The Most Underdocumented Tiki Temples

Here is a new Topic inspired by the lack of knowledge about the Kansas City Kona Kai:

A collecting place of visual ephemera and data of once grand examples of Tiki culture for which very little material exists to this day. This means Int. and Ext. shots, Menus, Mugs, Matchbooks, and info on owners, when and why opened, when and why closed. I know in some cases there are small bits floating around. Sabu has a great exterior shot of the Islander, for example. But no complete picture emerges of this important Tiki power place yet.

I propose so far:

1.) The Kona Kai, Kansas City

2.) The Mainlander, St.Louis

3.) The Lanai, San Mateo

4.) The Mauna Loa, Detroit

5.) All Christian's Huts

6.) The Islander, Stockton

I know this might coincide with the "Locating Tiki Forum", maybe this thread should be moved there....hmmm...we could call it MUDTT...Tiki Temples stuck in the morass of time.

A friend of mine said she had her bachelorette party at the Mauna Loa, so she might be able to track down photos from her girlfriends. She was actually offered a job there but turned it down- damn!

-Z

I would add Tiburon Tommie's to that list.

Great topic...I'd say it ought to stay right here...I'll scrounge through the postcard and matchbook collection.

How about Harvey's. Lot's of mugs out there but is there photo documentation?

The majestic Kapu Kai in Rancho Cucamunga, CA..
Dining - Cocktails - Dancing - Bowling
He'll, If I was around (as an adult)then, I would have had my mail directed there.

A Tiki Cheers To You

[ Edited by: Unga Bunga on 2004-01-17 11:42 ]

Since you mentioned Tiburon Tommie's, here's a pic I had up already. This is just before they tore it down, I think. There's a tiki still there, just to the left of the word Tiburon. Obviously it's just a dark blur in this image though.

About the Lanai, I plan to create a separate topic for that, since I think there will be quite a bit about that. But I'll put a link in this thread. Maybe this weekend I'll finally put some of that stuff up.

-Randy

Alright, Tiburon Tommy's is in, would like to see pics of the upstairs Maori room especially, and find out about it's inception.

Harvey's is good too, Bamboo Ben has a bunch of interior shots that one day will be in the "Beachcomber" book we want to do, since Eli Hedley decorated it.

The Kapu Kai definetly was grand, and the postcard is a great addition, but it does not belong in this threat because many aspects like menu, interiors, sign, and Tikis (and their carver) have been documented in the BOT thanks to Oceanic Arts.

Randy, bringing up your other post gave me another item idea:

ANY "Brown UFO" Don the Beachcombers!
Like the Santa Clara and Dallas franchises (looking like the Marina Del Rey one on page 76/77 of the BOT)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki on 2004-01-18 14:51 ]

You know I have stuff from the mauna loa, and have been working on the always 'in progress' page for tikifish on the Mauna Loa... this post just might light a fire under my ass!

For those of you who weren't arond when I did thism I went to the Detroit library and searched all the microfiche files form 1968 to find info on the Mauna Lao. Hit paydirt! Pix didn't reproduce so well - you have to get photocopies of the microfiche and they all came out dark...

Can I add Trader Vic's Toronto to that list? I have yet to see ANY documentation from there, and it was just down the street from me... I know TV s ahs lots of documentation, but I mean this one in general. Also, the Ports of Call in Toronto.

On 2004-01-18 20:45, tikifish wrote:
Can I add Trader Vic's Toronto to that list? I have yet to see ANY documentation from there, and it was just down the street from me... I know TV s ahs lots of documentation, but I mean this one in general. Also, the Ports of Call in Toronto.

Hmmmm...were they unique from all the other TVs in their architecture? Like the freestanding A-frames in Vancouver and Scottsdale?
I won't say if you have seen one TV you've seen them all, but of the over 20 Trader Vic interior postcards I have only a few stand out.

Talking bout A-frames: Someone beat me to the A-frame book, a forrest service guy is coming out with one on Princeton Architectural Press. His angle are of course vacation homes of the 50s and 60s, but also restaurants, Motels and churches will be featured. And it looks (from the PAP catalogue) like he is using lots of vintage brochure illustrations.

And I'd like to nominate the London Mayfair Beachcomber with it's Tahitian Room. While wonderful footage exists of the restaurant, very little in the way of postcards (one excellent one was posted on TC), menus, or mugs seemed to have gone into circulation. I've got a rather crummy album recrded there, but that's about all.

Trader Woody

Well, it was in the basement of the Hilton. I guess that's not too exciting to you, but it is to me! sniff sniff

On 2004-01-19 06:37, tikifish wrote:
Well, it was in the basement of the Hilton. I guess that's not too exciting to you, but it is to me! sniff sniff

Pray tell...

Trader Woody

On 2004-01-18 14:44, bigbrotiki wrote:
Alright, Tiburon Tommy's is in, would like to see pics of the upstairs Maori room especially, and find out about it's inception.

