharing the photos and info !

[ Edited by: puamana 2006-11-25 16:42 ]

MAHALO Puamana for the articles. I knew nothing about that mural. What a damn shame to lose it like that. I figured this area was soon to be developed and the articles confirm this although that was tried before back in the 80's and Hawaiians really hated the idea. The mural must be in a private collection somewhere. Maybe other things as well.

Tikimojo there are no ceilings in the buildings. All the timbers are exposed to the top of the roof and they are well built. Those buildings have been through a lot of storms and vandalized significantly. They're not falling without human help. I think the roof is actually plywood underneath then covered with that exterior stuff and shaped at the bottom edges. Oh and speaking of LSD nice picture Mojo.

VampiressRN it would be a kick to revitalize this place. Seances? You really are a Vampiress.

I was searching through the TC archives tonight and this old post sparked a memory of a news story I read last year.

In 2006, Puamana wrote about a mural by famed Hawaiian artist Herb Kane that was stolen from these old resort ruins on the Big Island. Kane has recreated the mural in a new painting:

The accompaning article reads:

*Revenge: Living legend Herb Kawainui Kane is best known for his paintings of ancient Hawaii.
He'd done a 24-foot mural of ancient Punaluu for a history center near Punaluu's famous black sand beach. The center was trashed by a 1975 tsunami, but the mural, miraculously unharmed, stayed on in the abandoned building. Until about a year ago, when thieves sawed the wall into five pieces and carted it away.

"I knew what to do," says Kane. He recently finished a new version of the painting, this time with more detail and refinement. "That leaves the thieves with what is now little more than a preliminary sketch," he says. "Vengeance is mine."*

Very cool, Mr. Kane - mahalo.

http://starbulletin.com/2007/08/19/news/heckathorn.html