The Gallery of Regrettable Tiki Paint Jobs

I figured since it wasn't garishly painted, rather misunderstood or maybe even disguised, it wasn't a good fit. It made me laugh when I saw it. Nobody else had a clue what it really was. BTW, it's a 12-inch tall porcelain cigarette lighter that somebody painted a shirt and overalls onto. Here's he is again:

Well I think the above guy qualifies for a side genre of the "mistaken Tiki paint jobs", similar to the Tiki Bob and the Kona Kai Tiki in my very first post that began this thread.

Maybe it is time to carefully introduce the subject of WHAT kind of paint job might actually be permissible on Tikis, or better, on Oceanic Art reproductions:

Example Nr. 1:
This PNG/Disney/Skull carving is one of the first two pieces I ever purchased at Oceanic Arts, when I discovered them in 1989. It is a fine example of the kind of care that classic Polynesian pop artists originally put into pieces that WERE painted:

Taking cues from Papua New Guinea art, the paints were washed out earth pigment type of choices that were rubbed off again, AND enriched with dirt and dust -in essence expert "primitive art" forging. This piece's color scheme looks much more authentic than O.A.'s later "Night of The Tiki" phase. This is how this carving came off the shelf, it has been hanging INSIDE since I purchased it (most of the time).

Example Nr.2:
Now Marquesan/Tahitian style Tikis should not be painted at all, but IF they are, which of these two is the more pleasing application, A.) or B.)?:

A.)

B.)

This fine looking Tiki trio actually stood/ is standing in Tahiti. Now I could not discern if the B.) look was actual paint, applied several coats later, or if it was a similar period photo than A.) that just had the hell colorized out of it in a photo shop program. In any case, In my opinion A.) probably would look acceptable once the initial paint job had become weathered, while B.) would never look good under any circumstances.

This said, this style of Tiki should really not be painted at all.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-04-22 21:46 ]

Sorry. I didn't read well.

Now, I was about to post about the tahitian trio, that I really like, even if yes, at some point, the paint was too bright.

Here is my submission taken down in Pueblo, CO just last week.

What a lovely shade of sky blue......??????

Those are nice carvings Zulu. :cry: I wonder if the proprietors would sell them as is.

On 2008-04-20 20:27, alohacurrent wrote:
Here's a tree-dweller tiki from the international marketplace, Waikiki

Hey now,
If I reinterpreted a garishly painted tiki does that make mine modern or tackily painted?

Modern, for sure. It's a nice job, even if it is based on Tiki Devolution. While painting mid-century Tikis is just plain wrong, Tiki revival works are open to individual taste. It's not MY taste, and I hope that the crimes of the past are a warning example to a new generation of artisans, but ultimately it is out of my hands. :)

Does anyone else think this one at Sam's Seafood (August 2005) is supposed to be wearing a tie?

(thanks to 8ft tiki for pointing me to this thread)

Yiiiiikes! I can't say, I can't bring myself to look at this abomination long enough to decide, I have to avert my eyes.

OH THE HORROR!

I just finished going through all 4 pages. Almost made me physically ill. I kid you not!
The quote about garish Tiki offending the eye? IMHO ,I think It also offends our spirit.

"Does anyone else think this one at Sam's Seafood (August 2005) is supposed to be wearing a tie? "

Maybe they initiated a dress code that year. :)

On 2008-04-24 23:54, tikijackalope wrote:
Does anyone else think this one at Sam's Seafood (August 2005) is supposed to be wearing a tie?

(thanks to 8ft tiki for pointing me to this thread)

The mouth . . . coincidence? I don't think so! No way that painter/defacer wasn't a Ducks fan.

We may have the first documented case of the rare sportsTiki variant.

