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]

Wahahine, by Miles Thompson

Miles Thompson is one of my favorite artists. His sense and use of color and shapes is reminiscent of another favorite of mine, Mary Blair. This piece is titled Wahahine, and it’s a monster at 4′ x 2′. It was part of the recent Tiki Art Now III show at Roq la Rue in Seattle, and it’s sold. In its very shrunken form here, you’re missing all kinds of Milesy goodness — click on it to see it a bit bigger. Go on, do it. I haven’t seen this one in person, but I’m sure it’s breathtaking — the color and detail on Miles’ stuff never really comes through unless you’re seeing it in person.

At first glance, Miles’ pieces can seem simple, even cartoonish (he does have a background in animation, after all), but as any animation fiend will tell you, there can be a lot buried beneath the surface. Miles’ compositions look casual, but their is a lot of intent in each one, and stories to be found in them. In one of Miles’ earlier tiki pieces, he painted a very simple nighttime skyline of Waikiki using just a few strokes of paint — and it instantly transported me to the Waikiki nights I knew as a child many, many years go.

Miles is also one of my favorite people — when I was new to Los Angeles, Miles and his friends were one of the very first groups to take me in as one of their own, which was an incredible stroke of luck for me. Not only did it open up all sorts of fascinating and wonderful things to me (like getting to meet and sit for the most astounding artists, like Michael Hussar and Kevin Llewellyn, and of course Miles himself), but his friendship was a much needed rudder for me as I figured my new life out. Whether it was over instant messenger or over drinks at Tiki-Ti (always a Chi-Chi for Miles, and on the rocks, ever since the Great Tiki-Ti Power Outage of Ought-Four), Miles has always been there for me, with an ear, a shoulder, and wise, wise words.

To see more of Miles’ work, visit his blog, or his website, or his MySpace page. At the moment, Miles has a photo atop his blog of some mysterious woman with one of his tank tops stretched across her tatas (or, as Miles insists, her “beautiful bosom”). They sure look familiar…

• Miles Thompson [official website]
• Miles’ Thing [Miles Thompson's blog]
• Miles Thompson [MySpace]
• Mary Blair
• Seattle: Tiki Art Now III [Humu Kon Tiki]

Tiki Quest: Collecting the Exotic Past,
by Duke Carter

Tiki Quest isn’t new, it actually came out in 2003, but a conversation I had with someone who’d just purchased it last week is inspiring me to spotlight it today. It’s every bit as deserving of a place on your bookshelf today as it was when it came out three years ago.

Tiki Quest is the creation of Duke Carter and his wife Amy, who have amassed a very impressive collection over their years of tiki obsession. The book is 183 pages of large, full-color images of items from their collection, beautifully photographed so that every detail can be appreciated. All of the items in the book are from the vintage era of Polynesian Pop (’70s and earlier), and most of the book is dedicated to tiki mugs, although postcards, matchbooks, swizzle sticks and other items are also presented. A bit of history is included, particularly around the manufacturers of the mugs and their sometimes tangled relationships to each other.

Pages from Tiki Quest, by Duke Carter

As is typically the case, Duke and Amy struggled a bit in getting their book published — most publishers who had interest in the book wanted to cut corners on the quality of the book (the quality of the photographs was of high importance to the Carters), or insisted on including current-day values, turning it into a price guide (understandably, the Carters didn’t want the focus to be on the monetary value of the items). In the end, the Carters took the bold step of self-publishing, and made a deal directly with a printing & binding shop.

Pages from Tiki Quest, by Duke Carter

The result is well worth the extra effort, as the final product is a loving tribute to the golden age of Polynesian Pop. I fell in love with tiki all over again when I first received the book. The pages are now falling out of mine after spending lots of time admiring and savoring the items shown in it. It’s one of my favorite Tiki books.

If you’d like to order Tiki Quest, it’s available on Amazon.com, or directly from Duke & Amy’s Pegboard Press.

• Tiki Quest [Pegboard Press]
• Tiki Quest [Amazon.com]

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]

The Alibi in Portland, photo by Ace Jackelope

Ace Jackelope, a.k.a. Tikijackelope, is a kindred spirit, if ever I’ve encountered one. He travels the nation, visiting the best Americana ‘murica has to offer — especially tiki places — taking pictures all the way. His latest tiki-flavored adventure brought him to the northern wilderness of my youth, the Pacific Northwest. He’s taken some wonderful photos (pictures that handily trump the many I’ve taken) of the Alibi in Portland and the Islander in Seattle, and got a sneak peek at Portland’s Thatch. He also grabbed a few pics of the recently-closed Tiki Art Now show that was at Roq la Rue in Seattle. Special Lake Wobegon bonus: another recent post on his blog features Ace Jackelope sitting on the head of Garrison Keillor.

