Tiki Tour of San Diego

SOHO San Diego is hosting "A Guide to San Diego's Tiki Modern Architecture" on March 16 as part of its annual Historic Home Tour Weekend.

More about the event at the link below (scroll down to "Tour D"):

http://sohosandiego.org/march_event/2008_tours.htm

Here is the text from Arriano's linky.

$50 for SOHO Members · $65 for non-members
Tour Guides: Alex Bevil & Jaye Furlonger
2-7pm (Boarding at 1:45am)

Join urban archaeologists on a guided tour in search of San Diego's Tiki temples. See the hidden gardens of the Hanalei Hotel, walk under the soaring Half Moon Inn's porte-cochere, and wonder: "What ever happened to the Kona Kai?" More than ten diverse sites will be featured, culminating in a short presentation on Tiki and cocktail party at the Bali Hai, and a chance to mingle with local historians to talk about the city's unique Tiki Modern architecture.

Alex Bevil is a California State Parks historian, adjunct professor of the San Diego New School of Architecture and Design, and author of several award-winning articles on San Diego's architectural and military history in the Journal of San Diego History.

With a Masters Degree in Public History from USD, Jaye Furlonger is an authority on San Diego's bygone Hollywood Burlesque Theatre and works as an architectural historian for IS Architecture in La Jolla.

Weekend Wrap Up Cocktail Party
5-7pm
$30 for SOHO Members · $40 for non-members

After three days of tours, lectures and shopping for your favorite architecture books, relax and have a little fun while learning a bit about an often overlooked piece of San Diego's historic architectural legacy. You will be greeted with a world famous Bali Hai Mai Tai and Pu Pu appetizers to enjoy while overlooking San Diego's beautiful bay front, a perfect ending to a weekend in paradise.

Note: No sales at the door. Advance RSVP ONLY.

Sound like fun anybody going ?

Sixty-five clams for the two hour tour, 40 clams for a party afterwards? And you get one drink and (share?) an appetizer plate for that? Can we just crash in on the afterparty and buy a drink for 6.95 instead? That would be a savings of, um... lemme see, $98.05.

I applaud the whole idea, but the price is way too high for strolling through 10 places we've no doubt already been to. I'd sure like to see the exact list of the places visited, which doesn't seem to be provided....

yeah the price is a bit steep for my blood. I will be at the Bali Hai that morning for my monthly trip with friends for brunch though. This sounds great but $65, eek.

Yeah, I thought it was a little bit steep as well. But thought I would post it just in case anyone was interested. Maybe I'll just show up and lurk around in the back.

---

"I am Lono!"

[ Edited by: arriano 2008-03-02 18:57 ]

too rich for my blood, ill just be cruzin around to all the stops playin my uke and laughing at everyone who droped that much cash "haha i got here for free"

Hey, I'll drive a party of four in my car to all the Tiki Locales they want if somebody will play bongoes and uke in the back seat and buy me a Rum Collins at the Bali Hai.

If you split the Collins, that'll be about 1.98 each.

The catch is, you'll have to put up with me talking about the Tiki places we visit....

You can download this brochure: Tiki: A Guide to San Diego's Tiki Modern Architecture.

The link also takes you to several other SD tourism brochures you can download.

http://www.sohosandiego.org/tourbooklets/index.htm

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-Lori

[ Edited by: tikilongbeach 2014-06-03 15:23 ]

Thanks, Lori!

I took this " tour" a few years ago. Not what I expected and the whole thing was a bit uptight. Great idea but somehow they sucked all the fun out of it.

**Buildings Visited on the Tour **

Here's the list, Paradise Point has a great 9 hole tropical putting course, bring your own clubs and ball so you don't have to pay 5 bucks to use it.

LOTS of places they missed, we should just add to this list!

