Malia Polynesian Room at Bill Green's Golden Dragon , Asbury Park, NJ (restaurant)

Name:Malia Polynesian Room at Bill Green's Golden Dragon
Type:restaurant
Street:Cookman and Summerfield Avenues
City:Asbury Park
State:NJ
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
Picked up a souvenir album recently, "Live Hawaiian Party" with Sam Makia and His Hawaiian Islanders. Recorded live at Bill Green's Golden Dragon celebrating the opening of the Malia Polynesian Room.
No mention of the place online except a couple of references to this album, and one article from the Asbury Park Press. (behind a paywall)

Maybe not much to look at, but considering New Jersey's idea of a "tiki" bar...

Here's the album, dig that cover!

the reverse

"Aloha
Sam Makia officiates at this special luau which initiated the “Malia” Polynesian Room’s performances of authentic Hawaiian music, songs, hula dancers, war chants, knife dance, fire dance… in fact, most of the rituals you’d find on one of those beautiful Polynesian islands.
Guests became natives… some women arrived in ti-leaf or pa-u skirts; most guests wore colorful kiheis and malos. Gourmet Bill Green provided the final touch to the luau with an array of exotic Polynesian goodies.
The mikes and recording equipment had to be strategically placed so that Sam Makia and his Islanders could freely mingle with the hula girls, guests and performers in a dimly lit room. The guests loved it. They were being transported to paradise. Steel guitars and ukuleles magically strummed and hummed. Exuberant guests began to sway and hum so that the “Malia” room became exotic Hawaii.
The vivaciousness of this luau is authentically captured in the TIFTON LIVE SOUND recording. You will visualize the hula girls, vibrate to the pulsating beat of the “War Chant”, squirm to the knife dance and lose your heart “Beyond the Reef”.
SIDE ONE
MAUIGIRL
UA LIKE
MY LITTLE GRASS SHACK
BEYOND THE REEF
WAR CHANT
HAWAIIAN SHOW (Knife Dance, Hiilawe)

SIDE TWO
AKAKA FALLS
KEEP YOUR EYES ON HER HANDS
MALIA
HAWAIIAN BELLS
TINY BUBBLES
HAWAIIAN WEDDING SONG
Medley: FOR YOU A LEI, ALOHA, OE

Party at BILL GREENS’S GOLDEN DRAGON – “MALIA” POLYNESIAN ROOM – ASBURY PARK, N.J."

September 20, 1968
Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey · Page 18

It looks like this ad was for the opening! (kinda late in the game for tiki)

The interwebs says it says this:

"IT'S FUN to Dine at the GOLDEN DRAGON Fortune Cookies Served with every Meal! ! Orders To Take Out 1 , PR 4-7440 Hours: Mon. thru Thur. 11 A.M. -11 P.M. Friday Saturday 11A.M. , r Sunday 1! Noon Midnight Edward Romero & Bill Green Your Hosts Open All Year 'Round o EN N Tommy Coming in ROY s iff .... I The Finest Food at the Shore! ... II Re Smoky The Chef, The King of Italian Food Suggests Fettuccine Alfredo, Mimed, Hot Sauce, Chicken Savoy, Claim Cossino, Oregano, Veal Scallopine any style, plus our regular American menu. Announcing the OPENING of the Shore's Most Exotic, AUTHENTIC CHINESE RESTAURANT ft si THE GOLD n Sat. Nite! Star of B'way Hit Musical, Zorba, mSc'in s JEMALA-OMAR ir Every Wed., Fri., Sat. & Sun. The Richie Roe Trio! American DRAGO 7 Coming in October! FALL FAVORITES SUNDAY BRUNCH TUESDAY NIGHT BUFFET DAILY SEA FOOD BUFFET Come Back in October! Luncheon Dinner Cocktails From 12 Noon Open 7 Days a Week Banquet Facilities for 250 Call PR 6-8558 i t Finest Polynesian Drinks and Cocktails Cookman and Summerfield Avenues ASBURY PARK 2.1 MANDARIN, SHANGHAI & CANTONESE FOOD LUNCHEON and DINNER JjojojcL at ' PRIME STEAKS & SAUERBRATEN Large Assortment PRIME RIBS OF , AMERICAN EXPRESS and CARTE BLANCHE II kILo'PP 20 18 American Specialties ENJOY YOURSELF! JACK BAKERS Menus to Delight the Most particular tastes! We Feature FAMILY DINNERS CHINESE-AMERICAN RESTAURANT Truly delightful atmosphere delicious authentic Chinese foods. For something really different, try the GOLDEN DRAGON."

Fortune cookies! Zorba! Polynesian Drinks AND cocktails! Fettucine alfredo! Authentic Chinese restaurant! Sauerbraten!

Funny coincidence... only just last night I added a new tiki bar to Critiki that's just a stone's throw from there, probably about a half block away, it's called Little Buddy Hideaway: https://critiki.com/location/little-buddy-hideaway-asbury-park-977/

Cookman and Summerfield don't actually intersect, but they come close, and maybe they did once upon a time. A quick search for that intersection turns up a file photo of the Steinbach Department Store building, but the info on that photo is incorrect: that wasn't the location of that building, and it's mislabeled as the "Steinbeck" building anyhow, so it's likely a red herring. I wonder what the actual address was?

I'm looking at old maps and satellite photos of the area now -- it's all grown over now, but Summerfield used to go through and connect to Cookman. The likely location of the building that housed Green Dragon/Malia's is now a parking lot, and the surround area is pretty much a vacant lot (or a very underdeveloped park?). Now that I have a reasonable lat & long, I'll add this to Critiki! Mahalo, Paul!

Here's the listing I've just added for Malia Polynesian Room: https://critiki.com/location/malia-polynesian-room-asbury-park-978/

On 2017-03-06 11:01, Humuhumu wrote:
Here's the listing I've just added for Malia Polynesian Room: https://critiki.com/location/malia-polynesian-room-asbury-park-978/

Wow! You were my next stop! :D I added the album cover there as well.
Can you believe places are still being discovered!

Here's how it looks now

and 3d satellite from the opposite view, the (missing) intersection would've been that parklet with war memorial.

Now I want to see the old satellite images you saw! :wink:

The Golden Dragon was at 430 Cookman - that empty lot was indeed its location.

Before the Golden Dragon it was a place called Countrypolitan (!) and before that it was called The Plantation Room.

Looks like Bill Green had his hand in a few ventures at that location:

Bill Green is back at his old stand on Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park. Green "retired" over a year ago as owner-operator of the Plantation Room and Rustic Lodge restaurant-night club, but now he's back and he's redecorating the large room...

• Asbury Park Press, August 24, 1968

The Plantation Room was a jazz club. The Countrypolitan started out as a country & western club, then completely changed tack and became a soul club.

Awesome, thank you for the street address HopeChest, and thank you for adding your album picture, Paul! Go team!

Here's the old satellite photo that was most helpful: http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/STONEMANGUITARS/images/circuit.gif

Critiki - Critiki News - Ooga-Mooga

[ Edited by: Humuhumu 2017-03-06 12:38 ]