Bali Hai, San Diego, CA (Restaurant)

Finally hung up my plate next to the bali hai mugs

Datsa nice plate ErichT. Got an interesting story to go with it?
Cheers

Not sure if its interesting, but it was surprising to find it....

A few years back I went to a yard sale....I almost didn't get out of the truck because it looked like all baby clothes and toys. There was one little area of old stuff. It was laying on a blanket. I was shocked, because I had never seen one before and there was no other tiki, hawaii, polynesian stuff.

I asked if they had any other pieces, they said no. The stuff came from the ladies Mom who had passed. The lady didn't even live in the San Diego area.

The plate is old and small... No markings on the back. Doesn't look home made. Did the Bali Hai sell these? Did it get looted? Seems like a souvenir... the gold paint seems like it wouldn't last long if it was used or washed a lot.

All I know is that its cool... and I gave a whole .50 cents for it.

New facelift 12/23/14

So good to see that this iconic statue is being properly maintained, not just painted over! It went through some horrible changes in the 80s and 90s…

...until in 2001, Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily took it upon themselves to travel down to San Diego and invest their own time, labor and materials to restore him as close to the original as possible. Quote:

"...All his characteristic grain was covered up and he began to resemble a fiberglass playground statue. We counted 6 layers of different colors that he has been over the years (We all remember him being green several years back, but did you know that he has been three DIFFERENT shades of green over time? And for awhile his pupils had been bright orange!)…"

See the progress here:
http://tikimodern.com/pages/bali.html

The iconic branding value of such a logo Tiki is priceless - as this thread's photos show, generations have posed with it!

On 2014-12-25 18:55, Unga Bunga wrote:
New facelift 12/23/14

Awesome and thank you for the update. Just curious, if you are allowed to comment: is this something you volunteered your time and resources to do, or did the Bali Hai take the initiative? Extra tiki-kudos and a :drink: to you if the former. I love that Mr. Bali Hai (and the Goof on the roof) are still there after so many years.
I look forward to returning to the Bali Hai again in 2015!

On 2014-12-26 11:11, finky099 wrote:

On 2014-12-25 18:55, Unga Bunga wrote:
New facelift 12/23/14

Awesome and thank you for the update. Just curious, if you are allowed to comment: is this something you volunteered your time and resources to do, or did the Bali Hai take the initiative? Extra tiki-kudos and a :drink: to you if the former. I love that Mr. Bali Hai (and the Goof on the roof) are still there after so many years.
I look forward to returning to the Bali Hai again in 2015!

I don't think that's Unga in the photo…other than his shadow :)

As of last night: He's not contagious, but is getting patched up!
Nice to see him being taken care of, he was starting to look a bit roughed up again lately.

On 2014-12-28 11:33, bamalamalu wrote:
As of last night: He's not contagious, but is getting patched up!
Nice to see him being taken care of, he was starting to look a bit roughed up again lately.

Ah! He must have went to Disneyland.

Anyone have a pic of the finished product?

I forgot to bring the camera last time, but he is all finished. Looks similar to the previous paint job.

I'll get a picture next Weekend if no one beats me to it.

Well, I managed to forget the real camera again. But here he is, all shined up:

He looks fantastic. Great job and thanks for posting the pic.
:drink:

Mr. Bali Hai circa 1967.

DC

Anyone know the current mug situation at Bali Hai? I assume they still have the Mr. Bali Hai mug and the Goof. But what others? And what version of the Goof?

This article was published in the San Diego Reader on October 22, 2014. I'm just including it on the Bali Hai thread. There are additional photos and video interviews in the link.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2014/oct/22/cover-tiki-said-hell-lets-party/

Thanks for posting that article, Lori. Some details of the Bali Hai/Christian's Hut murky history I had not read before. I would have preferred less detail on Ham's mistresses and more on what his wife did to make the business more successful after his death in the 70's but, that's just me Monday-morning quarterbacking.

Had dinner at the wonderful Bali Hai on July 8. Just a couple of pics from inside and out. There's more from inside, but this is all I have on my phone right now.

The legendary Mr. Bali Hai (and some guy in an orange shirt)

The famous Goof on the Roof

Some great tapa above the stairs inside

Enjoying a Scorpion bowl with my fiance

Some nice old photos of the Bali Hai.

