Tiki Architecture

Mystery Tikis - Hana Kiki Apartments, Santa Ana, CA?

2012-01-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

Back in January 2008, my friend and fellow tikiphile Chris Jepsen posted this mystery tiki photo to his his excellent blog on the history of Orange County, California.

Mystery Tiki Photo
photo credit: O.C. History Roundup, Jan. 22, 2008

Mystery Tiki Photo
photo credit: O.C. History Roundup, Jan. 22, 2008

Chris commented "The photo comes from the O.C. Archives and was shot by an employee of the O.C. Planning Dept. in Nov. 1961. Unfortunately, I don't know the location of this outstanding tiki-themed apartment complex. There were many one-story faux-Polynesian complexes in Southern California in those days, which makes it tricky to pinpoint. My first thought was The Islander Apartments, at the northern edge of Santa Ana -- but it's really not a perfect match. The odds are good that it's in O.C., but even that's not 100% certain....Interestingly, the tikis in the photo above each serve a purpose: The first holds a torch, which undoubtedly lit up with a gas-fed flame at night; and the second seems to hold a map or directory of the complex....Please post a comment if you recognize the tikis or the buildings, or if you have any other clues to share."

I was looking at these mystery photos again over the weekend and think I have discovered their location. At first glance, I thought I recognized the apartment complex, but needed to go back through my picture archive to see if I could verify the apartment complex.

I think the mystery photos come from the Hana Kiki Garden Apartments in Santa Ana, located just one block east of the Islander Apartments (Chris's first guess). Here are my photos from the Hana Kiki that I took back in 2004 during one of my tiki apartment hunting field trips. I had a crappy digital camera back then, so the photos aren't that good.

The pool lanai and A-frame roof so common to Southern California tiki apartments. The two story support column was carved with designs, but can't make it out in this photo.

Pool A-frame and carved column.

This is the photograph I used to help identify the Mystery Tiki Photo. There are a few things that I notice right away.

1. The shape of the exposed header beams is the same
2. The style and spacing of the downward extended roof beams are the same
3. The style and angle of the roof is the same
4. Both photos are from single story garden apartments with white concrete block walls.

The last piece of evidence is the comment Chris posted about the note on the back of the original photo. The photo was taken by the Orange County Planning Department in November 1961. The Hana Kiki Garden Apartments were constructed in 1960 and began renting apartments (adults only) in November 1960. Would the County Building Department have sent a field inspector back to a project one year later to verify compliance to building code for final acceptance? I don't know. However, the date of the opening of the Hana Kiki and the date of the photograph have too much in common to be a mere coincidence.

So, looking at all of this evidence, I have about 90% confidence in the location of this Mystery Tiki photo. However, for any of you Southern California tiki explorers, here is a challenge. If you stop by the Hana Kiki, the tikis themselves are long gone, but if you can verify the original mystery photo and get a better picture of the carved column at the pool, I would love to hear about it and see some pictures.

Good Hunting!

Hana Kiki Garden Apartments: 1147 West Memory Lane, Santa Ana , California

Polynesian Terrace Bird Cafe - Disneyland, California

2012-01-27T10:25:00.000-08:00

When Disneyland first opened in 1955, the Adventureland portion of the park included the Adventureland Pavilion restaurant. You can see photos of the original pavilion in this earlier post.

In in 1963, with the introduction of audio animatronics developed at WED Enterprises, the Adventureland Pavilion was updated. Bill Martin (Disney Legend) who started his career with Disney in 1953 as an Art Director for Fantasyland, eventually became the Art Director for all of Disneyland. Bill's role as art director for this project involved taking the construction drawings and bringing them to life in Disneyland.

Note the name of the project at the time "Polynesian Terrace Bird Cafe & Tiki Garden"

It wasn't long before the concept of the Bird Cafe was abandoned and the project was transformed into "Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room".

Architectural drawing to transform the Adventureland Pavilion into the Tiki Room and adjacent Tahitian Terrace Restaurant. North Elevation as seen from the Tiki Garden.

West Elevation. Note the original exit stairs were going to lead off to the south directly into the adjacent restaurant. The plan was revised and the stairs now exit directly off the center of the patio in the middle of the drawing.

In the West Elevation drawing you can clearly see the basement structure and the stairs that lead down from the Tiki Garden. You can also make out the attic where the Bird Mobile hangs.

A conceptual rendering for new signage for the attraction with the introduction of Dole as the new sponsor.

The Tiki Room signage and Uti, the Polynesian Godess of Fishing

Hawaiian Brutalism

2012-01-22T21:01:00.000-08:00

As a reader of this blog and fan of all things tiki, I expect most of you also enjoy other Mid Century architectural styles. Today we look at Brutalism, which surprisingly, can be found in the world of Polynesian Pop culture.

The term Brutalism was coined in 1956 from the French phrase beton brut, which means 'raw concrete'. The Brutalist sytle is about concrete surfaces and repetitve angular shapes, a complete opposite of what we expect in Tiki Architecture with organic materials like thatch, bamboo, tapa cloth and lava rock.

Here are a few classic examples of Modern Brutalism architecture for reference.

The Geisel Library, University of California San Diego (1969)

Habitat '67, Montreal Expo (Canada, 1967)

Druzhba Holiday Center Hall, Yalta, Ukraine (1984). How is it that this beautiful structure located on the north shore of the Black Sea has never been featured in a James Bond movie as the villians H.Q.???

Interestingly, Brutalism had an enormus impact in Hawaii and became a dominant theme in the late 1960s, particularily for the new larger resorts on the islands of Maui and the Big Island that were just starting development.

Photo credit: Ian Lind

The Keauhou Kona Resort District on the Big Island was a barren volcanic shore in the early 1960s, but all of that was about to change over the next decade as new resorts were built in the Brutalist style, including:

The Kona Hilton (1968, currently the Royal Kona Resort):

The Kona Hilton was designed by Pete Wimberley and his firm in the late 1960s. From previous posts here on Tiki Architecture, we know that Pete was the primary force for developing the tiki style found in mid century Hawaii.

Photo Credit: Ian Lind

Photo Credit: Ian Lind

These decorative columns were cast-in-place with colored concrete and sport a Polynesian design. They are the center piece of the resort's main restaurant and the dinning room was constructed around them.

Photo Credit: Ian Lind

In the forground of this photo, you can see the concrete forms that were used to cast the decorative columns.

The columns can still be found in the Hotel's restaurant today, which is currently occupied by Don the Beachcomber.

The Kona Surf Resort (1971):

The Kona Surf Resort was designed by the architectural firm of Lemmon, Freeth, Haines, Jones & Farrell. Earlier in his carrer, Cy Lemmon worked with C.W. Dickey (father of the Hawaiian style roof) in Honolulu after WWII. Then in 1951 he left and started his own firm, eventually becoming one of the largest architectural firms in Hawaii.

This image was used in full page magazine ads in 1972 stating "The Kona Surf: Hawaii's Most Beautiful Resort"

Second floor open air atrium.

The walls of the resort's lobby included a sculpted concrete mural by artist Tom Van Sant, entitled 'Hawaiian Visions'

7 wall 'Hawaiian Visions' concrete sculpture (1971, Kona Hilton)

Tom Van Sant is well known for his commercial concrete sculptures, including this mural in California.

'Dolphin Wall' (2001, Newport Beach, California)

In 2000 the Kona Surf resort closed their doors for business. However, new owners purchased the building and reopened in 2005 as the Sheraton Keauhou Bay.

Tiki News - Issue #6

2012-01-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd start the new year with posting the full issue of Tiki News #6 (published January, 1996).

This was one of my favorite early issues because of the story about the Tiki/Polynesian dingbats around Los Angeles. Until I read this article, I didn't know those type of apartment complexes had their own architectural classification (e.g., dingbat).

You can click and then zoom on each page for easier reading.

Enjoy the zine!

I love Tiki Dingbat Apartments!

Did you notice the ad for Beachbum Berry's original Grog Log? This version was printed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper and stapeled together. They are very rare today.

Disneyland Tiki Room - Holiday Overlay?

2011-12-16T10:31:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my wife and I hosted our 5th annual Merry Kitchmas Party downstairs in our home tiki bar (The Kona Luanii). All of our good friends and fellow tikiphiles were there, it was a great evening! The Kona Luanii is already busting at the seams with tiki decor, but at Christmas, we add on another layer and decorate it for the holidays. Santa hats on the tikis, decorations hanging from the floats & fishnets on the ceiling, etc… The holiday overlay of my tiki bar is my favorite time of the year in the Kona Luanii.

The Walt Disney Company has also discovered how popular a Holiday themed overlay can be in generating renewed interest in some of their classic attractions. Currently at Disneyland (CA), they install seasonal holiday décor in the Haunted Mansion and It’s a Small World. The Country Bear Jamboree used to have a holiday show, but has been discontinued. The current Holiday versions of these attractions have proven to be mega-hits over the last handful of years. That success led Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) to explore the possibility of developing holiday overlays for additional attractions.

In the early 2000’s, WDI did some concept development work on a Christmas overlay for the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland and Walt Disney World. The idea was also considered for Tokyo Disneyland as well. The idea did not pan out, but the Enchanted Tiki Room remains as popular as ever.

However, we can get a glimpse of what the Imagineers had in mind for the Tiki Room Christmas. In 2005, Imagineering released a set of pins that were based on the artwork for the Tiki Room Christmas show. There were four pins created, one for each of the main hosts.

Jose – (Spanish Host) Feliz Navidad Baby!

Fritz – (German Host) with a traditional wreath, Santa and Snowmen

Pierre (French Host) looking suave in his top hat and cane

Michael (Irish Host)

Mike Cozart, on his excellent Disneyland Attraction Poster blog, mentions that an attraction poster was also developed for the Christmas version of the Tiki Room.

The Enchanted Tiki Room attraction has seen many different versions in various different Disney parks around the world, with some of them failing miserably (Under New Management at WDW). I for one am happy that the Imagineers left the tiki gods alone this time.

Today, if you want to experience what that show may have been like, all you have to do is travel over to Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel. They have a great holiday overlay inside the bar for Christmas!

Trader Sam's Christmas - Disneyland Hotel, California

2011-12-08T22:17:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I was in Los Angeles for a few days for my final business trip of the year. Visiting Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim was at the top of my list of things to do while I was in town. Just a few days before my arrival, the bar had been decorated for Christmas.

The Tiki Room Drummer sports a Santa Hat and is surrounded by Christmas Poinsettias

Koro is also getting into the Holiday Spirit

I visited Sam's twice while I was in town and sampled a few of their drinks...

The Hippopotto-Mai Tai (too sweet for me)

Ginger's Pear-adise (also on the sweet side)

Sam's created two new drinks especially for the holiday season, the Mele Kaliki-Moaca (an iced coffee drink), and....

The Red Nosed Zebra (complete with floating cranberry garnish)

The special effects projection windows were updated for Christmas, in addition to the erupting volcano and the tropical storm, they now have snow.

Finally, the soundtrack was updated for Christmas. It was playing an excellet assortment of Exotica (Martin Denny, The Tikiyaki Orchestra, etc.) and Christmas (The Blue Hawaiians, The Ventures, etc.)

Sam's was a great place to spend a evening this holiday season.

Oh, by the way...I've heard from the little Orange Bird that Sam's has completely exceeded expectations and that Disney is VERY happy. Does this mean we might see new versions pop up at other Disney properties? Time will tell.

Lee Auditorium - Pago Pago, American Samoa

2011-11-18T09:10:00.000-08:00

The subject of today’s post is a bit unusual in that this building is actually located in the South Pacific on the Island of Pago Pago in American Samoa. Most of the structures we look at on this blog are mainland United States fantasies of what we envisioned as the ‘South Seas’.

This civic auditorium was built in 1962 and was designed by the architectural firm of Wimberly, Whisenand, Allison & Tong (Honolulu). This firm may sound familiar to you if you are fan of Tiki Architecture. Pete Winberly was responsible for the design of many of the exotic buildings found in Hawaii, including the International Market Place, The Waikikian Hotel and the Tahitian Lanai of Waikiki, the master plan for the Kanapali Beach Resort in Maui, the Kona Hilton on the Big Island of Hawaii, the Coco Palms Resort on Kauai, and many more.

The design for the Lee Auditorium was based on traditional Samoan architecture with a Modern Polynesian flair. The building is nicknamed ‘The Turtle’ by the locals.

Lee Auditorium, March 1966

In 2006-2007 the Lee Auditorium underwent a major restoration project due to decades of neglect and was restored back to its original condition. On November 12, 2010 the Lee Auditorium was officially placed on the United Sates National Register of Historic Places.

New Horizons Polynesian Garden Homes - Torrance, California

2011-11-13T15:04:00.000-08:00

The New Horizons South Bay complex opened it's doors on Ocotber 24, 1963. The 80 acre project, built by noted Los Angeles developer Ray Watt of Southland Builders, has 600 garden homes, a 10,000 sqft clubhouse and recreation building, a nine hole par 3 golf course and a putting green surrounded by a lake.

Opening day advertisement in the Torrance Herald showcasing the Polynesian Clubhouse

When this neighborhood opened in 1963, it was called New Horizons from the start, it never had a more exotic name (too bad). What made this adult only development unique is that the builder offered 17 Oriental and Polynesian Modern stylings for the residents to choose from in the design of their garden home.

Individual Garden Homes

Well landscaped greenbelts and walkways separate garden residences. The garden-like malls and plantings perpetuate the community's park-like atmosphere

Sketch for the clubhouse entrance

The Clubhouse and Recreation building, designed on a Polynesian architectural theme by Selected Interiors of Los Angeles, has a two-story entry, assemby hall with kitchen and serving bar, billard room, women's bridge rooms, men's card room, locker and shower for golfers, golf shop, lounge with 10 foot high driftwood fireplace, photo laboratory and hobby rooms for ceramics, painting and sculpture. The recreation area includes swimming pool, shuffleboard and tennis courts.

The Polynesian clubhouse

The nine hole par 3 golf course was located out the back door of the clubhouse, including the Polynesian themed Island Putting Green.

April 1965 House & Home Magazine

The Island Putting Green (April, 1965)

New Horizons South Bay continues to operate as an adult community (55 yrs and up) and the grounds are well maintained to this day.

The clubhouse today

The clubhouse and the detikified putting green

The Island Putting Green today

Next time you find yourself in the SouthBay area of Los Angeles, you can stop by and check out the New Horizons at 22727 Maple Avenue, Torrance, California.

Bali Hai & Outrigger Apts - Stockton, California

2011-11-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

This week I was on the road again and happend to be in the Sacramento area and Central Valley of California. While passing through Stockton, I stopped off to explore the Bali Hai and the Outrigger apartments. These apartment complexes were built in 1962 are next right next to each other. They have been well documented online, but are still worth taking a look at if you are in town and enjoy tiki architecture.

Bali Hai Apartments - 4305 N. Pershing Ave., Stockton, CA

The building complex for the Bali Hai is rather plain, but they do have a nice 7' featherstone carved Moai out front.

The interior has been detikified over the decades.

The Outrigger Apartments - 4415 N. Pershing Ave., Stockton, CA

The Outrigger is quite the opposite of the Bali Hai. There are no tikis, but the building has a great 3-story soaring A-Frame entrance.

The interior courtyard has been detikified just like the Bali Hai.

Local tikiphile abstractiki, has done some great research on these aprtments and you can read an interview with the original contractor who built these complexes here. He has also discovered a few images from the local newspaper archives of the Outrigger in 1962.

The Outrigger in 1962, photo from abstractiki

Rendering for the Outrigger, photo from abstractiki

Leeward Islands Apartments - Dallas, Texas

2011-11-09T20:09:00.000-08:00

Last week I found myself in Dallas, Texas for a couple of days on a business trip. One afternoon I spotted this dingbat apartment complex called the Leeward Islands in the Glencoe neighborhood. The complex is located directly behind the former location of the Dallas Trader Vic's restaurant in the old Hilton Hotel.

There's not much left to this place, except for the dingbat font over the front door.

The pool around back had a small A-frame clubhouse, but no trace of anything exotic was left.

