Has anyone heard of this place: Waikiki Village, Los Gatos, CA

So, Mrs. Royale recently surprised me with some old matchbooks! Among them was this one:

Has anyone ever heard of or have info on the "Waikiki Village Mai Tai Lounge"?
Any South Bay TCers know what's there now in Los Gatos?

Aloha,
:tiki:

[ Edited by: Tiki Royale 2008-12-08 16:21 ]

If you google that address the location is now a strip mall w/ Little Lou's BBQ occupying 15466 Los Gatos Blvd :(

I am driving up that way later this week...I will try to swing by and check it out for you myself.

Okay, I asked my father (who is from Kauai, loves all things Tiki, and worked 5 minutes from this location) and he said that he does indeed remember going to the Waikiki. Now my dad is 74, and most of what he knows he heard as rumor. I repeat: rumor. But my dad was a doctor and people will tell doctors any secret. The rumor goes that the Mafia owned this place and that it was fronted by a group of owners that included a girl singer (he can't remember the name) and get this....Frank Sinatra. Before you laugh me out of this place you should know that the Cerrito family was a small time Mafia family that resided in San Jose, but more importantly it is a fact that high up members of the the Bonnano crime family set up digs in San Jose in an effort to expand their horizons beyond New York and escape some of their troubles on the east coast. One of he wives wrote a "married to the mob" type book that was made into a TV movie. Okay, I fully realize that this was just rumor, and that my dad is getting on in years but I thought that I would share his recollections of the place.

As for the restaurant, he says it was just so so. He replied that this place was no where near as great as Trader Vics in San Francisco. He felt is was more akin to The Lanai (another Polynesian restaurant in San Mateo) but that the food and decor were not even as good as that. His best recollection is that it was there at least 5 years.

I am going to talk to my Uncle and Aunt over the holidays. They are both long time residents of Los Gatos and may remember this place.

All of this may be way, way off but since no one else has posted anything I thought I would share.

That is a great story, and we are the first to eagerly believe pop culture myths like that, no reason to apologize. Mob ties to Polynesian posadas are not unheard off, most notably the Aku Aku in Toledo:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22122&forum=2&28

Wonder who that girl singer might have been, maybe someone can suggest a couple of names (dames?) from the area ...but we also would need to know the era, what years did that 5 year time period lie in?

Not much of a mention, but it's something:

"On San Jose-Los Gatos Road just west of Highway 17, there was a Waikiki Village (it's now the Los Gatos Village shopping center)."

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/01.04.96/tiki-9601.html

WOW! Tiki Central is seriously stumped. Someone out there must have some more information about the Waikiki. I'm calling you guys out!

Tai Won On lives in Los Gatos and better yet, he is a mail carrier and his route is in downtown Los Gatos along Los Gatos Blvd so c'mon Jim put the feelers out there bro...

What supereight says is true.I was born in san jose and grew up there ,and there was another place run by some of the same people who were mention ,it was called the hawaiian gardens and man that place was cool.In the mid 60s the Gardens
as allot of hawaiian type places we remodel tried to stay Tiki but didn't last. One quick note at the Hawaiian gardens they had
live band shows and one of the shows was the Doors,it coast 5 bucks to get in, and as we waited to see Jim Morrison and the
Doors well after the first two songs things were cool,until he started to singing light my fire and laid on the floor and moaned for about 15 min. we left .....................Franco...............................

Hey, Franco! Welcome back, man! Another hamber at Tiki Central!

I can assure you that any sign of a Polynesian style restaurant/bar have been completely erased from that location. It is, as leleliz stated, a strip mall. I have heard that one existited there but the strip mall has been there at least 25 years now. I know some people that claim to have visited it. I'll try to get some info.
Super 8's story sound very plausible. I am not gonna draw any Mob-ties conclusions, but the Cerrito family is well known in Los Gatos. They owned Cerrito Chevrolet about a block from the afore mentioned strip mall.

Well I talked to some of my friends that live very close to that location and have for many years. They remember going there but could not say if it was good or bad. I guess that since they said they'd been more than once it could not have been too bad. I'll keep diggin' for info.

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki 2009-07-17 09:27 ]

I wonder if there is a connection between this place and the Garden Inn on Main Street, where Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio stayed?

I found a mention on a Los Gatos historical site that someone had posted asking if anyone remembered Waikiki Village. I took a chance and emailed him and he shot this remembrance back to me:

"I was just a kid, but it was on LG Blvd near where the car dealers are now. Across the street was one of those 50s style red leather booth prime rib places, though I can't remember the name.

Waikiki Village had some giant iron gas tiki torches out front at slight angles off of vertical out by the street (maybe 4 of them about 12-15 feet tall?). Palm trees out front, with a multi-faceted roof that wasn't pitched very high. It was kind of an open space inside, and I think I remember it having a big salad bar and a big cocktail bar. There may have been a lot of the faux-stone on the walls like they used in '60s fireplaces, and some small palm trees inside? Don't remember the menu, as I probably only ate there 4 or 5 times in the late 60s, though drove by it all the time."

Sounds like the place hit several traditional Tiki notes.

Aloha, my mom was the "girl singer", Lokelani, when The Waikiki Village was in its heyday. My sisters and I also danced there for both the Polynesian floorshow (in the eating area) AND as "go-go dancers" in the bar/disco, and as far I remember, there were no Mafia ties. The restaurant was owned by the Dick Yee family. I will post some photos from that time.

[ Edited by: Manulani 2014-03-02 13:52 ]

[ Edited by: Bora Boris 2014-03-02 14:24 ]

Very cool Manulani, thank you for sharing.

Another amazing thread!
Mahalo to all that have contributed.