Tiki History - The Tahitian Village in Downey, CA

Golly, that first Tiki looks brand-spanking new - like Milan Guanko just carved it yesterday!

Are THESE the apartments you lived in...

... "The Waikikian" in the background of this photo?

yes thats where i lived, and i still have the tiki. i sealed and varnished the wood several times through the years,i treated it as a treasure. i also carve tikis. i have quit a collection and have sold a truck load in mich before i moved to florida.i have photos of the apts. in ca. and more of the tahitan village that i will share with you....phil

Phil,

Thanks for posting. Look forward to seeing photos of your Tiki and the Tahitian Village.

DC

these were taken in 60 or 61 with my wife and i walking around the beautiful grounds i cant tell you how enchanting it was just so much to see, the two photos together black and white in the pool where i lived my two good buddy's came to visit me this is at the Waikikien apts, im in the center. very good memories!.....Phil

also the photo off my tiki before i applied a finish to it . my bike won a trophy at cobo hall in detroit witha paint job from california by the one and only Larry Watson, hall of famer,died about a year ago, yeah these were the days!.........Phil

Phil, Thank you so much for sharing your photos and memories. That bike and the tiki are CLASSIC. OGR

These photos are unbelievable!
And I was gonna say that the paint job on that bike was special. Doesn't surprise me that Watson painted it! Still have the bike?

Can't wait for more pictures of The Tahitian Village!!

Nice! The tall Milan Guanko is impressive, and the torch-studded outriggers to the left of the tongue Tiki are cool. One can even see the sign a little. Are those black and white photos of your friends lying on the Book of Tiki?

Show us some of YOUR carvings. :)

Hey Hornbl1 those are the most amazing photos it was wonderful to see how cool it looked back in its heyday, I only got to see it at the end but it still had that vibe that it had once been a paradise. I was lucky enough to save the bridge Tiki carvings and some other items while they were demoing the place and am still fascinated by it.

Thanks so much great thread everyone,

Bosko

Great new additions to this thread, awesome vintage car show shot!
Larry Watson was one cool dude, he and I lived on King Ave. and was one of my circa '70 newspaper route customers (tipped good every Christmas), also did lot's of iconic work for local hero Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth.

its been awhile iv been very busy carving every day, and finding and hauling logs back to my liar and trying to find an outlet as so many of us are but will post some photos of my work soon, thank you so much for your input of my tahitan village pics, they are very old but i value them there a wonderful time of my life....Phil

Got this postcard showing the pool area and rental units at the Tahitian Village.

Back of the card.

Some of the photos posted by hornbl1 show similar scenes by the pool.

What a place!

DC

I love how they have a Liquor and drug store there.

i must say the place looked much better in real life than the postcards, i remember they had a terrific gift shop that i bought a polyinesian lamp that i dont know what happened to it but i do have a logo ashtray, also my wife and i had our first scorpion driink there watching a great floorshow,the place was very exotic

Some of my latest work. -Phil

This was posted on Facebook.
Very early Van Halen playing a gig at the Tahitian Village in 1975.

How freaking cool is that!? Anybody know if this was a common occurrence & what other bands played there?

[ Edited by: Big Kahuna 2014-02-05 14:25 ]

Very cool!

Not so cool that they are now eligible to be considered a tiki band!

(I kid....well, kind of)

:)

On 2014-02-05 16:01, lucas vigor wrote:
Very cool!

Not so cool that they are now eligible to be considered a tiki band!

(I kid....well, kind of)

:)

Van Halen-definitely not tiki. :)

If that pic ain't tiki then tiki ain't cool no more.
A clear shot of Ed's Explorer in hot action before he hacked it up is the real fn deal.

Another old ad announcing the Kaui Lani Exotica Polynesian Revue the at the Tahitian Village.

Some time before Van Halen played, I dare to say.

DC

Different version

Some cool news ads from the Tahitian Village that display a variety of Tiki styles in the graphics.

Tiki Number 1.

Tiki Number 2.

And Tiki Number 3.

DC

Time for a bump. Nice menu cover from the Tahitian Village.

DC