Leeward Islands Apartments: 3737 McMilian Ave, Dallas

Tropical Space Age Architecture- Part 3

2011-11-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

Not to be outdone by Century 21, the New York World's Fair wanted to do everything bigger and better when they had the world stage 2 years later in 1964. The Century 21 Expo was a quaint 74 acres in size compared to the New York Fair sprawled out across 646 acres.

"The team behind the 1964-65 New York World's Fair had competed vigorously for several years with the Seattle organizers as they both tried to gain interest in their respective fairs. In fact, the New Yorkers signed up as exhibitors at Century 21, where they had a major display inside the Commerce Pavilion."

NY exhibit at Century 21

"The New York exhibit included maps. artwork, and a detailed model of the upcoming fair. There would be many changes in the next two years before it opened, and some of the pavilions shown were never actually built, but the presentation served to build public and press interest in the fair."

NY exhibit at Century 21

In 1959, the Territory of Hawaii was finally granted Statehood and joined the Union as the 50th State. After statehood, Hawaii made a very strong push to increse tourism to the islands. Part of that plan included sponsoring the Islands of Hawaii Pavilion at the Century 21 expo. Based on their sucess in Seattle, Hawaii sponsored another Pavilion in New York in 1964. However, this time instead of just one building, they built a 2.8 acre complex.

Model for the Hawaii Pavilion NY World's Fair

Model exhibiting Tropical Spaceage design

The Hawaiian Pavilion included:
- The Aloha Building (housing historical and cultural exhibits)
- Tourist and Industry buidlings
- The Restaurant of the 5 Volcanoes and the Lava Pit Bar
- Hawaiian Village (natives performing ancient crafts, etc.)
- Outdoor Theatre
- The Sandwich Isle Bar (fresh tropical fruit drinks and snacks)
- Outrigger canoe rides
- Concessions (island food, flowers, arts, crafts, and apparel)

Concept Rendering

This souvenir program sold at the Hawaii Pavilion included some additional conceptual artwork for the complex (2 images below).

Restaurant of the 5 Volcanoes with its distinctive roofline in the back

The Restaurant of the 5 Volcanoes overlooking the lake

Design study for the Entrance Area

The intent of the Pavilion designers was to showcase Hawaiian architecture of the past, the present and the future.

The Past - An ancient Hawaiian Village

The Present - 1964 Waikiki

The Future - Tropical Spaceage Design

Credits:
Seattle 1962 World's Fair, Bill Cotter
Sabu the Coconut Boy
Dustycajun

Tropical Space Age Architecture- Part 2

2011-10-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

“On October 4, 1957, a finger reached out and pushed a button in the Soviet Union, launching Sputnik, the first man-made satellite, into orbit. Afraid of losing face during the Cold War, a stunned United States responded in several ways, one of the most unusual of which was the building of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.”

“The original theme of the fair was ‘Festival of the West’, celebrating the past. But with Sputnik circling overhead, the focus now became the future and the space race was on. The fair took on a decidedly science and space focus, as reflected in its formal name, the Century 21 Exposition. The fair is best known, though, as the less elegant sounding 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.”

As a result, the theme of the architecture of the fair had some of the best examples of space-age googie design ever built in the United States.

This simple pen sketch is a masterpiece of Tropical Space Age design for the fair’s Islands of Hawaii Pavilion with the Space Needle in the background.

Color rendering

Construction begins on the Islands of Hawaii Pavilion

The Space Needle and palm trees, what a beautiful clash of primitive and modern cultures.

Construction is complete and the Fair opens on April 21, 1962. This is an easy to find postcard of the Hawaii pavilion that was sold at the fair. Upon closer inspection, you can see the tiki torches are burning and there are three large fern wood tiki statues (two on the left in the sandy landscaped area and one near the food service window).

This is a rarer shot of the building showing the googie designed signage up top.

If you wanted to do some shopping at the fair, all you had to do was head over to the Boulevard of the World and you could find items from around the globe.

Note the two red painted tikis standing guard at the entrance into one of the stores.

At the end of the Boulevard of the World was the Philippines Pavilion with its giant tiki face and mouth doorway.

Here you could pick up a tiki or a moai carving. Note the world’s largest tiki fork and spoon set hanging on the outside wall. Those are awesome! How many of you tiki collectors out there have the smaller version of the fork and spoon set, I bet you all do. I’ve got a set hanging in my tiki bar.

If you still need to finish your shopping, head back over to the Hawaii pavilion and pick up a World’s Fair aloha shirt. What a great aloha fabric design. I like the comparison of the Space Needle to the Aloha Tower and the Hawaiian pavilion with Diamond Head in the background.

After all of that shopping, how about heading over to the Gayway for a Space Needle ice cream cone.

I love those Space Needle cones with a wafer platform on top!

If you want to step back in time to see what it was like to visit the fair in 1962, check out this video produced by the Bell Telephone company called ‘Century 21 Calling’. It starts on the Alweg monorail then travels around the fair. The sound track really sets the mood and takes you back. The first 4:30 minutes and the last 1:30 are great, the middle of the video is a sales pitch for Bell telephones (it’s fun to see what passed for new technology back then).

When the City built the 1962 World’s Fair, a monorail was included. One station was located at the fair, near the Space Needle. The other station was located in downtown Seattle. It was a short 1.2 mile ride down 5th Avenue to the Westlake station at the other end.

The intent after the fair closed on October 21, 1962, was to expand the monorail system to serve other portions of Seattle. Sadly, that never happened. However, the monorail is still in existence and running today. In fact, I was just in Seattle a few weeks ago and took a ride on the monorail and the Space Needle while I was in town.

Now what’s interesting to tikiphiles when it comes to the monorail, is the fact that it travels along 5th Avenue and the end station is only a block away from the current Westin Hotel. Back in the day, the Westin used to be the Hotel Benjamin Franklin. Tikiphiles may recognize that name, because the Benjamin Franklin was home to Seattle’s Trader Vic’s restaurant. Originally, Trader Vic’s opened as The Outrigger in 1948. The name was later changed to Trader Vic’s.

The World’s Fair monorail and Trader Vic’s at the Hotel Benjamin Franklin. The Space Needle is visible in the background between the monorail and the Trader Vic's sign.

The Seattle Trader Vic’s had the very unique distinction of being the only Vic’s that was accessible via monorail! It was only a one block walk from the Westlake Station.

Seattle Trader Vic’s at the Hotel Benjamin Franklin.

This entrance faced 5th Avenue. If the photographer would have rotated to face down the street, the monorail would have been visible overhead along the center of 5th Avenue. That would have been a cool photo (I’ve been looking for a long time and have never found a photo like that).

Interior of the Seattle Trader Vic’s

The Hotel Benjamin Franklin was converted to the current Westin in 1967 and Trader Vic’s continued to operate there until it closed in 1991.

Imagine what a great day it would have been to spend at the 1962 World’s Fair, then hop on the monorail over to Trader Vic’s in the early evening for an exotic cocktail and a pupu platter.

Your evening didn’t have the end there. After cocktails at Trader Vic’s you could have headed over to Pier 51 a few blocks away to have an elegant dinner at the Polynesia Restaurant.

The Polynesia Restaurant, while not Tropical Space Age design on the exterior, was very different from Trader Vic’s and most other tiki restaurants. The interior was sleek and modern. Check out that awesome sculpture on the right. It is a tube that spirals up towards the ceiling. Little holes are poked in the tube and ignited so that flames extend around the piece.

The only tiki visible in this picture is the small 3’ stature in front of the hostess stand. Does it look familiar? Go back up in this post to the color photo of the Philippine pavilion and check out the two tikis standing guard at the top of the steps. They are the same. Looks like the folks at the Polynesia bought their tiki at the fair and brought him home to their restaurant.

1962 would have been a great year to be in downtown Seattle. The Century 21 Exposition, Trader Vic’s and the Polynesia were all within a mile or two of each other and each represented a different type of Polynesian Pop design, including Tropical Space Age, Tiki and Tiki Modern respectively.

One last resource if you’re looking for some more great visuals from the fair. Put the Elvis movie “It Happened at the World’s Fair” into your Netflix queue. It was filmed on location at the fair and is an hour and half of Elvis and World’s Fair goodness. It’s a fun movie.

Credit: Some of the text and photos are from ‘Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair’ by Bill Cotter.

Tropical Space Age Architecture- Part 1

2011-10-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

Cover Art, Amazing Stories, 1963

Tropical Space Age Architecture is a term coined by Desoto Brown of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. He describes the architectural style as "A comtemporary Island Idiom merging the Jet Age with the Tropics."

Desoto Brown

It was a mid-century design style that was popular in Hawaii, however, local architects and islanders did not particulary appreciate the outlandish look. As of today, most of these buildings are long gone. However, if you dig around long enough, you can also find many fine examples of Tropical Space Age buildings that were built here on the mainland.

The Space Age future as envisoined on Saturday morning cartoons in 1962.

Upon closer inspection, that space age design looks vaguely familar......

....Ah yes, That's it. The Hyperbolic Parabolid shaped lobby of the Waikikian Hotel in Honolulu (demolished 1997), a stunning example of Tropical Space Age.

That's a neato design......have I seen that as a tiki restaurant before?.....

...Not exactly the same, but another gleaming example of Tropical Space Age. This was the Hilton Inn in St. Petersburg, Florida. The hotel hosted three different Polynesian Restaurants, including the beachside Aekai restaurant, the Luau Room (on the 10th floor, accessed via the exterior glass elevator on the front of the building), and the rotating Bali Hai Lounge on the top of the building (what an excellent place to sip an exotic cocktail while waiting for your resversation down in the Luau Room.) Note the beautiful upswept Port Cochere over the front door.

...A few of the stand alone Don the Beachcomber restaurants echoed this UFO inspired design, including...

Don the Beachcomber, Marina Del Rey, California

Don the Beachcomber, Dallas, Texas.

The Dallas location had the overall round UFO shape, but added additional exterior elements like the upswept decorative beams over the entrance, the waterfall and bridge over the lagoon, and flaming tiki torches in the lagoon and on the roof of the building.

In 2001, photographer Tony Paiva created this Photoshop art titled 'Trad'r Rix Tiki Island' which is a literal interpretation of Tropical Space Age style.

Buildings of Hawaii - Book Review

2011-10-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I received a special package in the mail from the Society of Architectural Historians. One of the staff members of SAH had read my blog post on the Evolution of the Hawaiian Style Roof and then sent me a copy of a book they had just published called Buildings of Hawaii.

Don J. Hibbard, 2011
334 pgs., 250 illustrations

The Society of Architectural Historians has a long range plan to publish a series of Buildings of the United States (BUS) books documenting the rich diversity of architecture of each state. They currently have five volumes, including:

Buildings of Delware (2008)
Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston (2009)
Buildings of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia & Eastern Pennsylvania(2010)
Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburg & Western Pennsylvania (2010)
Buildings of Hawaii (2011)

I just finished reading the book and now know more than I will ever need to know about architecture on the six major islands in the Hawaiian chain.

The book contains 500 entries and is filled with facts, details and dates for every significant building in Hawaii. It includes a study of masterworks by Hawaiian based architects such as Vladimir Ossipoff, George 'Pete' Wimberely, and C.W. Dickey (along with an essay about Dickey 'Hawaiian Style' Roof) as well as many mainland architects.

It also includes a short section on Waikiki and the mid-century designs that sprung up there in the form of hotels and apartments.

Buildings of Hawaii is a great reference volume and is available on Amazon or the Society of Architectural Historians website.

Tiki News - Issue #5

2011-08-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

Aloha, Amigos!

I'm back after a short summer hiatius of posting to the blog. This is a great week to start things back up again as the grandaddy of all tiki events, Tiki Oasis, rolls back into San Diego.

11th Annual Tiki Oasis

I remember attending the first Tiki Oasis event when it was held in Palm Springs (it was in August that year HOT HOT HOT!!). It's amazing to see how this event has changed over the last decade from a small group of folks that first year to over two thousand last year. Mr. Otto Von Stroheim is the man responsible for creating and sustaining Tiki Oasis. However, in the mid 1990s pre Tiki Oasis, Otto was also helping to revitilize the Polynesian Pop movement with his 'zine publication Tiki News.

Issue #5 September 1995

Stories in Issue #5 included:

Music to Sooth the Savage Beast - A review of new exotic and surf releases.

An American Samoan in Carson - A book review of The Stone Maiden and other Samon Fables (author Daniel Pouesi)

Perfect Match - A story by Max Budda on collecting tiki matchbook covers.

Arizona Revisited - A trip report to investigate tiki in Phoenix.

Eddy Detroit of Phoenix - A story about this exotic DJ and musician.

R.I.P. Tikis - A story about the closing of the Tahitian Lanai at the Waikikian Hotel in Honolulu.

Tiki Pogs - Do you remember the Pog craze of the mid 1990s? A Pog was a printed image on thick circular cardboard simultaing old milk bottle caps. A short article showcasing Pogs with with exotic and tiki images.

Tiki God of the Artist, Anecdotes from the Birth of Modern Art - A two page story written by Sven Kristen about tiki imagery in art works, including Picasso.

Neighborhood Tiki - Readers could send in photos of tikis found in their local neighborhood.

The Big Pineapple in the Big Apple, Part II - A continuation of a trip report written by Sarah Dyer on exploring tiki in New York City.

Part I of this NYC trip report was presented back in Issue #4.

Mad About the Mai Kai - A trip report to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, written by Becky Ebenkamp.

Tune into Tiki - A listing of upcoming radio shows.

Mai Kai themed housing - Boca Raton, Florida

2011-06-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

If you have ever visited the Mai Kai down in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and thought to yourself “I want to live in this tropical tiki temple!”, you could have had the chance.

In 1969 a residential development called Sandlefoot Cove hosted its Grand Opening, located just 17 miles north of the Mai Kai restaurant, near the City of Boca Raton. Here is a story that ran in the Fort Lauderdale News on September 27, 1969.

“The adventure and glamour of Ft. Lauderdale’s celebrated Mai Kai restaurant has come to the new mobile home community of Sandlefoot Cove. But it comes in a wholly unexpected and surprising way, in the form of a new 24 by 57 foot mobile home named Mai Kai. The first mobile home ever designed to capture sub tropical living. The Princess Homes, Inc. model represents a blending of all the light and openness associated with Florida life, plus the allure of faraway Polynesia.”

“Sandlefoot Cove will include two championship golf courses. The Mai Kai home design, represented at Sandlefoot Cove by Brownstone Trailer Sales, features a floor plan consisting of two bedrooms, two baths, living room, kitchen and a ‘lanai’ dining area. Design of the home and it’s decorations borrow heavily from the charm of Polynesia – rain cape thatch, basket weave matting, shag carpet, bamboo moldings, sculptured shell basins and rattan furniture.”

Living Room of the Mai Kai features a Polynesian atmosphere, as modeled by two the of the Mai Kai Maidens

“A bamboo matted headboard, drapes reminiscent of Tahiti and a Tonga pictorial pattern in the adjacent bath set the theme in the master bedroom. A second bedroom also pictures a South Pacific setting of ease.

A Hawaiian mural extends from tub to ceiling in the center bath. Against a Samoan flower wall, a specially sculptured shell basin adds a further Polynesian flavor.”

In the living room, rattan furniture melds into a grass matted feature wall and light driftwood paneling.

Builder of the new Mai Kai residence is Princess Homes Inc.., of Pompano Beach, a subsidiary of Zimmer Homes Corp., which has been in the housing industry for over 35 years.”

Color photos were taken from the Z Annual Report, located in the Mai Kai archives

Going to Hukilau!

2011-06-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

Aloha Friends! I'm heading to the airport to spend the next 5 days in the Florida sunshine enjoying The Hukilau and the Mai Kai. I'll be back next week.

Trader Sam's, Disney's new tiki bar now open

2011-06-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Back in June 2010, I posted a six part series about the new tiki project at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. A few weeks ago the restaurant (Tangaroa Terrace) and bar (Trader Sam's) opened to the public. The new bar is getting great reviews (read them here , here, and here) and I look forward to visiting next time I'm in Southern California.

