This is a snack bar -- no liquor license. It is part of an in-line skate shop. They rent themselves out and help with private parties, sometimes luaus or other Hawaiian-themed events.

There are a couple of tikis on premises but this is by no means a full-time tiki establishment.

A medium-sized store in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood, which seems to be targeting the homesick among Seattle's Hawaiian community. It's not unusual to hear the lilting tones of pidgin english spoken here. There is a food section, and leis can be ordered straight from Hawai'i. Tiki Farm mugs and other tiki and party supplies can be found here.

They also run a travel agency out of the store as well.

Frank Kerwin's restaurant, The Seacomber, “America’s Tropical Showplace,” opened at 22725 Pacific Coast Highway on April 4, 1946.

This pre-tiki showplace included dining and cocktails within The Royal Hawaiian Room, the Coral Sea Cocktail Bar, the Princess Pupule Room, the Marine Deck and the Grand Salon.

Kerwin, a former boxing announcer and sports promoter, had previously managed the Club New Yorker in the basement of the Hotel Christie on Hollywood Boulevard, and The Merry-Go-Round cocktail lounge in the CBS Radio Playhouse on Vine Street.

This venue must have lasted at least through 1950, since newspaper ads proclaim the opening of a sister location on November 1, 1950, when Frank Kerwin opened the Wilshire Seacomber at Wilshire and San Vicente.

It is not clear when these two locations closed.

Today, the original Malibu location is home to a McDonalds.

The previous restaurant had a bad fire in 1954, killing 2 employees, then another fire on January 28 1961, which destroyed the building during the end of a Polynesian themed remodel of the previous restaurant.

They kept going, however, with their original plans, and the Polynesian remodel was completed. Saxony South Seas opened in early September of 1961.

From an October 25th, 1961 review:

"The Saxony South Seas boasted authentic South Seas decoration, including 48 carvings of various sizes from exotic places such as Samoa, Tahiti and Hawaii. Behind the bar stood a massive 1300 pound Tiki idol, while the back bar was inlaid with mother of pearl - 3000 pieces - all hand inlaid, weighing 65 pounds. The manager Richard Tierney said the restaurant incorporates what the management considered the best elements of famous Polynesian restaurants throughout the country. 'We used native materials, imported trough a San Francisco agent, then refined the atmosphere to what we thought would be attractive to our Milwaukee patrons.' The restaurant sat 170.

Leon Garces was the Filipino chef who came from the Beachcomber's in Chicago. 'The forte of the bar, of course, is rum drinks. Most come in exotic containers, such as the Tonga, called a sorcerer's blend and served in a ceramic miniature Easter Island figure. The Volcano is served in a real coconut and consists of gin, brandy, rum and pineapple juice, garnished with an orchid.'"

This elaborate South Seas theme only lasted 3 years until 1964 when the restaurant changed back to serving "American" cuisine...

Today, as of 2023, this site appears to be home to The Shul Center, a synagogue.

Opened in 1974.

From the August 22, 1974 Chicago Tribune:

"A Polynesian restaurant tucked away in a little shopping center called White Plains. Unusually good food in the Chinese-Cantonese tradition accented with an occasional American touch such as steak with salad and french fries. Soft and soothing background taped music of Hawaii. Interior design, overall ambiance remindful of all the other Polynesian restaurants that you've visited in the States, including Hawaii. But why Northbrook for so many restaurants? Isn't there a satiation point? ECHOING comments of many other restaurateurs of the area was Wally Chin's emphatic 'This is a going community! New homes are going up; new industries coming in.' Mr. Chin, who is co-owner of Kahala Terrace with his brother, Bob Chin, points to a developing industrial park across the highway from the Kahala. Easy access to Northbrook via Edens Expressway, and elimination of parking problems also are positive factors. FARTHER NORTH at County Line and Lee Roads in Northbrook, a proposed courtyard of nationality restaurants in a prestigious shopping area that will include Neiman-Marcus and Lord and Taylor specialty stores and a Sears Roebuck department store, is scheduled for completion in the fall of 1975. Blueprints for the p r o j e c t Northbrook Court also call for parks, small lakes, and condominiums on the 130-acre property. Although many of the residents of the area are vehemently protesting the mammoth project, construction presently is continuing.

Owners of Kahala Terrace are not newcomers to the suburbs. After a year as maitre d' at Kon Tiki Ports in the Sheraton-Chicago. 505 N. Michigan Av., Wally Chin operated Chan's Tea House in Highland Park for 10 years. Bob Chin continues as owner of the House of Chan, a catering establishment in Wilmette, and now manages catering facilities for the Kahala also. Barmaids at the Kahala, which specializes in exotic mixed drinks, are Wally's daughter, Judy, and Bob's daughter, Marilyn, fresh from bartending school. Restauranteuring, in fact, is a way of life for the Chin family. Wally and Bob's brother, Henry, is proprietor of the House of Chinn, an excellent Cantonese restaurant at 6355 N. Western Av. A FOURTH brother, Howard, operates New Wilson Village, a surprisingly good restaurant in a shabby old block at 1120-22 Wilson Av., established by the brothers' parents some 40 years ago.

