The Royal Hawaiian Apartments were built in 1964. The apartment complex encircles a central kidney-shaped swimming pool. At the front of a building, a rock wall with a "Royal Hawaiian" outrigger sign is on one side of the entrance, and a bamboo-lined wall is on the other, above a parking garage supported by carved tiki posts. More tikis can be found in the inner courtyard.

The Royal Hawaiian Estates were built in 1960 and opened on New Year's Day 1961. It is a complex of 12 buildings containing 40 condominium homes with two shared central swimming pools, designed by the famous mid-century architect Donald Wexler and his partner at the time, Richard Harrison. The developer was Philip Short, and ownership was initially restricted to Jewish buyers over the age of 55 (Jewish people were not allowed to buy in the other private communities around Palm Springs at that time). Some of Hollywood's movers and shakers owned units as a vacation home in the 1960s. The property fell into disrepair in the 1990s and many of the defining architectural elements were removed. Restoration began in the 2010s, and today the mostly-restored complex is the first Historic Residential District in Palm Springs. The artist Shag (who has a store in Palm Springs) has a tikified vacation home in the complex.

This bar was located right next door to Bora-Bora in Lisbon.

Apparently the original owners of Bora-Bora had a falling out and one of them opened Tangaroa close by out of spite (sometime after 1982...).

It was open at least as late as 2015.

Later, home to Charm Bar. Now home to Oxalá as of 2022.

Lanai Hawaiian Food was a restaurant in the Auxiliadora neighborhood of Porto Alegre. It was opened by Sarah Wojahn in June 2010, and closed in January 2015. The space was sleek and modern, yet still warm thanks to careful lighting and a smattering of bamboo trim. Two large, pale, Hawaiian tikis overlooked the dining room. The food was upscale, modern Hawaiian.

Exotical has been serving Southern California's aloha wear needs since 1964, more than 40 years. Owner Paul Orloff still runs the shop today, which is open six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Exotical carries a wide array of nice aloha wear -- some of it is vintage, but has never been purchased and worn. Prices can be on the high side, but the uniqueness of what you can find here, combined with the uniqueness of the shopping experience, can make it worthwhile. Exotical used to carry a lot of tropical import items like bamboo and furniture. They still carry a few tropical items beyond the aloha wear, including vintage albums, furniture and coconut monkeys. Orangethorpe Avenue has been their location since 2020.

This restaurant, along with Johnny's Tiki Hut in Salt Lake City, was owned by Johnny Quong.

The Hawaiian was Quong's masterpiece and it thrived from 1961 through 1983 or a little later...

Among other details, customers remember its periodic monsoon thunderstorm special effects.

While he owned the building, Quong didn't own the land underneath it. When his lease came up, he decided he needed to close it, due to health issues stemming from diabetes. The restaurant was eventually converted into a Veterans Of Foreign Wars hall.

The Hawaiian was located at 4645 E.Pacific Coast Highway and opened for business on Thursday, July 28, 1955.

It replaced the Golden Drumstick restaurant and operated throughout the 1960s.

The Hawaiian was owned/operated by Don May who also owned Leilani Hut on 2nd Street where Legends is now located.

The Hawaiian closed on June 27th, 1969.

In 1970, the building was repurposed as a Datsun dealership.

Today, a Pep Boys now stands at this location.

The Royal Hawaiian opened in 1947. It was owned by the Cabang family. The Cabangs were originally from the Phillipines and were friends with both of the Fillipino Tiki carvers in L.A. at the time, Milan Guanko and Andres Bumatay. These talented artists both supplied Tikis for the restaurant. The prominent Andres Bumatay tikis outside the restaurant became weathered and destroyed and were later replaced by modern carvings.

The Royal Hawaiian also had a sister location located in Anaheim in the 1950s.

The Royal Hawaiian has been through several iterations. It originally had several small dining rooms with glass-walled dioramas filled with tikis and plants, great lamps, bamboo, thatch and sea grass matting, and a bar with a fireplace and pufferfish. There were lovely oil paintings throughout, including a large piece hung directly above the hostess stand.

