At White Point, in Royal Palms beach in San Pedro, Eli Hedley made his home with his wife and four daughters. Literally made it -- mostly out of driftwood. They started in the fall of 1945 and the two-bedroom English style driftwood cottage took two years to build. They combed every cove from Palos Verdes to Portugese Bend for timber and most of it came from broken up barges. In addition to the two bedrooms, there was a bunk room, galley, dining deck, poop deck, living room and a hold. Hedley used nautical terms to describe the house. Their furnishings were made of driftwood, they used a fire guard hood from a ship's engine room for a fireplace, and bamboo strips from a Japanese ship were used for an interior door. Numerous live palms gave the homestead a secluded tropical feel.

Hedley was largely responsible for creating the "beachcomber look," by collecting items from the beach and reusing them as home items and decor for his own family and to sell to others. Hedley became a major name in the Hollywood set for decorating, and was responsible for the decor in bars, restaurants, hotels and apartment buildings in the 1940s through the 1970s. He built his home on land leased from the military (the military had control over this land since World War II, as White Point juts out into the Pacific). The land today is a public park, and a plaque can be seen giving the history of the spot, including the Hedley residence. The home is now gone, but the foundation remains.

Mission Tiki Drive-In was originally the Mission Drive-In, which opened in 1956. De Anza took it over and started work on turning it into a tiki drive-in in 2005. The tikification was primarily performed by carver and artist Tiki Diablo, and includes plenty of tikis and Polynesian-themed decor. Ticket booths have A-frame tops with thatch, and the refreshments area has plenty of large tikis and tiki masks, and bamboo-lined walls. Mission Tiki's logo tiki is holding a box of popcorn. In addition to the regular schedule of drive-in movies, Mission Tiki hosts special events similar to those that have proved popular at the the De Anza-owned (but non-tiki) Starlight Drive-In in Atlanta.

Closed January 23rd, 2023. Sold and cleared for industrial development.

Open at least as early as 1979.

This location, in the Almond Orchard Center mall, was run by Bill and Amy Pang.

Later (in 1988-1992) it became Lollipops, a 1950s themed club. For a time it was the Chico Cabaret.

There is also an entire line of mugs that were stamped "Trader Pang's" on the reverse. These mugs were sold through Hilo Hattie's or other retailers around 2002 and appeared at the time to be brand new, not NOS (New Old Stock).

Some have claimed a connection to this Chico location with these mugs, but it is more likely that they were a fleeting name used by a foreign manufacturer to reproduce old Orchids of Hawaii designs.

No photos or menus showing these mugs in use at the Chico location have turned up, which supports the idea they are reproduced imports.

This property started out in 1948 as "El Rancho" and was built by Jack Nelson on 13 acres along Highway 17.

In 1965, it was renovated and re-themed as the Hawaiian Village Motel and Restaurant.

The restaurant had a small river running through it, with bamboo bridges to get across, and live bands in the "Bora Bora" room for entertainment.

The restaurant was destroyed by fire on Sept. 7, 1974. At the time, it was owned by Marion Cannon of Myrtle Beach, and Jack Shaw of Greenville, SC.

Currently, and since 1979, the site is home to the Village Square Shopping Center -- which is one of the earliest strip malls built in the area.

The Luau was located in the "County Airport," a.k.a. Borrego Valley Airport, and opened some time in the '50s or '60s. Open at least as late as 1967. The restaurant in the airport today is The Propeller Bar & Grill at 1816 Palm Canyon Drive, but it is not clear if this is the same space that once held the Luau.

Opened in the late 1960s.

The Beachcomber was a Canadian chain of elaborate Polynesian restaurants in the same vein as other popular chains like Kon-Tiki, Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic's. Other restaurants in the chain were located in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg.

This location was demolished to make way for the Broughton Tower in the 1980s, the ground floor of which housed a Fogg & Suds location.

Fry's Electronics was an American big-box store and retailer of software, consumer electronics, household appliances and computer hardware. Fry's had in-store computer repair and custom computer building services. The company had a chain of superstores headquartered in Silicon Valley. Starting with one store located in Sunnyvale, California, the chain operated 34 stores in nine states by 2019, and as of June 2020 operated 31 stores. Most of the stores in the Fry's Electronics chain had themes. For example, the Burbank store which opened in 1995 carried a theme of 1950s and 1970s science fiction movies, and featured huge statues of popular characters such as the robot Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still and Darth Vader from the Star Wars movie series. The Woodland Hills store was Alice in Wonderland themed. This Manhattan Beach store was the only tiki themed store and featured a giant Moai head at the entrance to their theater in back, a koi pond outside with several weathered wooden tikis, and bamboo and tiki embellishments throughout the store and at checkout.

*Fry's Electronics abruptly shut down its 31 stores on February 24, 2021, citing the pandemic and changes to retailing.

The Lucky Tiki opened in December 2004.

The first incarnation of the Lucky Tiki was as a short-lived tiki bar in the San Fernando Valley, opened by Bobby Green, who is also responsible for a number of popular themed bars in the Los Angeles area (Bigfoot Lodge, Little Cave, Thirsty Crow, Harlow, Idle Hour). The Lucky Tiki location, near where the 405 and 118 freeways meet, was once The Wild Cherry, a bar dating from the 1950s. Some of the artists responsible for the decor included Crazy Al Evans, Tiki Tony and Kevin Kidney.

In early 2006, the property the Lucky Tiki leased was purchased by a new owner and they closed soon after. The entire interior, including carvings and art, were put in storage.

Bobby Green wanted to reopen the Lucky Tiki in another location, initially in North Hollywood, then in the Palms neighborhood of West Los Angeles, but nothing gelled for several years and he became pre-occupied with other bar projects.

Finally, in March of 2024, after 20 years, The Lucky Tiki re-opened nearby Tail O' the Pup in West Hollywood.

New Zealand Maori-inspired restaurant and bar, next door to the Best Western Orchard Inn just off of Highway 99, appealed to the early-20s set of Turlock. Whanga Rei featured an outdoor patio with a sand volleyball court and a mechanical bull, but there were tiki touches inside, with a few large carvings, and an interesting seating area with a wave overhead. Whanga Rei opened in July 2004 but, by mid-2005, it was converted to a sports bar, and the tikis were removed.

The Kona Kai apartments were built in 1962. The decor was outfitted by Oceanic Arts. There is an identical apartment building in Granada Hills, the Kona Pali. The building has a dramatic A-frame entrance, with a tile mosaic of the Hawaiian islands. There are carved tikis throughout the grounds.

Built in 1962. This apartment building, formerly called the Samoa Apartments, is in a row of three Polynesian-themed apartment buildings, the others being the Kapu Tiki Apartments and the Aloha Arms.

Facing them, this would be the middle location in the row with the Kapu Tiki on the left and the Aloha Arms on the right.

Opened in 1996.

Aloha Cruz was a vintage Hawaiiana store with some tiki offerings. Vintage tiki mugs, tikis and other tiki collectibles were for sale, along with vintage aloha wear and rattan furniture.

Aloha Cruz used to be located in Hermosa Beach, but in April 2004 relocated to a smaller space in Redondo Beach.

The storefront has been closed, and the owner now sells items online only.

For 10 years (1998-2008), Aloha Cruz organized a large vintage Hawaiiana collectibles event, called "Da Show."