Evening specialty of the house is the Kahala version of a Polynesian Iuau at $7.50 per person, beginning with soup or juice and a platter of appetizers egg rolls, crab rangoon, shrimp, barbecued ribs, pineapple in chicken. Six main courses that change daily, always including beef, chicken, and seafood dishes, are arranged at an elaborate self-help buffet."

Despite this overall good opening review and the bonafides of Wally as a maitre d' at Kon Tiki Ports, the interior of the restaurant screams 70s tiki devolution with the lack of decor, the 70s flower print cushions on the rattan chairs, the exposed brickwork, and the cedar shingles in lieu of proper thatching.

Ads show that Kahala Terrace was open at least as late as 1983.

NOTES:

*Bob Chin lived to be 99 and died April 15th, 2022. His biggest and best known restaurant was Bob Chinn's Crab House in Chicago, which he started in 1982. It would be his 14th restaurant and the longest lasting. He served the same mai-tais there that he did at the Kahala Terrace location.

**As of 2022, the location of Kahala Terrace is now home to a FastSigns print shop.

Once the residence of Princess Pomare, daughter of the last King of Tahiti.

Hotel Tahiti was celebrated as the largest hotel in French Polynesia at the time it was built in 1960. The double bungalows provided 18 deluxe suites and two 2-story plantation type buildings, each with 24 veranda suites, provided a total of 66 units on 53 acres bordering a blue lagoon 1 mile from the capital, Papeete. The interior of the original Hotel Tahiti's cocktail lounge bar had many floor-to ceiling tiki poles, a wood canoe hanging from the ceiling, and a thatch roof over the bar with lots of bamboo and other decorations familiar to fans of Mid-Century Poly Pop. This hotel was demolished in 1997.

Some key dates in the property timeline:

May 1960, Inauguration of the Hotel Tahiti, owned by Spencer F. Weaver (of SpenceCliff Corporation, who did so much building in Hawaii especially)

1997, Demolition of Hotel Tahiti

July 1999, Opening of Outrigger Hotel, owned by Mr. and Ms. Wane

2000, Outrigger becomes Sheraton Hotel Tahiti

2009, Sheraton becomes Hilton Tahiti

July 2010, Closing of Hilton Tahiti

November 2021, Grand Opening of Hilton Tahiti Resort

Today, the Hotel Tahiti site is home to a luxury resort, just opened in 2021 by Hilton. Hilton’s extensive renovations have transformed the property, with an emphasis on open-air public spaces, natural light and ocean views. Design details feature light woods, a neutral color palette and a modern take on island-inspired decor. The re-imagined property offers 200 rooms, a boutique spa, the largest pool in Tahiti and three dining venues. Additional new features include cabanas and a poolside restaurant with views of Moorea Island. The hotel has two bars: the Heiva Lounge in the open-air lobby, offering spectacular ocean views and a bespoke collection of wine; and the Vaipuna poolside bar that offers unique, tropical libations as well as traditional cocktails. There are a few tikis on the grounds and some generic mugs used at the bars, but, Hilton, as one would expect, is more interested in offering a luxury resort experience than catering to Mid-Century Poly Pop fans.

Opened circa 2005.

This is a tiki interior-themed Dairy Queen. Otherwise the menu and exterior are the same as other Dairy Queens.

There is a big tiki god water fountain when you walk in. There are 3 large fish tanks, one is salt water and there is a thatched roof over them. Two of the corner booths are grass huts and the chairs are all bamboo. The walls have a bamboo wall paper with different Kahiki items, a 6-foot tiki god, nets, surf board, islands of Hawaii made by a Hawaiian friend of the owners, shells, etc.

The employees wear hawaiian shirts and leis.

Established in 1972.

They advertise both Chinese and Polynesian cuisine and have a large room for each -- the Oriental Room or the candle-lit Polynesian Room.

Stepping into this restaurant is like opening a time capsule. The interior of the Polynesian Room has thatching, amber-colored lauhala matting on the walls, tiki masks, several standing tikis, and many vintage Orchids of Hawaii style lamps.

They are especially proud of their egg rolls.

Their logo used to feature a tiki but was modernized to the current logo showing a silhouette of a couple eating.

South Seas Cafe (1937-1977) was San Diego’s first large, Tahitian-themed restaurant, home of ‘rain on the roof’ just like at Ray Haller’s Seven Seas (1935) in Hollywood (later Bob Brooks Seven Seas).

The South Seas Cafe not only had the distinction of being the first large Tahitian/Pre-Tiki restaurant in San Diego — it was a woman-owned business. Opened Saturday night July 10, 1937 by Ruth W. Becker and Charles Thomas, South Seas Cafe was located across from the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Pacific Highway.

