Named after the popular television show, Hawaiian Eye (1959-1963), this steakhouse with tropical decor and cocktails featured some impressive Milan Guanko tikis out front.

It was short-lived, however, from about 1963-1964.

Opened September 11th, 2024.

This large space measures 500 m2. Seating for 100. Secluded location close to the center with free parking. Outdoor grill and bar & lounge. Can be rented out for group or corporate events.

In addition to Hawaiian scenes, the walls are covered with other exotic scenes as well, with Aztec pyramids and Cambodian ruins, etc...

This tiki bar opened in Chengdu, China in February of 2024.

It has a lavish interior build-out with giant masks on the back walls, rope netting across the ceiling, thatching, rattan furniture, and a huge inventory of rum and other spirits on hand.

Located at Unit 110, 1 / F, Tower 2, Shangri-La Center, 9 East Binjiang Road, Chengdu, China.

Opened in 1980 by Henry Creuzot and named after his wife, Esther.

It was previously a couple of stand-alone hotels that were acquired by the owners, who connected everything by building a huge atrium over the top of the grounds and creating gardens around the pools, etc.

Esther's established itself as a great weekend party destination for the locals because where else could you immerse yourself in the tropics during those harsh Northern winters, short of taking an actual plane trip?

This 126-room-hotel featured tons of plants (especially in its atrium area), skylights, indoor pools with waterslides, and 5 jacuzzis. The main atrium was HUGE, with gardens dotted by bridges, masks, and tikis in addition to the pools and jacuzzis.

As far as decor, they were able to acquire many pieces from The Outrigger (later The Bamboo House) after it closed. Among these was an outrigger canoe and some of the tikis at the entrance to their Tradewinds Restaurant.

Their "Esther's Monsoon Lounge" was sandwiched in between their Tradewinds Restaurant and the main entrance/atrium. It featured Oceanic Arts masks on the walls which appear to have made it through the remodeling to its current incarnation.

Their Tradewinds Restaurant and its Orchid Dining Room also had a large outdoor "gazebo" under a thatch roof overlooking the atrium gardens.

The hotel was later remodeled @2014 and is now a Super 8.

Although it has lost much of its earlier charm, there are still tiki details to be found, and some of the masks remain on the walls.

Opened in early 1957, this pre-tiki nightclub is associated with one of the most notorious Southern California mob murders from the era.

The same year as the nightclub's opening, on March 9, 1957, Leslie Simpson was robbed at the South Seas, by a small group of gun-toting outlaws. Simpson was able to identify Joseph “Little Caesar” Rosoto as one of the bandits – because of Rosoto’s distinctive limp.

Rosoto was later charged with the armed robbery of Simpson at the South Seas bar, and his trial was set for April 20, 1959.

Rosoto, a known mobster, was not about to go down on a robbery beef. The little (5-foot-1) gangster hired his bodyguard, John “The Big Fisherman” Vlahovich (6-foot-7), and Donald Glen Franklin, a burly loner, to murder Simpson to keep him off the witness stand.

Leslie Simpson was returning with his wife, Fern, to their Anaheim home early one morning (February 7, 1959) when out of darkness came a menacing figure.

A shotgun-wielding assailant ended Simpson’s life with a blast from close range. Fern saved herself by throwing up her arms to protect herself, but both of her hands were blown off.

It was a headline-making case from the beginning, but when Anaheim police detectives discovered the sinister motive for gunning down the 46-year-old Simpson, it became one of the most notorious cases in Orange County history.

With the star witness dead, Rosoto was eventually acquitted of the robbery charge.

However, Rosoto was in bigger trouble. Rosoto, Vlahovich and Franklin were arrested for Simpson’s murder. In 1960, the trio was convicted and sentenced to death.

They were once just 20 minutes from execution in 1964, but a last-hour reprieve saved their lives. Eventually their sentences were commuted to life in prison. All three were paroled in 1975 after serving only 16 years for first-degree murder.

In 1978, Rosoto was bludgeoned to death at his home in San Gabriel. No one was ever charged...

...and in the meantime, the South Seas survived, at least for a time, purchased by Viviane Laird who was already known for her other locations like the Garden of Allah, Bohemia, and The Brass Rail.

It closed not long after, though.

