Oklahoma Trade Winds Motor Hotel Sign on American Pickers

I don't know if this was mentioned elsewhere. I did a search but didn't see anything.

I was watching my recording of American Pickers from earlier Wednesday evening and they stopped by:

Garrett Auto Mart
1133 W Gentry Ave
Checotah, OK 74426
(918) 473-5025

They are talking to the owner, Benny, and they look at an old Trade Winds Motor Hotel palm tree sign that Benny wanted $800 for. They offered $500 and he turned them down.

The sign was pretty weathered. However, it was cool to see.

The pickers get excited about motorcycles and old oil cans, but I always find myself trying to look off camera to see the Tiki stuff they are passing up. Neat to see an old sign get some attention.

I saw that, last night. The sign was pretty roached. Does anyone have any pics or info on this place? All I could find were these pics. I assume it's the same place.

Good find! I hope more info becomes available. If the sign in the TV show is the big sign from the front of the Trade Winds, then I think it's amazing that anyone would have saved something so large for all these years.

It would be nice to see it saved & displayed. The problem with signs that big is that, very few people, have the means to resurrect or display them. That's why smaller signs are more valuable. I'll give them credit for trying to buy it. My guess is it will just continue to sit in that junkyard until it is unrecognizable.

Maybe a campaign to get the sign should be organized. Who's the biggest Urban Archaeologist here who could take on such an endeavor? It would be cool to see that thing rescued by the Tiki subculture. If it gets rolling I'd be willing to donate a little to the effort.

[ Edited by: Matt Reese 2013-12-05 18:27 ]

I'd add to the fund too.

I would be great to save the old sign. I missed the show. Did the seller indicate which of the Trade Winds Motor Hotels the sign was from? There were at least four locations in Oklahoma. The ashtray lists three – Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Muskogee.

The postcard that Bosko posted is from a fourth location in Clinton, Oklahoma – about 70 miles west of Oklahoma City. This is the one with the bowling alley on the hotel sign.

There is more information on the Trade Winds here on Tiki Central.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=12681&forum=1&hilite=trade winds

Both the Tusla and Oklahoma City locations and a Club Trade Winds Tiki-themed bar and restaurant. The Tulsa location was the home of the Frankoma Tiki mugs. More information on this location can be found on this Tulsa website.

http://tulsatvmemories.com/tulstiki.html

The Oklahoma City location boasted a Trade Winds Club and the Malihini Restaurant with a full Witco Tiki as the logo.

I found some postcard images of the Club Trade Winds and the Malihini Restaurant from the Oklahoma City Trade Winds on-line.

While these show some very early use of Witco Tikis in the decorations, the overall Tipsy factor is a bit disappointing.

DC

There's a Trade Winds display matchbook on eBay right now with a few hours remaining: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-MATCHBOOK-1950S-FEATURE-HULA-GIRLS-GIRLIE-TRADE-WINDS-ALASKA-4-DIGIT-/171184689550?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27db67118e

I saw that episode as well. If I remember right it looked hand painted and one sided. Small enough to fit on the bed of a flatbed truck but still a good size sign. Might be a roadside sign and it was really rough but really cool. They don't show the sign very well or very long. Maybe someone can get so screenshots from the episode and post them.

Love the matchbook.
P.S.: DC, I'm not Bosko!

On 2013-12-06 17:33, Big Kahuna wrote:
Love the matchbook.
P.S.: DC, I'm not Bosko!

Boy, I leave TC for a few months and things go to hell.

First of all, that is a nice matchbook that TikiTacky added, but it's from a restaurant located in Fairbanks Alaska and has nothing to do with this thread. I would suggest that a new thread be started under Locating Tiki for that establishment so we can find out more about it. Or, we could just make this thread the depository of every Trade Winds sighting ever!

Secondly, the postcard that I posted was originally submitted by Bosko on the Trade Winds thread that I provided a link to. It listed the address on the back from Clinton rather than Oklahoma City which is why I referenced it.

Now, with all that being said, the description that Uncle Trav provided clearly indicates that the sign on Pickers was not one of the big neon signs from the hotel, but a painted roadside version. Would love to see a screengrab if some one has the show.

