Royal Hawaiian, Anaheim, CA (restaurant)

Name:Royal Hawaiian
Type:restaurant
Street:1025 S Los Angeles Street
City:Anaheim
State:CA
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
There have been a few mentions on TC of the Royal Hawaiian Restaurant located in Anaheim. A 1950's sister restaurant to the famous Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach, and a Walt Disney hangout.

I tried for this postcard recently on ebay that shows the lush exterior of the restaurant. First time I have seen the exterior.

The matchbook listing the two locations.

And the map on the back.

An ashtray with both listed.

And a nice menu from Arkiva Tropika - home of the famous Tiki Room!

Would be nice to hear more about this one.

DC

On 2007-11-05 22:47, bigbrotiki wrote:

I believe Walt had the Enchanted Tiki Room built because he generally loved the Tiki theme. He frequented the Royal Hawaiian Restaurant (the one they had in Anaheim) and Kono Hawaii, and the initial plans for the Tiki Room were that it was supposed to be a restaurant, too. But when the animatronics machinery got to big, they had no room for food service anymore and it became an attraction in its own right.

Walt was also very aware of what else was out there already, and since there was already a "Tiki Room" in a bowling alley in another state, he had to name his creation the ENCHANTED Tiki Room.

The fact that there was a "Famous Tiki Room" at the Royal Hawaiian in Anaheim gives Bigbro's theory about Walt and the Enchanted Tiki Room even more credence.

DC

Very cool find. Looks like they turned a typical SouCal Spanish Revival building into a "Tropical Hideaway", similar to the original Don The Beachcomber. I wish some interiors would exist, but none ever turned up from the Laguna Beach location, so I doubt it.

Does anybody know when that got torn down?
or is it still there just something else?

I don't remember ever seeing it.
I moved back to Anaheim from San Jose in early 81.
If I recall correctly Los Angeles st. became Anaheim Blvd.

I need to drive by and see what's up.
Jeff(btd)

Google Maps shows a big hospital there now.
:(

Jeff(btd)

Kevin Kidney, Disney/Tiki/Anaheim historian told me this about its address, which does not exist anymore under that name:

"Los Angeles St. dates back to the early days before we had freeways, when orange county was still part of LA County. Anaheimers would take this long road to LA. Before that it was part of the California "King's Road" that connected the missions, which is why we have all those cool mission bells all along Anaheim Blvd today. The name was changed in the 1960s to clear up confusion after the 5 Freeway became the way to get to LA."

http://m.facebook.com/AnaheimHistoricalSociety?id=163737270304062&_rdr

Yay!! I was right.

Thanks for posting that confirmation Sven.

Jeff(btd)

That RARE postcard is available on eBay right now! Search ebay or go to the thread in locating tiki!

Here is the Postcard link ; http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280845713167&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Does anyone know what the Royal Hawaiian menu in the photo is worth. How much do they usually sell for?

Apparently this restaurant was not in business all that long. It does not show prior to 1953 and was gone by 1971. Here is an aerial shot in 1963 where you can barely see the joint:

If you look at the first postcard in this thread, you can see a different colored pavement with a large tree in the parking lot. That lighter pavement section can be seen in this aerial photo as a light V shaped section, with a large tree.

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/sets/set-3/

I AM A SOCIOPATH!

[ Edited by: lucas vigor 2017-01-09 09:30 ]