The building that houses the Tangaroa Terrace was built in 1970 as part of the new Marina expansion at the hotel and has seen a lot of changes over the last 40+ years, let's take a look.

A 1968 rendering for the new Marina and Marina Tower, including the Shipyard Inn Restaurant (pictured in the middle, later to become Hook's Pointe and then Tangaroa Terrace)

The new Marina and Shipyard Inn

Shipyard Inn on the Marina

In 1979, major changes happend around the Marina and Seaports of the Pacific was opened. The new area included more restaurants and an International Shopping Bazaar filled with imports from Hong Kong, Australia, Mexico and Tahiti.

Seaports of the Pacific, 1982

As part of the opening of the new Seaports of the Pacific, the Disneyland Hotel also opened Water Wonderland which included Horseshoe Falls, the Dancing Waters fountain show, Papeete Beach and a Polynesian themed musical revue called Pacific Terrific!

The free nightly Polynesian revue began with lighting the torches around the Marina

Then the show would begin and an outrigger canoe was paddled out into the middle of the Marina with guests along the rails to watch the show.

You can see the canoe moving into position in the center of the port

On board the outrigger, several Hawaiian dancers would perform a show for the guests.

I vividly remember standing along the rail as a kid watching this show and the fire dancer doing his thing out in the canoe

Another shot of the outrigger canoe in the Marina

For those who didn't know, the Disneyland Hotel had Polynesian themeing 30+ years before Tangaroa Terrace opened!

Fast forward to 2010 and Walt Disney Imagineering prepares to transform the old Shipyard Inn/Hook's Pointe into the Tangaroa Terrace.

The roofline is inspired by the Great Ceremonial House at the Polynesian Village at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Great Ceremonial House at WDW

In the late 1990's the Marina was drained and filled in and the area was rethemed to Peter Pan, including changing the Shipyard Inn into Hook's Ponite.

Tangaroa Terrace Before & After

Click to enlarge

Trader Sam's Before & After

Click to enlarge

WDI concept art for the interior of Trader Sam's

Completed interior of Trader Sam's. I love the details including the tiki poles from the Enchanted Tiki Room and the crate hanging from the ceiling with the arrow shot into it.

For your listening pleasure, A fan inspired soundtrack for Trader Sam's (created by graphic designer Richard Terpstra).

SIDE NOTE OF INTEREST: Richard has also just created this great T-shirt inspired by the Dole Whip treat found at the Enchanted Tiki Room.

You can purchase the Tiki Pineapple Whip Tee here.

Various image credits for today's post: The Magical Hotel and Meet the World

Technicolor Tiki

2011-05-31T22:11:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to stray off topic a bit and take a look at a different aspect of tiki visuals and examine the role of color.

In addition to researching Tiki Architecture, one of my other hobbies is painting. I'm a bit of a hack, but I enjoy it. I think every artist, at least the not very good ones, struggle with finding the right color palette to use in their work. To that end, I found this interesting color application on another great blog DesignerLand.

It is called Kuler. The web site is linked with Flickr and is really easy to use. Kuler will create a custom color palette for you based on complimentary colors that you select. You also have the ability to import an image and the application will create the palette for you.

For example, a favorite image of mine from Flickr

Kuler will then mathematically analyze the image and create a 5 color complimentary palette.

The great thing about this application is that after you have created your color palette, you can export it directly for use in other Adobe Creative products.

Sands Oasis - MORE Hawaiian Living in Phoenix, Arizona

2011-05-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

Due to the popularity of Hawaiian themed home sales in the Sands West development in 1961, E.T. Wright (Phoenix home builder) opted to continue to try his luck cashing in on Polynesian Pop Culture. In 1965 he built his second Hawaiian/tiki themed neighborhood in Phoenix called Sands Oasis.

The Sands Oasis development is located about 10 blocks west of Sands West, north of the intersection of 45th Ave. / Northern Ave. in Glendale.

The charm of the romantic South Seas returns to Phoenix in 1965 (click to read)

On August 1, 1965, the home builder ran an ad in the Arizona Republic announcing the grand opening of Sands Oasis, including this amazing piece of tiki architecture for the home sales office located at Sands Oasis.

If the roof of the sales office looks familiar to you as a fan of tiki architecture, it should. It appears to be inspired by the upswept peaked roof of the Half Moon Inn on Shelter Island in San Diego, California.

Shelter Island, San Diego, CA

It is not a coincidence that the roof structures look similar, let me explain…

In August 1959, Hawaii had just become the 50th state. Immediately following, in the early 1960s, Hawaii began a stark transition from an economy based on agricultural export of sugar cane and fruit to an economy based on tourism. During this period, Polynesian Pop culture was at its peak in film, television, music, architecture, and fashion and pushed Hawaii into popular awareness. South Seas images were everywhere.

In the mid 1960s, the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau (CONVIS) viewed Hawaii as a major tourism competitor. In response, starting in 1964 CONVIS began a deliberate and well funded strategy into the early 1970s to market San Diego as a closer-to-home, budget version of this American “paradise”. The Hawaiian-ization of San Diego was in full swing and took place stylistically and architecturally, as well as through the national marketing campaign. (that’s another story for a future multi-series post).

Phoenix was viewed by CONVIS as a prime market for this tourism campaign (along with Denver, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco) and they spent significant advertising dollars in Phoenix.

CONVIS ad in Phoenix Magazine, mid 1960s

CONVIS runs a full page ad in Phoenix Magazine, mid 1960s

Take a look at the text in this full page ad. CONVIS was really pushing hard to compete with Hawaii.

It's the native way!

The exotic South Seas structures found in San Diego were being marketed in Phoenix as an accessible version of Shangri La. This marketing blitz from San Diego must have demonstrated to E.T. Wright that Polynesian Pop was still in full swing, hence his decision to cash in CONVIS marketing efforts and build Sands Oasis.

Detail of the Sands Oasis sales office, inspired by the exotic Shelter Island.

Note a few of the details:

- The decorative carvings on the front and back extended roof beams
- The collection of exotic lamps hanging over the doorway
- A tiki mask or shield on the wall to the right of door

This sales office had a real WOW factor. Unfortunately, if you drive the neighborhood today, very few of the homes actually reflect an exotic theme. More tiki inspired designs can actually be found over in the builder’s first development at Sands West.

There is however, one exception. This home (located at 8126 N. 45th Avenue) exhibits an exotic flair in the roof line echoed from the original sales advertisement.

It is a beautiful example of Desert Polynesia with gravel landscaping for the front yard and various palm trees around the house. I like the ‘Far East’ motif of the iron fencing along the half wall at the front of the house.

Detail of the roof design

Another shot of the upswept peak and decorative ridge beam.

If you are a tikiphile living in the Valley of the Sun, you can thank the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau for all of their effort to promote Polynesian Pop culture in Phoenix. I'm sure that all of that CONVIS advertising for almost 10 years had a significant impact on local restaurants, hotel operators and home builders to keep tiki alive in Phoenix.

Mahalo and enjoy your upcoming holiday weekend!

Sands West - Hawaiian Living in Phoenix, Arizona

2011-05-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, I was enjoying an exotic cocktail in the lounge of the Trader Vic's in Scottsdale, Arizona waiting to meet a friend of mine, Mr. Dewey Webb, to talk about the history of tiki in Phoenix. We chatted for a while about tiki establishments long gone from the Valley of the Sun like the Islands Restaurant, The Samoan Village and Kon Tiki Motels, the original Trader Vic's location in Scottsdale, etc. Then he shared with me a copy of an original sales brochure for a Hawaiian inspired resdential neighborhood on the west side of Phoenix called Sands West. I asked where he found such a rare item and he told me that his family had kept it from when they originally bought a house in Sands West.

Inside cover of the sales brochure

Sands West was built in 1961 and was a big hit. So much so, that just a few years later in 1965, a second Hawaiian themed neighborhood was built just 10 blocks west of Sands West, called Sands Oasis (that's a topic for a follow-up post).

I love that the sales and marketing staff came up with Kumuanahanahana - the Phoenix Tiki God of Air Conditioning!

The brochure also had plans for three of the models to be constructed in the development, including:

The Hawaiian

The Samoan

The Devonshire (everything about the brochure is Polynesian themed, henece the odd choice for the name of this model???)

I've since been out to explore Sands West and most of the homes are in need of some TLC. However, there are still a few select home owners that have not cut off all of the outrigger beams or modified the house beyond their original Phoneix Polynesian design.

Sands West in 2010

Roof details on The Hawaiian Model

The Hawaiian Model decked out in Pepto pink with light purple trim (OUCH!)

The Samoan Model with a carport roof added

Details of The Samoan carport roof located at 3457 W. Belmont Ave

If you want to explore Sands West for yourself, the neighborhood is located between 32nd / 35th Ave and Northern Ave / Belmont Ave.

Part 2 of the story is continued in this post about the nearby Sands Oasis development.

Waikiki '73

2011-05-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the most exciting vacation paradise in the Pacific, Waikiki.

In 1973, four of the nation's leading travel masters - United Airlines, Sheraton Hotels, Avis Rent A Car and American Express got together and created a year long Hawaiian marketing campain called 'Waikiki '73'. Stories and pictorials of Waikiki '73 ran in several publications for the year, including, Reader's Digest, Sunset, Newsweek, Mademoiselle, and Vogue. It was a very sucessful marketing campain.

Today's images come from a Waikiki '73 marketing brochere that was distributed to travel agents across the USA to promote the program. I love the artwork in this package in all its 70's groovyness!

Jet to Hawaii with United

You're in a sparkling Polynesian atmosphere the moment you step aboard United's Friend Ship Flight to Honolulu. Your friendly steward and stewardesses, in colorful aloha attire, put you in a relaxing mood. Settle back into a contoured chair and order up a sunny Mai Tai or your favorite cocktail. If you fly First Class, you'll dine sumptously on the finest gourmet cuisine, complete with complimentary wines and champagne. If you're a Coach passenger aboard the Friend Ship, you'll dine elegantly on Trader Vic's cuisine.

Check out that drink cart!

A fresh juicy pineapple, compliments of Sheraton, will be delivered to your door on arrival.

Explore and discover the great variety of shopping and dinning in the famous International Market Place.

A family of four, decked out in aloha attire, poses on the front steps of Trader Vic's in the International Market Place.

I love the color scheme in this one.

Hula Now, Pay Later with American Express!

Not wanting to be left out, Continental Airlines ran their own Hawaiian vacation commercials.

Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room - 1988 A Look Back

2011-04-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

When I was in college in the mid to late 1980s, I spent a few summers working at 'The Happiest Place on Earth' (e.g., Disneyland). It was a really fun job! At that time, Disneyland produced a free weekly newsletter for the cast members of the Park and the Disneyland Hotel, it was called the Disneyland Line. I recently found an old issue of the Line that I had stashed away, it has an interesting article about Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.

Disneyland Line, June 24, 1988

Birds of a Feather Flock Together for 25 Years

Erawan Garden Hotel - Indian Wells, California

2011-04-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

The Erawan Garden Hotel was constructed in 1963 in the City of Indian Wells, California, just down the road from Palm Springs in the Cochella Valley.

Image from the book Palm Springs Holiday

The Erawan was not Polynesian themed, it had a Far East design with some roadside flair added in. It advertised itself as the 'Luxury of the Orient'. The hotel included fourteen 2-story bungalows, a restaurant (Cambodia Dining Room) and a Lounge (Moongate Lounge). This fantastic signage looks like it had a gas torch at the top to light at night.

The color scheme of the Erawan was so simple and beautiful. The Hotel sat on 11 acres and included landscaped gardens and gas tiki torches between each of the bungalow buildings.

The Earwan operated for 34 years until it was purchased in 1996 by Marcus Hotels & Resorts. Marcus closed the hotel for a major refurbishment and reopened the doors a year later as the Miramonte Resort & Spa.

The Miramonte Resort today as an upscale Mediterranean Resort

At the time of the refurbishment, then Mayor of Indian Wells, Mr. Walter McIntyre, stated that "The heritage that was the Erawan will be displayed through renderings and photographs at City Hall."

I wonder if those images still hang on the wall of City Hall? I would love to see artist renderings and additional photos of this fantastic midcentury roadside marvel. Any readers of this blog live in the Coachella Valley?

Music to Watch Girls By - Trader Vic's, Kansas City

2011-04-17T22:55:00.000-07:00

During our last post we explored some of the tiki influences in St. Louis, Missouri. Let's stay in the region and head west along I-70 for a few hundred miles until we reach Kansas City, Missouri.

Kansas City had a few tiki establishments including, The Castaways, Kona Kai and Kon Tiki Ports, but today we are going to look at Trader Vic's. Vic Bergeron opened his twentieth Trader Vic's restaurant in Kansas City in 1973.

It was located in the lobby of the Crown Center Hotel (currently operating as the Westin Crown Center). The hotel is just one portion of the large master planned Crown Center site that includes office, retail, entertainment and residential development.

Vic's operated in this location from 1973 when the hotel opened until 1996

Vic's was located in the lobby at the bottom of the escalators that lead to the commercial district of Crown Center, directly across from the front desk

Trader Vic standing at the entrance to one of his restaurants

Rough concept sketch for the Crown Center Trader Vic's

Before we continue with the second half of this post, take a quick peek at this video to set the stage.

In July 1973, The Kansas City Star ran this short story in their newspaper about the new activity of girl watching that was happening in the Trader Vic's Lounge.

I love the fact the writer references the peak times to be in the lounge to enjoy the sights.

Fashion from 1973

The old dogs are sipping on Mai Tais and enjoying the show....

Vic was a salty old dog himself, I'm sure he approved!

Pacific Design in St. Louis, Missouri

2011-04-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned previously, I find a lot of my information in old magazines. Last year I discovered American Builder and it is a gold mine of information on popular deisgns for residential and commercial construction from back in the day.

American Builder, Nov. 1961

As I was trying to track down a lead for this story last year, I discovered that the magazine published two different issues each month, a Western issue (for builders in California, Colorado, Arizona, etc) and a second version for the builders in the Eastern half of the United States. I only had access to the Western issues here at a local University archive, but my friend Nathan in St. Louis, helped me out and sent me the information I was looking for in the Northern issue from August 1959 along with some additional background information about the builder. Thanks Nathan!

Stop by and check out his nice website to promote preservation and appreciation of Mid Century design in the St. Louis area Modern-STL.com

St. Louis had its share of well known tiki establishments, including The Mainlander and Trader Vic's at the Bel Air East Hotel. But what's not commonly known is that this midwest city also tried its hand at building Pacific styled residential homes. While in some parts of the country, Pacific or Hawaiian style tract home subdivisions were all the rage (specifically Southern California) it was quite a different story in the conservative midwest in the early 1960s.

American Builder, August 1959 (Northern Issue)

I don't think its a coincidence that this article ran in August 1959, the same month that Hawaii became the 50th State and mainland American was going crazy for anything Hawaiian.

Designed by Robert 'Bud' Krieckhaus

This house was built in the Harwood Hills Subdivision by the Burton Duenke Building Company (the pictured house still stands and remains mostly unaltered today). Duenke was largely responsible for bringing the 'modern' ranch home to St. Louis, eventually building hundreds of homes in the area.

I love the builders comment about the public's reaction to the style as a violent liking or disliking!

The short article also ran a few construction details on how to construct the Dickey roof line (remember, this is a trade magazine).

Around the same time that this article was published, Burton Duenke was also heavily involved in developing the Lake of the Ozarks as a tourist destination, and construction of his Tan-Tar-A resort (approx. 140 miles southwest of St. Louis). The resort was somewhat a result of Duenke's travels, which may also explain the idea for a Pacific-Style home in St, Louis.

Take a closer look at the above picture of the resort and you will find traces of exotic rooflines...

You can also see the exotic influence in the roof and extended decorative ridge beam in the restaurant.

At Tan-Tar-A, Duenke also built the Happy House outdoor restaurant and lounge.

No traces of tiki, but they did have some Japanese glass floats hanging from the ceiling

A quote from the back of restaurant postcard reads "The Happy House brings exotic South Sea Island atmosphere to Tan-Tar-A resort."

