Who carved the "Luau/Hanalei" Tiki's?

Aloha Folks!

Now that the proverbial "cat's outta da bag" that I have one of the vintage Tiki's from the BH Luau, I was wondering if anyone could tell me who made it and share any vintage pictures of it in situ. I have been searching for years ever since the gardeners sold it to me, but have come up empty over and over again.

Here's a quicky shot of it, by the way, waiting patiently in my garage to complete it's restoration...

I had to do a TON of sanding to get down to decent wood that wasn't either black with mold or rot. And it wasn't easy since it's a really hard, dense, HEAVY wood like Eucalyptus or something. The base has rotted crooked so I can't stand it up to work on it. I'm eventually going to have to cut it even, but I'm so hesitant to do so because I don't want to violate this piece of history.

Mahaloz in advance for your help, folks!

Why don't you create a base to set it in/into/on?

Lee, I flipped it so we don't have to stand on our heads :lol:

Lookin' good, I'm sure someone will provide you with the history you seek.

Sorry about havin' to stand on yer heads... :wink:

I was gonna post the "verso" shot, but it didn't look very good, and I thought it'd be redundant, especially since one is posted in my "I'm Selling All My Good Stuff" post in da Marketplace...

Here it is anyway-

Blue- I have thought of building a base, but this bruiser is so heavy, it'd literally break or bend any base that I could construct for it. It literally takes three strong guys to move it! The only option I've thought of that I've been o.k. with was to stand it in a sturdy corner or up against a strudy wall, and bolt it to the wall from the top with metal strapping so you can't see it.

Mele Kalikimaka!

[ Edited by: Tiki Lee's 2011-12-24 21:25 ]

[ Edited by: Tiki Lee's 2011-12-24 21:26 ]

Lee, to make sure WHO was the carver of this Tiki I would ask Leroy at O.A., but I seem to remember him mentioning a Mexican carver named Demetrio Chavez being involved with the Hanalei carvings.