The Island Shop was located in the center of the historic shopping Arcade in Ojai, California.

Circa 1960s.

They advertised: "Colorful, exotic gifts from far-away places. Bamboo and rattan furniture of rare decorator char. Ladies apparel to fit this background. Southern California's most unique shop. Also, pet and patio supplies and COMPLETE SPORTS SHOP."

Run by Claudia and Doug Jordan.

Established in 1971, the museum is one of few U.S. institutions dedicated to the arts and culture of Asia and the Pacific Islands, serving the city of Los Angeles and the Greater Southern California region. The museum’s mission is to further intercultural understanding through the arts of Asia and the Pacific Islands.

In 2013, University of Southern California partnered with the museum to form USC Pacific Asia Museum. The affiliation broadened the community that benefits from the museum’s role as a vital resource for education and cultural heritage, and expanded the audience interested in a dialogue about art, history and culture.

Support from the museum’s constituent communities has enabled the collection to grow to more than 15,000 objects, spanning more than five thousand years and the region extending from Persia to the Pacific Islands. The museum fulfills its mission by organizing and presenting exhibitions, performances, lectures, classes, workshops, and festivals, all drawing on the arts and cultures of Asia and the Pacific Islands. These programs provide quality arts programming and education to children and families, ensuring greater access to the arts for area residents and nurturing new audiences.

In its brief history, the museum has organized and presented a number of groundbreaking exhibitions, including the first North American exhibitions of contemporary Chinese art after the Revolution and the first exhibition of Aboriginal art in the United States. Exhibitions originated by the museum have traveled across the country and to Japan. The museum is also committed to scholarship and has produced more than 50 exhibition catalogues.

Open at least as early as 1974. This restaurant and lounge advertised both Chinese and Polynesian cuisine.

Former location of Area 142.

This is a large and eclectic space and is well-suited for live music performances.

Grand Opening was Friday, November 21st, 2025.

The owner is Daniel Todd, known for the popular 4th Street Fillin Station and The Alibi Kitchen & Cocktails.

The co-owner is Matt Bramkamp, General Manager of The Alibi Kitchen & Cocktails, who runs the cocktail program for Dirty Birds.

Interior Design was accomplished by Tom Allsmiller (Typhoon Tommy) and Scott Scheidly (Flounder) in-between working on various Mai-Kai projects.

Opened in 1872, the Metropolitan Museum (the MET) moved to its present-day building at 1000 Fifth Avenue in 1880.

This entry is concerned with the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing's Oceania Exhibition. Named after Nelson A. Rockefeller's son, Michael C. Rockefeller, who joined the Harvard-Peabody New Guinea Expedition to the Baliem Valley in western New Guinea and made his first collecting trip to the Asmat region in 1961. He passed away while on a second collecting trip to the Asmat later that year. It was originally reported that Rockefeller either drowned or was attacked by an animal, such as a shark or saltwater crocodile. His boat was an estimated 12 nmi (22 km; 14 mi) from the shore when Rockefeller made the attempt to swim to safety, supporting the theory that he died from exposure, exhaustion or drowning. However, because headhunting and cannibalism were still present in some areas of Asmat in 1961 (but are said to have died out probably as early as the 1970s and definitely by the 1990s), there has also been widespread speculation based around local testimony that Rockefeller was killed and eaten by tribespeople from the Asmat village of Otsjanep.

This speculation is certainly not covered in the museum, in what is a carefully curated and respectful tribute to the art and history of the region.

From The Met website:

"The Met’s Arts of Oceania galleries returned in May 2025, in a reimagined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Following a multiyear renovation, the new galleries feature over 650 stellar works from the Museum’s remarkable collection of Oceanic art, drawn from over 140 distinct cultures in a region of astonishing diversity that covers almost one-third of the earth’s surface and continues to capture the global imagination. These include monumental artworks from the large island of New Guinea and the coastal archipelagos that stretch beyond its shores to the north, central, and eastern Pacific, as well as the two neighboring regions of Australia and Island Southeast Asia, whose Indigenous communities all share a common ancestry. Exceptional artworks guide visitors through a wealth of stories relating to origins, initiation, and ancestral power and include some of the greatest achievements of Oceania’s visual artists: elaborately carved ancestral figures from ceremonial houses and spectacular ritual regalia, such as towering slit drums, crocodile reliquaries, and dazzling turtle shell masks from the coastal regions.

