Tiki Bars
Pitcairn Hotel
Anaheim, California, United States (Closed)
The Pitcairn's neon sign was designed by Heathcote in 1961 and built by California Neon Products.
The hotel was demolished in 1998 as part of the City of Anaheim's "beautification" project.
Today, as of 2021, this location appears to be a parking lot in-between the Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant and Hampton Inn and Suites.
Mauna Loa - at the Fred Thompson Building
Los Angeles, California, United States (Closed)
This location has a long history and is known as the Fred Thompson building. It was built in 1927.
On October 5th, 1962, the site opened as the Mauna Loa restaurant.
Mauna Loa did not last long.
By December 1963 it had become the Garden Room.
On May 6, 1965 it opened as Mouling, featuring Chinese cuisine in the Spanish Village, the Polynesian decor still intact. Mouling had a long run. A Times restaurant reviewer described the place in 1978 as “a slightly ramshackle patio in the old Hollywood style with plenty of Old Hollywood charm.” Mouling closed in April 1980, the equipment and fixtures (including the Polynesian decor) sold at auction.
Most people today associate the Fred Thompson building with its incarnation as the Cat & Fiddle from 1985-2014, although other restaurants have located here since then.
Coco Joe's
Hawaii, United States (Closed)
Coco Joe's was located in Punaluu, Hawaii. Located on the windward side of Oahu near Laie. Their grass shack eventually became completely covered with Wood Rose vines and was a photo opportunity in its own right.
The company was a maker of lava-based and Hawaiian wood-based ("hapawood" or half-wood) resin souvenirs. Coco Joe's was started in 1960 by Donald R Gallacher (a returning WWII veteran). They continued into the 1980s before going out of business. Gallacher was honored by the U.S. Small Business administration as the Hawaii Small Businessman of the Year in 1973 at which time he had 50 employees producing 400 designs (including jewelry and children's books, ashtrays, statues, plaques, and more).
Trader Hall's Hawaiian Village
Heeia, Hawaii, United States (Closed)
This store in Heeia, Oahu, Hawaii flourished in the 1950s and 60s.
It was located across the Pali from downtown Honolulu at Kealohi Point, Heeia...a short distance beyond Kaneohe Town.
Here one could purchase gifts, jewelry, and curios, including koa wood bowls and other serving items.
It was also a photo opportunity and many people posed outside in front of the store next to the large tiki and outrigger canoe.
The Breakers Hotel
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
A two-story relic in the heart of Waikiki. The Breakers' close proximity to local attractions and its bargain rates make it a popular spot that is often fully booked. Relatively unchanged since it opened in 1954, the hotel is broken into six low-rise buildings centered around an outdoor sundeck and pool.
No tikis on this property but the mid-century, Japanese/Polynesian architecture is still intact, with shoji screens over the sliding doors and classic wood louvres covering the windows.
The property is walking distance to everything in central Waikiki, including the beach, which is a three-minute stroll away.
Hawaiiana Hotel
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States (Closed)
Built in 1955.
This location has 40 units and is 2 stories. It closed in 2009 and was Beachwalk Student Suites Apartments for a time. As of 2020, the property was purchased and renamed Pagoda, matching the other hotels in this mini hotel chain that is expanding to have a location on each island.
This Honolulu location and the nearby Breakers Hotel are possibly the last of the 1950s era smaller hotels remaining in Waikiki. The Hawaiiana was a little less well-maintained over the years, but it has tikis throughout the grounds and is definitely worth a look. The Hapu'u fern tikis are especially fragile but appear to have survived.
*1958 tri-fold brochure map background shows original layout.
Royal Hawaiian Motel
Daytona Beach, Florida, United States (Closed)
This motel was incorporated on April 21st, 1959.
Marvin Cooper, a Miami resident, built and owned the Royal Hawaiian Motel, operating under a corporate name (Royal Hawaiian Corporation).
