postcard from the Outrigger Club, Ardmore, OK

Thought I'd share this interesting card for a place in Oklahoma.

Looks like they did a nice job on the place when it was around as I'm sure it's long gone by now.

Tulsatv - ever heard of the place?

[ Edited by: ZuluMagoo on 2003-04-22 16:21 ]

[ Edited by: ZuluMagoo 2006-07-22 08:28 ]

Wow Zulu!

That place is Beautiful. Exotic and mysterious in that hallucinatory-way that the tiki bars in my dreams appear. It looks like an example of the acme of tiki architecture of the time.

All of a sudden we're discovering all this forgotten Oklahoma tiki history. I can't wait to see what appears next. And I can't wait to lay my hands on a copy of that postcard! Nice find!

Sabu

Beautiful pictures! I found this info online at -
http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=Clayton+House+Motel+Ardmore+Ok&url=AlbWtNHtkcMC:www.oklahomahistory.net
"Butch, the Kon Tiki was a restaurant at the Clayton House Motel, the motel is still there under the name and address "Economy Inn Motel 1212 S COMMERCE ST
ARDMORE, OK 73401
(580) 226-9300
Fax: (580) 226-7355"
Maybe someone one local can see if any of it's still there, otherwise I am going on vacation in July to Ok, not to far from Ardmore, I might be able to swing by and investigate. Take some pictures of what is there. The person who posted the info mentioned it as Kon Tiki? Hmmm? Could there have been 2 polynesian dinner houses in Ardmore or just confusion about the name?

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2003-04-22 16:56 ]

That's a great postcard - its nice to see what the place looked like. Here's a menu from the Outrigger Club. The address on the back of the menu is Rio Motor Hotel, 2460 N.W. 39th St., Oklahoma City. Could there have been 2 locations ?

Whoa! Check out that menu- our old friend the suffering bastard/mai tai joe is making a cameo! Guess that mug wasn't just made for Vic's. Now the quest is to find the suffering bastard with "The Outrigger" OK on the bottom.

-martin

These must have been 2 different places because Ardmore is about 100 miles from Oklahoma City.

Thanks for the info, DawnTiki. Its good to know there were 2 Outrigger Clubs.

Wow, great postcard, great menu! Always fun to find these remote places...
Maybe they were owned by the same family?
The two Tikis in the postcard are definitely Milan Gunko carved, and the mask on the door is a Witco.

Are you sure, Bigbro?

I thought with those slack-jaws and vacant eyes, they would have been carved by Andres Bumatay or his partner Rick Ellis.

How are things in Germany, by the way? We missed you at the book-signing last night, but I did enjoy talking briefly with your room-mate and with Naomi. I drank a zombie in your honor at the Tiki Ti afterwards.

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2003-04-24 11:29 ]

That's a good point, Sabu, they have a Bumatay touch to the nose and eyes...
well, both carvers were Phillipinos...
but Bumatay did not leave these long uncarved head dresses...check out the Westminster Nursery pic in my book, you'll find some like those..

Germany is fine, I have a cafe/bar right undeneath my pad, and I found a nude Exotica painting for it in a thrift store for 5 Euros today...

I bet these 2 places were owned by the same people, they weren't to far from each other, same name and the artwork on the card and the menu are very similar.

Hello all,

I haven't seen any updates on The Outrigger in OK from anyone else so I figured I would give the little bit of information which we’ve found.

Brittanie and I took a trip up to Oklahoma City for me to meet her Grandparents. While there, we searched around the bit to visit the bars that sounded like they had Polynesian names. However, bars like "Sugar’s Mai Tai" and “The Hawaiian Room” (I think that's what it was called) turned out to be typical Midwest NASCAR bars. We looked around for The Outrigger in Oklahoma City, but could not find it. So we were kind of despondent on our drive back home, but decided to stop off in Ardmore anyway.

The hotel and “Debar” are there. We spoke with the current owner who said that he is at least the fifth owner. Apparently the motel went through "renovations" in the very early 1980s. He did not know who originally built the hotel or what had been done with the decorations.

The view from the street. You can see that peak of the A-frame at the left, rear side of the building.

You can still see the A-frame, the pool outline, and the lava rocks.

Oh well. This is actually more than I expected to find!

By the way, for those of you who met Brittanie at Tiki Oasis IV or the Hurricane Hukilau we are getting married on May 7 before our move to South Korea! Wish us luck!

Mahalo,
Kilikopela

Thanks for the update K.

Wow! Really beautiful postcard.....

I included this postcard in my tiki slideshow tonight here in Denver at Tiki Boyd's. When the show was over, the bartender, a friend of mine, mentioned that he grew up in Ardmore and had very fond memories of eating at this place with his dad. He had forgotten about the place until he saw this card again.

What are the chances, a bartender working in a tiki bar, watching a slideshow about tiki history, seeing a postcard of an extinct tiki restaurant you frequented as a child, best of all in backwater rural Oklahoma. Tiki mojo at work here.

Post note. I only have the one postcard, but am blowing it up and making a print of it for him. It's a small tiki world.

I worked as a pool attendant/"lifeguard" during the summer of 67 or 68 at the Rio in Oklahoma City. I was too young to go into the Outrigger (well they knew my age (17) at that club), but remember the summer well. The motel had just opened and it was a hot destination for singles. The hut by the pool was Polynesian themed as well and I kept it well-stocked with potables and had my transistor radio in the shade keeping an eye on the kids swimming. The sold "memberships" to swim there. Had my little blue metallic 67 Dodge Dart GT 283 V8 - whoa that was a fun summer. They had these lights in the ground that would light up the faux South Pacific flora and fauna.

Now I live in SF and have been to the old Trader Vic's - remember drinking an earthquake I think it was - wipeout and the Tonga Room at the Fairmont with the storm waterfall business and fried won tons with sweet and sour sauce.

Post note. I only have the one postcard, but am blowing it up and making a print of it for him. It's a small tiki world.

Any chance you'd make an extra? I live in OKC which is 100 miles from Ardmore. I go there about once a month to meet family from Dallas for lunch. I'm going to scope out the location. It's ironic because I just learned of both of these 2 places on Critiki about an hour ago and was making plans of hitting both locations and seeing what's there. I know the locations in OKC is gone because I used to drive down 39th every day coming home from work before going to work for myself.

If anyone else discovers anything in OKC that might be of interest I'd be happy to hit it and get info, pics or whatever. And don't even ask about Hawaiian Don's. Sheesh.