In 1928 the Kona Inn was built by the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. This venture was considered to be a pioneering effort in the neighbor island hotel industry. Previous to the Kona Inn, the passengers aboard the company steamers had only haphazard room arrangements at outlying stops.

The rambling 2-story Hawaiian structure, carefully designed to blend with the Palm fringed Kona shore, found its 20 rooms booked solidly for months in advance. The Kona Inn became Hawaii’s favorite refuge for kamaainas as well as the world traveler. The new hostelry was responsible for the popularity of the colorful Kona Coast.

The Inn was also instrumental in developing the Kona Coast as one of the world's greatest fishing areas. With the Inn as unofficial billfish tournament headquarters, the place attracted marlin fishermen from all over the globe.

It was a celebrity hideaway in the 40s and 50s.

Although the hotel has been closed now for well over 30 years. The hotel's restaurant of the same name is still open (as of 2021) and a great place to sit and watch the sunset. The shopping area of the hotel is also open. The hotel rooms are used for storage and offices.

*NOTE: Cocktail menu is current as of 2024.

This new Trader Vic's restaurant opened in March 2006. It was located within the new Liberty Square complex, adjacent to a Westin hotel. The space was nearly 8,000 square feet, with a main dining room and two private dining rooms. The restaurant had lots of tapa cloth, and a large outrigger canoe, but was an example of the newer, modern, disappointingly sparse Trader Vic's.

The Bellevue Trader Vic's closed in August 2008.

This was the original location for The Tiki Terrace; it opened in 2005 and closed in December 2007 and then opened four months later in a new, improved location in nearby Des Plaines.

This restaurant and entertainment venue was the realization of a dream of the Zuziak family, whose A Custom Production supplies the Chicago area with Polynesian and tropical decor and props.

Around 20 tikis were carved for the Tiki Terrace, other decor included rock formations and moai. The restaurant was divided into three dining rooms and a bar: Rapa Nui Row, The Ali'i, Kapa Nui Kove, and the Tiki Cocktail Bar. Cocktail waitresses doubled as hula entertainment, courtesy of a partnership with Gwen Kennedy of local luau organizer Barefoot Hawaiian.

Opened in 2005.

Tiki Boyd's was the creation of controversial pop culture figure Boyd Rice, known to many from his early industrial/noise music outfit NON, known to tikiphiles for his essay in Taboo: The Art of Tiki. Rice is a tiki enthusiast, and a vintage music aficionado -- and this bar reportedly played music only from vinyl.

It was located in the Ramada Inn in downtown Denver which was originally called The Heart O’ Denver Motor Hotel when it was built back in the 1960s, and its bar was called simply the Tiki Lounge - designed by none other than legendary beachcomber and consultant to Disneyland, Eli Hedley.

In January 2006, just a few months after opening, several key players (including Boyd Rice) pulled out of the venture. The bar then operated without Boyd's tiki decor, under a different name, and was more of a retro/rockabilly bar.

It appears the space is now home to Ahuevo Cantina Kitchen.

Built in 1968-1969.

Mahi Mahi had decor from Oceanic Arts, including an unusual item -- an Oceanic Arts-designed mug of their signature logo. Mahi Mahi was later purchased by Jim Walls in 1970. Jim was owner of the nearby Omni Hut, which closed in 2018.

Walls brought in Eli Hedley from California. Hedley is quoted, saying: "In 1971 I remade the Mahi-Mahi in Nashville with unlimited funds, which is how I like to work."

Whether it was the extravagant re-build or other expenses, however, the Mahi Mahi's day's were numbered.

Walls also took on the Mahi Mahi's debt, and despite efforts to improve the menu, the new Mahi Mahi closed after just a year. The Mahi Mahi later became Blue Hawaii. The building, which had an unusual wide A-frame, has been torn down.

This was the second location for the Luau Room in Louisville. It was originally located at the airport and was a Dobbs House Luau location. The restaurant was sold by Dobbs House to Vern Ferguson in 1983 as the airport expanded, and Ferguson relocated it to this spot near the University of Louisville.

Their logo sketch of a hut exterior with moai on the side was stolen directly from the Mai-Kai in Florida and appeared on ads and stationary.

Amazingly, much of the decor from this large paradise (9,000 sq. ft.) remained intact over the years, surviving incarnations as a Mexican restaurant, a Salvation Army (that's right -- imagine walking into a thrift store and being surrounded by tikis you can't buy!), and a nightclub. The owner of the property reportedly insisted the decor remain, and had more in storage. As of summer 2005, the space was for lease again.