DC

I should know better than to doubt you, by now, DC! :D

Welcome back DC

On 2013-12-06 18:20, Dustycajun wrote:
First of all, that is a nice matchbook that TikiTacky added, but it's from a restaurant located in Fairbanks Alaska and has nothing to do with this thread. I would suggest that a new thread be started under Locating Tiki for that establishment so we can find out more about it. Or, we could just make this thread the depository of every Trade Winds sighting ever!

I created a new thread for the Trade Winds in Fairbanks, AK.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=46590&forum=2

[ Edited by: kenbo-jitsu 2013-12-07 22:13 ]

Here's a screen capture:

Looking at the previous page: How good to see a post with true Tiki science here on TC again, thanks DC!

Perhaps it should be noted that the "Trade Winds" moniker was a very common concept in Pre-Tiki Polynesian pop, not only popular with many motel owners across the United States, but also used for bars and restaurants. The only other one used as much would probably be "The Tropics". One could perhaps start a thread like the "Pago-Pago: All locations under one Roof" here on TC - but that would be a lot of work.

I believe the popularity of the theme hails from this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6a7L_Xx5Io

…made popular by Der Bingle:

The Trade Winds moniker was indeed popular for motels and restaurants. Here is a close up of the neon sign from the Oklahoma locations.

DC

Thank you, Tom. That's a pretty clear screen capture. Hopefully, someone can save that sign before it's completely illegible.

There was a Trade Winds apartment building in Temple City on Rosemead Blvd. The lettering was taken off, but you can still see the outline on the wall. It is right next to the Kahlua apartments, which has a couple of big tikis in front.

[ Edited by: Surfergulfgirl 2014-01-17 08:35 ]

Found an ad online for the Malihini Room at the Trade Winds.

Nice rendering of the Witco.

DC

The info, shown below, was deleted by the original poster, and no reason was given for the deletion. I have no way to verify if this info is true, but I'm restoring the original info which was given as a reply to Trader' Tom's post and photo. I hope that "Surfergulfgirl" can come back and help provide additional info and a reason for the deletion.

Hope I'm not violating and rules or personal preferences here. Please let me know if I am.

On 2013-12-09 00:04, Trader Tom wrote:
Here's a screen capture:

On 2014-01-17 08:31, Surfergulfgirl wrote:
Wow, this is such an incredible find for our family! My mother, Janice Moser, designed this sign in the late 1950'S as a young OU graduate working as a draftsman.
[ This Message was edited (DELETED) by: Surfergulfgirl 2014-01-17 08:35 ]

Hey - I am late to the thread, but I just came across this thread after receiving a vintage glass from Tradewinds in Tulsa... I believe it is from the 1950's, atleast that is what my father told me. Eitherway, anyone have any additional information??

Thanks!

I just found an identical one a week ago at a yard sale. Now I don't have to post the photo.

i just spoke with Benny who owns this sign, and was able to get a little info on it, but not much:

1. it's definitely not for sale
2. he wouldn't send pictures of it
3. it was from the Muskogee location

the reason i called is that looking at the pics of the screenshot and the old signs, it didn't appear to be the Tulsa, OKC, or Clinton one - scale, typeface and construction wasn't right (no bushing areas for neon, it was a single flat piece instead of multiple cabinets) if i were to guess, it's a large roadside sign advertising that one is coming up in muskogee or and ancillary entrance sign for the property

on a side note, through a little digging, i found that the owner of the Trade Winds hotels ran a horse in the Kentucky Derby in 1972 called Our Trade Winds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Kentucky_Derby

Interesting! I ran across an early newspaper reference from the Fort Lauderdale News on May 24, 1940 with the title:
"Trade Wind Hotel Construction Will Start Next Week".

Might be one of the earliest?

On 2017-08-12 21:22, tikitube wrote:
Interesting! I ran across an early newspaper reference from the Fort Lauderdale News on May 24, 1940 with the title:
"Trade Wind Hotel Construction Will Start Next Week".

Might be one of the earliest?

i don't think so - think that was a bit early for him and the salvages guy was adamant it was from muskogee - here's his obit - actually says there were 8 trade winds hotels

http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/mitchell----robert-s/article_f6c706f4-e19b-5631-88d6-ad45d7a3ae98.html?mode=jqm

Sorry, I was just curious as to the first hotel with that name, not necessarily part of the same chain. I think this one in Ft Lauderdale would have been built shortly after the popularity of Bing Crosby's song mentioned earlier in the thread.

Token, not mine.