Sad Tiki, by Eric Eggie Faust

If you’re like me, you’re feeling blue right now—missing out on THE west coast tiki gathering of the year, Tiki Oasis in San Diego. This year’s a biggie, too… the ten year anniversary, and Otto’s pulling out all the stops. Here in San Francisco it’s starting to feel like some kind of tiki rapture, and I’m the sad sack left behind. It’s a shame to be missing it, but sometimes you just can’t have it all.

So! What will you be doing while everyone else is having the time of their lives next week at Tiki Oasis? Hosting a Tiki N’Oasis for a few scraps of friends? Is your local tiki bar having a Tiki Fauxasis? Are you just going to sit at home with a Mai Tai in your hand and look at your lauhala matted walls, wondering what could have been?

Misery loves company, so if you know of a gathering happening near you, let me know. I’ll do a follow-up post to get the word out. Maybe we can each find our own oasis in the desert of No Tiki Oasis.

If you’re trying to get yourself into the rather sold-out Tiki Oasis and you’re late to the planning game, I have a friend with Tiki Oasis tickets and a room at the main hotel, and she can’t use them. Shoot me an email at hello@humuhumu.com and I’ll get you in touch with her. There still may be hope for you!

• Tiki Oasis

Having a wonderful time, wish you wrer here! You can follow along from home and pretend by following my Twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/humuhumu

Also, I’ve been busybusybusy adding more features to Critiki, take a look!

http://www.critiki.com

Hawaiian Punch Village at SeaWorld, from the collection of matterhorn1959

Hawaiian Punch Village was an area tucked into the back of SeaWorld in San Diego — SeaWorld used to have lots of Polynesian theming, but it’s sadly gone now. (One of SeaWorld’s creators, George Millay, also owned The Reef, a Polynesian restaurant in Long Beach.)

Matterhorn1959 has posted several tropical pictures from SeaWorld on his Stuff from the Park blog, including this picture of an unusually snazzy fellow at the Hawaiian Punch Village entrance. Even his pants look punchy. Aside from his spectacular pants (if you need another moment to revel in his polyester pant fantasia, go ahead, I’ll be right here…)… aside from that, it’s a great shot of the shields & poles that decorated the entrance.

Here’s another picture, with Hawaiian Punch Village visible in the background:

Hawaiian Punch Village at SeaWorld, from the collection of matterhorn1959

• Sea World 1973 [Stuff from the Park]
• The Reef, Long Beach [Critiki]

Tiki Oasis 8

Robert Drasnin! Waitiki! I’m there!

Taking place once again at the former Hanalei Hotel (now the snoozetastically-named Crowne Plaza), with a special Thursday night meet-and-greet at the Bali Hai. There’s also burlesque & musicians & vendors & all the usual trappings, but of course it’s really all about the room parties. Though I am hoping I can manage to not be too hungover for the seminars…

August 14-17, San Diego… way too many details to go into here… just go over to the Tiki Oasis website & buy your tickets already!

• Tiki Oasis
• Crowne Plaza, San Diego [Critiki]
• Bali Hai Restaurant, San Diego [Critiki]
• TIKI OASIS 2008 Aug 14-17 Voodoo Zombie Island [Tiki Central]
• Tiki Oasis Room Crawl… It’s on!… UPDATED List Pg. 1 [Tiki Central]

Tiki Farm‘s annual parking lot sale is coming up this weekend, on Saturday, April 14, from 9am-3pm. It all goes down in the parking lot at Tiki Farm’s HQ in San Clemente, and it’s a great way to see where the magic happens, and also take home some great tiki mug deals. In addition to special Tiki Farm deals, there will be a couple dozen tiki-centric vendors, including Bamboo Ben, Crazy Al, Velvet Glass, BarTiki, Ken Ruzic, Chongolio, Tiki Magazine, Monkeyman and Doug Horne. Many of the vendors have posted examples of what they’ll be bringing on Tiki Central, and it’s a pretty impressive lineup of goods. The event also includes a free concert by the Glasgow Tiki Shakers. Be sure to get there early and get the best deals!

Saturday, April 14, 9am-3pm
Free admission
1305 Calle Avanzado
San Clemente
Call (949) 940-1006 for more info

• Tiki Farm’s Parking Lot Sale this Saturday – HUGE!!! [Tiki Central]
• Tiki Farm

Tiki Oasis 7

Tiki Oasis tickets are now on sale! This year, Tiki Oasis will be bigger and better than ever — the entire Hanalei Hotel has been booked for the event (that means room parties are a big go!). Speaking of go — that’s the theme this year (beyond tiki, of course) — Otto von Stroheim is combining his love of tiki with his wife Baby Doe’s love of go-go dancing. The event is a mixture of tiki, go-go and burlesque, with performances by the Blue Hawaiians, the Tiki Tones, the Martini Kings, LA dance mainstays Satisfaction and Bardot-a-Go-Go, and Baby Doe’s own Devilettes. It’s a jam-packed weekend, for full details and to purchase tickets, visit the Tiki Oasis website.