Most recently, in 2018-2020, the property was leveled and incorporated into the 2400-2420 site for the new Marshall Louisville student housing complex intended to house students at the University of Louisville.

This hotel, located about 40 minutes southeast of Chicago, featured a tropical atrium with an indoor pool, a waterfall, fake palm trees and some large tikis. There was a bar in the atrium, called the Khaki Club, that had live entertainment on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Radisson was leveled to make room for new development in 2017.

Owned and operated by Charles Chang and family, Fiji Island was around for at least thirty years, and at one time had a sister location in a Holiday Inn in Charlottesville, VA.

Food was typical Chinese, and drinks were served in tiki mugs (one of the bartenders here once worked at Trader Vic's).

There were tikis throughout, but they were of the brightly-painted variety that appears to be more common in that part of the country.

The basement of Fiji Island hosted a sometimes loud dance club, called the Club at Fiji.

Closed August 2016.

Open as early as 1942, one of the best places in Portland to find a Polynesian Island escape was Pago-Pago at Southwest Sixth and Stark Street. It showcased a tropical theme from its bar to its live band. According to The Oregonian, materials from seven different countries were used to decorate the club, which cost $25,000 to build. On the menu were tropical cocktails, which weren't common at the time. In the 1950s, Pago Pago and its adjoining Turf Club came under the scrutiny of police during a crackdown of secret gambling dens. It closed in 1952 after lease difficulties and battles with City Hall over its liquor license.

This was a two-story tiki bar and Polynesian restaurant in Orlando's Wall Street Plaza, owned by a developer who owned six other clubs in the complex.

Waitiki opened in August of 2004, and featured a downstairs bar made of antique ironwood, outdoor balconies, many wood carvings and teak flooring.

It was not an immersive tiki environment, but there was much artwork from modern-day tiki artists like Flounder, Joe & Donella Vitale and local tiki carver Wayne Coombs (Mai Tiki).

Tropical cocktails were available, and the food was a more modern take on Polynesian cuisine, with a focus on seafood.

Upstairs bar was the "Monkey Bar" with the expected theme reflected in the decor.

On December 26th, 2024, the bar re-opened as "Warped Pour". Anything tiki-related was gutted and the new interior is themed around the Vans Warped Tour traveling rock music festival.

The Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in tribute to his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, who was the last descendant of the Kamehamehas. The museum was built on the site of the Kamehameha School for Boys, which had been established by Princess Bernice. After her death, Charles Reed Bishop started the museum to showcase the Kamehameha family heirlooms and other Polynesian artifacts. The school eventually moved, allowing the Bishop Museum to expand, and it has grown over time so that it now houses a rather massive collection. One of the important pieces is a historic Heiau Ku carving - there are only two others, in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, and in the British Museum in London. In 2010, all three Ku tikis were put on display at the Bishop museum. The other two were shipped back to their respective museums three years later. The museum also features a section dedicated to what they call "Ku Kitsch," known to us as Polynesian Pop, with many fine examples of modern uses of the image of Ku, including a mug from Tiki Farm.

The Hawaiian Luau was located in The Fontainebleau Motor Hotel and opened on May 21st, 1963. It was known as a great place to enjoy an evening of Polynesian foods and exotic tropical drinks. The South Pacific motif featured tapa cloth from Samoa, Japanese net floats & peacock chairs. In Skipper Vince’s bar, you would find Idol images decorated with imported hapu tikis that were hand carved from giant ferns.

The Hawaiian Luau was a Polynesian paradise but the hotel also featured the Empire Room, The Chandelier Lounge and the Fontaine Coffee Shop.

The Fontainebleau Hotel opened on April 27th, 1959, just 4 years before the Hawaiian Luau. Its long name was treated to an equally long sign -- one of the largest illuminated signs in the city at the time -- spelled out in 8' tall blue & white letters.

The hotel was a key part of "The Miracle Mile," a bustling commercial thoroughfare that was the main route from Jefferson Parish into the city until the 1970s. That's when the expressway was built and the decline began.

The hotel was closed in the 1990s and Roland Von Kurnatowski converted the Fontainebleau to apartments and units that could be used for storage. A Burger King also sat on the lot.

Most recently, in December 2020, businessman Sidney Torres purchased the property. He said he plans to re-name the apartment complex Pelican Apartments and to open a drive-through chicken operation where the Burger King once operated to maintain the license while searching for a permanent tenant.