Designed by the architect Kulapat Yantrasast of the firm WHY Architecture and Beyer, Blinder, Belle Architects LLP, in collaboration with The Met’s Design Department, the new Arts of Oceania galleries are organized around a stunning new diagonal trajectory through The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing that reintroduces The Met’s iconic collection in sensationally appointed galleries filled with natural light for a new generation of visitors. The reinstallation is organized according to island groups in a new layout designed to foreground ancestral connections and Indigenous temporalities, offering perspectives on art that reach deep into Oceania’s past while also acknowledging its ongoing manifestations in the present. Voyaging and the arts of navigation are an important feature, with exquisitely carved spirit canoes, decorated canoe prows and paddles, and a navigational chart from the coral atolls of the northern Pacific evoking the extraordinary story of voyaging—both literal and metaphorical—across the vast landscape of Oceania.

Freshly energized written and digital narratives placed throughout the galleries elevate Indigenous voices, foreground the latest developments in interdisciplinary scholarship, and emphasize the continued creativity of Oceania’s Indigenous artists through the lenses of global history, compelling storytelling, and Pacific oratory and performance. This extensive range of digital offerings is envisaged as a constellation of Pacific voices—artists, poets, performers, writers, scholars, and cultural practitioners—presenting evocative and engaging entry points for access and inspiring visitors to understand the collections on a more profound level, guided by the insights of Islanders and community members."

Opened March 3rd, 2023.

Customers praised the unique neon decor, Hawaiian necklaces given to guests, and interactive experiences like impromptu karaoke.

The drinks were reportedly on-point, especially the Mexican Mai Tai and Painkiller.

Alofah confirmed its closure June 12th, 2026 on its official Instagram profile.

The space previously occupied by the bar (Coahuila 49, Roma Nte., Ciudad de México) re-opened with a new concept as the cocktail bar Monkey Bee's Knee's.

The famous publishing magnate, William Randolph Hearst, is associated with the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. However, there is another famous piece of property that was associated with the Hearst family and this was originally purchased by Hearst's father, the miner turned millionaire, George Hearst. This other property was located forty miles east of San Francisco where George had a hunting lodge. After his death in 1891, his widow, Phoebe, added to the property and turned it into one of her homes. When she passed in 1919, William kept the place, but then moved many of the antiques to his home at the Hearst Castle. William then sold the property in 1924.

Around 1940, the 500 acre property was remade as a dude ranch, called the Old Hearst Ranch. It was always full and even had its own radio show called "The Dude Ranch Breakfast".

Most people think of dude ranches as a phenomenon where city folks from back East would travel to Western ranches on vacation where they could dress up and play cowboy. At these ranches, Easterners could participate in horseback riding, fly fishing, wilderness pack trips, hunting and helping with ranch activities alongside career cowboys.

However, at the peak of the dude ranch craze, many of these locations were far more than just ranches and were, in fact, multi-themed resorts that offered a variety of different vacation entertainments. This helped to provide something for spouses or family members that weren't as interested in traditional ranch activities and made for a more diverse vacation destination. The Old Hearst Ranch really promoted the tropical vacation aspect of vacation life and held regular luaus with tropically themed live entertainment and lavish dinners. They also had a huge swimming pool and visitors could spend their entire vacation going back and forth from the pool, to the Hawaiian Room, then partake of luaus held on the "Palm Patio", before heading back to their guest rooms -- all without ever going near a horse stable.

The Old Hearst Ranch's pre-tiki Hawaiian Dining Room was as well-appointed as any Hawaiian themed location in the mainland USA at the time. They usually served evening meals and were known for live entertainment and a hors d'oeuvre buffet line (or "relish" bar) that served various snacks and appetizers in wood Hawaiian monkey-pod dishes -- luau style. In postcards and photos, there can also be seen a large bamboo framed print of Frank Macintosh's "The Fruit Harvest" (1938) with its beautiful watercolor hula girls, which is commonly associated with cruise ship menu covers from that era. Brochures show they had Hawaiian themed murals done by Diego Rivera, depicting luaus as well.

Sold again, in 1952, the Old Hearst Ranch went through a few more owners but is today a country club, known as The Club at Castlewood.