Paradise Point Resort & Spa, originally named Vacation Village
1404 Vacation Road, Mission Bay
Built: 1962 • Architects: Eldridge F. Spencer of Spencer & Lee
This 44-acre tropical island village is laid out around a central lagoon.
The lagoon’s landmark observation tower provides breath-taking views of
Mission Bay. Although remodeled recently, the dominant eyebrow gables
of the main lobby, gift shop, and convention center’s architectural style
evokes a modern-day Bali resort island.

Trader Mort’s Liquor Store, originally named Hooch Hut
2904 Shelter Island Drive
Built: c. 1966 • Architect: Ronald K. Davis, AIA
Built on compacted fill, which was part of the original causeway
connecting Loma Portal to Shelter Island. A scaled-down version of a
1950’s Daisy’s restaurant, it features a rising jonglo-inspired truncated hip
roof extending out over a lanai, with reversed rafters resembling a ship’s
ribs, wood shingles, lava rock-veneer, subtropical landscaping and Tiki
god iconography, both inside and out.

Tikified Street Furniture
Shelter Island Drive, south of Anchorage Lane
Abstract wood and concrete Tiki totem poles used as street bollards, sign
poles, fence posts, and sidewalk pedestrian rest area pergolas.

Stan Miller Yacht Sales, originally named Shelter Cove Marina & Yacht Sales
2540 Shelter Island Drive
Built: 1963-1965 • Architect: Robert Platt
Another impressive Robert Platt design, it takes Tiki Modern/Nautical
to the ‘nth degree. It has all of the design features: a soaring cantilevered
A-frame roof, protruding flying triangular gable, outrigger buttressing,
yet without the Polynesian ebullience.

Hallmark Yacht Brokers
2525 Shelter Island Drive
Built: c. 1957 • Architect: Robert Platt
One of the few two-story Polynesian Maritime Modern style buildings on
Shelter Island, its character-defining features include a cross-gable wood
shingle roof, corbelled beam ends, broadly overhanging exposed
rafters, and wide display windows along the ground floor. The
stucco-clad ground floor resembles lime-plastered coral block
walls typical of early 19th century Hawaiian missionary homes.

The Crow’s Nest, originally named Chris Craft Boat Sales
2515 Shelter Island Drive
Built: 1957 • Architect: Robert Platt & Assoc.
Exotic landscaping and a magnificent view of the yacht harbor
complement this L-shaped vertical batten-clad Hawaiian Ranch
House. Its wood shingled roof features canted gables, exposed
rafters, protruding corbelled ridge beams and purlins, supported
by knee braced reversed flying buttresses.

Nielsen Beaumont Marine Inc., originally named Mauricio &
Sons, Boat Building and Repair
2420 Shelter Island Drive
Built: c. 1965
A utilitarian blending of Mid-century Nautical Modern with Cape
Cod and Craftsman style influences.
Pearson Marine Fuel Dock and Deli, originally named Baker

Standard Marine Service/Gas Station
2435 Shelter Island Drive
Built: c. 1962
Another hybrid, its character-defining features include an eye-
catching abstract Tiki Modern style wood-shingled A-frame roof
joining twin rectangular flat-roofed board ‘n batten boxes.

David L. Fraser Yacht Brokerage, originally named Gold Coast
Anchorage, Yacht Brokerage and Naval Architects
2353 Shelter Island Drive
Built: 1960 • Architect: Robert Platt
While more characteristic of Abstract Nautical than Tiki Modern,
it still presents a marine-oriented South Seas atmosphere. This
can be seen in its centrally located A-frame roof, board-n-batten
siding, triangular and square fenestration, flying buttresses, vent
stacks, cleat door handles, and signage.

Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn & Suites, originally named Half Moon
Anchorage/Boat-tel
2303 Shelter Island Drive
Built: 1959 • Architect: Hiram Hudson Benedict & Assoc.
One of the landmark Tiki Modern resort hotels in San Diego, its soaring
porte cochere/lobby entry emulates the protruding bow of a Polynesian
fishing canoe, complete with hanging lantern used to attract fish.

