Giant Redondo Beach Pier Barney West Tiki resurrected

Great Article about this giant Barney west Tiki that sat on the redondo beach pier. It was stored in a park in RB and is now going to return to the Pier. I guess I'll have to visit it on my bike rides every day. Thanx Otto for putting this the Tiki News mailing list.

http://redondobeach.patch.com/articles/redondo-to-revive-giant-tiki#photo-7550842

Corrected for mispelling

http://www.tikiyakiorchestra.com

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2011-09-12 11:42 ]

Thanks for the story! My in laws live just south of there. So I'll have to swing by and check it out.

Great news!

I too spotted that Tiki in Dominguez park a few years ago. I was able to identify it as the missing Barney West from a photo right here on Tiki Central: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=18159&forum=2&start=0
(Same photo from Sven that's in the article linked above)

When I contacted Sven about finding the missing Barney West Tiki, I learned that Jonpaul had also located it and was already in contact with the city of Redondo Beach in regards to it.

In any case, here are some photos of it I took:

I visit this park often with my daughter but in June of 2009 I had noticed something I hadn't before. Looking through a chainlink fence into the storage area I immediately saw that a lot of brush had been cleared out. While looking at the piles of stuff that was not easily visible before, I spotted this:

I went around to the entrance of the storage area...:

...and was greated with this:

Fortunately there was a gap in the fence so I was able to get closer:

A short time later I went back and got some shots showing how big this thing actually is.
Kim on top of the Tiki:

Here's a shot turned sideways. That's me, I'm lining my feet up with the base and I'm about 5'10":

Maybe Jonpaul has some more goods on this.

On 2011-09-12 13:04, Hakalugi wrote:

Hak,
I know you love Tikis but you really gotta draw the line somewhere. :D
Who's Your Tiki?!

Great archeology my friend!

On 2011-09-12 13:42, Unga Bunga wrote:

On 2011-09-12 13:04, Hakalugi wrote:

Hak,
I know you love Tikis but you really gotta draw the line somewhere. :D
Who's Your Tiki?!

Great archeology my friend!

Hey, at least I wasn't facing the other way.

That's great to hear it's been found and has a new destiny! Monsieur Lugi, thanks for the pics in situ!

Interesting that Leroy is quoted saying it came from a restaurant "near San Raphael". Talking to him years ago about the Barney West tikis at The Lanai in San Mateo, I'd gotten the impression that this is one of those. Not that I'm putting much stock in my memory of the conversation, or the correctness of linking the two. Here's the old Barney West thread where we chewed the fat about this tiki and its possible link to The Lanai. I also remember Leroy mentioning a "bad luck" perception that somehow became attached to the tiki.

San Mateo is kinda near San Raphael - they're both in the SF bay area!

-Randy

Oh - I mean "San Rafael".

Since the article quotes Leroy referring to San Raphael, I don't even know if there's a place with that spelling.

-Randy

How come no one pointed out that lovely vintage MCM trailer the tiki is sitting on? :lol:

The bad luck perception came from the fact that the original restaurant (of unknown name) in San Rafael that displayed it failed, and the poor thing was left abandoned "in a ditch", in Leroy's words. Then that label got cemented by the fact that Helen Yue's place had to close too. Me thinks that that closure had more to do with the fact that Polynesian restaurants had fallen out of favor with the public.

I am a little embarrassed by that "Credit Sven Kirsten" credit now under the photo: When I saw the article, the photo had Augustin Garnier's name on it, the guy who got the ball rolling to re-erect the Tiki. I am sure he did not claim the photo to be his, he just provided it for the article from his Facebook page, for which, yes, he had clipped it from my post on Tiki Central. Internet photo clipping without credit is such a common procedure nowadays, I didn't mind, especially for such a good, Tiki-saving purpose. But when it appeared in a news article with his name, I wrote the writer a brief e-mail requesting to correct the error. But why didn't she say "Photo: Sven Kirsten"."Credit" sounds like I am trying to take credit for the whole thing!? Oh well...

In any case, this story is a lesson in Tiki preservation: Go to the right channels, like a politician that needs something colorful for his campaign, to get things saved. Great job, Team Tiki!

Here are some more shots of the Tiki in Situ, photographed during one of my earliest expeditions in 1991:

Here's the shot that appears in the article and on Team Tiki's Facebook page:

And here's a frontal shot, for which I must have used a Polarizer, cause the sky is so deep blue:

This pic has been hanging out on my aging website bookoftiki.com, from where, (as one of the earliest examples of copying my Tiki images), it was clipped in the early 2000s to be used on a "STEADY" Tiki shirt:

I need to loose a little weight to wear that shirt on Tiki re-erection day! :)

On 2011-09-12 15:38, bigbrotiki wrote:
The bad luck perception came from the fact that the original restaurant (of unknown name) in San Rafael that displayed it failed

Since I'm the kind of guy to belabor things - not sure if there was supposed to be a restaurant in San Rafael - Leroy's quote was "near San Rafael". But the only context I ever heard Leroy talk about it (tiki X that was supposed to be bad luck and ended up in a Redondo Beach restaurant), was in a discussion of tikis from The Lanai.

Probably easiest to just ask Leroy if we're curious. It would be pretty cool if this really is the 3rd (4th? 5th?) life for this particular BW tiki, starting from The Lanai. A fitting epitaph for Barney and his "last a lifetime" motto!

-Randy

That is a cool piece of urban tiki archeology by Hakalugi. What a great artifact just lying there in it's decay and forgotten surroundings waiting to be discovered.

Excellent work, Team Tiki!

[i]On 2011-09-12 15:38, bigbrotiki wrote:
I need to loose a little weight to wear that shirt on Tiki re-erection day! :)

When is re-erection day?

Good question. Has the new location at Seaside Lagoon been finalized? That could be a fun venue for a Tiki get-together on re-erection day. I go to the LSU crawfish boil at Seaside Lagoon every year. Room for a band, bars, vendors, kids etc. Lots of hotels across the street.

Love this story.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2011-09-18 12:15 ]

From what I understand, the tiki will be placed somewhere on the Redondo Beach Pier.
The future of the Seaside Lagoon itself is murky.

On 2011-09-20 16:06, Swangulo Tikis wrote:
From what I understand, the tiki will be placed somewhere on the Redondo Beach Pier.
The future of the Seaside Lagoon itself is murky.

That would be great.I'd get to ride my bike past it every day !

Seaside Lagoon would be a great place to put them, but the future of Seaside Lagoon is unstable due to the Coastal Commision. They basically want the water used in the salt water park, cleaner than how it was taken from the harbor. That means big expensive salt water filters that the city just does not have the budget for.

Also, the city claims Seaside Lagoon has been losing money for the past 10 years or so...Its really no wonder though, as they removed the diving boards and slides, due to potential liability issues and insurance costs. The Lagoon has very little to offer anymore, besides safety in the sense of an enclosed calm waterpark.

On 2011-09-20 16:06, Swangulo Tikis wrote:
From what I understand, the tiki will be placed somewhere on the Redondo Beach Pier.

Love it. Get another barrel high ball glass at Tony's and stroll over to see the Tiki.

Does anyone know a sincere point of contact to find out the latest status on this? Is there someone in the Redondo Beach City Council or a website page that anyone knows of to keep us posted? That is an awesome piece of work. I would really like to be there for the festivities.
TS

I would say Team Tiki is your best bet: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Tiki-Redondo-Beach/121437071269482

Oh...nice bigbro! Mahalos for that.
TS

I just stumbled across this thread. Did the big Barney West Tiki ever return to the pier? If not, did it reappear SOMEWHERE else?!?

CJ