Otto and I bought a couple of the flat wall TIki's that surrounded the ceiling beams upstairs at Tiburon Tommies. I have a couple doors and Otto and I have some wooden fridge doors, too. An local auction purchase of a few years ago.
Because of the size, we both had to pass on the 15 foot tall tiki (sold for $600??) and the Outrigger. Remember, it is NOT the SIZE of your tiki that matters, but where you can PUT it.

I think with a 15-footer for a mere -$600?- I'd put it in a rental storage unit rather than let that get away.

Yes, Mr. Basement Kahuna, but we were both fairly spent out and the only competition was a guy from Pixar with seemingly deep pockets! We bought the Tiburon Tommies wall tikis from him--he bought four or so total and sold us one each.

i dont know if you are including grande a frames only, but i think we should include the Tonga Hut in north hollywood, ca. bigbro, last time we spoke at Tiki Ti you said that there was not much information on this place. has that changed, do you have any more details. the remnants of the bar leads a visitor to believe that the place was pretty lavish at one time, with some unusual decor and a running indoor fountain.
tikifish, the library microfilm is a great idea, i might try that out with the Tonga Hut. i would really love to see a photo of it in its hayday.

I agree with bigbro's list, particularly the Mauna Loa in Detroit -- it was so lavish, it's really a shame there isn't more photos of the place. I would also add to the list Ren Clark's Polynesian Village, there doesn't seem to be a lot of ephemera from there around. The ultimate underdocumented tiki joints, of course, are completely off our radar (like the Mauna Loa in Mexico City that's still open -- gotta check that out!).

i went to the Tonga Hut earlier this evening in an attempt to take photos and gather some info. due to the results of my previous experience, i did not expect to find out anything, but i was in luck this evening. here i will post a teaser photo, and direct you to the locating forum, for Tonga Hut.
it is taking quite a long time to load up the photos to shutterfly, so i will post under locating tiki a little later this evening

[ Edited by: tikitanked on 2004-01-19 20:35 ]

On 2004-01-19 11:21, OceaOtica wrote:
i dont know if you are including grande a frames only, but i think we should include the Tonga Hut in north hollywood, ca. bigbro, last time we spoke at Tiki Ti you said that there was not much information on this place. has that changed, do you have any more details. the remnants of the bar leads a visitor to believe that the place was pretty lavish at one time, with some unusual decor and a running indoor fountain.
tikifish, the library microfilm is a great idea, i might try that out with the Tonga Hut. i would really love to see a photo of it in its hayday.

Oh how far we have come. Full circle and then some. 52 Years old and 3 Owners.
these photos are circa 1958-1961-1969 1980/2005
Today 2010 the Tonga Hut is owned only by Jeremy Fleener

1st Owner of the Tonga Hut, I don't know which of the 2 brothers this is.

Good to see this old thread back, great photos. The Tonga Hut really has made a fantastic turnabout... If I do say so myself :) congrats to Jeremy anyway you want to look at it, he has done marvels and it's not to be ignored any longer.

Look at that chopped '36 Ford! One of my favorite cars of all time. Is that the original owner in front of it?

Great historical pics, thanks for posting.

On 2004-01-19 11:01, mrsmiley wrote:

Otto and I bought a couple of the flat wall TIki's that surrounded the ceiling beams upstairs at Tiburon Tommies. I have a couple doors and Otto and I have some wooden fridge doors, too. An local auction purchase of a few years ago.
Because of the size, we both had to pass on the 15 foot tall tiki (sold for $600??) and the Outrigger. Remember, it is NOT the SIZE of your tiki that matters, but where you can PUT it.

Here is a picture of one of the doors I bought and my set of Fridge doors from my home bar thread;
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=35613&forum=20&start=30

The Tonga Hut of the last few years has improved with time!
I was there 2 Thursdays ago, and noticed so many people having volcano bowls!

I recently interviewed the owner of the Mauna Loa in Detroit for an article I'm writing. We talked about the place for about an hour, and he gave me a guided tour through a massive Mauna Loa scrapbook that he still keeps.

Got some really fantastic stuff. Now I just need someone who wants to publish it. Normally, I write for The Detroit News and The Daily Caller, but those are political gigs, and they're not interested in tiki journalism.

Emails to Tiki Magazine have gone unreturned...any suggestions?

I can not imagine that Tiki News would not be interested in an article like that, especially if you got some images from the Mauna Loa to go with the interview. The lack of current response is probably due to the fact that Tiki Mag is on hiatus til 2011.

Well, I'll try again, I guess. Anyone have a more "correct" email address for Tiki Magazine? The
only one I have is the info one from their website.

If not, HOUR Detroit may be interested. It'll see the light of day somewhere, I'm sure.

How the whole thing went down is honestly a truly amazing story, involving Detroit sports stars, Elvis,
opening day gunfire, Stevie Wonder, rum barrels, the govenor of Hawaii, Pan-Am, The Mai Kai, Vic Bergeron, the
Detroit Playboy club, and more...