Postcards describe it as: "Florida's most unique vacation resort featuring the authentic gracious atmosphere of exotic Hawaii. Apartments and motel rooms - air conditioned - & heated - swimming pool - coffee shop, and the intimate Grass Shack Lounge for your entertainment." The front of the building had a rock fireplace with a large tiki mask and there was a ten foot tall die-cut and neon-lit hula girl over the driveway.
Del & Kiki Perkins purchased the Royal Hawaiian Motel in 1968 from Marvin Cooper, then renovated it and renamed it to the Windjammer Motel.
It still retained its fountain and tiki mask out front for a time.
However, in the fall of 1971, Del Perkins, operating with his wife as the Schooner Corporation, began a renovation which combined the Windjammer Beach Motel (formerly the Royal Hawaiian Motel) with the adjacent Reef Beach Motel (a Quality Courts establishment), another property that he had purchased in 1964.
This began a series of acquisitions and remodeling and somewhere in later years the last vestiges of the old Royal Hawaiian were lost.
Polynesian Motel - Anaheim
Anaheim, California, United States (Closed)
The Polynesian Motel ran through the 1960s and was permanently closed around 2015.
The wonderful neon sign was removed long before then, during or prior to 1997.
Samoa Motel
Anaheim, California, United States (Closed)
This vintage motel at one time featured an impressive neon sign on front and a large tiki pole below it.
Although it became a bit run-down, the sign and facade was basically original through at least 1997, if not later.
The motel was eventually remodeled completely and as of 2021 is named America's Best Value Inn & Suites Anaheim Convention Center.
The front lettering of "Samoa Motel" is gone and has been replaced by a diamond checkered pattern.
The Tiki Lounge - at The Heart O' Denver Motor Hotel
Denver, Colorado, United States (Closed)
The Heart O' Denver Motor Hotel (1960-1975), featured a bar called the Tiki Lounge. Eli Hedley, the man who popularized the beachcomber aesthetic, designed this lounge.
The site is also historically noteworthy for being located on Colfax Avenue, the longest commercial street in the United States of America.
Later, this hotel became a Ramada and in 2005-2006 the Tiki Lounge space was home to a new tiki bar called Tiki Boyd's.
It appears, as of 2021, the space is now home to Ahuevo Cantina Kitchen.
Don the Beachcomber - Denver
Denver, Colorado, United States (Closed)
This location originally opened in 1954 under the name "The Outrigger", located in Hotel Cosmopolitan at 18th and Broadway. The Hotel Cosmopolitan opened in 1926 and was demolished in 1984.
The Outrigger name changed to Trader Vic's in 1962 and later closed in 1978 when the corporation decided they wanted a fresher location than the, by that time, 52-year-old hotel, and Trader Vic's opened a different location at the brand-new Denver Hilton three blocks away.
This Don the Beachcomber's moved into the vacated spot left by Trader Vic's at the Cosmopolitan and was there from 1978 to 1984.
Dave Wong's China Sails
Salem, Massachusetts, United States (Closed)
China Sails was a Chinese restaurant created in 1949 and owned by Dave Wong in Salem, Massachusetts, and was located on 516 Loring Ave (where there is now a different Chinese restaurant called Fantasy Island, which still uses the original China Sails sign, although the sign now says “Fantasy Island”).
Dave wanted to bring his style of Polynesian/Chinese cuisine to his customers and break away from the traditional norm of being grouped with other Chinese restaurants in Boston’s Chinatown. He found an opportunity in Salem, Massachusetts, a traditional working class community, to purchase an existing 60-seat Chinese restaurant, called Red Sails, whose name he quickly changed to avoid any imagined connection to Communism just before the McCarthy Era. In the late 1950’s, Dave expanded the restaurant -- tripling its size. China Sails was so successful that Dave eventually expanded to Revere, Chestnut Hill, the North Shore Shopping Center, and the Liberty Tree Mall.
China Sails produced a variety of branded Otagiri manufactured tiki mugs, including one with a Chinese junk logo.
Dave retired in 1985.