Lee's Tahitian is an old Chinese/Polynesian restaurant in Richland. It opened in 1952 as Vina's Tahitian, became C & L Tahitian in 1956 (so named for its then-owners, Chin & Lee), and then became Lee's Tahitian when Lee bought out Chin in 1976. The restaurant changed ownership in 1996 and became a karaoke bar. Today it is admittedly downtrodden, but still has tons of beautiful history, starting with the dramatic neon signage that remains. Inside there are still traces of Polynesian decor, including some Witco pieces.

Jungle Outpost collects, buys, and sells tribal arts and crafts from around the world, but in particular they specialize in the art of Papua New Guinea. They have the largest selection of PNG art for sale in North America, with 2,000-3,000 pieces, both antique and contemporary. Most items are purchased directly from the tribesman artists in New Guinea, with whom they have developed close relationships over many decades.

They sell online and at trade shows, but they also have a storefront as part of Reptile Gardens, which is owned and operated by the same family. Reptile Gardens founder, Earl Brockelsby began travelling to Papua New Guinea and collecting its tribal art in the 1960s. Earls nephew Joe Maierhauser, current President and CEO of Reptile Gardens, has continued his uncles legacy of collecting PNG tribal art.

Luau Room was operated by Dobbs House, which owned a chain of airport concessions, and also a chain of Polynesian restaurants called Dobbs House Luau. This location opened in 1959. It was located in the terminal at Standiford Field, which today is the Louisville International Airport. The restaurant operated until 1983. When Dobbs House closed the restaurant, they sold the name and furnishings to Vern Ferguson, who relocated Luau Room near the University of Louisville.

Other Dobbs House Luau locations were in Atlanta, Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Lexington, and Houston.

Dobbs House Luau was a chain of Polynesian restaurants throughout the south. This location opened in 1959 and lasted at least through 1964, but maybe not much longer. By 1971, it had been sold to Albert Gee and became the Poly-Asian West. (The addresses of the two locations are different: Dobbs House Luau was listed at 5200 Westheimer vs. Poly-Asian West at 5138 Westheimer. Either the address of the building changed, or they were actually two different places.)

Other Dobbs House Luau locations were in Atlanta, Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Lexington, and Louisville.

Dobbs House Luau was a chain of Polynesian restaurants throughout the south. This location opened in January 1960 in the Hotel Lafayette in downtown Lexington, Kentucky. Unlike other Dobbs House Luau locations, this one was sometimes advertised as the "Luau Room" or simply "Luau," only sometimes being referred to as "Dobbs House Luau." Later that same year, the hotel closed and became office space, it's not clear if or how long the restaurant remained after the hotel closure. The building still stands, around 1980 the building was purchased by the city to house government offices.

Other Dobbs House Luau locations were in Atlanta, Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Houston, and Louisville.

Dobbs House Luau was a chain of Polynesian restaurants throughout the south. This location opened in 1960 or 1961. This is the Orlando location, Maitland is a suburb just north of Orlando. It operated at least through 1964, and had changed its name to Dobbs House Tiki sometime in the early 1960s. It was built on an acre-and-a-half of land, with elaborate decor at South US Highway 17 92 at Circle Drive.

Newspapers claim that the restaurant was built to seat at least 250 persons and would be staffed with 50.

Other Dobbs House Luau locations were in Atlanta, Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Lexington, Houston, and Louisville.

Dobbs House Luau was a chain of Polynesian restaurants throughout the south in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. Very little information has been found about this specific location, but it is listed in menus and matchbooks from other locations at the time. A newspaper report on the development of the Dallas location in 1958 reported that work was to begin on the Miami location immediately after Dallas was complete. It was somewhere at the Miami International Airport, where Dobbs House had existing restaurant and concessions business.

Other Dobbs House Luau locations were in Atlanta, Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Dallas, Orlando, Lexington, Houston, and Louisville.

Dobbs House Luau opened at the Love Field airport in Dallas in the last week of November 1958. It was an early outpost of the then-new Dobbs House Luau chain, inspired by the Dobbs family's purchase of the Luau in Atlanta. Dobbs House was a chain of restaurants and hotel concessions, and already had the restaurant space in the airport. The family chose to re-theme some of their restaurants as Polynesian, including this one. Elaborate decor was installed, including many tikis, pufferfish, and water features. The restaurant operated successfully at Love Field until the Dallas-Fort Worth airport opened in 1974, which hurt business. The restaurant closed after 1974 (possibly as late as the 1980s), was temporarily a family entertainment space called "Llove" and has been used as office space for many years now. It was in the northwest corner of the mezzanine level.

Other Dobbs House Luau locations were in Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, Lexington, Houston, and Louisville.

Dobbs House Luau was open in Charlotte by at least 1965. The elaborate decor included water features.

The first Dobbs House Luau was in Atlanta, other Dobbs House Luau locations were in Memphis, Birmingham, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Lexington, Houston, and Louisville.

Dobbs House Luau was part of a chain of Polynesian restaurants throughout the south. This location was open by the early 1960s. The building has been demolished, but the fountain on the front lawn of the restaurant can still be seen today in the otherwise empty lot.

The original Dobbs House Luau location was in Atlanta, and there were also locations in Memphis, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Lexington, Houston, and Louisville.

Dobbs House had been operating as a steakhouse, but after the Dobbs family purchased the Luau in Atlanta, they were inspired to transform this Memphis location into a Polynesian restaurant. The transformation into Dobbs House Luau happened in 1959. Polynesian food was served buffet style, and a menu of tropical drinks was available -- but only if you brought in your own rum and stored it in your own rum locker at the restaurant, a typical practice of the time and area.

This landmark restaurant was particularly notable for the extremely tall, narrow concrete Moai in the parking lot.

This location closed in 1982.

Upon closing, the concrete moai head was moved to Tiki Pools, a shop on Getwell. When the pool business also closed in the 1980s, the head remained behind. One customer of the store, Bill Cunningham, bought it with plans to convert it into a barbecue pit that would smoke out through the ear holes. But it never happened. One day Cunningham brought over a big crane, and workers began to hoist the head onto the back of a flatbed truck but the head snapped in half and shattered during the attempt.

Other Dobbs House Luau locations were in Birmingham, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Lexington, Houston, and Louisville.

The Luau was first opened by the Dinkler family, who owned a chain of hotels. They opened this restaurant sometime in the mid-1950s (it was open by 1957), and operated it as "Dinkler Luau" or "Luau, a Dinkler presentation." The restaurant was stylish, with a dramatically pointed roof over a porte cochere entrance, and was designed by Curtis and Davis Architects of New Orleans. The interior featured waterway and bridges, and a cabinet with bamboo cases holding regulars' chopsticks, just like at the original Don the Beachcomber in Hollywood. There was at least one tiki carved by Barney West.

Soon after it opened (1959?), the Dinklers sold the restaurant to the Dobbs family, who changed the name to "Dobbs House Luau (1960?)." The Dobbs House Luau chain swiftly spread to other cities around the south, including Memphis, Birmingham, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Lexington, Houston, and Louisville. In 1962, the name was changed to "Dobbs House Tiki." The building was later demolished.