• Tiki Oasis
• Tiki Oasis 2007 Announced [Humu Kon Tiki]

The new Islands Restaurant, photo by bamalamalu

Not that anyone’s hopes were high, but it’s still crushing to see… above is a photo of the newly renovated Islands Restaurant in San Diego, taken by bamalamalu and posted to Tiki Central yesterday. Blech! It doesn’t even look like a restaurant any more, it looks like a hospital waiting room.

• Is the Islands Restaurant/Hanalei Hotel being gutted? [Tiki Central]
• The Islands Restaurant, San Diego [Critiki]
• Islands Update: Here Come the Jackhammers [Humu Kon Tiki]

Chongolio has created this great little video clip of the Islands Restaurant in San Diego, using footage he took at last year’s Tiki Oasis. It includes a nice, lingering pan shot of the clamshell fountain that was demolished last week (you can see heartbreaking before & after pictures on Joel Delano’s blog).

• Hanalei Hotel Waterfall [Barefoot Bloggin']
• Compare and Contrast [ ...Of Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax... of Cabbages and Kings...]
• Islands Update: Here Come the Jackhammers [Humu Kon Tiki]

A weekly review of my favorite among the many items Mimi Payne has posted to her Arkiva Tropika website in the past seven days:

Trader Vic’s Trading License, from Arkiva Tropika

This is a souvenir Trading License, given to customers in the ’40s at Trader Vic’s, granting the recipient “trading privileges.” This one was granted in 1945 to a couple after having dinner & a scorpion at the Oakland location.

Detail of a menu from the Islander in Stockton, from Arkiva Tropika

This is a bit hard to make out here, but I love this bit from a menu from the Islander in Stockton. “The Gourmet Deluxe Dinner” (“For those discriminating people”) cost $4.75 per person, and was served with a bottle of Paul Masson Rose Wine. Also: “The Islander is available for private parties, fashion shows or any special activity.”

Menu from Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki, from Arkiva Tropika

This 1952 dinner menu, from the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki, is just dag-flippity gorgeous. The artwork and color palette look like they could have come straight from a vintage rayon aloha shirt. The Halekulani, and its famous House Without a Key restaurant & bar, are still operating today.

’60s or ’70s postcard from the Hanalei Hotel in San Diego, from Arkiva Tropika

With the sad news about the remodeling of the Islands Restaurant at San Diego’s Hanalei Hotel this week, Mimi pulled out a lot of great Hanalei & Islands items from her collection. Above is a great postcard from the ’60s or ’70s, showing how the front of the hotel used to look, including its famous sign, which was sadly removed a few years back.

’60s brochure for the Hanalei Hotel in San Diego, from Arkiva Tropika

This brochure from the 1960s has lots of full-color pictures from the Hanalei’s heyday, inclulding views of the Islands Restaurant.

’60s postcard for the Hanalei Hotel in San Diego, from Arkiva Tropika

Another postcard from the Hanalei has two different views of the Islands Restaurant.

Page from a ’60s cocktail menu from the Islands restaurant, from Arkiva Tropika

And this ’60s cocktail menu, from the early days of the Islands restaurant, features some fantastic illustrations of tropical cocktails.

’60s appetizer menu from Aku Aku in Las Vegas, from Arkiva Tropika

Another item inspired by a recent closing — this 1960s appetizer menu is from the Aku Aku in Las Vegas, which was part of the Stardust Casino for 20 years. Aku Aku closed in 1980, but the Stardust closed just last week.

’60s postcard from Trader Vic’s in Seattle, from Arkiva Tropika

This postcard shows the exterior entrance to the Trader Vic’s in Seattle, which was in the Benjamin Franklin Hotel (today it’s the Westin). The Seattle location was Vic’s second restaurant, after the original Oakland location; it was initially named the Outrigger, and was renamed Trader Vic’s later on to be consistent with the rest of the chain. This picture is from the 1960s. Trader Vic’s used birdcage lamps like these in several locations; when the Seattle Trader Vic’s closed in 1992, some of these lamps went to the then-new Crocodile Cafe a few blocks north, where they can still be seen today — perhaps even the lamps in this very postcard!

Gadzooks, Mimi went on a posting rampage this week! This is truly just a smidge of all the great things she posted — be sure to check it all out yourself at Arkiva Tropika.