Tiki Architecture Blog is 1 year old

2011-04-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

We all know that time speeds up as we get older, seems like just yesterday I started this blog with my posts about the Waikikian Hotel. Well, it has been one year since I started posting information from my research and archives and I thought I'd share with you readers some of the behind the scenes statistics for this blog.

How many readers have visited?
You may have likely noticed the site counter on the right toolbar. At the one year mark, it has registered 10,614 visitors. Is that a respectable number for a niche blog like this, I don't know? I just like to have an idea how many folks out there are reading my jibberish.

How do readers get here?
The stat counter has a really great function in that is tracks how every person ended up at Tiki Architecture. Here is a list of some very common search terms on how readers found this blog:
-Polynesia House Design
-Heywood Wakefield Furniture Tiki
-Tropical Architecture Sketch
-Tiki Apartments Southern California
-Disneyland Tiki
-Roof Design Hawaii
-Tiki Architecture Waikiki
-Polynesian Mid Century Design
-Tikiyaki Polynesian Village Resort
-How Much Tiki Culture does Spongebob Borrow From

Readers have also ended up on the site using some crazy search terms, like:

-Enchanted Beings?
-Damsel in a Tower?
-Asphalt 50 Year Roof San Diego?

But far and away most visitors end up here as a result from a Google Image search.

Who is reading this blog?

As of last night when I was writting this post, here is a Recent Visitor Map of the readers who stopped by on Sunday.

and Finally...

The Top 5 most popular posts over the last year (based on page views)

#5. Remembering the Kahiki

#4. Bali Hai Restaurant - New Orleans, LA

#3. Backyard Polynesia - Part 1

#2. Tiki Homes - Clairemont, CA

#1. Disneyland's Hidden Tiki Bar

Hope you all have enjoyed reading the blog! I'd be interested to hear your comments.

Evolution of the "Hawaiian Style" Roof

2011-03-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

There are plenty of elements in Polynesian Pop culture that can trace their roots back to a single individual. For example, Ernest Bueamont Gantt (aka Don the Beachcomber) was responsible for creating the tropical cocktail as we know it today, or Les Baxter is credited with creating the 'exotic' sound in music. Tiki architecture is no different, one man set the tone very early on and it became accepted as the gold standard for all tropical design.

Charles W. Dickey (1871-1942) was born in Hawaii on the island of Maui. He spent his childhood in Hawaii, but left to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to earn a degree in architecture. He then spent 20 years practicing as an architect in Oakland, California before returning to Honolulu.

When he returned to Hawaii, he was dismayed with the predominant design style of the time (colonial) and set out to create a unique "Hawaiian" style. He accomplished that when he created the 'Dickey Roof', inspired by Kamehameha V's grass beach house in Waikiki.

Kamehameha V's beach hut

The Dickey Roof is a double pitch roof, with the top portion of the roof at a steeper angle than the lower portion of the roof. While simple in it's design, it quickly became the standard in Hawaiian architecture.

The first Dickey Roof was designed and constructed in 1926 on Charles' personal residence in Waikiki.

Tiki Architecture can trace it's roots back to this single house in Waikiki.

In 1926, he received a commission to design the Bungalow Cottages at the the Halekulani Hotel on Waikiki Beach and he used his Dickey roof design on all of the structures.

Halekulani Bungalows built in 1926

In 1931, he was commissioned again by the Halekulani Hotel to design the main building, and he used his Dickey Roof design.

Halekulani Hotel Main Building 1953

By the mid 1930's Dickey Roofs were being used all over the Hawaiian Islands, and by the mid to late 1940's, that style had become the sterotype for tropical buildings.

Dickey Roofs at the Breakers Hotel on Waikiki Beach

Breakers Hotel, Waikiki Beach

Mid Century Modern Polynesia at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel, 1957

When Charles Dickey died in 1942, Polynesian Pop Culture had not taken hold on the mainland of the United States yet, in fact, it would be another 15 years befeore we would hit the heyday of tiki culture. However, once Polynesian Pop culture did take hold, Hawaiian architecture (along with other South Seas designs) was manipulted and contorted into the fantasy escapism we love today.

Some examples of the Dickey Roof were not that extreme....

The Aloha Inn Motel in Altamont, IL

Then the design became a little more exagerated...

The Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL

The Castaways Casino and Coffe Shop, Las Vegas, NV

....and then even more detals were added....

Ports 'O Call Restaurant, San Pedro, CA

Detail of photo above showing the extended roof beams and angled supports anchored in the lagoon. Note the tiki profile cut into the end of the support beams (a similar profile design was also used at the Kapu Tiki apartments in Pico Rivera, CA).

...and then the style was taken to extremes, squashed and streched into these beautiful examples of tiki design.

Trader Mort's in Point Loma, CA

Traders Inn, Ormond Beach, FL

So next time you find an old picture or postcard of a tiki restaurant or hotel at a garage sale, take a quick peek at the roof, I bet you will see C.W. Dickey's design hiding in there.

Tiki News - Issue #4

2011-03-11T16:32:00.000-08:00

Late summer 1995, I was in a quirky little bookstore here in Denver checking out the alternative ‘zines’ and found a magazine called Le Pasefika (now out of print). Paging thru the issue, I found an ad for Tiki News. I went home and mailed in my subscription request for the next 6 issues ($10), there was no website or PayPal at the time. Shortly thereafter, my first issue showed up, it was #4.

Issue #4 July 1995 $2

I went back and reread the Issue cover to cover before creating this post, and one thing really jumped out at me. Tiki News was starting just as the internet was gaining speed with the public. I found myself looking for website addresses for advertisers, artists, etc. and there is none of that in the issue. The only reference to the web is Otto Von Stroheim’s (creator of Tiki News) email address, that’s it. It was just an interesting observation as today we have become conditioned to be able to find instant satisfaction via the web.

Stories in Issue #4 included:

Waikiki Calling – A trip report to the Island of Oahu, including visits to the International Market Place, Oahu thrift stores and the Aloha Bowl Flea Market.

Hurricane Harbor – A story about the new tiki themed water park addition at Magic Mountain in Valencia, California.

The Big Pineapple in the Big Apple: Trader Vic’s, NY – A trip report to the then still operating Trader Vic’s.

Tiki Terror – A short story by Charles Schneider

Charles Schneider – A look at his artwork

Follow That Mug! The Kahiki Supper Club – A trip report for the still operating Kahiki in Columbus, Ohio.

Neighborhood Tiki – An update where readers could send in their finds for tikis that were still standing out in the wild. Issue #4 included the Mar Vista Bowl in Los Angeles. Note the advertisement for Dionysus Records with early SHAG artwork.

Nostalgis Anthropologisticus – Fear and Loathing in Tikiland Atlanta Memories, Part II, by David Mockba. A trip report for the Atlanta area.

Tune into Tiki – A calendar of events for upcoming radio shows (not webcasts or podcasts, you had to listen to the radio), magazines, etc.

Tiki Manifesto – The Tiki Manifesto was created by Tiki News and posted on the back page of the issue.

SpongeBob Title Cards

2011-03-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

My house is a SpongeBob SquarePants house. With two kids, a day does not go by without the little yellow sponge dancing and singing on our tv, they love that show! SpongeBob first aired on Nickelodeon in 1999 and is still going strong, in fact it was renewed for a ninth season in January of 2011. I must admit, my wife and I also watch the show with the kids, I love it.

My favorite part of the show is the background art used on the Title Card at the beginning of each episode. Here are a few of my favorite backgrounds.

The next three cards all use the same design, but with a different color scheme or inversion of the pattern.

Don Carson Fantasy Design & Architecture

2011-03-08T11:25:00.000-08:00

Every once and a while I will stumble across and artist whose work I really connect with. They may be a painter, sculptor, designer, builder, or an architect. Don Carson is one of those artists. He is a freelance Art Director and Illustrator and I like everything that he does. He has a strong background in the theme park industry and that reflects in his designs and artwork. It has a humorous element to it. Here are a few examples of some of his themepark designs.

Point of sale vending location

Exterior design for attraction building

Themed signage

Back in 2000, Don got involved with a project designing a virtual world. The project was loosely based on a tiki/Club Med theme and he created some fantastic wacky concept art.

Lucky’s Tiki Bar with a large tiki that has broken off the front of the structure.

Themed tiki signage

Behind Lucky’s Bar is a varied collection of tiki, exotic and nautical décor.

Don prepared concept art for two of Walt Disney World’s themed water parks (Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach) and that style reflects in some of these drawings.

While not tiki, I do love this idea of a retail space that sells jetpacks out of a converted old Quonset hut.

You can see lots more examples of Don’s work and review his portfolio on his webpage

If interested, here are some quick links to other artists whose work I think is fantastic.

Benjamin Burch
Eric Scales
Megan Brian
Jody Daily & Kevin Kidney
Mike Cozart

Exotic House - Port Aransas, Texas

2011-01-22T16:47:00.000-08:00

I recently stumbled across this interesting photo while surfing around on Flickr. Its an exotic house on the Gulf Coast of Texas, in Port Aransas (just outside of Corpus Christi).

The house is built on stilts with the main house on the second floor. This design minimizes the potential for flooding and damage due to storm surges and hurricanes so common to this region of the Gulf Coast.

Check out the roof on this place, it soars an additonal 2+ stories above the main floor!

The residence is the last one on the cal-de-sac and fronts the Corpus Christi Channel.

There is no public access to this house. It is located in a private gated community at the end of Private Road A. The best way to see this place is from a boat on the water.

Exotic Roofline - North Riverside, IL

2011-01-16T11:11:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago I spent a week in Chicago for a business conference. On my last day, I stopped in at the Chef Shangri- La restaurant for lunch on my way to the airport.

7830 W 26th Street, North Riverside, IL

The food and the drinks at the Chef are both pretty good and the interior tiki decor remains mostly intact. Its a good stop if you're looking for tiki in the Chicago area (and it's not too far from the Hala Kahiki, Chicago's great tiki decor place)

The outside of the building is pretty non descript, but they do have a few tikis on display.

After I left the Chef, I stumbeled across this house just two blocks north. It is not a tiki house, but it has this fantastic Chineese Modern exotic roof line.

It appears that the home owner built these roof extensions himself. I love the black and orange color scheme.

These swooping extensions have been added to all corners of the house.

You can find this exotic roof at 8002 Country Club Lane, North Riverside, IL.

Disneyland's Hidden Tiki Bar

2010-12-31T15:14:00.000-08:00

The title of today's post is a little misleading. The tiki bar we are going to look at was not physically located in Disneyland, but it was as close as you could get without being on Disney property.

This tiki bar was very unique because it was hidden in plain sight. Back in the late 1960s and thru the 1970s, there was so much commercial activity directly across the street from Disneyland (kitchy motels, googie coffee shops, mini golf courses, etc.)that this place remained hidden.

Commercial activity along Harbor Blvd. across the street from Disneyland

At the southeast corner of the intersection of Harbor Blvd. and Katella Avenue, in Anaheim, California was the Anaheim Holiday Inn (located at 1850 S. Harbor Blvd.).

In the bottom left corner of the above image, you can see the outside door and decorative beams that marked the entrance to Dobbs House Luau. This tiki bar had to compete visually with all of the clutter and beautiful wackiness along Harbor Blvd., and without their own large roadside signage, the place went practically unnoticed. Except for the guests staying at the Holiday Inn, this tiki bar was virtually unknown. Case in point, many years ago I worked at Disneyland while I was in college and drove by this place everyday and never knew it even existed.

Dobbs House Luau had several locations, including:

- Atlanta, Georgia
- Dallas, Texas
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Miami, Florida
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Houston, Texas
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Orlando, Florida

The inside of Anaheim Luau had two different themed dining rooms.

The Polynesian Room

As recently discovered by my friend Sven Kirsten, the interior decor was supplied by Oceanic Arts of Whittier, California, the preeminent Polynesian Pop culture supply house.

Mr. Henry Rose (originally from Honolulu), an ex employee of both Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic's, acted as a consultant to Dobbs House Luau (but I don't know in what respect). I assume he was involved with the interior decor based on the photo and caption shown below of Henry working on the Dallas, Texas location.

The second themed dining room was the Ship's Lounge. This room hosted a live floor show and in the background you can spot 3 skimpy clad wahine waitresses.

Construction for the Anaheim Holiday Inn began March 6, 1968. This photo is looking south directly into the adjacent Fujishige strawberry fields. These 50+ acre strawberry fields was the last piece of undeveloped property near Disneyland. The Walt Disney Company tried for many years to purchase the property from the Fujishige family to expand their Disneyland footprint, and was finally successful in 1998.

50 days later there is major progress on the hotel tower. On the left side of the photo, the lobby building to house Luau is already nearing completion.

An aerial photo of construction taken during that same time frame. In the upper left corner you can see the Samoa Motel, another Polynesian Pop Culture themed motel in the Disneyland area. Just off the right side of the photo, down a few blocks, you would have found the Pitcairn Motel with its classic tiki roadside signage.

This is an architectural rendering for the hotel property that has a beautiful depiction of Dobbs House Luau restaurant.

A closer detail shot of the restaurant. You can clearly see why this tiki bar remained hidden in plain sight for so long in the massive shadow of Disneyland. It clearly did not draw a lot of attention to itself from Harbor Blvd.

The suspended outrigger canoe canopy sports the Luau logo, which matches the company's logo used on all of their printed materials. There were planned ornamental doors to enter the restaurant and a large decorative mask to be placed on the exterior wall.

This is the entrance during construction. I don't know if the mask made it to the wall or if it had not yet been placed when this photo was taken.

Dobbs House Luau in Anaheim is long gone (I don't know when it closed) and the property is now operating as a Red Lion Hotel.

Red Lion Hotel in 2010.

I would like to thank my friends Sven Kirsten, Kinike and Sabu the Coconut Boy for providing some of the images used in this post.

Tiki Homes - Orange County, California - Part 3

2010-12-30T16:48:00.000-08:00

Let's take a look at the remaining three neighborhoods that were outlined in the OC Register article.

'B' Neighborhood (Costa Mesa)

1870 Tahiti Drive (built 1962)

How cool is it to have your mailing address be along Tahiti Drive? The white and aqua color scheme on this house help give it a MCM vibe and the lush landscaping and shake shingle roof really help to give it a Polynesian Pop aesthetic. The garage, with it's own peaked roof line, really adds to the overall impression of multiple buildings on this property.

2840 Ellesmere Avenue (built 1961)

Another example of the garage having its own roof line giving the impression of multiple buildings on site. This house has had the roof replaced, I assume the original material was shake shingles, and now they have asphalt shingles. That change in roof material types has a drastic affect on the overall appearance of the house and really knocks it down several ticks on the tiki scale.

1761 Pitcairn Drive (built 1960)

This is the same model as 2840 Ellesmere and they have also changed their roof.

1801 Pitcairn Drive (built 1963)

This home still has a strong tiki vibe due to its brown color scheme, the exterior landscaping and pilings and the roof still having shake shingles.

Here's a map for the last two neighborhoods.

'D' Neighborhood (Newport Beach)

The author of the article listed this neighborhood as having Polynesian inspired homes, however, I could not find any. The closest home I found that the author may have thought was a tiki house was located at..

332 Colton Street (built 1963)

This is an interesting beach design, but I would not call it a tiki house.

'C' neighborhood (Huntington Beach)

The original boundaries outlined in the article were quite large. After surveying the area, I have considerably reduced the area to the greatest concentration of tiki homes as outlined in this map.

Leilani Drive (built 1963)

But the crown jewel that I found after exploring these four neighborhoods was located at...

22091 Islander Lane (built 1962)

You know just looking at this house from the street that it is special. Like a great tiki bar, it has layers.

Immediately behind the curb notice the pilings, beach grass, barrel decor with nautical elements. Then the second layer consists of lush landscaping, palms, more pilings, and more landscaping before you reach the house.

I love what these owners did to their driveway. They removed the concrete and replaced it with inlaid wooden planks giving the impression of the bridge.

The garage...

The main house, note the attention to details in this shot...

- The nautical block & tackle on the front lanai
- The seagull and the ship's bell (the position of the bell makes me think they use this instead of a doorbell)
- Lobster trap on the roof
- Whale weather vain on the roof

More details on the side of the garage.

