Help me figure out where these Orchids of Hawaii lamps came from (likely in Florida)!

I just bought these six old Orchids of Hawaii lamps, and I'm trying to figure out what restaurant they came out of. The fellow I bought them from is trying to find out for me, but in case he hits a dead end, I'm sending out more feelers. They were purchased at an auction in St. Petersburg, Florida, an auction of things that were from an old restaurant. I would guess that the restaurant we're looking for is one somewhere in the Tampa Bay area, something that closed somewhat recently, and most likely is an old-school Chinese restaurant that opened in the '70s or so. Not all of the lamps are in functional shape -- one of them doesn't even have a bulb socket in it anymore -- and the wiring has lots of questionable patching (I am so rewiring these puppies). There are two that still have bulbs in them, though, and those bulbs are both compact fluorescents, so it does appear that they may have been in use (unless the bulbs were put in for the auction). It all seems consistent with a run-down old Chinese restaurant on its last legs, though.

:up: All six lamps together

:up: These two character lamps have a solid tapa top with vent holes

:up: While these two have open tops, with metal bracing bars that extend out a bit

:up: The two tiki lamps match each other very closely

:up: I rested a lamp on top of an uplight to see how it glows... ooh, pretty!

:up: This is pretty representative of the wiring used on all six lamps

:up: All four character lamps have this UL sticker

:up: For reference, here is an Orchids catalog, don't know what year it's from (though I wouldn't expect the catalog images to exactly match what they were selling). Borrowed from another TC thread. You can see the character lamps here have the metal bracing bars that extend out. Two of my lamps have the characters in outline, while here only the rightmost lamp has its character carved in outline.

Great find Humu. I would love to find a trove like that. They have that great vintage look that I love in a home bar. The UL labels date from between 1962 and 1969. Not sure of a location but the Tampa area had a ton of small and large Chinesse and Polynesian restaurants over the years. Good luck in your search.

Mahalo, uncle trav! I'm so looking forward to getting these guys rewired and hung, they're just perfect for one particular part of my bar that I hadn't been able to figure out how I wanted to light. That's a smidge older than I would have guessed. What is it about the UL labels that helped you pin the date range?

Hi Humu. The wording of the labels has changed over the years. I have found many vintage fixtures over the years and that has been the best way to narrow the dates down. Here is a link to a site which give some good guidelines to dating by the word change on the labels
http://www.bcihi.com/Sample-Components-Age-Website.pdf
Here is another site to look up the code numbers which helps to identify the maker.
http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/template/LISEXT/1FRAME/gfilenbr.html
I may go overboard on the research side of things but every clue helps solve the mystery of a cool piece.

This is awesome, thank you so much! I'm all for going overboard, I find this stuff fascinating, and it all helps us figure out the story.

Humu, Super find!
I worked part time as an assembler in ’63-’64 at a lamp fixture manufacturing company. One of the last things we did prior to boxing up the finished piece was to place the UL sticker-usually on the bottom. That plug and wire leads me to think that the lamps have been rewired by a jack of all trades. Imho, your finds seem to me to predate the sixtie’s. In regard to the metal “braces” We used them to center the bulb socket and they would also serve to distribute the weight of the fixture and allow it to hang straight if these were “pendant" or “swag” lamps.For aesthetic reasons we would not allow the metal to extend so far from the piece so maybe they supported some kind of shade at one time Anxious to hear more opinions. Congrats on your find and Merry Christmas.

Edited to add; I took another look at the wiring. The lamp with the braces was initially “hardwired” ( not really designed to be sorta portable and plugged into an outlet. The plug was added after purchase.

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2014-12-21 15:31 ]

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2014-12-21 15:34 ]

On 2014-12-20 15:06, Humuhumu wrote:

For reference, here is an Orchids catalog, don't know what year it's from

That's 1991

Buzzy Out!

nui 'umi 'umi -- OF COURSE! Serious hand-to-forehead moment. When I was unpacking them, the cords were so short, I thought to myself, "ah, these were shortened to be just the right length for the restaurant." They're really quite short, I'm sure they were much longer when the came from OoH. So, of course they were tinkered with! Thank you so much for your insight. Regarding the braces, you can see in the catalog picture that it appears they just designed them to extend out that way.

Anyone know when OoH first started selling these lamps?

Buzzy -- thank you for the date of the catalog image posted above!

For posterity: anyone reading this who is interested in the bigger picture question of when OoH was selling these lamps, that question is being pursued in this new thread in General Tiki: Tiki history question: when did Orchids of Hawaii start their cookie-cutter restaurant trade?

Regarding these specific lamps, I don't have any fresh information yet (the guy I bought them from is still trying to find out the name of the restaurant, but hasn't hit on anything yet). I have a friend who may be able to help me identify St. Pete's Chinese restaurants that have recently closed, if that pans out, I may have something to chew on. Stay tuned! (And if you live near Tampa Bay and have ideas where these may have come from -- give a shout!)

Critiki - Ooga-Mooga - Humu Kon Tiki

[ Edited by: Humuhumu 2015-01-01 15:03 ]