DC

Quite possibly the lamest postcard of bali hai ever. You can barely see it in the corner.... yet the back wordage is specifically about the bali hai.

...and the sender of the post card was too cheap to spring for dinner, so "lunch" was the invitation. :)_

Thanks for the extra perspective of the 2nd pic below. The guy on the ladder (or is that The Goof's dentist?) in the first pic looks pretty precarious otherwise!

On 2015-08-02 11:12, Dustycajun wrote:
Some nice old photos of the Bali Hai.

DC

1968 ad

Found this postcard yesterday...

Clayfran- same ad 1966

Found in this

Edit: Kool to find an ad, Now I know how Dusty feels every day :)

Worst sound ever, slurp of an empty tiki mug through my straw!!!

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2016-04-04 13:11 ]

Another small plate from the bali hai. This one is black and gold rather than the white and gold I found before. Its just so strange that nobody else has come up with one of these. I just wish I knew why bali hai these and what they were for.

Maybe they were individual craft items, only sold at the gift shop, and not for restaurant use? I have never seen one in the wild, myself.

Well everyone, another collector on facebook said he also has the white version of the plate, so at least we know that more than my 2 exist.

I just figure it was a short lived souvenir back in the day. Maybe someday we'll know more.

With the way "Shelter Island" is so hard to read, is it possible it's a white plate that someone just painted black at some point?

Video from Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica's concert at the Bali Hai in Feb 2016 is now available. See http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=51604&forum=11&0

some photos from my visit this past weekend. went in on sunday about noon and the place was slammed for brunch. i was a bit disappointed that i couldn't try the ordinary menu, but the brunch was fantastic. got a window seat with a breathtaking view. tried a few drinks, but found them disappointing -- less than inspire rum options and inferior juices. they call themselves Bali Hai Restaurant, and i take them at their word -- this is one of those beautiful tiki destinations where you're better off sticking with the food than the drinks (like the tonga room). several wedding also going on. anybody still go here to drink?

Oroborean, Bali hai’s signature drink is the Mai Tai. Not my favorite-too heavy on the rum imo.
I do really like the Paralyzing Pufferfish. A Puffer and an order of Poke and I’m in heaven. Me and my wife will be Joining WooHoo and SoccerTiki and other TC’ers at the Bali Hai the weekend following Thanksgiving.
Always a blast.
Cheers

On 2016-11-08 15:37, oroborean wrote:

this is one of those beautiful tiki destinations where you're better off sticking with the food than the drinks (like the tonga room).

Great photos. For what it's worth, Tonga revamped their menu at the end of October. Last week my wife had the Tonga Kong and I the Planter's Punch. Both very good. Then we shared a Rainmaker bowl which wasn't bad either. I had gone in with very low expectations on the drinks and was pleasantly surprised. They weren't Mai Kai level great but enjoyable nonetheless. If their prices were lower we would have continued drinking but with pupus, dinner and dessert we were in for over 200 bucks. Oh, the mai tai creme brule was phenom.

I like the drinks, but I stick to the "strong" menu. They are definitely not craft cocktails, but they are about half the price of most drinks in town. My favorite is the Goof Punch. They still use Lemonhart 80 old stock in it.

[ Edited by: lunavideogames 2017-03-21 18:41 ]

Was doing some searches through the San Diego Union and found this bit of info from July 17, 1955.

So another Christian's Hut connection, though presumably Tom Ham had already taken over by then. The Players' Restaurant that Rempp came from was owned by the great writer-director Preston Sturges.

edit: some additional Googling shows that Rempp also invented meat tenderizer!

[ Edited by: holdontotherail 2017-03-21 18:57 ]

That's interesting. It also means that he was passed over for (or he declined) involvement in another huge series of restaurant and food & beverage openings which occurred all at once on July 16th and 17th, 1955, in Anaheim. One of the later food & beverage openings in Anaheim (in 1962) would have a very definite Polynesian aspect with tiki elements which would have a significant impact on many future Tiki Central members.

The stated date of the newspaper clipping caught my eye, so thought I'd post this additional info sort of tongue-in-cheek. I'm thinking that most would know what I'm referring to. :)

Another file pic...i apologize if any thing I've shown before....I'm a visual guy.😉

More pics the better! We're saving all the originals now so it would be great to get more high-res pics.