• Northwest Tiki [The Lope]
• The Alibi, Portland [Critiki]
• The Islander, Seattle [Critiki]
• Thatch, Portland [Critiki]
• Seattle: Tiki Art Now III [Humu Kon Tiki]

The Gracious Host, by Heather Watts

The fourth annual New Tiny Tiki Lounge Group Show is happening at Lucky Red Gallery in Vancouver, B.C.’s Chinatown on December 9. Lucky Red is a tiny little speck of a gallery, and was formerly a one-car garage. Today it has been transformed into a tikified getaway, with bamboo and thatch — and of course art, with one-night-only shows. Artists for the show have not been announced (a call for artists went out just a couple days ago), but it’s likely that Vancouver-based tiki art superstar Heather Watts will be represented (above is her 2004 piece, The Gracious Host). For more details, visit 12midnite.com, the website of Lucky Red owner & curator, 12 Midnite. While you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to check out Funhouser Decor — they’re a great local source for your home tiki bar needs (it’s where the Tiki Bar TV gang shops).

• 12 Midnite [Owner & operator of Lucky Red Gallery]
• The Gracious Host [Heather Watts]
• Funhauser Decor
• Funhauser Decor, Vancouver, B.C. [Critiki]
• Tiki Bar TV

Ray’s Mistakes, at Tiki-Ti

Every year, Tiki-Ti closes for a few weeks around the holidays, so that its owners and only employees, Mike & Mike Buhen, can catch a break with their families, and do some maintenance on the old ‘Ti. It’s a hard few weeks for the Tiki-Ti regulars (until I headed north to the Bay Area, I was steadfast among them, and felt very adrift myself through those weeks). It’s also a bit of heartache for those unfortunates who make the pilgrimage during this time and find themselves surprised to be greeted by a bolted door. The doom & gloom the holidays bring to a Tiki-Tiphile are well worth it though, for the mind reels at even the most fleeting thought of what would happen if Mike & Mike got burned out and threw in the towel on the whole operation. Tiki-Ti, started in 1961 by Mike’s pop Ray Buhen, is one of the very last places on the planet where you can taste drink recipes with a direct pedigree to the great Don the Beachcomber. And it’s the only place you can get a Ray’s Mistake (pictured above).

So, heed the warning, and get there while you can: Tiki-Ti’s last open day before the holidays is Saturday, November 18. They’ll open again on Wednesday, December 27.

• Tiki-Ti
• Tiki-Ti, Los Angeles [Critiki]

Artist’s rendering of the Walt Disney Studios in 1947,
from the collection of Matterhorn1959

I love being able to watch as bits of tiki history are uncovered — and it’s especially fun when a bunch of tikiphiles work together to unearth the past. This week is one that especially appeals to me — a rumored hangout of Disney artists in the ’40s and ’50s, called the “Pago Pago Club.” I am a freakin’ massive Disney nut. You all know how much I love tiki — I love Disney more. Old Disney, especially. So, this one’s right up my alley.

It all started with a postcard belonging to Matterhorn1959 (if you love vintage Disney, too, check out his blog Stuff from the Park — it’s hardcore vintage Disney porn, and it’s updated daily). The above postcard has a watercolor and ink sketch of the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, and was mailed in 1947. The written note at the bottom describes life at the studio, and makes mention of a nearby “Pago Pago Club.” After being posted on the Stuff from the Park blog, an anonymous commenter said:

I used to work at the studio… The pago pago was the local “studio” bar across the street from the studio East of the corner of Buena Vista St. and Alameda. (even warner bros. had their watering hole as well) Its now an unmarked Disney building that holds the travel office. (If you drove the alley to the pago, one would see all the studio work bikes parked in the alley).

This piqued Matterhorn1959′s interest, as he’s a tikiphile, himself. He posted a call for more information on Tiki Central a few days ago. I personally knew of a few unrelated Pago Pagos having existed over the years, including spots in Long Beach, Portland and Tucson, but not in the San Fernando Valley. With such scant, and quite possibly unreliable, information to work from, it seemed entirely possible that this place might not have actually existed, or perhaps was not called Pago Pago, or perhaps was at another location entirely.