What a beautiful tiki home!

End of series.

Tiki Homes - Orange County, California Part 2

2010-12-28T16:53:00.001-08:00

Let's take a closer look at some of the 'tropical' residential architecture pointed out in the 2007 Orange County Register article. While not all of the homes are tiki or Polynesian, they are definitely exotic and make a bold statement.

The first two neighborhoods (A & B) are quite near each other.

The 'A' neighborhood:

3142 Killybrooke Lane (built 1963)

A subtle design with a purely decorative A-frame and extended roof lines. The garage roof hangs over the front door entrance and is supported with a nice privacy screen.

The house adjacent is currently listed for sale at $575,000. I don't know how that price relates to the real estate market in SoCal, but that's quite a bit of change for a small house.

3160 Sharon Lane (built 1963)

The two different roof angles for the second story and the garage make this house quite unique. If it was repainted from this grey color scheme, it would be very unusual.

The ornamental detail that hangs over the garage is not a design I have seen before.

1284 Londonderry Street (built 1963)

This house is the same design we found along Killybrooke Lane, but in a different color scheme.

A few more details from around the neighborhood.

I forgot to write down the address of this home, but it is in the neighborhood (somewhere).

Tiki Homes - Orange County, California - Part 1

2010-12-27T17:12:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, the Orange County Register (Southern California newspaper) ran a story about tiki style residential architecture in Orange County. The article was pretty light on actual information, and in fact I disagree with several of the the author's points, but it did provide some references to potential hot spots to find tiki homes.

Orange County Register
Saturday, November 10, 2007

Tropical home revival
Evoke the island look without the kitsch
By DAVID-MICHAEL

Is your tract home stuck in a time warp? Before you start thinking tear-down, I have some ideas to turn your outdated abode into a Design Forward haven.
Many of Orange County's homes were built during the architecturally challenged '60s, '70s and '80s. In this column, I'll zero in on the Pseudo Islander style of the '60s – one you might recognize as having a high double-pitched roof with a Polynesian theme.

Flash back to the '60s
On July 17, 1955, Walt Disney ushered in a whole new era as all eyes were on Orange County. Television broadcasts reached around the world as Disneyland's opening-day celebration captured not only the brilliance of Disney but the absolute beauty of Orange County. At that moment, little did anyone know the major effect Disney's dream would have on the development of agriculturally oriented Orange County. Cities surrounding Anaheim experienced a major surge in tract-home developments to provide housing for the new families eager to live the Orange County lifestyle. With land in such abundance, many single-story homes were constructed with large back yards.

The inspiration behind tract housing designs
The '60s brought more airline travel for the masses. One of the favorite destinations was (and still is) Hawaii. Elvis Presley's "Blue Hawaii" (1961), Don Ho and "Hawaii Five-0" were seen as iconic symbols of the time. Naturally, a trend in fashion, design and architecture was born. Even Disney reacted to this trend with the addition of the Tiki Room to Disneyland's attractions. Builders too, were quick to borrow this new tropical style. Beach towns like Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Seal Beach began to feature new tract homes in Pseudo Islander – or, as I like to call it, the Trader Vic's Tiki Look. These homes are distinguished by steep double-pitched roofs, flared eaves, vertical board-and-batten siding and lava stone masonry.

Check out neighborhoods with Polynesian-style homes
A. Costa Mesa: This tract of homes is bordered by Fairview, Baker, Harbor Boulevard and the 405 Freeway.

B. Costa Mesa: This tract is bordered by Mesa Verde Drive East, Mesa Verde Drive West and Adams.

C. Huntington Beach: The tract is bordered by Brookhurst, Hamilton and Magnolia and actually has Polynesian names; one of the streets is called Tiki Circle.

D. Newport Beach: This tract is located on the northeast side of West Coast Highway (inland side) and is bordered by the canal, 62nd Street and Canal Street.

American tiki: rise, fall and semi-revival

1934:Don the Beachcomber serves the first Zombie in Hollywood.

1941:World War II sends millions of Americans to the South Pacific.

1944:Trader Vic's in Oakland serves the first Mai Tai.

1948:Thor Heyerdahl's "Kon-Tiki" and James Michener's "Tales of the South Pacific" are published.

1959: Hawaii becomes a state.

1963:The Enchanted Tiki Room opens at Disneyland.

1960s: It's the tiki heyday, with hundreds of bars and restaurants popping up. Tiki eateries show up in major hotel chains.

1979:Luau in Beverly Hills is bulldozed, an early victim of tiki's waning popularity.

1994:Trader Vic's in San Francisco closes. Tiki News, a revivalist magazine, begins publishing.

2000: Kahiki in Columbus, Ohio, closes, despite preservationists' plea.
"Book of Tiki" is published, fueling a tiki revival.

2003:"Tiki Road Trip" is published.

Costa Mesa's Kona Lanes, built in 1958, is bulldozed.

2005:Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room makes a refreshed appearance.

After this article came out, I explored each of the four listed neighborhoods and will share pictures of what I found in the next post of this series.

Tiki Homes - Clairemont, California

2010-12-24T07:49:00.000-08:00

While the Polynesian Tiki theme was actually frequently used in multi-family residential design (i.e., apartment complexes), the same is not true for its use in personal residences. That said, tiki style homes, while not common, do exist and I've shared some here on the blog in previous posts, like Anaheim, CA and Las Vegas, NV.

Next time you find yourself driving around in San Diego, CA, maybe attending Tiki Oasis, take a slight detour over to the neighborhood of Clairemont Mesa(near the 805 Freeway and Balboa Avenue). Centered around the intersection of Charger Blvd. and Barnhurst Drive you can find an occasional tiki designed house spread around the neighborhood. Most of the tiki style homes are in need of a little tlc, but the structure is there and these places could be very unique if cleaned up, painted and landscaped.

5554 Chandler Drive (built 1965)

This house has three of these great beam ornamental details, one on each side of the house and this one over the garage.

But the extension of the roof line down to this planter box is what really draws attention to this house. Note that the support beams are designed to look like bamboo poles (beautiful detail).

4560 Berwick Drive (built 1964)

The owners have removed the planter box in the front yard and cut off the roof extensions.

6846 Boxford Drive (built 1965)

Roof detail

This large dark pink bougainvillea bush, when in full bloom must be really impressive, but overall detracts from the unique roof line.

Ashcraft Exotic Furniture by Heywood Wakefield

2010-12-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

The year was 1954 and if you had picked up a copy of McCall's Magazine, you would have found this advertisement from Heywood Wakefield for their Ashcraft line of furniture. Perfect for anyone who wanted to transform their home into a exotic paradise, mid century style.

Let's start in the Living Room. What a beautiful MCM pattern for the cushions!

Then we move to the bedroom set, subtle, but a nice dresser and mirror set with bedside table.

The Dining Room set has a fantastic china cabinet. Wouldn't your collection of tiki mugs look great in that hutch?

The Enclosed Patio set has another collection of great MCM upholstery for the cushions. Note the side table, it can be used to conveniently store your magazine or hi-fi record collection.

And finally, we have the Playroom Set, including the bar. Just move the complete set into your basement rumpus room and you can be the instant hit of the neighborhood.

Trader Vic's vs. Don the Beachcomber in Denver - End of Story

2010-12-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

This story is almost over, but there’s still one more part. Trader Vic’s had closed at the Denver Hilton in 1985 and left the Denver market, but can you guess who moved into that vacant spot at the Hilton? Yep, Don the Beachcomber followed Vic’s a second time and opened in 1986 after they left the Cosmo. They only lasted a few years, but incredibly Denver had two different hotels that both hosted a Trader Vic’s and a Don the Beachcomber. Some cities were lucky if they got one location, Denver had five versions!

In summary:

Don the Beachcomber
-Cosmopolitan Hotel (downtown Denver) 1978-1984
-Ramada Renaissance Hotel (Aurora) 1981-1986
-Denver Hilton (downtown) 1986-1988

Trader Vic’s -Cosmopolitan Hotel 1962-1978
-Denver Hilton (downtown) 1978-1985

Several years later I discovered what happened to the auctioned contents from Don the Beachcomber when the Cosmo shut down. The Denver Post article stated that everything had been purchased for $65,000 was being moved to the west side of town.

The auctioned décor ended up at a Ramada Inn at the corner of 6th Avenue and Simms Street in Lakewood, CO (now a Ford car dealership). The Ramada had a lobby bar called Captain Bligh’s Tavern.

They also had a restaurant called The Beachcomber.

So the décor in the Ramada Beachcomber at this point was third generation, It came from Don the Beachcomber in the Cosmo, who had inherited it from Trader Vic’s when it was originally installed.

Captain Bligh’s and The Beachcomber Restaurant opened in 1985 and operated until the early 1990s before finally shutting down. This place was right in my own backyard and is another example of missing the boat. I never went inside and didn’t make the connection to Don’s and Trader Vic’s until years later after the place was closed and it was too late.

The end …to this long winded and complex story!

Trader Vic's vs. Don the Beachcomber in Denver - Part 6

2010-12-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

The late 1970s and early 1980s was a good time for tiki bars in Denver. Vic's and Dons were both open and operating downtown. Then, in 1981, while still operating at the Cosmo, Don’s opened a second location in the Denver area, out in Aurora in the Ramada Renaissance Hotel.

For a short period of time (1981-1984), Denver was the place to be for tiki bars. Trader Vic’s in the Downtown Hilton was open, Don the Beachcomber in the Plaza Cosmopolitan was open (only 3 blocks away), and a second Don the Beachcomber was also open in Aurora. To top that off, the best of all of Denver’s tiki establishments was also operating at the same time, Tommy Wong’s Island (interior designed by famed tiki restaurant designer George Nakashima, who also designed the Mai Kai updates, the Mauna Loa in Detroit and all of the Kon Tiki/Ports O Call for Stephen Crane Associates). It is really surprising that tiki lasted so late into the 1980’s here in Denver.

A listing from a 1981 phone book for both of the Don the Beachcomber locales.

When the Cosmo closed, they held an estate sale and literally everything was for sale. There was a story about the sale in an old Denver Post newspaper article and I remember the first guy in line was there to buy the entire firearm collection from the Gun Room. The article also said that the entire contents of Don the Beachcomber had already been purchased by a single buyer before the public sale for $65,000.

As scheduled, the Cosmo came down in May 1984.

And that new office building that was to be built in its place? The site remains a parking lot to this day. The red circle was the location for both Trader Vic’s and Don the Beachcomber.

You can see the Brown Palace across the street (right side of the photo). She is 100+ years now.

Trader Vic's vs. Don the Beachcomber in Denver - Part 5

2010-12-09T07:42:00.000-08:00

Trader Vic's moved out of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in 1978 and into the Hilton. Then in 1985 they moved out of the Hilton and left Denver. But wait, that’s not the end of the story.

When Vic’s moved out of the Cosmo, they dismantled their signature Chinese ovens, so the new restaurant tenant would not be able to duplicate their food that they would be serving over in the Hilton. But they left all of the interior wall decor in place (e.g., bamboo, thatch, Chinese tiles, etc.). Can you guess who moved in? Don the Beachcomber. Yes that’s right, they moved in and opened in 1979.

An article from September 1978 discussing Don the Beachcomber moving into the former Trader Vic’s location in the Cosmopolitan Hotel (click to enlarge and you can read most of the text).

I find the title interesting ‘Take 15’, I assume the Cosmo locale was the 15th in the franchise at that time?

Don the Beachcomber Cosmo locale ad from 1981.

The Cosmo hosted a Trader Vic’s and a Don the Beachcomber in the exact same place. Unfortunately for the Beachcomber, the Cosmo was on her last leg and the hotel was sold in 1982. The new owner planned to demolish the Cosmo and build a new office building in its place. Don wasn’t there for long (1979-1982). But here is a shot taken in 1982 shortly before they closed.

I reversed this detail shot and compared it against the drawing for the Trader Vic's entrance, it is the same (click to enlarge a little).

You can make out the two large exterior tikis and the hanging outrigger canoe.

The article above says that all of the restaurant fixtures were owned by the Cosmo, so Vic's could not take them when they left. When Don the Beachcomber stepped in, they had a ready made tiki bar, tikis and all. All they had to do was change the sign out front.

Trader Vic's vs. Don the Beachcomber in Denver - Part 4

2010-12-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of the main lobby of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in the early 1960's when Trader Vic's opened. It is a beautiful example of mid century design. The front doors that lead to Broadway are in the center of the photo. The lobby entrance to Vic's is just to the left of the main doors.

The Cosmo also had a formal restaurant called the ‘Gun Room’. It had a classic collection of firearms mounted on the walls. The guns had been used to tame the old west. One of the walls housed a collection of buffalo hunting rifles that once belonged to Wild Bill Cody (Buffalo Bill).

Fast forward a few years to 1968, and Vic’s is the victim of a burglary. One of the large exterior tikis was stolen (shown in the sketches in Part 3). I found reference to the theft, but this card at the Denver Library Western History Collection is incorrect. I looked at all variations for that date and could not find the story.

Knowing that one of these large exterior tikis might be floating around the Denver area has always been in the back of my mind. I always keep and extra eye open when browsing antique stores, estate sales and auctions. Maybe I’ll find him someday.

Into the 1970s, and the Cosmo was beginning to show her age. She was now 50 years old and Vic wanted something newer, fresher. The Trader Vic’s corporation already had an established deal with the Hilton chain in other cities, so they moved. Back in 1960, Hilton had opened the brand new Denver Hilton and was thrilled to have Trader Vic’s move in. So in 1978, Trader Vic’s closed up shop at the Cosmo and moved to the Denver Hilton just 3 blocks away.

This is the Denver Hilton in the background and the IM Pei designed structure in the foreground.

1979 ad for Trader Vic’s after they moved out of the Cosmo and into the Hilton in 1978. But it was not all roses when Vic’s moved into their new location. The Polynesian Pop movement was barely standing on its last legs and Vic’s closed up shop in the Hilton in 1985. Never to return to Denver.

Trader Vic's vs. Don the Beachcomber in Denver - Part 3

2010-12-06T07:41:00.000-08:00

When we left our story, Victor Bergeron opened the Outrigger Restaurant in the Cosmopolitan Hotel on 1962 and things were going very well.

This is a great color brochure for the Cosmo featuring the Outrigger on the front cover.

A couple of years roll by, things are going great. In 1964, Western Hotels run this advertisement for the Cosmopolitan Hotel. It is a nice exterior shot and it looks like the folks are dressed up for an evening out. At the right edge of the picture you can see the signage for Trader Vic’s Outrigger. The street A-frame entrance to the restaurant is just off the picture (missed it by that much).

But that’s ok, here is the next best thing I can do. It is a rendering for the exterior street side entrance.

Sometime in the mid 1960’s, Vic’s makes the decision to officially change the Outrigger to a Trader Vic’s and runs this ad in the Denver Post newspaper.

Aloha Lanes Bowling Alley

2010-12-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

Pardon the interruption folks, we'll get back to the Trader Vic's vs. Don the Beachcomber story on Monday. Today I have something truly spectacular to share with you.

The other day I was surfing the blogs that I regularly read and found this beautiful post on Mike Cozart's blog Design & Model. Mike has created a prototype model that will later be made available as a kit for purchase for model enthusiasts.

It is called 'Aloha Lanes' and it is a Southern California bowling complex set in a South Seas setting. The model includes the 'Tiki Cove Coffee Shop' and 'The Pele Room Cocktail Lounge'. You can read Mike's story about the model and check out lots more pics over on his blog.

Kudos Mike, that's a spectacular model!

Trader Vic's vs. Don the Beachcomber in Denver - Part 2

2010-12-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

Part 1 ended with Trader Vic opening an Outrigger restaurant in the Cosmopolitan in 1962. Vic had also created other Outrigger locations, including the Benjamin Franklin Hotel in Seattle, Washington.

Outrigger location in Seattle, Washington

Outrigger location in Seattle, Washington

This is a postcard of the interior of the Outrigger in Denver. It is a very common postcard and very easy to find, I probably have 15 copies in my collection.

Another postcard of the interior of the Outrigger in Denver. This card is much more rare and difficult to find.