The Tiki Temple room at the Trade Wind's in 1964. The painted Tiki must have made Richard Ellis cringe when he saw them finished, at least I hope they did. I'm not sure who made that command decision to paint them or they came that way. Maybe Leroy and Bob can tell us.
This was the only part of the Trade Wind's that I can remember that I didn't like. :)

1964

2007

Tim, I just drove by the Wagon Wheel junction last weekend, what a sad sight. What year did they shut down the Motel and restaurant?

Yes, sad. The Wagon Wheel Restaurant was closed in 2005, and the motel was closed in November 2006. The Wagon Wheel Bowl is still open but the rest is sitting vacant. San Buena Ventura Conservancy has the Wagon Wheel designated as a landmark so maybe there is some hope. The trees on the Trade Wind;s former site would be the perfect place for a new Don the Beachcomber.

The trees on the Trade Wind's former site in 2008.
from Wikipedia
quote
The Wagon Wheel Restaurant was closed in 2005, and the motel was closed in November 2006.

Wagon Wheel, Oxnard, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wagon Wheel's neon sign visible from Highway 101.
The Wagon Wheel Motel and Restaurant is a famous office and restaurant complex located in Oxnard, California, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 101 and Pacific Coast Highway. Its convenient roadside location made it a popular stop for travelers between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, particularly during its heyday in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
•
Architecture
It is considered to be an authentic extant example of American roadside architecture from the mid-century. The ranch-style office, motel and restaurant were originally built on the side of Highway 101 and Highway 101A (Alternate) in 1947. The office/restaurant complex incorporates a variety of roof lines, primarily low to medium pitched gables covered with wood shingles and punctuated by several decorative cupolas with weather vanes, and neon lighting. A free-standing 12-unit, two-story motel addition was completed in 1953. The most recognizable feature of the motel was the giant neon sign that included an animated stagecoach driver and galloping horses. Today millions of motorists drive by the Wagon Wheel each year on the Ventura Freeway. Sadly, the Wagon Wheel and other landmarks are being torn down to make way for condos.
History
Constructed in 1947, it was the first development by famous Oxnard developer Martin V. ("Bud") Smith. The Wagon Wheel Motel and Restaurant are part of a 40-acre mid-century real estate development in north Oxnard, California called the Wagon Wheel Junction. Before Smith purchased the land in 1945, it was prone to flooding, and was not actually in the city of Oxnard, but rather it was situated four miles north of Oxnard and six miles south of Ventura. After its completion, it became the most recognizable mid-century landmark on the 101 Ventura Freeway in Ventura County.
During excavation of the site, Smith uncovered branding irons from the Hobson Brothers' feed lot operations in the area in the 1920s, and he used this as the basis for his western theme. He began with the repurposing of surplus Seabee barracks won at auction in Port Hueneme, which he relocated in the typical sweeping U shape of period motels. It was the pre-pool era so the rooms all faced a grassy play area with picnic tables. He cut some of the barracks in half and transformed others into a restaurant and office with a western ranch style.
He hired Hollywood set designer and carpenter Roy Beatty to design and create wrought iron lamps from branding irons and spurs, and furnish the original rooms with rustic wood beds, chairs and lamps. The theme for the property was typical of the then popular cowboy movies, with windows made from wagon wheels, and cowhide chairs in the restaurant. Along the highway real wagon wheels were placed in the median next to a rustic wooden sign that read: WAGON WHEEL MOTEL � NEW AND MODERN - BREAKFAST SERVICE DAY AND NIGHT - SINGLE $3 � DOUBLE $4 � FAMILY SUITES
