Tiki Journey PCH: Dana Point/San Clemente

I have wanted to go out and find all of the tikis and mid-century type buildings in my local area for a while now, and after seeing Dustycajun's Santa Barbara thread, I finally got motivated. There isn't tons of architecture to be found in it's original glorious state around here, but there are still some surprises to stumble upon...especially in the trailer parks. I headed out on my beach cruiser, and headed south on PCH. Here are some of my finds:

Here's a little building that can be seen off of PCH in Capo Beach. I've always wondered what's inside of it, but it's hard to see from the front, because it's on the beach and kind of up a sand dune. I do remember seeing a picture in Dale Velzy's book with him and ZZ Top standing in the sand right in front of this place (or at least the building next to it.) Other than that, I don't know anything about it.

Here it is from the street side. It's in a private community called Beach Road, but easily accessible by bicycle.

Awesome corrugated roof w/ A-frame.

Mask adorning front. Cool thatch and bamboo trim work.

Here's another house on Beach Road...not Mid century, but definitely new-school resort looking place. Theres a giant chainsaw carved tiki on the left of the pic that I'll show later on. BTW, thats ONE building on 2 or 3 beachfront lots!

Heres the Shorecliffs beach club building. Cool roofline, with lots of potential. Too bad it's on Poche beach (I think it's #1 or #2 on the list of most polluted beaches!)


Some more beach club shots...

This is an awesome old building with a great A-frame. I think it's the San Clemente chamber of commerce or something. I like how it's framed on all 3 corners by the palms.


I love the beams that come down on either side of the roofline.

Not tiki by any means, but cool Googie-esque architecture.

This building is also right on the beach, but it's the office for a mobile home park. Cool little A-frames, and old school shake shingle type roof.


This is the front of one of the mobile homes. I just posted this cause it has that asian A-frame type feel.

Heres another one of the mobile home rooflines. I love how they stacked the shingles to give it that exaggerated exotic look!

My next post will have all of the tikis I found in people's front yards and storefronts...I was surprised at how many tikis were to be found!

Here's pictures of all the tikis I found on my bike ride. Probably only about a 7 mile stretch (but closer to 15 with all the backtracking!)

This first one is in front of a vacuum supply place right across creek from my house. I absolutely LOVE this tiki for some reason. It looked like the head was rotted off or something and they did some plaster type patch work. I don't know anything about the origins or style of this tiki, but it's one of the main reasons for my trip.


This truck was parked a few streets over. Maybe they crafted the tiki's plaster hair-do!

This, and a bunch of the next tikis, are on Beach Road.

Cool Marquesan fence posts. Nicely carved and fairly detailed, considering their purpose and all. Some of the most traditional tikis I found all day.



Looks like some kind of door to paradise.

This looks like a Witco-esque carving found right next to the cool A-framed hut.


This hawaiian styled tiki is right on the side of the beach hut.

Close up

Not much to look at, but I was taking anything I could. This picture also made me feel a lot like a peeping tom.

Cool cement lawn tiki. I like how the wear makes it seem like some kind of hidden idol.

Heres the chainsaw carved tiki totem in front of the massive resort home.

This tiki and the next few were found in front of a metal shop(?) in San Clemente. I think there was a tiki carver next door to this shop awhile back, but i can't say for sure.





Unlucky tiki...this guy seems to have lost everything but his feet.


This and the next couple tikis are from a mobile home park right across the train tracks, next to the train station at north beach.

Looks a lot like the decanter in BOT on pg 185.

Painted white? really?

I almost missed this Enchanted Tiki Room Pele. The rest of the facade had some ugly indo type masks and I rode right by. On my way back, I saw this Pele and skidded to take the picture. I had to get sneaky and couldn't touch it cause people were right next to this tiki on their patio. Bummer!

These last two tikis are in front of Beach cities pizza in the dana point harbor. Surprisingly nice carvings.

Well that about wraps up my journey...for today anyways. There was some cool stuff I wanted to shoot in Laguna Beach, But I'll leave that till my motorcycle is out of the shop!
Enjoy!

[ Edited by: kahalakruzer 2009-05-02 16:05 ]

Wow, very nice. Thanks for all the work, great job. It is amazing how many tikis you were able to find here and there. No such luck in my area. I am constantly looking..