• Arkiva Tropika
• souvenir certificate from Trader Vic’s – Oakland, CA [Arkiva Tropika]
• Trader Vic’s, Oakland [Critiki]
• dinner & cocktail menu from Islander – Stockton, CA [Arkiva Tropika]
• The Islander, Stockton [Critiki]
• dinner menu from Halekulani Hotel – Waikiki, Hawaii [Arkiva Tropika]
• Islands Update: Here Come the Jackhammers [Humu Kon Tiki]
• postcard from Hanalei Hotel – San Diego, CA [Arkiva Tropika]
• Brochure from Hanalei Hotel – San Diego, CA [Arkiva Tropika]
• postcard from Hanalei Hotel – San Diego, CA [Arkiva Tropika]
• cocktail & appetizer menu from Islands- Hanalei Hotel, San Diego, CA [Arkiva Tropika]
• Red Lion Hanalei Hotel, San Diego [Critiki]
• Islands Restaurant, San Diego [Critiki]
• appetizer menu from Aku Aku – Las Vegas, Nevada [Arkiva Tropika]
• Aku Aku, Las Vegas [Critiki]
• postcard from Trader Vic’s – Seattle, WA [Arkiva Tropika]
• Trader Vic’s, Seattle [Critiki]

Islands Restaurant after first day of renovation, photo by Mr. NoNaMe

The past day has brought a series of confirmations and more information about the remodeling of the Islands Restaurant and Hanalei Hotel in San Diego. Much of the information comes from an email from Otto von Stroheim’s Tiki News mailing list. Otto is the organizer of the Tiki Oasis event that will be at the Hanalei Hotel in August 2007. Otto was able to speak to the upper management of the hotel directly, so this information should be pretty solid. Much of the decisions around these changes, or the direction to make changes, came from the Red Lion corporate office the hotel’s owners (see update below).

Here’s a quick summary:

• The hotel’s name is changing. The new name is not known, but it will no longer have “Hanalei” in it. According to Otto, “This was mandated in order to raise the status of the property.”
• The Islands Restaurant “[is] going to be more TROPICAL than TIKI,” per the GM.
• The waterfalls and the waterway into the restaurant are being removed.
• The Dragon Room will be removed.
• The bamboo in the Islands is staying, the glass floats might stay, but all the other tiki decor in the restaurant is being removed. It’s not known yet what the fate of these items will be. There’s a chance the artifacts will be put on dispay for Tiki Oasis attendees, but this has not been worked out yet. The large outrigger sign is staying.
• On the first day of renovation, all of the artifacts in the Islands Restaurant have been removed and boxed up for storage.
• The Islands Restaurant’s monkeypod tables are staying, and $38,000 is being spent to refinish them.
• Some walls are being knocked down, and an outdoor patio is being added, to expand seating.
• Windows are being added to overlook the patio and pool.
• Food & drink menu will be unchanged. Tiki mugs will be used for serving.
• Carved railings removed from the Islands Restaurant will be relocated into the tropical, tikified Atrium area in the hotel tower.
• Landscaping is being enhanced with a $20,000 budget, and fresh palapas have been added.
• Room rates are increasing, but this won’t affect Tiki Oasis 2007, because Otto locked those rates in before these changes.

There have been discussions on Tiki Central about writing letters — while it’s never a bad idea to let these places know that you’re specifically patronizing them because of their tikiness, I must sadly say that I think this course is unchangeable. For one, it may just be too late — the restaurant has already been gutted, and jackhammers are scheduled to be there today, probably to rip out the water features. Another reason is that the Hanalei has over the years morphed into a conference hotel. They don’t flinch at individual people’s opinions, they focus on what helps them court large group reservations, and what those groups want is a larger restaurant. Writing to let the Hanalei know that you support their keeping the tiki they still have can’t hurt, though.

So essentially — the Islands will now be a more generic tropical restaurant, with some hints of what it once was, and probably still worth seeing. The hotel itself, while changing its name, will still have plenty of great tiki on-site in the Atrium, including the great artifacts from Stephen Crane’s Luau in Beverly Hills. The big question at this point is what will happen to all the items that have come out of the Islands Restaurant. I hope they find a way to keep them on-site and visible.

UPDATE: The Hanalei’s banquet manager, Joel Delano (whose blog was my tipoff that changes were afoot at the Islands) has chimed in with more info, in a comment on this post. The hotel is becoming part of the Crown Plaza chain of hotels, and will reportedly be renamed the “Crown Plaza San Diego.” He’s also posted another entry on his blog, giving a bit more info: he says the fountain pictured at the top of my last post is currently slated to stay, and that he thinks the glass floats that Otto was told would most likely stay may not stay after all.

• San Diego’s Islands Restaurant Renovation? [Humu Kon Tiki]
• Otto von Stroheim’s Tiki News
• San Diego: Tiki Oasis 2007 [Humu Kon Tiki]
• Is the Islands Restaurant/Hanalei Hotel being gutted? [Tiki Central]
• The Islands Restaurant, San Diego [Critiki]
• Red Lion Hanalei Hotel, San Diego [Critiki]