A rare brochure for the Outrigger in Denver. The only copy I have ever seen is in Mimi Payne’s collection. You can see it over at Arkiva Tropika.

Trader Vic's vs. Don the Beachcomber in Denver - Part 1

2010-11-30T19:00:00.000-08:00

The history of Trader Vic’s and Don the Beachcomber here in Denver is quite an interesting tale. These franchises’ complex history in this market are so intertwined, you have to tell the story of both of them to hear the full story. Our story starts at the Cosmopolitan Hotel…

The Cosmo was built in 1926 and was located at 1790 Broadway in downtown Denver. It was located directly across the street from one of our other historic hotels, The Brown Palace. This is the Cosmo when it was first built.

When the Polynesian Pop culture movement began heating up, Vic Bergeron opened an Outrigger Restaurant in the Cosmo in 1962. The promotional material for the Outrigger states that the restaurant is ‘created’ by Trader Vic, but the location is not considered a full blown Trader Vic’s (yet).

This is the Cosmo in 1957, looking north along Broadway. The Brown Palace is on the left and the Cosmo is on the right. The Outrigger will move into the red circled area 5 years after this photo was taken.

To be continued...

Kona Kai,Philadelphia, PA - Part 3

2010-11-28T07:36:00.000-08:00

From the architectural rendering below, you can see the planned exterior A-framed entrance to the Kona Kai in the lower right corner.

Then Armet & Davis created this beautiful set of detail drawings for the entrance, including a Papua New Guinea inspired Frigate bird to top out the front header beam.

When the Kona Kai was finally built, they did put the Frigate bird at the front, however, notice that the detailed patterns shown on the blueprint were placed on the interior of the A-frame, not the exterior. I assume this was done to protect the artwork from the Pennsylvania harsh winter weather.

At night, the entrance was even more grand when the lights and torches were turned on.

In December 2007, the Frigate bird was posted for sale on eBay for $3,500. I don't remember it selling and the auction details are long gone, but the piece still exists....somewhere...

Kona Kai, Philadelphia, PA - Part 2

2010-11-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

Today we continue examing more blueprints and drawings prepared by Armet & Davis for the Philidelphia Kona Kai. These plans were developed for the column tikis and carved wooden panels inside the restaurant.

The drawing above is interesting because it clearly shows two different design styles inside the restaurant, a cartoon "Disneyized" tiki on the left and a traditional Maori design for the panels.

Take a look at the carved Maori panel you can see on the interior picture of the restaurant I showed in Part 1 of this series and compare to the drawings, they were right on.

Architectural plans from the collection of Armet & Davis and Sven Kirsten.

Kona Kai, Philadelphia, PA - Part 1

2010-10-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

In the last round of posts exploring Trader Vic's architecture, we saw that Vic's aligned himself with the Hilton hotel chain. But he was not the only tiki franchise to be associated with a major hotel brand. Stephen Crane & Associates opened his chain of Kon Tiki/Kon Tiki Ports restaurants and partnered with Sheraton.

Marriott, the last of the major hotel chains did not want to be left out, so they opened a few select Kona Kai restaurants in various locations around the United States.

The Philadelphia Marriott got the flagship Kona Kai restaurant, opened in 1961, it was designed by famed Googie architectural firm Armet & Davis of Los Angeles, California.

As part of the initial planning, Armet & Davis created this architectural rendering for the interior lagoon, including a multi-tiered waterfall.

Then they created a color conceptual rendering. Note that the waterfall has been scaled down a bit, but the bridge crossing the lagoon concept remained.

After the construction was finished, the completed version turned out pretty close as to what was portrayed in the color rendering.

Tiki House for sale - Anaheim, California

2010-10-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, a reader of this blog sent me a link to an MLS listing for an exotic house for sale in Anaheim, California (Thanks Cindy!).

I happened to be back out in Los Angeles this week, so I stopped by to check it out.

This 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house was built in 1961 (the height of the Polynesian Pop craze in Southern California) and they are asking $525,000. For those hardcore tikiphiles who pay regular visits to the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland, this house is located less than 2 miles from Disneyland's main gate.

This house has a fantastic roofline, including eight of these ornamental exposed beams. The design of this house is exotic, but not specifically tiki. Depending on the color scheme of the house, the roofing materials and the exterior landscaping, it could be transformed into Chinese Modern or Tiki.

There are black lava rock planters all along the front of the house and at the recessed front door entry. They have also placed the lava rock as facia for the bottom portion of the exterior walls (right side of photo). The landscaping could use some serious TLC and upkeep, but lots of potential here.

Garage roof details

In the backyard, the house has a themed rock swimming pool (in desperate need of cleaning!) These last three pictures were taken from the MLS listing webpage, hence the poor quality, it looks like they were taken on a cell phone.

Imagine the backyard poolside luaus here, looks fun

If you find yourself in Anaheim and want to see this fine example of residential exotic architecture, it is located at 1635 West Ricky Avenue.

Trader Vic's Architecture - Part 3

2010-10-16T12:20:00.001-07:00

Today we will step it up one more notch and take a look at some of Trader Vic's finest exterior designs. These restaurants were all constructed as free standing buildings and were not inside of their respective hotel lobby.

Our first stop will require a trip down to the Caribean. Vic's had two locations in the Caribean, one in Havana, Cuba and the other in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

San Jaun, Puerto Rico

Trader Vic's was located at the Caribe Hilton. From the street, the entrance looks similar to the A-frames we examined in Part 2 of this series.

However, after you entered the doors, you passed thru the hotel lobby to the restaurant on the back side of the hotel which overlooked the gardens and lagoon.

Next we have to travel north of the border to Canada.....

Vancouver, British Columbia

Trader Vic's was located in the Bayshore Inn (seen in the lower right corner).

This Vic's was unique because it was the only location you could travel via watercraft to the restaurant.

Here you can see a boat docked right in front of the restaurant, that would be a great evening, boating to and from Trader Vic's for dinner and drinks.

Here is a great shot of the building where you can see the petro glyphs that were so common to Vic's.

Because they were not limited by the ceiling height inside of the hotel lobby, the free standing Vic's had very tall, soaring interior roof lines.

Vic's has since closed at the Bayshore Inn, but that's not the end of the story. The building was purchased by a couple several years ago and they had it relocated to Vancouver Island. Moving a structure that size was quite a job and involved lifting the restaurant onto a barge, floating over to the island and then lifting it onto a truck for the drive to its final resting place.

The company who moved the building, Nickel Bros House Moving, has several pictures of the move on their website.

Our final stop on this tour, put on your cowboy hat and spurs....

Scottsdale, Arizona

The Scottsdale Trader Vic's is unique for two reasons. First, it was one of a very few free standing buildings. Secondly, it was unique in the fact that it was the only Trader Vic's that was built as a stand alone restaurant, there was no adjacent Hilton hotel, this was just a Trader Vic's restaurant on it's own.

It was located in the Fifth Avenue Shopping District in Scottsdale (an upscale suburb of Phoenix).

You can see Vic's roofline along the right side of the above picture.

Looking the other way back down 5th Avenue.

A common postcard from the Scottsdale Trader Vic's, highlighting a beautiful Arizona sunset.

Trader Vic's Architecture - Part 2

2010-10-14T08:43:00.000-07:00

In Part 1 of this series we examined some of the more bland and quite frankly boring, exterior facades for Trader Vic’s. Today we will step it up one notch and take a look at some of the Trader Vic’s locations that made more of a splash with their exteriors. These all had some type of exotic A-frame of Port cochere at their front doors.

Portland, Oregon

The Portland Trader Vic’s was located in the Benson Hotel.

You can see they had large exterior signage for the restaurant and down in the lower left hand corner you can see the street side entrance directly into the lounge.

Portland had a very nice thached large A-frame covering the door.

St Louis, Missouri

Trader Vic’s St. Louis was located in the Bel Air Hotel.

Here we see a different exterior design down in the lower right corner. Note the large three story soaring A-frame at the front door. This was not the thatched version like we saw in Portland, this was a sleeker version, more Asian in design.

Washington, DC

Trader Vic’s DC was located in the Hotel Statler.

This is the common exterior view for the Washington DC Vic’s. They used a thatched A-Frame over the front door. The inside of the A-frame was decorated with petro glyphs depicting everyday life in the South Seas. The A-frame with the petro glyphs became a very common exterior design for Vic’s and we will see it again many times.

Note, the two fantastic massive Moai at front door were carved by Barney West.

New York City, New York

Trader Vic’s NYC existed in two different locations. The original version was located in the Savoy Hilton, it then moved to the Plaza Hotel. Interesting note, at one time the Plaza Hotel was owned by Donald Trump, his then wife Ivana did not like the Trader Vic’s, she thought it was too tacky, so they shut it down.

Here you can see the South Seas petro glyphs.

Beverly Hills, California

The Trader Vic’s is still located in the Beverly Hilton on Wilshire Boulevard. However, the original location in the hotel was closed in 2009 and it was relocated poolside. The new locale does not have any the charm or atmosphere of the original.

As seen from the parking lot, looking at the street side entrance.

The Beverly Hills Vic’s had these really fantastic murals sculpted into the concrete walls along the front.

The Beverly Hills Vic’s from the back, as seen along Wilshire Blvd.

Dallas, Texas

The Dallas Vic’s was located in the Dallas Hilton. It opened in 1961 and then closed in the 1980’s. However, when it closed, all they did was shut the doors and kept them locked. The interior remained untouched. Two decades later, the restaurant was reopened in 2007. It was like a time machine stepping inside and traveling back to an original Trader Vic’s. Sadly, shortly after New Year’s eve 2009/2010, the restaurant closed again, this time for good. The interior has been gutted and is being renovated.

This was the original Port Cochere for the Dallas Vic’s. This time they stepped away from the South Seas design for the exterior and it had more of an Asian flair. This entrance had been demolished and the front entrance had been remodeled at the time of the 2007 reopening.

In Part 3 of this series we will look at the most elaborate of the Trader Vic’s exteriors, the free standing buildings.

Trader Vic's Architecture - Part 1

2010-10-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Today I’m going to start a new multi-part series looking at the architecture of Trader Vic’s. While there is no disputing the highest quality of the food, drinks and interior atmosphere found in the original Vic’s locations, surprisingly, a lot of the exterior facades for Trader Vic’s were quite tame.

For many years, the Trader Vic’s franchise was associated with Hilton hotels, and most of their restaurants were located inside or adjacent to a Hilton. We’ll start this series with a look at some of the simplest Trader Vic’s exteriors.

Atlanta, Georgia.

Atlanta was one of the last original Vic’s to open. It is located in the basement of the Downtown Hilton and is still operating today (go visit if you want to experience the last operating classic TV now that the Dallas location has shut down)

From the street, you would not even know that Trader Vic’s was hiding in there.

But as you approach from the sidewalk, you can see the street entrance

However, if you enter the restaurant form the lobby, you must first ride the elevator down to the basement, where you will find this small entrance gate into the restaurant.

Chicago, Illinois

The original TV was located in the basement of the Palmer Hilton in downtown Chicago. That location has since closed and TV has opened a new location downtown.

The interior entrance to the Palmer Hilton TV was a little on the bland side.

Detroit, Michigan

Exterior entrance to the downtown Hilton in Detroit

Detail of the entrance in Detroit

San Francisco, California

The San Francisco location had a bland canvas awning, flanked with simple tikis on each side, leading up to some nice carved wooden doors.

Seattle, Washington

The Seattle TV was still a simple exterior façade. However, with the addition of the thatched awning, the Tahitian fish trap lamps, the tapa patterns and the Moai at the front door, this locale showed a glimpse of the incredible atmosphere to be found inside.

Trader Vic’s was one of the key players back in the day of classic Polynesian Pop Culture. Surprisingly, there were dozens and dozens of other tiki restaurants that were much more exotic and elaborate than Trader Vic’s from the outside. That said, the magic of Trader Vic’s really happened after you stepped inside the restaurant, sipped a Mai Tai and let the let your troubles slip away. That’s where Vic’s competitors had a hard time keeping up, he was a master.

In Part 2 of the series we will look at the next level of exterior design for Vic’s and the locations that had a little more flair.

Tikiyaki Polynesian Village Hotel - Waikiki

2010-10-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

Tikiyaki is at it again. Check out their new web page for the Tikiyaki Polynesian Village Hotel, currently under construction in Waikiki, slated to open in the spring of 2011.

They created the Tikiyaki Airways persona for the release of their second albulm, so maybe this this is a precursor for a new albulm to be released next year (let's hope)!

The concept for the TPV is a slightly altered version of the Orchid Island Hotel that was posted here on the blog back in June.

They have also posted a picture of the TPV under construction (using an old blog postabout the construction of the Waikikian Hotel).

Awesome photoshop Jim, I love what you did with this this! We can all wish and dream!

Apple Valley Ranchos Park - Apple Valley, California

2010-09-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

Desert tiki, it's my favorite tiki sub genere!

There's just something about Polynesian Pop culture elements set in the desert sun and extreme heat with not a drop of water in sight. The tikis are out of place and don't belong, but it works. There were a handfull of desert tiki hotspots back in the day, including Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Phoenix and Tucson.

Just outside of San Bernadino, California, up in the high desert along Interstate 15 to Las Vegas, is the community of Apple Valley. Here you can find Apple Valley Ranchos.

The mobile home park is not much to look at from the road and the sign is obscured behind the bushes....

But if you take a closer look behind the bushes you will find the hidden tiki.

The tiki is in a small wood shingled A-frame and is still in great condition. The paint is not peeling so you can still clearly see his original simple design.

Inside the complex there is not much happening. Very few hints or details remain of any type of Polynesin architecture that may have once existed.

Kwan Yin Apartments - Westminster, California

2010-09-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

The Kwan Yin apartment complex in Westminster, CA is a beautiful example of a classic Southern California modern dingbat. While not tiki in theme, the developer still stayed in the exotic genere for decor, but instead, opted to go with a Chinese Modern look.

The two tone color scheme used throughout the complex is simple but very appealing and the complex is still well maintained.

Beautiful font selected for the name on the front of the building.

How about this entrance.....it's fantastic! It looks like a piece of modern sculpture. Check out that round gate door that swings on a pivot, beautiful!

In the interior courtyard maintains the two tone color scheme, has plenty of lush landscaping and is clean and well kept. But of course, your eyes are instantly drawn to the butterfly A-frame structure. Too bad they had to put up the child safety fence around the pool, it really spoils the view.

Disneyland Hotel Tahitian Terrace 2.0 – Update 9/10

2010-09-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

Work has begun on the transformation of the Hook’s Pointe Restaurant at the Disneyland Hotel. The restaurant is being transformed into a new eatery with Tahitian architecture reminiscent of the original Tahitian terrace restaurant previously located inside Disneyland. I ran a six part series here on my blog a few months ago detailing the project and what we might expect the final product to look like inside and out.

Today we have a few pictures detailing the start of the project. Images are from the excellent Disney website MiceAge and their Disneyland Resort Project Tracker.

Construction fencing is in place and scaffolding begins to rise around the old Hook’s Pointe restaurant.

A corner of the dining room portion of the building.

Croc’s Bites on the left and The Lost Bar in the background.

Croc’s and The Lost Bar. The Master Plan shows that these two buildings will be demolished to make way for the new themed pool.

Remembering the Kahiki

2010-08-31T08:56:00.000-07:00

Last week the Columbus Dispatch ran an article remembering the Kahiki restaurant on the 10 year Anniversary of its closing. I’ve copied the article and the photos here so if the newspaper takes the story offline in the future, we will still have access to it. Enjoy!

10 years after torches go out, Kahiki memories live
Restaurant with Polynesian theme has devoted fans
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
By Elizabeth Gibson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

No restaurant with a fire-breathing stone head has ever captured the hearts of Columbus quite like the Kahiki.

The Polynesian eatery took Tiki kitsch to the max with an aviary, indoor thatch huts, umbrella-topped drinks, waterfalls and the deep thrum of drums.
Ten years ago today, the Kahiki closed its doors to make way for a Walgreens pharmacy. The Kahiki name lives on in a Gahanna-based frozen-food company, but company President Alan Hoover says he still gets calls about the restaurant.
"Two months ago, I was leaving the office in the evening and a couple was walking up the front walkway," he said. "I asked if I could help them, and they said, 'Yes, we'd like to have dinner tonight.'