Smith had 40 acres to develop, and the area soon had a bowling alley, shopping center, roller skating rink, industrial units, and a row of restaurants. These were all located on streets with wild-west names like Winchester Dr., Petticoat Lane, Saddle Ave., and Buckaroo Dr. His restaurant row included the Wagon Wheel Steakhouse, the El Ranchito and the Trade Winds Polynesian restaurant.
When Bud Smith shifted into semi-retirement in the mid 1990s, his company, Martin V. Smith and Associates was the biggest developer and landlord in Oxnard with some 4500 tenants and over 200 properties from Calabasas to Santa Maria. Rather than retire and vacate his office on the 21st story of the Financial Plaza tower, he divested himself of most of his properties, but he kept the Wagon Wheel.
The demolition of the Colonial House, in 1988, left the Wagon Wheel as the only remaining early example of Bud Smith's vision.
The Wagon Wheel Restaurant was closed in 2005, and the motel was closed in November 2006.
The Wagon Wheel Junction is a part of a fast disappearing piece of Americana architecture. In 1910, the Automobile Association of America planted the seeds of motel identification with its debut of the "Official Automobile Blue Book". In the 1950s, independent motel owners began competing with the cookie cutter Holiday Inns of the time with their gargantuan, green-and-yellow signage. Independents, such as the Wagon Wheel, developed the art of roadside showmanship through thematic architectural design and elaborate signage that employed porcelain-enameled panels of steel and used a myriad of lamps and neon. The thematic and imaginative sign of the Wagon Wheel and its "B" movie ranch architecture serves not only as a style statement of a particular time in motel history, but has served as a visual place marker along Highway 101 for more than 50 years. On approaching the Wagon Wheel, the roadside traveler knew immediately "We are in Oxnard", as there was nothing like it anywhere else. In much the same way, the Madonna Inn and the Apple Farm notifies the traveler that one has nearly reached San Luis Obispo. These thematic roadside motels and hotels are the story of California's love of the automobile, written in their architecture and lending identity to the cities they occupy along the monotonous threads of numbing highway that string those cities and towns together throughout the state.
Future
As of April 2007, no plans have been accepted by the City of Oxnard, and no demolition permits have been granted. The property owner hired Post/Hazeltine Associates in November 2005 to prepare a Historic Resources Assessment of the entire 64-acre property,including both the Wagon Wheel Motel and the Restaurant. The results of this assessment concluded that the Motel and Restaurant do not meet the national, state, or local criteria for designation as a landmark, due primarily to the fact that numerous structural additions have been made to the buildings over the years which no longer effectively convey the original western theme appearance. Nevertheless, the project developer is proposing to create a memorial to Martin V. Smith on-site, prominently display the iconic features of the Wagon Wheel Motel and Hotel either on-site or at the local natural history museum, and photo-document the architectural qualities of the structures. The City of Oxnard is currently preparing an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the proposed redevelopment. The EIR is due summer/fall 2007.
