Kona Kai - Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Opened July 13th, 1961.

This was the flagship restaurant in a chain of Kona Kai restaurants, with locations in Chicago and Kansas City. It was in the City Line Marriott, at the start of the "Golden Mile" of hotels in Bala Cynwyd.

Created in a ‘not to be outdone’ competition between the titan hotel empires, Marriott commissioned this as the jewel in an elaborate chain of its own Polynesian themed restaurants. As a shot across the bow to Hilton’s Trader Vic’s and Sheraton’s Kon Tiki, The Kona Kai was arguably the most obscenely extravagant of the challengers on the field. No expense was spared and rather than utilize stock or simply procured décor for its outfitting, practically every decorative element of the Philly location was custom designed and created. Wall treatments, tropical carpeting and signature figural Tiki carvings were all fashioned from tailor-made blueprints furnished by the prolific architects.

The Kona Kai Frigate Bird from the front roofline was carved by Southern California tiki artist Jim Casey. Jim’s work is quite recognizable and can be seen in other venues such as Aloha Jhoe’s and Pacific Ocean Park. Aloha Jhoe's had a very similar frigate bird in front of their restaurant.

The hotel closed in 1985 and was demolished. However, many of the carvings were saved and ended up in the collection of Jordan Reichek. Jordan later put up these pieces for auction at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA in 2017 where they were purchased by Mark Sellers, the owner of Max's South Seas Hideaway in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and incorporated into that bar and restaurant where they can still be viewed in all their tiki glory.