"It's amazing that these things are still happening."

The Kahiki, at 3583 E. Broad St., was the brainchild of Bill Sapp and Lee Henry, also the creators of the Top Steak House near Bexley. Their temple of Tiki opened in 1961 after their Tiki bar, the Grass Shack, burned down.
They built the Kahiki for more than $1 million (about $7.3 million today). Sapp said they sold it to help them finance a new restaurant, the Wine Cellar, also long gone now.

"We were sorry within two weeks that we sold it," he said. "We had this great big gong, like 4 to 5 feet across, that went bong, and right after we sold it they replaced it with this little thing that went ting."
The restaurant went through multiple owners. The last was Michael Tsao, who started the frozen-food business and sold the property to Walgreens. Hoover said it was a smart business move. The restaurant was draining, and Tsao wanted more time to focus on expanding the factory.

Tsao's son Jeff said that before his father unloaded the restaurant he had grand dreams for relocating the Kahiki to the riverfront Downtown. But it never panned out because the factory got busy and government support fell short. Then his father died unexpectedly.

"I don't know if it could ever happen again," Jeff Tsao said. "But we're very, very pleased and thankful that we still have so many fans."

But that doesn't necessarily soften the blow.

"I think a lot of people are still bitter about it. We all miss it," said Stu Koblentz, who was a member of the Ohio Preservation Alliance when the organization labeled the Kahiki one of the top 10 endangered historic buildings in Ohio.
Kahiki fans say the restaurant was a place for special occasions and fond memories.
There are dozens of active Kahiki tribute websites and discussion boards. There are photo albums on TikiCentral.org full of Kahiki swag - drink stirrers, napkins, toothpicks, salt shakers and matchbooks.

Tiki enthusiasts write books and poetry about the restaurant. Columbus resident Jeff Chenault unearthed a 1965 recording of the Beachcomber Trio at the Kahiki.
Dionysus Records produced vinyl copies for sale online, and they're selling.
Other Ohioans remember a prom night, an anniversary getaway, playing table games in the basement or bouncing with excitement as a child, sipping virgin mixed drinks and roasting meatballs over an open flame. Zsa Zsa Gabor famously ordered milk.
"When I was a kid and we'd drive by the huge sloping roof with dragons and torches, it always seemed to me to be a grounded ship on E. Broad Street," Newark resident Lesa Best said in an e-mail.

"There were macaws in the bar, and the booth walls were lined with aquariums, or 'rain forests' complete with thunderous sound effects. By the '80s, it was past its prime, definitely, and cheesy? Yes it was. But my friends and family loved going because it was different, it was campy and the food was really quite good.
"I long for just one more Mystery Drink."

Each time someone made a pilgrimage to the Kahiki, they would take word back to their hometowns.

"When I was a kid growing up in Pittsburgh, my dad regularly traveled to Columbus on business," said Worthington resident Bill Nordquist. "We had a postcard picture of the exterior, and in the mid-1970s I had never seen anything like that."
Even some people who never went to the Kahiki said they were dismayed to hear it would be torn down.

Jennifer Akers grew up nearby and begged her parents to take her there for her birthday. They told her the Kahiki wasn't in the budget for a family of six, so she never set a foot inside.

But when she heard the Kahiki was auctioning off its wares, she had her chance. Now she owns a copy of its blueprints.

"I spent hours and lots of dollars buying treasure," she said. "I have boxes of menus, match boxes, napkins, cups. I have the boss' couch right out of his office."
New Yorker Frank Decaro flew to Columbus when he heard the Kahiki was closing. Ten years later, he still can't believe they tore it down.

"At the point when the last great Tiki bar closes, someone will open a new one and everyone will say these are great," he said. "It's a shame we always seem to realize too late how much things mean to us."

Timeline
1961 | Bill Sapp and Lee Henry open the Kahiki after their Tiki bar, the Grass Shack, burns down.

1988 | After a slew of owners, Michael Tsao buys out his partner and takes over the restaurant.

1995 | Tsao starts a frozen-food company next door to the restaurant.

1997 | The Kahiki is put on the National Register of Historic Places.

April 17, 2000 | Walgreens confirms that it wants to build a store where the Kahiki sits.

June 30, 2000 | Tsao says that he will sell the Kahiki to Walgreens but never reveals how much money it took.

Aug. 25, 2000 | The Kahiki closes its doors before a private farewell party the next day.

July 22, 2005 | Michael Tsao unexpectedly dies 10 weeks after the realization of his dream of moving the company into a bigger factory. The company is in debt and in mourning.

2006 | A group of former Kahiki employees opens a restaurant called Tropical Bistro, but it lasts for only two years.

May 2007 | A Pittsburgh company buys Kahiki for $11.7 million, although the factory stays in Gahanna.

2010 | The company makes almost $50 million in sales a year and sells 70 products in groceries across the country. President Alan Hoover said it still makes many of the dishes from the Kahiki menu.

Source: Dispatch archives

The exterior of the Kahiki restaurant, a longtime landmark on East Broad Street.

The dramatic entrance to the Kahiki.

The restaurant under construction in 1961. Manager-to-be Hal Naguchi with Lee Henry, one of the two owners of Kahiki at the time, under arches depicting a New Guinea meeting house.

Micheal Tsao, owner of the Kahiki at the time it closed in 2000.

Detail from a promotional brochure showing the layout of the restaurant.

Detail from the menu of exotic drinks.

The famous Mystery Drink would be delivered to the table by a Mystery Girl. The drink served four people.

Visitors from Chicago share a Mystery Drink in August 2000. Many people wanted to make a last visit to the restaurant before it closed.

The Kahiki featured various exotic birds and fish. Maintaining them was the job of Jim Rush.

On Oct. 31, 2000, the fireplace Tiki god was lifted through a hole in the roof of the closed restaurant.

Tiki Tour of Southern California Book

2010-08-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

Since 1994, I have been researching, hunting and tracking down as many tiki apartment complexes in Orange and Los Angeles Counties (ground zero for tiki apartments) as I could document. I spent countless hours in libraries scanning old phonebooks, newspapers and real estate guides and driven LOTS of miles trying to document what was left of these exotic places.

I didn't want all of that research to go to waste, so in 2005 I put it all together into a booklet titled A Tiki Tour of Southern California. At the time, it was pretty accurate list of what was left if you wanted to go out and explore exotic tiki architecture.

There was a little artwork included.

The first edition contained over 70 listings for tiki places, also included were another 40+ mid century modern and googie points of interest. Each listing I provided a picture of the place (most of them I had visited) and the address. There was also a main map which showed all of the listings around the two counties.

The map was 11 x 17 and folded into the booklet 'click to enlarge'

I updated the booklet a year later and the second edition of the contained over 100+ tiki listings. It also had two bonus tiki tours. The first was a tour of Palm Springs and the second was a tour of San Diego. The tour of San Diego was created by San Diego artist Bosko and was originally published in Tiki News #8 (Fall 1996 Issue).

I made about 40 copies of the booklet and gave them away for free to friends at the Tiki Oasis event the last year that it was hosted in Palm Springs. My friend Tiki Kate was the first (and only other person I know of) to complete the tour a few years ago, so I made a mock up badge for her.

Tiki in the US Air Force

2010-07-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hickam Air Force Base is located on the Island of Oahu in Hawaii, adjacent to Pearl Harbor. It was built in 1947 as part of the reconstruction of the US military at Pearl Harbor (when is was destroyed in December 1941 by the Japanese).

Hickam AFB is currently headquarters for the Hawaii Air National Guard. The HNG sports a tiki in their logo, as do many of the squadrons that are stationed at Hickam.

Hickam is also home to the 154th Wing of the Hawaii National Guard.

The 154th Wing has several different squadrons assigned to it, including the 199th Fighter Squadron. The 199FS has a few different logos with tikis.

When the 199FS became operational in 1947, they flew the P-47 Thunderbolt, with tiki logos soaring high.

You can see the tiki with wings logo on the nose of these Thunderbolts.

The 199FS is still based on Oahu, but today they fly the F-15 Strike Eagle and the F-22 Raptor to serve and protect.

One of the other squardons serving under the 154th Wing at Hickam that sports a tiki logo is the 203rd Air Refueling Squardon. They operate the KC-135 Stratotanker.

A quick thank you to all the men and women past and present that serve and protect the United States in our armed forces.

Hali Kalani Apartments - Whittier, California

2010-07-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Next time you find yourself in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier, you are in for a real tiki treat. Your first stop, should of course be Oceanic Arts to shop and browse all of the incredible Polynesian Pop items, décor and materials they have for sale. However, when you are done shopping, before you jump back onto the California freeways, make a quick detour 10 minutes south along Whittier Boulevard and you will find the beautiful Hali Kalani apartments.

The main entrance into the complex leads thru this beautifully maintained A-Frame.

I love the way the concrete stairs slabs that lead up to the door are offset from each other.

Here are the only remaining tikis I found in the complex. It appears that a local tikiphile lives here.

The backside of the A-frame taken from the interior courtyard.

It wouldn’t be Southern California without the palm trees and giant albino bird of paradise plants to provide the lush tropical atmosphere.

If you want to stop by for a visit, you can find the Hali Kalani Apartments at 10041 Scott Avenue in Whittier, California.

South Pacific Apartments - Hawthorne, CA

2010-07-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

In the South Bay city of Hawthorne, California (original home to the Beach Boys, where they started and wrote many of the biggest hits)are the South Pacific apartments.

They have a nice A-frame over the entrance into the corutyard. I really like the brown batten wooden siding that starts on the second floor. It gives the appearance of a treehouse or hut.

The rock facia around the courtyard entrance appears that there may have been a water feature here in the past. I expect there were probably duel water fountains on each side of the lobby door.

I like the rough end cut on the exposed header beam and the weathered brown paint adds a beachcomber feel to the complex.

As expected, there are no longer any tikis here, but with the tropical landscaping inside the courtyard, we can only imagine what used to be here several decades ago.

If you want to stop by the South Pacific apartments for a visit, you can find them at 13020 Kornblum Ave., Hawthorne, California.

Mid Century Goodness - Part 3

2010-07-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

Today we wrap up our look at the wacky world of Lake George with a visit to the Magic Forest.

The day I stopped by the Magic Forest, it was raining so the Diving Horse show was canceled. I really wanted to see it, how often do you get a chance like that?

It wouldn't be Lake George without more concrete sculptures. This time we find Uncle Sam, Santa Claus and another Paul Bunyan greeting us in the parking lot.

Right on the edge of the parking lot, along SR 9, you can find this beatiful work of art to help draw folks into the park. When was the last time you saw Mighty Mouse riding an elephant?

Wouldn't it be fun to take this out for a spin around town?

A damsel in distress being rescued by the prince.......

It looks like the prince runs up and down the tower along this track. He was either broken or not running while I was there.

More giant characters around the park.

They also have a safari train ride thru the magical forest. It does not run on tracks, it's more like a hayride along this bike path.

So after seeing all the kitchy roadside goodness the Town of Lake George has to offer, when you drive by the Tiki Resort, it does not seem unusual at all, in fact it fits right in!

Mid Century Goodness - Part 2

2010-07-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

Mini Golf Mania!

You can’t throw a rock in Lake George without hitting a putt putt golf course. I found 8 courses with a 6 minute drive each way of the Tiki Resort. They are everywhere.

You want pirates, they’ve got pirates.

The Lake George area must be the concrete sculpture capital of the world. Cartoon characters, animals, dinos, folk heroes, exotic places and landmarks, you can find all them in Lake George. Let’s take a look at two of the wackiest courses you can play.

A Mohican Indian and Tom Sawyer’s Tree house.

Catch a wave in Hawaii.

Paul Bunyan is popular around here, you can find him in a few different places.

Don’t forget your parka, it gets cold in Norway.

The Spanish Guitar.

How about a trip to the Orient……Japan……

…..or maybe a ride in a rickshaw in Hong Kong.

But this hole was my favorite. If you can hit your ball up the little ramp in front of the kangaroo and jump it into the pouch, it comes out his tail pipe around back.

Golf Around the World is a great course, but hands down, the kitschiest course has got to be Goony Golf.

It’s the Gooniest!

What a great mascot they have.

Several of the characters around the course are animated, their arms or legs spin around.

My favorite dino at the course. His little arms move up and down and at night he looks wonderful when the course is lit with colored lights.

Mid Century Goodness - Part 1

2010-07-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

For the next few posts, I’m going to be taking a slight ‘non-tiki’ detour to explore the roadside mid century populuxe wonderland that the resort town of Lake George, New York has to offer. As I mentioned in my last post, Lake George is located upstate, about 1 hour north of Albany, in the Adirondack Mountains.

I was in Lake George for about 3.5 days, so while I was there I did quite a bit of exploring around town and discovered lots of great things.

How about lunch at Mr. B’s Best? They had excellent roast beef sandwiches.

Anyone want to stop for a treat at Martha’s Dandee Cream?

Step on up to the window to place your order.

Later on in the evening we could pack the kids up in the car and head over to The Glen Drive-In Theatre (an almost extinct part of Americana)

If you really want to experience the roadside kitchiness of Lake George, how about cruising along SR 9 in this 1961 Plymouth Tempest (For Sale, only $5,500).

How about heading downtown for a visit to the House of Frankenstein Wax Museum? They had some really classic/cheesy torture scenes. Note the animatronic Phantom playing the organ in the second story window.

You can see Dr. Frankenstein……

…..and his monstrous creation

When the sun sets, the neon comes on

About six miles down the road from the Tiki Resort is the Town of Glens Falls, NY. The Hudson River flows right along the edge of downtown. At the falls, there is a cave called Cooper’s Cave.

In 1826, Cooper’s Cave became famous when author James Fenimore Cooper visited the area and was inspired to write his most famous novel The Last of the Mohicans. The story is about the French Indian war that took place in upstate New York in this area. The Mohican theme is popular in the area and you will find references all over town.

A Mohican Indian stands guard at the lobby.

Then at night, more great neon.

Kids, do you want to go out and play on the Indian swing set?

More to come……

Tiki Resort 2010 - Lake George, New York

2010-07-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I traveled to upstate New York to attend the Fraternal Order of Moai National Convention and Ohana, Luau at the Lake tiki weekend in Lake George, New York. Lake George is located about an hour north of Albany, in the Adirondack Mountains. It is really a beautiful place to visit.

Lake George in the background in the Adirondacks

Here is the Tiki Resort with its midcentury goodness, including the multiple A-frames and fake palm trees.

The Paradise Building

Outrigger canoe along SR 9

There are multiple tikis around the resort. Two of these orange fellows guard the main entrance to the building. The black tiki with the ornamental headdress on the right has been standing at the Tiki Resort since it opened. Originally, it was located at the previous entrance building (shown in the 3rd picture), but after the lobby was expanded and the restaurant was added, he was moved down to the new main entrance. As I understand it, this fellow has been nameless for the decades he has been standing guard. So as part of the weekend, there was an official naming & dedication ceremony. He was named I’ke (pronounced eye-key) in honor of Dwight Eisenhower (Ike) and his establishment of the Federal Interstate Highway System and the countless roadside icons that popped up along the highways and byways.

The back of the resort. A swimming pool is behind the black iron fence. All of the weekend’s outdoor activities (when it was not raining) were happening poolside.

Detail of the mask hanging on the back of the Paradise Building.

The Tiki Resort was a great place to visit and a fantastic place to host a tiki weekender!

Disneyland Hotel Tahitian Terrace 2.0 - Part 6

2010-06-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today we wrap up this series by taking a look at the proposed concept for the interior of the new restaurant.

The interior of Hook’s Pointe

As was pointed out in Part 1, John Mauro (development manager for Walt Disney Imagineering) indicated that the restaurant will be gutted, allowing for a new interior design. But what will the interior design look like? Disney provides a clue in their initial press release “A new bar will draw on the adventure theme from the Jungle Cruise attraction.” Interesting concept for a tiki restaurant. I was able to follow up on this idea, and according to an inside source, this concept will be very similar to the décor that was used in the old Adventurer’s Club in Pleasure Island down in Walt Disney World. However, the props and items on display will revolve around the South Seas. I love this idea.