Humphrey’s by the Bay Restaurant, originally named the Tahitian
2241 Shelter Island Drive
Built: 1964 • Architect: Armet & Davis, Los Angeles
Reminiscent of a Polynesian men’s meeting house or halau wa’a (canoe
shed), the restaurant’s entry and foyer is a classic swayback or broke-
back A frame, with projecting gables, ridge beams, rafter buttresses,
canoe-bow rafter tails, and irregularly laid “Barney Rubble” limestone
walls.

Silvergate Yacht Club
2091 Shelter Island Drive
Built: 1965 • Architect Robert Platt
An eclectic mix of maritime and modern suburban architectural features,
it includes shiplap siding, plate glass windows, a mast and cupola. And
a monolithic chimney and Atomic Age zigzag “George Jetson” roof
treatment.

Yokohama Friendship Bell
Center of Shelter Island Drive’s western traffic loop
Dedicated: December 11, 1960 “to eternal good will between San
Diego and [Yokohama,] its Japanese sister city.” During its dedication
ceremony, Bishop Yamada of Los Angeles’ Zen Shu Buddhist temple
pulled the lanyard on the bell’s outside battering ram-like clapper to
ring the bell 18 times. After the ceremony, the lanyard and planks
across the moat were removed to “prevent mischief.”

Shelter Island Substation & Dock, San Diego Harbor Police
Department
1401 Shelter Island Drive
A fusion of Hawaiian Territorial and California Modern Ranch styles
with a utilitarian nautical flare. Just south is Pacific Rim Park, which
contains two James T. Hubbell works: Pearl of the Pacific (1998) and
Pacific Spirit (2002). A third sculpture, Pacific Portal (2002), can be seen
makai of the round-about east toward the Bali Hai Restaurant.

Bali Hai Restaurant, originally named The Hut
2230 Shelter Island Drive
Built: 1953-55 • Architect: Raymond Frazier
Originally a local franchise of the Christian’s Hut chain of Newport
Beach Tiki bars, by the mid-50s its manager Tom Ham rechristened
it after mythical forbidden isle of hidden native women in James
Michener’s 1946 book, Tales of the South Pacific, which was later made
into the Broadway musical South Pacific in 1949. Look for the iconic
“Goof” and “Mr. Bali Hai” sculptures.

Islands Restaurant, Hotel, & Gardens at the Hanalei Hotel - 1965
2270 Hotel Circle North in Mission Valley

Mission Bay Park Tourist Information Center Building - 1968
Intersection of Clairemont Drive and East Mission Bay Drive

Mission Bay Automotive - c. 1960
1125 Morena Boulevard, Bay Park, San Diego

Catamaran Motor Hotel - 1958-69
3999 Mission Boulevard, Pacific Beach, San Diego

Windansea Surf Shack - 1947 to present
On the beach at Neptune Place and Nautilus Street in La Jolla

Balboa Mortuary and Crematorium - 1963-64
4266 Mt. Abernathy Avenue, Clairemont, San Diego

Balboa Branch, San Diego Public Library - 1971
4255 Mt. Abernathy Avenue, Clairemont, San Diego

1st Baptist Church of Clairemont - c. 1955
3219 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard/Luna Avenue

American Housing Group Homes - Mid-1950’s
Boxford, Betlyhill, Berwick, and Chandler Drives, Northeast Clairemont

Campus Medical-Dental Center - c. 1958
6244 El Cajon Boulevard, Rolando, San Diego

West Coast Worship Center - 1971
8691 Echo Drive, La Mesa

Prescott Residence - c. 1958-1960
3744 Andrew Street, Spring Valley

The Flying Bridge Restaurant - c. 1958-60
1105 N Coast Highway, Oceanside

Hawaiian Gardens Suite Hotel - 1972
1031 Imperial Beach Boulevard, Imperial Beach