“We feel sure that the atmosphere of the ‘South Seas’” said co-owner Charles Thomas to the press, “in which we produce lightning, thunder and the beating rain of a tropical storm, will delight seekers of the unusual. The South Seas illusion will be enhanced by Tahitian portraits and figure studies, done by Leeteg. The haunting rhythms of Hawaii will be produced nightly by steel guitars and ukuleles in the capable hands of Stone’s Hawaiians.”

Consolidated Aircraft Corporation’s newly-built production facility nearby provided a busy lunch crowd. And the novelty of an indoor rainstorm with thunder and lightning drew in as many patrons as could fit in the Tahitian-inspired restaurant. Their collection of ‘figural studies’ by painter Edward Leeteg certainly didn’t hurt, either.

Along with the Leeteg paintings down in the bar, they prominently featured an 11-foot-tall black velvet nudie by Morris Levine in the upstairs dining area, and on their menus. The Levine was reportedly won in a Las Vegas dice game bet by Wilbur Clark.

Top it off with thick steaks. Fried shrimp. Rum drinks. Entertainment by Stone’s Hawaiians, Teddy ‘K’ and his Hawaiians, Benny Kealoha and his famous ‘Echo Song.’ Comedy by Our Gang actor Spec O’Donnell. All this made the South Seas Cafe a destination spot.

The South Seas closed in 1977 and was replaced by a ladder store. For years it was a GolfMart, and later was part of an AMVETs thrift store properties. Most Recently, as of 2021, the property was vacant and up for lease.

Del Webb's hotel Ocean House was located on the Pacific Coast Highway on Mission Bay.

Del Webb was an American real-estate developer, and a co-owner of the New York Yankees baseball club. He also built the Kuilima Hotel & Resort (now known as the Turtle Bay Resort) in Hawaii.

Opened in 1962, with design by Las Vegas architect Martin Stern, Jr. (1917-2001).

The complex sat on several acres, had 200 rooms in the hotel, a dining room, coffee shop, the Jolly Roger cocktail lounge, and banquet and convention facilities to accommodate up to 1,000.

The most notable tiki features were several impressive carvings around the pool area. There were also brightly painted tiki mask faces along one exterior wall -- shown in the Jerry Lewis film, The Big Mouth (1967).

The cocktail lounge was not a tiki bar, but was a deeply immersive nautical themed space.

It was sold two years later to become the Hilton San Diego Inn, becoming the Hilton San Diego Resort & Spa, renovated in 2007.

Currently (as of 2022) owned by Noble House Hotels & Resorts and branded as the San Diego Mission Bay Resort. No trace of the tikis today...

Hurricane Cove, Avalon, Santa Catalina Island was a pre and post-war restaurant and bar (1937-1979), located at 305 Crescent.

It would be considered pre-tiki and followed in the footsteps of the Hurricane Bars in New York and San Francisco who also took their iconography and theme from the 1937 film, starring Dorothy Lamour.

Hurricane Cove once featured a huge semi-circle bamboo piano bar. It was originally owned by Oscar Griffith (1895-1974). David Renton, was the architect for the Wrigley Family and designed the structures on the Island per the Wrigley request, (including the Casino). The Wrigley family did not want any tropical themed structures, but Oscar and the owners of the Waikiki Hotel were able to prevail and had their businesses constructed the way they wanted.

Oscar had a band, Jimmy Lowe and the Sons of Hawaii, who played regularly at his place. Oscar had after hours for top named entertainers that played at the Avalon Casino Ballroom including Benny Goodman. Oscar had the place built per his vision which included a bamboo bar in 1938. He had lights, fans and audio to simulate a hurricane which were activated every hour. Oscar imported an expert in bamboo construction from California.

In 1957, Hurricane Cove was managed by Johnny Piacentini and Vince Scari.

Los Angeles attorney, Don Lake, who had done work for Oscar, Griffith purchased Hurricane Cove and had it remodeled.

More than 40 years after it first opened, Hurricane Cove was destroyed by a fire on March 4, 1979. So was the 20-unit Waikiki Hotel.

Opened November 12th, 2021 in the space formerly occupied by BurgerFi.

This is Napa's first tiki bar, run by Nat Komes and family, who have deep roots in Napa and are known for Flora Springs Winery.

The name of the lounge is inspired by their family history and Uncle Wilfred in particular. Flora Cabral and her brother, Wilfred, grew up in Hawaii. Flora later married Jerry Komes and they started Flora Springs Winery.

This location pays homage to Wilfred, who often played the ukulele and entertained guests.

Their signature tiki logo was inspired by The Tiki-Jo logo tiki which was carved by Eli Hedley in the late 50s.

Interior work was done by Ben Bassham (Bamboo Ben, who is the grandson of Eli Hedley) and Billy Crud (Crud Tiki Polynesian Design).