Original concept for the Adventurer’s Club in WDW.

General concept for the new restaurant, but the props will be jungle/tiki themed.

Here are a few masks that were fabricated for the WDW club and provide a glimpse of what we can expect. We may also end up seeing some of the free standing tikis as interior décor, similar to how they are used in Hong Kong.

Overall, I am very excited to see a NEW Disney tiki bar/restaurant about to start construction. I love the fact that it will be at the Disneyland Hotel, so you will not need to purchase admission to Disneyland to enjoy the place. Prepare to sip adult tiki drinks over dinner next summer when they reopen for business. Alooooha!

Tomorrow I am heading up to Lake George, NY for the Ohana, Luau at the Lake tiki weekend. After the weekend, I’ll be heading across the border to southern Ontario, Canada for a few more days of work. I’ll be back next mid week for a new post.

Postscript: If any Orange County locals have the opportunity to check in on the construction and redevelopment periodically over the next year, please let me know. I’d love to post some construction progress pictures.

Disneyland Hotel Tahitian Terrace 2.0 - Part 5

2010-06-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

If we want a glimpse of what the exterior of the new Tahitian Terrace restaurant at the Disneyland Hotel(Disney has not released if they will be calling the new restaurant the Tahitian Terrace or opening with a new name) may look like, just turn your eyes towards the east, the far east.

In September, 2005 Hong Kong Disneyland was opened. Included in Adventureland, is a version of the Tahitian Terrace restaurant. It does not have a floor show with music and dancing like the old Disneyland restaurant, but the architecture, theme, and design are all inspired by the Enchanted Tiki Room and Disneyland's Adventureland.

Hong Kong Disneyland

It is reasonable to assume that Disney may pull out their most recent plans for the Tahitian Terrace that were used in Hong Kong to help with the exterior makeover for Hook's Pointe. The footprint of the buildings are different, however Disney can easily incorporate the theme and design used in Hong Kong.

I think it is a pretty safe bet to assume that the Disneyland Hotel version will look pretty similar to these pictures.

There is no Enchanted Tiki Room attraction in Hong Kong, so the Imagineers have incorporated tikis from the Disneyland version of the attraction into the exterior gardens of the restaurant.

Now that we have an idea of what we might expect the exterior remake to look like, come back tomorrow as I wrap up this series with some information about what to expect the inside to look like.

Disneyland Hotel Tahitian Terrace 2.0 - Part 4

2010-06-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

We explored some beautiful tiki architectural renderings in Part 3, now let's take a look at the actual buildings and structures that ended up being built in Adventureland in Disneyland, California.

All of today's photos are courtesy of Daveland Blog, a wonderful Disneyland blog.

The first few pictures are dated July 18, 1955 (the second day Disneyland was open). At that time, the restaurant was called the Adventureland Pavilion.

If you look closely, you can see the Victorian architecture at the top of the building that fronted the other side of the restaurant. The restaurant on the other side was called the Plaza Pavilion and was located along Main Street.

Note the ornamental head piece at the end of the header beam, it matches the original conceptual artwork.

It looks like these last 4 pictures are from a different photographer. The colors are beautiful.

It was a different time back then. Look how well this lady is dressed for a day at Disneyland. Today, in that same picture you would see shorts, t-shirt and flip flops.

Here's a great example of how the Disney Imagineers incorporated the Victorian themed Plaza Pavilion and the exotic Adventureland Pavilion into the same structure.

Disneyland Hotel Tahitian Terrace 2.0 - Part 3

2010-06-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

Today we will take a look back at some of the conceptual artwork Disney created for the original Tahitian Terrace in Disneyland. This piece of artwork is on public display at the Disneyland Hotel for all to enjoy, however, it is difficult to photograph due to its placement and reflecting light. I have tweaked the images the best I can. However, next time you are at the Disneyland Hotel, stop by and spend a minute or two admiring this wonderful piece of artwork.

To get to the outdoor restaurant, you cross over the stream that flows into the Jungle Cruise river. The large structure is on the left and the outdoor seating and floor show is on the right, under the large tree.

The bridge leading into the Tahitian Terrace restaurant. Note, at least in this rendering, that the facility is called Polynesian Gardens.

Detail of the Entrance sign. The Tahitian Terrace opened in Disneyland in 1962 but Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room didn’t open until the following year right next door. However, the rendering for the Tahitian Terrace shows that tiki room birds were planned as part of the theme and décor.

A tiki birdhouse on top of the entrance bridge.

The large ornamental A-frame patio structure that overhangs the stream.

……with a carved tiki at the top of the header beam.

The other side of the structure has 2 additional A-frames. However, they both display African themed ornaments at the end of the header beams.

Detail under one of the other A-frames shows more tiki room birds.

The outside seating area that encircles the stage under the large tree.

Detail of the stage and floor show. Note the tiki room birds in the tree above the stage.

Final detail of hula girls, waterfalls and tikis.

Disneyland Hotel Tahitian Terrace 2.0 - Part 2

2010-06-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

Today we will take a closer look at the building that is getting the Polynesian extreme makeover and the rest of the facilities that will be demolished. According to aerial plan that Disney released in their announcement (shown in Part I of this series), most of the structures between the Hotel Towers are being removed. Here is a detail of what is staying and what is leaving.

#1 – Hook’s Pointe Restaurant & Wine Cellar.

This is the 2 story building that will be transformed into the yet to be named tiki bar and restaurant.

This interior of this restaurant will be gutted and the exterior will be redone.

#2 - Croc’s Bits ‘n Bites.

This fast food kiosk will be demolished. Hook’s Pointe is the large building behind Croc’s.

#3 – The Lost Bar.

This bar/restaurant will be demolished.

#4 – The Safari Adventure Remote Control Jungle Cruise Boats

The boat lagoon is located between the Lost Bar and the Arcade/Shop building (part of the former Seaports of the Pacific structures) and will be removed.

#5 – The former Seaports of the Pacific shops & arcade building.

This building will be demolished. You can see the Jungle Cruise RC boat lagoon in the foreground.

#6 – Waterfalls

The subterranean waterfalls and koi ponds will be removed.

#7 – Former Dancing Waters Theatre

The former Dancing Waters theatre will be removed. Amazing to compare the evening water fountain show that used to run here nightly to the current Fantasmic and World of Color shows and how far the shows have advanced.

#8 – Cove Pools and beach

The former Papette white sand beach that was also part of the former Seaports of the Pacific overlay that was around in the 1970s and 80s.

Part 3 of the series we will take a look at tiki architecture that Disney has developed thru the decades and what may be in store for the Hook’s Pointe building.

Disneyland Hotel Tahitian Terrace 2.0 - Part 1

2010-06-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, the net was buzzing with a news story that Disney released on their Parks Blog involving a makeover project at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, CA. The existing swimming pool is getting a makeover, but more exciting, the large restaurant is also receiving a makeover and will be redesigned as a classic Polynesian Pop tiki establishment along the lines of the former Tahitian Terrace restaurant in Disneyland.

The current Hook’s Pointe restaurant that will be gutted and transformed into a tiki restaurant and bar.

Several website sites have versions of the story and follow up discussions, including:

DisneyParks Blog

Tiki Central

The Orange County Register

Mice Chat Blog

Tiki Talk Blog

OC Historical Blog

According to Disney’s blog, “Two new dining locations will be introduced in the current location of Hook’s Pointe, Croc’s Bites and Bits, the Wine Cellar and the Lost Bar. A new “smart casual” dining concept will feature Tahitian architecture that is reminiscent of the ’50s and ’60s era of the hotel and the original Tahitian Terrace restaurant in Disneyland park.”

According to the story in the Orange County Register, “The overall design is meant to be an homage to the early Disneyland years and resurrect the original mid-century style of the hotel, which first opened in 1955 with two-story bungalows. The dining area next to the pools will be redone with Polynesian architecture, similar to the Tahitian Terrace restaurant that used to be inside Disneyland starting in 1962. Demolition is planned for buildings housing the Lost Bar, Croc’s Bits ‘n’ Bites, an arcade and shop. Hook’s Pointe Restaurant and Wine Cellar will be gutted. A fast, casual restaurant and enclosed bar with 1950s, retro Tiki looks will take their place, John Mauro said, development manager for Walt Disney Imagineering, who oversees hotel design.”

As part of the announcement, Disney released an aerial plan of the new project.

Here is a detail of the new Polynesian building. The footprint of the current 2-story restaurant, Hook’s Point upstairs and the Wine Cellar downstairs, will remain but will be gutted and both the interior and exterior will be redesigned.

The Disneyland Hotel will lose some long-time features: the Koi ponds, the waterfalls, the “Peter Pan” theme at the Never Land Pool area and existing water-side restaurants. The dining locations are set to be finished in the summer of 2011 and Disney is wasting no time. Last weekend while I was in Anaheim, I stopped by the site and saw workers were already starting to put up construction walls.

Workers erecting construction walls at the entrance to the waterfalls.

Disney was also in the process of draining the koi ponds….

….and removing the koi. The fish were being swept up and placed into the large coolers for transport.

I asked one of the staff who was collecting the koi what was happening to them. She told me they had been donated to the Huntington Library up in Pasadena and were being relocated to their beautiful themed gardens, including,

The Liu Fang Yuan Chinese garden at the Huntington….

…and the Japanese garden at the Huntington.

This will be a multi-part series with the next few installments looking at Disney’s tiki architecture and then exploring some of the concepts for the interior that I have been able to gather about the project.

Orange County Tiki Seminar - Wrap Up

2010-06-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Last week I traveled down to Southern California and spent a few days doing some tiki hunting. But the main reason I visited was to attend Chris Jepsen's seminar on the history of Orange County tiki. To summarize the evening in one word, it was fantastic. The tikiphiles who live in Southern California who did not attend really missed an excellent opportunity to learn about Polynesian Pop culture in their own backyard.

The event was hosted at Don the Beachcomber in Huntington Beach.

The dinner and presentation was held in the Hidden Village, the large backroom for private parties and events. The event was attended by around 100 folks, including local tikiphiles and members of the Orange County Historical Society. Also in attendance were several experts on local history, tikis and pop culture, including; Phil Brigandi (former OC archivist), Charles Phoenix (Histotainer extrodinaire), Mark Davis (aka Richard Cheese), Jody Daily & Kevin Kidney (tiki artists and local experts) and Eric Lynxwiller (local historian and author of books about the history of Wilshire Blvd. and Knott's Berry Farm).

Chris covered a wide array of topics and had some great images from the OC archives. The show was divided into chapters, including:

-Historical Tiki
-American Tiki
-The Rise of Polynesian Pop Culture
-Orange County Tiki Temples
-Bringing Home Tiki
-Enchanted Tiki Homes
-Tiki Apartments (my favorite subject!)
-Tiki Trailer Parks
-Tiki: God of Fun
-Tiki Motels
-Death of Tiki
-Tiki Rediscovered

Chris giving his presentation

The level of research was apparent that Chris had spent putting together this show. Excellent job Chris!

While I was out in Southern California, I had the chance to track down and photograph some new apartment complexes, so keep an eye open for future posts.

Architectural Renderings - Bob Adams

2010-06-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

In honor of the Hukilau, which kicks off tomorrow down in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, let's take a look at some conceptual artwork for two hotels down in the Sunshine State.

Both of the renderings were created by architectural artist Bob Adams. The first is for the Treasure Island Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida. The second piece is for the Islander Hotel in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Both hotels were part of the Best Western chain.

Each property was a generic whitewashed multi-story building. However, the lava rock facia along the ground floor and the grand port cochere entrance is enough to transform both of these resorts into a worthy representative of tiki architecture. Note a few of the little details that Bob added into his artwork, including the colored glass floats hanging at the main entrance and the cool lamposts along the back of the hotel with more colored glass floats (lower left hand corner).

This piece for the Islander is a 3/4 view, more difficult to render, but provides a greater impact to the viewer vs. the head on view of the Treasure Island resort. Note the Best Western sign in the lower right hand corner.

Great work Bob.

Jungle Island - Buena Park, California

2010-06-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

This week (Thurs.,June 10th) the Orange County Historical Society is hosting its annual summer luau meeting. The main event of the evening will be Chris Jepsen's presentation on the history of Orange County tiki. In keeping with that theme, I present what's left of Jungle Island in Buena Park, California. I imagine Chris will share some fantastic images and stories from this place from back in the day. So, today I will only share some pictures of its current status.

Great clash of architectural styles (colonial vs. tiki)

Jungle Island is part of Knott's Berry Farm and has since closed as an attraction, but I remember as a kid, my sister and and I exploring this tropical playground when we still lived in adjacent Anaheim. Knott's has since redeveloped this portion of their property into the Soak City water park and an area with pavillions to rent out (four of them designed with a Polyneisan flair) for private parties. Independence Hall is still there and you can see what's left of JI behind (the lagoon and lush landscaping remain).

The landscaping and the lagoon around the property make this place a incredible tropical oasis in the center of the urban jungle of Southern California.

See you Thurs. night at Don the Beachcombers!

Chapman Tiki House - Las Vegas, Nevada

2010-06-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

In the extreme desert heat of Las Vegas hides this tiki oasis. This wonderful south seas inspired personal residence has some great tiki architecture elements, including the peaked A-frames and extended beams. Note the large Chinese Modern front door and the dry desert landscaping always provides a great contrast to a lush tropical landscaping expectation.

This 4,451 square foot 5 bedroom home was put on the market for sale back in 2007 and was listed at $725,000.

If this place had some bamboo trim and lava rock facia added to it, it could be fantastic.

Next time you’re in Vegas, you can stop by and check it out at 1905 Chapman Drive.

Orchid Island Hotel - Hilo, Hawaii

2010-06-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh….The Big Island of Hawaii, my favorite of the Hawaiian islands. My wife and I spent a week on the Big Island back in 2000 visiting the waterfalls, rainforests, black sands beaches and the volcano. A fantastic place to visit.

We know that Polynesian Pop Culture was a unique culture almost exclusive the mainland United States. However, there are a few exceptions of tiki architecture that could be found in the Hawaiian islands, including the Orchid Island Hotel in Hilo, Hawaii.

The Hotel was located on Hilo Bay next to Coconut Island. The City of Hilo is on the wet side of the Big Island and can receive up to 200 inches of rain per year. All that rain produces incredible foliage, including the Banyan Tress that line Banyan Drive on the way to the hotel.

The hotel itself was a standard multi-story structure. But with the addition of the gorgeous ornamental 6 story A-frame entrance, the hotel took on an exotic flavor. The concept rendering shows exposed beams as part of the A-frame cover. I like the fact that the roof is not entirely covered.

However, once the entrance was constructed, it was not quite as elaborate as it was depicted in the original concept.

Kon Tiki Village Mobile Home Park - Denver, CO

2010-05-28T18:10:00.001-07:00

Several years ago while researching the history of Polynesian Pop here in Denver, I ran across this old phonebook listing for the Kon Tiki Village Mobile Home Park.

As an urban archeologist, I never get my hopes too high when first visiting a historic tiki site. Based on way too many experiences of coming up empty handed, I usually have pretty low expectations. The Kon Tiki Village falls into that category. When I first visited the site back in 1996, almost all traces of previous tikiness had been erased. However, I kept looking around and discovered the last of the tiki buildings near the swimming pool.

While I was on-site, I took this picture of the entrance of the complex wondering what this place may have looked like back in the day....?

To my great fortune, several years later after much research and digging, I was able to locate this photo for the Kon Tiki Village in the County Assessors property archives. So I went back to the to take the same photo from the same angle (that's the photo above).

Taken in November 1979, you can see the large 10' tiki standing guard at the entrance to the Village (just left of center in the pic). Also note the snow on the ground and in the bushes. Some of my favorite tiki photographs of all times depict tikis covered in snow and are completely outside of their enviornment. You can also make out the beginings out the KO...N TIKI sign on the wall.

Enjoy your long Memorial Day weekend!