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.

Open till at least 1975, as seen in the celebrity photo below of the band, Buckingham Nicks. Buckingham Nicks was a California-based music duo made up of guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and vocalist Stevie Nicks.

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.

Langerman's Luau was operated from roughly 1959-1968 by Harry Langerman, who may have also had other locations. Langerman was inspired to decorate with items from Polynesia after being stationed in the South Pacific during the war. Like many restaurants of the day, they were outfitted by Oceanic Arts. The restaurant included the Outrigger Room and Kontiki Bar.

This location in Narberth, PA is now home to a 4-story office building that was built in 1990.

The Hawaiian Hot Luau was a Polynesian dance show and luau held seasonally from 1991 to at least 2009 at the Imperial Palace (1979-2012). The Imperial Palace started off as the Flamingo Capri (1959-1979). The location later became the Quad Resort and Casino (2012-2014) and then The Linq (2014-Present).

Open since 2013, just a year before the founder of Chick-fil-A, S. Truett Cathy, passed away.

It would seem like the kind of thing they might try out in the actual Hawaiian islands, but it's not. There are none in Hawaii as of 2021. However, if you are the founder, you can do whatever you want, and Truett decided toward the end of his life that it would be fun to have a Hawaiian-style version of one of his restaurants in Georgia.

This location is much larger and more resplendent than your typical Chick-fil-A but has a similar menu with the addition of some Hawaiian-themed foods like Kalua pork and Hawaiian-style bread pudding. They have Hawaiian-style drinks as well, like their Frosted Hawaiian shakes which are served in souvenir tiki glasses.

There are some tikis located throughout, Hawaiian art, tropical palm fans overhead, and koa wood (or local Georgian hardwood) tables. One seating section actually has booths with thatching and tiki poles.

They are fond of throwing luau parties for children, often featuring hula dancers.

The Palm Springs Hotel was one of the city's earliest hotels, although there is little information left about it today. It was located at 265 N. Palm Canyon Drive and appears to have been around since at least the 40s. Probably before.

Through the 1950s, it was known for its Coral Tree Restaurant, which featured French-inspired food, and whose interior featured coral-colored booths with lots of tropical plants and a leaf-patterned carpet.

The Luau Restaurant looks to have been a 1940s pre-tiki establishment that was replaced by the Coral Tree. Difficult to say. Only the occasional menu turns up but judging by The Luau prices, it was probably before the Coral Tree and perhaps there are some traces of the old Luau when looking at interior shots of the Coral Tree below.

Today, this space has been entirely rebuilt and nothing of the old venue remains. It is now home to the Hyatt Palm Springs (the half which also has public self-parking).

However, you can still walk across the street from the Hyatt to where the current Tonga Hut Palm Springs offers Pop Polynesian escape to today's customers.

Another pre-tiki classic...

Harry "Sugie" Sugarman, manager of Grauman's Chinese Theater, opened his first Tropics supper club in 1934 or '35 at 421 North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills (later it became The Luau). It was such a success that he opened this second location, the Hollywood Tropics, in 1939.

Around 1945, the Hollywood Tropics was bought by Glenn Billingsley. That same year, Tom Breneman bought-in and changed the Hollywood Tropics to a self-named restaurant.

Tom Breneman died of a heart attack in 1949. After Breneman's death, the building was occupied by the ABC Radio Center.

Opened in August 2017 in the location formerly occupied by Rumor lounge.

This two-story white-painted structure may resemble a large fraternity house made over for a luau weekend on the outside, with its brightly painted tiki masks and Corona beer ads and banners/pennants strung across the balconies, but on the inside they appear to have something for everyone.

The bar offers classic and house cocktails in tiki mugs. They also have two full pages in their menu devoted to rum tasting notes on their large selection should you prefer to sip your spirits neat.

Additionally, they have a large selection of vodka, tequila, and beers on tap.

This was the first location for Albert Gee's Poly-Asian.

It had three distinctly defined spaces: The Poly-Asian Dining Room, The Kabuki Tea House, and The Club Luau -- a private section of the Poly-Asian.

Albert Gee sold it to Peter Chin in 1962 and it continued until 1969.

A second location was opened at 5200 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX (sometimes listed as 5138 Westheimer, Houston, TX) by Albert Gee after selling his first location in 1962. This second location had, until recently, been a Dobb's House Luau location.

Both Poly-Asian locations advertised themselves as serving Polynesian, Cantonese, and Japanese cuisine as well as Tropical Beverages.

Jane E. Gee, Albert's wife, outlived her husband of 38 years but passed away in 2019 at the age of 98. She was a co-owner of the business.