On March 26th, 2007, the Ventura County Cultural Heritage Board, acting as the Oxnard Cultural Heritage Board weighed in on the Wagon Wheel. The Board concluded that the Wagon Wheel structures were significant on the local level because of their association with Martin V. ("Bud") Smith and as an example of themed roadside architecture of the 1940s and 1950s. By unanimous vote, the seven-member board forwarded a recommendation of landmark designation for the motel buildings, office, and restaurant buildings, to the Oxnard City Council. The Oxnard City Council as the lead agency, will vote to determine if the Motel and buildings (on approximately 1.5 acres) become a local Oxnard City Landmark. Landmark designation of the site could require more environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
In the time after the motel was closed, Wagon Wheel gained popularity in the skateboarding community with the empty swimming pool. Skaters from all over the west coast, and even some from further, travelled to skateboard in a classic Motel swimming pool. Once the property owners caught on, they demolished part of the pool, and began dumping large pieces of furniture and debris. A southern California independent filmmaker created a short video of skateboarding, and can be viewed Here
References
Hoad, Patricia; et al (Spring & summer 2002). Oxnard at 100. Ventura County Museum of History & Art, pages 6-49. ISSN 0042-3491.
Maulhardt, Jeffrey W. (2005). Oxnard 1941-2004. Arcadia Publishing, pages 7,19,28,58,63,66,68,70,78,79,81. ISBN 978-0-7385-2953-0.
Witzel, Michael K. (August, 2000). The American Motel. MBI Publishing. ISBN 0-7603-101-8.
Cook, Harry N., Here's Proof Outer Highway Increases Both Business and Property Values California Highways and Public Works, July-August 1949.
Martin, Don W., Meet Bud Smith, PC The Weekly Magazine of Ventura County, November 6, 1965
Maurice, Tom, 'Bud' Smith Called 'Mr. Oxnard' but has feel for whole county, Forecast Magazine, June 11, 1964
Mitchell, John, Influential developer Martin 'Bud' Smith dies, Ventura County Star, November 20, 2001
Kennedy Shawn G., Oxnard Calif.: A Bumper Crop of Development, The New York Times, May 25, 1986
Sullivan Meg, Plan to Demolish Motel Evokes Memories of Bygone Glory, Los Angeles Times, July 14, 1998
Searles, Jack, Fearless Developer Growth, Los Angeles Times, February 8, 1991
Reynolds, Helen, Smith Pioneers Oxnard's Future, The Oxnard Press Courier, June 30, 1993
Wolcott, Holly J., Ventura County Obituaries, Oxnard Developer Martin V. Smith Dies, Los Angeles Times, November 20, 2001
Singer, Matthew, Preemptive Preservation, VC Reporter Newspaper article, May 18, 2006 link to article
Levin, Charles, Ventura County Star Newspaper, Landmark motel in Oxnard gets ready to close, November 22, 2006,link to article
Economic Development Corp. of Oxnard (November 27, 2006). link to article Development Wagon Wheel Hitches Up Towers in Oxnard (website). Retrieved on 2007-01-12.
Cason, Colleen, Ventura County Star Newspaper, Landmark's salad days are over , November 28, 2006, link to article
Singer, Matthew, Considering the past, contemplating the future, VC Reporter Newspaper article, Dec 21, 2006, link to article
Roadside Peek Website (2006-12-31). Wagon Wheel Motel and Restaurant Closes Pending Demolition. Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
Shepherd, Dirk, Save the Wagon Wheel, VC Reporter Newspaper article, Jan 11, 2007, link to article
San Buenaventura Conservancy Website (2007-01-11). Wagon Wheel Update. Retrieved on 2007-01-12.
Griggs, Gregory W., End of the trail for Wagon Wheel, Los Angeles Times, January 13, 2007, link to article
Levin, Charles, Ventura County Star Newspaper, Old motel might be declared landmark, January 23, 2007, link to article
Singer, Matthew, Looking for a landmark, VC Reporter Newspaper article, January 25, 2007, link to article
Varela, Rob, Ventura County Star Newspaper, "Lease Agreement Keeps Wagon Wheel Bowl Open", March 3, 2008, link to article
Klampe, Michelle, Ventura County Star Newspaper, "Wagon Wheel developer presents proposals for area", March 13, 2008, link to article