[ Edited by: Boscorooty 2010-08-02 08:20 ]

PM sent!! :)

I know! A story of Tiki splendor, decadence and devolution all in one. What bad timing to open that place! And really an example of how "the establishment" was out of touch with the times and did not see that the days of such elaborate Tiki Temples were numbered...
Did you find out anything about the restaurant that went in there after and tried a wild game menu, like antelope and such?
Did you talk to Nancy who was one of the few Tikiphiles who got to talk to George Nakashima before his untimely demise?
Have you talked to Jane Murray aka Tiki Fish? She's a very funny writer who was a passionate Mauna Loa scholar in the early years of Tiki Central. You can reach her thru her website, Tikifish.com Chub is an ex-pat Detroitian here who's been collecting Mauna Loa ephemera too.

i talked at lenght to george at a chin tiki event a year before he passed...he gave me copies of blue prints of the mauna loa....i mentioned all this in a post a few years back....the mauna loa was open for about 8 months...not a long life span nor alot of time for documentation of this place so finding pics of the interior is gonna be tough...there are exterior pics posted here on t.c.....

Boscorooty,

Hope you keep trying on that article for Tiki Magazine. Would love to read more about what you found out and see photos.

DC

I would like to see some interiors from Aloha Jhoe's and the South Pacific Room in Palm Springs.

On 2004-01-17 11:53, aquarj wrote:
Since you mentioned Tiburon Tommie's, here's a pic I had up already. This is just before they tore it down, I think. There's a tiki still there, just to the left of the word Tiburon. Obviously it's just a dark blur in this image though.

About the Lanai, I plan to create a separate topic for that, since I think there will be quite a bit about that. But I'll put a link in this thread. Maybe this weekend I'll finally put some of that stuff up.

-Randy

check out Mark Walsh's office at Pixar.............:wink:

I plan on selling these three doors from Tiburon Tommies. I am bringing them to Oasis. I am open to offers.
I would like to sell these as a pair;

This is the other side of the pair;

And this is a single door;

This is the other side of the single door;

I can get measurements in a few days.

For now, I'll share one thing I learned...

Those who think the Mauna Loa was only open for 8 months are selling the place short...by several years.

On 2010-08-03 07:50, Boscorooty wrote:
For now, I'll share one thing I learned...

Those who think the Mauna Loa was only open for 8 months are selling the place short...by several years.

i'm only going by what i was told, which is all i can do having never been to the mauna loa ..maybe george was drunk at the time, maybe i was and got it wrong....who know's....i could have even mistaken 8 months for 8 years but i doubt it....but the point here is, if you have proof, why not just share it with us and stop being so cryptic about it?...we are all interested in whatever info you can tell us about it....

[ Edited by: tipsy mcstagger 2010-08-03 15:12 ]

The Polynesia in Spokane, Washington

Other than the bucket mug in the Book of Tiki (which was made to be used at the Seattle and the Spokane locations) and the photo of the restaurants construction which Mo-Eye posted in the above thread I've come across nothing on this place.

The Tiki lounge in Mar Vista Bowl...

Maybe not a "palace" but several of my relatives have been in bowling leagues there since the 1960's. Unfortunatley they don't drink so they never had a reason to enter. :( Still I wanna see some interior shots !!

Here's a coffee shop menu...

Also they still have a single weathered Tiki standing outside.

It's not exactly a temple, but my little home town bar has disappeared down the memory hole, it seems. The TC thread below is literally all I've ever found about the Aku Tiki Lounge, and now that it's demolished, I don't hold out much hope to learn much more.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=32565&forum=2&hilite=aku%20tiki

On 2010-08-02 22:07, RevBambooBen wrote:

On 2004-01-17 11:53, aquarj wrote:
blah blah Tiburon Tommie's blah blah Lanai

check out Mark Walsh's office at Pixar.............:wink:

Woops, I saw that post from 2004 pledging to post some Lanai stuff, and was hoping no one else saw it. OK, my slogan for this year is "try again in 2010"!

So does Mark Walsh have some Tiburon Tommie's stuff in his office? I visited Pixar a few years ago and saw a tiki decorated cube (or whatever they call those "units" they work in), but it was vacant at the time and I don't know Mark so I wouldn't know if that was his. Whoever's office it was, the decor was great! Was that a "built by Bamboo Ben"?

-Randy

On 2010-08-04 09:20, JOHN-O wrote:
The Tiki lounge in Mar Vista Bowl...
Still I wanna see some interior shots !!

Here's a coffee shop menu...

I agree! The Interior of the Makai Room is a mystery (see matchbook on the bowling page in the BOT)
The interior of the coffee shop can be seen in one of the opening pages of the BOT, with "Tiki- our protagonist in a world of plastic and chrome" in the foreground. You can zoom in and see the above logo Tiki on the place mats and napkins on the tables.

On 2010-08-04 13:12, bigbrotiki wrote:
The interior of the coffee shop can be seen in one of the opening pages of the BOT, with "Tiki- our protagonist in a world of plastic and chrome" in the foreground...

Uncredited right ?? Thanks for pointing that out. :)

Also here's a related question since we're discussing photographic references. In TM pg 53, there is reference to the Flame Restaurant (with Famous Jungle Bar). Where was that located? I'm familiar with the defunct Las Vegas Flame (the original, not the current one in the El Cortez). Clearly these are are different signs so I'm assuming this was a common steakhouse name in the mid-century.