A few of us tried to pin down which block it may have been on, based on what had been learned so far — a spot across the street from the Disney Studios, near the intersection of Alameda & Buena Vista, with an alley nearby. Still wasn’t much to go on; the buildings in that area have pretty much all been rebuilt. Sven Kirsten chimed in, saying he’d heard a rumor of there being an underground passage to the bar, something he didn’t take seriously. Freddiefreelance had a distant memory of possibly seeing a sign for Pago Pago at that spot, “caddy corner to St. Josephs” (the medical center that is also at the intersection of Alameda & Buena Vista) when he used to ride his bike through the area to work in the ’80s. Matterhorn1959 found an older post on Tiki Central that quoted an interview with Paul Page, where he said he’d played off & on at a bar in the San Fernando Valley called the Pago Pago Club for ten years. Still, nothing solid, but a few more smidges of info indicating that this place once existed. So tantalizingly close!

In comes Naomi Alper to the rescue. Naomi owns the 8-Ball store in Burbank, and has some serious researching chops (she’s also Sven’s girlfriend). Naomi tracked down an address from a 1952 Burbank City Directory for a Pago Pago Club — 2413 W. Alameda Ave. Bingo! That address maps to this location, directly across from the Walt Disney Studios, diagonal from St. Joseph’s, and a stone’s throw from the intersection of Alameda & Buena Vista:

Likely location of Pago Pago Club

Naomi also learned a bit about that sign that Freddiefreelance remembered:

One of the librarians who assisted me in the search recalled hearing that a Disney animator liberated the Pago Pago sign when the bar closed. This story was corroborated by this blurb that I found in the LA Times archives from an article dated 1/23/1994:

“A sign in the back yard reading “Pago Pago” offers a clue to the party’s origins. “It used to hang outside this bar across from the Disney studios, in Burbank, where the old-time animators met and drank,” says Dave Spafford, a Disney vet himself before forming Spaff Animation with [Debbie Spafford] in 1989. Among their credits: “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and Woody Woodpecker’s Oscar presentation for Best Animated Short Film of 1990.”

To get more than that excerpt, you have to pay for the full article; I haven’t decided if I want to pony up the $3.95; it may not say anything more about the Pago Pago than that blurb does. If you’re curious, you can find it here.

I’ve now added Pago Pago Club to Critiki. The next step is to see if any emphemera or other documentation of this place is out there — naturally, something with some images would be highly desired! Chisel Slinger thinks he may have a matchbook from there in his collection.

Even without having any real way of knowing if there was anything truly tiki about this place beyond the tropical-sounding name, I love the idea of it. I get to daydream about hanging out with Disney artists in the heyday of Disney animation, at a tiki bar across the street. That suits me just fine. Many thanks to all the wonderful Tiki Centralites who have pitched in on this one!

• Souvenir Friday= 1947 Postcard from the Walt Disney Studio [Stuff from the Park]
• Pago Pago Bar Next to Disney Studios [Tiki Central]
• interesting tiki reads [Tiki Central]
• 8-Ball
• Search to L.A. Times Article [L.A. Times]
• Pago Pago Club, Burbank [Critiki]

Original sculpt of the
Shag Enchanted Tiki
Room mug, by Squid

This Stolen (or possibly just Missing) Tiki Alert comes from Squid in San Clemente, California — Tiki Farm’s resident sculpt master:

Howdy folks-
Just posting to let you all know that a certain sculpt of mine has gone missing from its rightful place in my display cabinet. If any sharp eyes come upon it, I would be grateful for a heads-up.

If someone should wish to return it, regardless of how they acquired it, no questions asked.

Thanks.
squid

Shag designed this mug as part of Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Mug merchandise in 2004, and Squid created this original sculpt of the design, from which the mugs were cast. I’m sure it’s something that Squid is very proud of, and I would imagine it’s a terrible loss. Please keep your eyes peeled for this sculpt, and if you find yourself in a position to get this back to Squid, please do! Squid can be contacted through Tiki Farm.

UPDATE: A few more details about it — it is about 10% larger than a final Shag Enchanted Tiki Room mug, it’s light gray (as seen above), and it’s made of a special hard tooling wax, which is not sticky.

• Missing/Stolen Original Sculpture , Shag Tiki Room Mug [Tiki Central]
• Shag Enchanted Tiki Room 40th Anniversary Pole Mug [Ooga-Mooga]
• 
  

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]