[ Edited by: Ojaitimo 2008-05-14 14:48 ]

Spotted in the Hanalei Hotel/San Diego last year

I have to believe that the original Tikis at the Hanalei Hotel were not painted like they are today. Here are some more shots of the carnage from my last trip there. Does anybody have pics of when these were not painted.

Yeah, they probably keep on re-coating them that way too. That's what I call adding (visual) insult to injury (the tearing out of the restaurant).

Here are the classic post carvings, which all came from the even more classic Beverly Hills Luau (whose name will be insulted soon, too), in their original state:

Bigbro,

I totally forgot that those tiki posts at the Hanalei had been moved over from the Luau. Thanks for the pictures. That makes the paint job seem much worse. Here is a close up from their original home in the Luau dining room. What fools!!

Regrettable vintage mugs - right now on eBay:

On 2008-05-06 17:51, Dustycajun wrote:
I have to believe that the original Tikis at the Hanalei Hotel were not painted like they are today. Here are some more shots of the carnage from my last trip there. Does anybody have pics of when these were not painted.

OH NO!!! What next? The hanalei is slowly being destroyed!

I may have walked into the Hanalei just after the painting travesty was done...

Oh, never mind...that was just a "freshnin' up the travesty" coat.

Have any of you seen that new bio degradeable paint stripper they advertise on TV that is non toxic? Does this stuff work quickly during a night
say in August?

OMG @ how this little spoon dude must feel, all pink in floral tole! I simply couldn't leave him at the Salvation Army like that, for all the world to see, without removing that gawdawful goop...

Even white paint can ruin a guy if it’s in the wrong places.

Like this Tiki from The Isle apartments in El Segundo.

On 2008-05-20 20:20, Bora Boris wrote:
Even white paint can ruin a guy if it’s in the wrong places.

Looks like a Tiki Al Jolson

Probably his most well known persona from The Jazz Singer...

What he looked like without makeup...

I guess the act was really popular at the time. I don't think our brothas and sistas approved. Today Rev Sharpton could probably get anyone doing blackface act like that deported to Antarctica.

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2008-05-21 11:46 ]

I've got to add this one from the Scorpion Sports Bar in San Bernardino.

Here's a little history on the place. Trader Island

Looks like a Tiki Al Jolson

Probably his most well known persona from The Jazz Singer...

What he looked like without makeup...

I guess the act was really popular at the time. I don't think our brothas and sistas approved. Today Rev Sharpton could probably get anyone doing blackface act like that deported to Antarctica.

Al Jolson is as much a regretable tiki as is Marcel Marceau?

WTF??

PTD

On 2008-04-22 17:12, Dustycajun wrote:
Here is a better picture of the Tiki paint job from the Pacific Hut in Mass. They only chose to paint the face and left the rest intact.

Is this that same tiki?

It's currently up on eBay. Not my auction, but I saw it and remembered this thread.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330255460686

Looks like a rescue project.

How cool. Great Tiki memory, Ratzaroony. I wonder what age that original postcard is from...I would say late 60s?:

That is unusually early for Tiki clown-painting. While it was a mistake then as it is now, it is authentic and should be kept that way. Funny, that seller doesn't even know where it came from.

On 2008-07-29 07:50, bigbrotiki wrote:
That is unusually early for Tiki clown-painting. While it was a mistake then as it is now, it is authentic and should be kept that way.

Agreed. I'm going to try to win it, but if I don't, I hope the winner will not repaint it.

I had not been in SF since last year when I went by Tiki Bob today to pay my respect. I was a bit put off by the new, green color, which gives The Crepe House a more Irish Pub-look. I actually think i preferred the peach color.

On the other side of the street, The Owl Tree had reopened with a new, fancy mural.

These are from the Waikiki Lounge and Supper Club at the Hawaiian Inn in Daytona Beach, Fl.

Before (from Sabu's Postcard)

After (from Google)

Makes you feel kinda blue.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2009-09-01 19:20 ]

wow is it true that there are gay tikis....poor 1970's the tikis were just trying to get into Studio 54, with the rest of the beautiful people...just because they had to paint themselves up to be timely doesn't make them Gay!!!!

I'm sure this photo must be somewhere on T.C. already, but "HAND PAINTED by skilled artists in bright BARBARIC COLORS!" is great. This type of medalion's painting must have had some relationship to real Tikis being painted in BARBARIC COLORS. Considering the postage was 10 cents for Parcel Post, I guess this was way before the 1970's. Did these things inspire Tikis being painted, or did Tikis being painted inspire these things? Or were these just cheap kids jewelery and nothing else? (no insult to the cheap kids)

