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Kauai Restaurant & Lounge, Daytona Beach Shores, FL (restaurant)

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Name:Kauai Restaurant & Lounge
Type:restaurant
Street:2112 S Atlantic Ave
City:Daytona Beach Shores
State:FL
Zip:32118
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
The Kauai Restaurant & Lounge was an apparently short-lived establishment from the late 1960s that featured nightly Polynesian shows. It was located on the west side of A1A a few blocks north of the Hawaiian Inn and Aku Tiki Inn. A Dollar General store now exists on the site, opposite the Beach Haven Inn. I'm hoping that other TC'ers have some Kauai ephemera, as the only evidence that I have of its existence is this old newspaper ad...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal August 1, 1969

It came to an unseemly end in 1970 via IRS seizure...

Daytona Beach Morning Journal December 11, 1970

-Tom

Another ad from the Kauai restaurant advertising catering services to host a luau at your house.

Sunday Luau special.

The acts, Kalani and the Kamainas with Napua and Teva.

There was another Kauai in Miami Beach.

Pronounced Cow-Eye??

DC

One more ad, this time the featured act was Prince Nakai and the Hawaiian Revue.

These acts really did roam all over the Florida coast back in the day.

DC

T

Great work, DC!

I'm looking forward to sharing a bit more about this place in the next issue of Tiki Magazine & More; there are connections to other threads...

-Tom

I picked up a Daytona Beach guide book from 1969 that had some nice images from the Kauai Restaurant.

First up, the full page add with a nice shot of the building and the parking lot sign.

The Kauai restaurant was owned by the Polynesian dancers Teva and Napua.

Here is the restaurant review and building photo.


A cool find if I do say so myself.

DC

T

Another great contribution, DC!

The owners of Kauai Restaurant and Lounge were Teva and Napua Lucas, husband and wife. Teva Lucas was Tahitian and performed as a fire knife dancer at the Hotel Lexington Hawaiian Room (was married to Gloria (Manu) Kanemura while there), then later appeared at the Yankee Clipper Polynesian Room, Mai-Kai and a number of Miami Beach hotels including the Sans Souci, Versailles, Casablanca, Deauville and Sherry Frontenac. Ultimately, Teva and Napua ended up at Tiki Gardens in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. There, Teva was the restaurant manager at Trader Franks, assisted by Napua.

-Tom

Pages: 1 5 replies