Tikis - and various Polynesian symbolic objects (masks, etc.) WERE often ritually painted with lime, clays, and other natural pigments. This is not to say they were in day-glo groovy colors, but the brown or weathered gray tikis we all know and love are products of just that - weathering and loss of color. It's akin to the Greek Revival and the scores of white marble buildings which were constructed in the last three centuries. By then, the real ancient Greek structures had lost all of their color (and they were a riot of color) to weathering, hence Greek Revival buildings are typically white - or white. Still, it looks odd to us, as we are used to the current state of things. If Washington D.C. were color-corrected to the original Roman and Greek color schemes, most would think the city had been turned into a huge bordello. (and no, that is not a political commentary...just an architectural one)

GK

True about Greek sculpture, and pre-Colombian architecture, too. But in terms of Tikis, more often in Melanesia, less in Polynesia.

Anyway, as far as Tiki culture is concerned, not possible historic authenticity matters, but the IMPRESSION of what was seen as "primitive art", and the concepts it represented in the 20th Century:

To the moderns: The birth of art, the creative spirit of unspoiled man, the freedom from naturalistic form...
To the public: Dark rituals, strange customs, taboo secrets --the opposite of the daily humdrum of the man in the gray flannel suit...

All this was represented by ancient looking, simple but elegant, scary but funny, monochromatic figurines seen in the Oceanic Art exhibitions and books of the mid-century. And this is the way 1950s and 60s artisans re-created them for the modern Tiki temples of that time.

Tikis, as they were found by the explorers and missionaries, are dark and brooding, not happy and flashy, and this contrast to modernity was -for a brief time- what inspired American Tiki entrepreneurs and artists. Later, they became scared of their own gutsiness and began to update them with glossy colors, destroying the effect of aged, archaic relics.

That is why paint jobs on Tikis are most regrettable, no two ways about it. :)

Bumping this for posterity. It's a damn fine thread.

This on falls under the category of "Most regrettable Tiki Bar Attempts"! Brought to you in the 1970's during the free fall of Tiki De-evolution, the Bali Hai Room at the Shantung Restaurant in Dover, NJ.

The room decor, stunning it its own right.

Several regrettable painted Tikis.

They did use Tiki mugs at least.

Description from the back of the postcard.

Where's Bamboo Ben when you need him? (in Hawaii of course)

DC

That should have been called the "Party City Tiki Room"

On 2013-03-18 16:30, Dustycajun wrote:
This on falls under the category of "Most regrettable Tiki Bar Attempts"! Brought to you in the 1970's during the free fall of Tiki De-evolution, the Bali Hai Room at the Shantung Restaurant in Dover, NJ.

The room decor, stunning it its own right.

Several regrettable painted Tikis.

The abstract design on the floor really saves the day! :lol:

Amazing how within one generation, the knowledge and know how was lost. Those are Orchids Tikis, of course.

On 2013-03-18 16:30, Dustycajun wrote:
This on falls under the category of "Most regrettable Tiki Bar Attempts"! Brought to you in the 1970's during the free fall of Tiki De-evolution, the Bali Hai Room at the Shantung Restaurant in Dover, NJ.

The room decor, stunning it its own right.

It looks like Polynesian night at a community center or retirement home.

This circus clown painted big tiki was for sale for quite a long time at Warehouse 1333 in Long Beach. It still could be, I haven't be in there in over a year.

This tiki only had his eyes painted white so he got off pretty easy. He's still for sale at the Long Beach Antique Mall II.

The original thread:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=39851&forum=1&hilite=long beach antique

-Lori

[ Edited by: tikilongbeach 2013-03-19 08:29 ]

[ Edited by: tikilongbeach 2013-03-19 08:30 ]

Painted tiki on the outside of Tiki-Tiki Chinese Restaurant in Richmond, VA.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=7528&forum=2&hilite=richmond

On 2013-03-19 08:24, tikilongbeach wrote:
This tiki only had his eyes painted white so he got off pretty easy. He's still for sale at the Long Beach Antique Mall II.

He looks like he could have been a Mike Gildea job:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=38445&forum=1&start=0

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22886&forum=2