In spring 2006, the restaurant was sold to a new owner, who gutted it. The newer, tiki-stripped version closed for good in 2012. In 2016, the space reopened, again with the name Royal Hawaiian, this time by people who wanted to bring back its rich tiki history. The new owners, Mo Honarkar and daughters Hasty and Nikisa, worked to bring back a fully-decorated Royal Hawaiian with the help of Bamboo Ben.

However in January-February 2019, the restaurant was closed for yet another remodel and then re-opened under the auspices of chef Mariano “Maro” Molteni. Honarkar’s company remained as landlords, while Molteni owned and operated the restaurant which he rebranded as the "Royal Hawaiian Fire Grill". Molteni's remodel (which came as a surprise to the landlords) removed much of Bamboo Ben's decor, especially natural materials like lauhala matting and thatching in favor of dark blue painted walls and a "cleaner" and "less cluttered" look. There were still tikis and accent pieces, but the interior was much reduced from its former full tiki glory.

On July 15th, 2022, Royal Hawaiian Fire Grill announced its closure for the end of that same month, on July 31st, 2022.

Following the 2022 closure of the last iteration of the Royal Hawaiian, the space was turned over to Boulevard Hospitality for a complete transformation and a grand re-opening in May 2023. The new build-out was completed by Ignacio “Notch” Gonzales, famous for building spaces like Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco and Inside Passage in Seattle.

To round out the new experience, the Royal Hawaiian’s owners have brought on famed barman Dushan Zaric of Employees Only to build a bespoke cocktail menu that riffs, weaves, and rethinks the rum-forward staples of tiki lore.

*NOTE: For the 2006-2022 version or from 2023 onward see separate listings.

The Royal Hawaiian in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey was built by Lou Morey in 1969 and was part of the Wildwoods Shore Historic District.

It is classified as "Doo Wop" style in New Jersey (what might be referred to as "Googie" on the West Coast).

Located on Orchid Street near the beach and Atlantic Avenue.

Originally it had an Easter Island head on the signage and logo.

Over the years, details were added like a large flying saucer shaped room on the top which was originally a restaurant, but is now a penthouse suite.

Also, the Easter Island head was replaced with a palm tree logo.

The hotel was purchased by Madison Resorts in 2023 and is now part of the Madison Resort Wildwood Crest.

Lester Klayman and his family owned the Royal Hawaiian until Madison Resorts purchased it.

Reportedly, the Madison Resorts' plan is to preserve the property's historic architecture and create a world-class resort that will be part of the Madison Resort Wildwood Crest, which also includes the Oceanview Motel.

This restaurant was open at least as early as 1975 (see dated black & white photo background) in Landing, New Jersey.

Landing is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Roxbury Township, Morris County, New Jersey, United States.

The restaurant billed itself as a Chinese and Polynesian Restaurant and had a separate cocktail lounge that can be seen in one of the color photos below.

The dining rooms were decorated with dozens of hand-carved wooden Filipino Ifugao tribal masks, fake palm trees, and a large tribal shield in one corner.

Today, the shopping center is still standing, but many of the storefronts are vacant.

This second Nalu location opened in Rehoboth Beach on April 9th, 2019.

It tilts a bit more to the surf than the tiki spectrum of decor with surfboard tables and Hawaiian wave mural walls, but no carved tikis in evidence like the original location.

The food menu is much the same as the sister location. They have a self-described "Pacific island fusion" menu with pad thai, tacos, burgers, and poke bowls leading the way.

The cocktails are served in tiki style glassware.

The Hawaiian Hut was a pre-tiki venue which opened in late 1936/early 1937, and was originally operated by Tony Guerrero with Bill Ornellas, whose nickname was “Whistling/Whislyn/Whislin’.” Built in 1928, the building had previously housed a series of short-lived cafes and clubs before the Hawaiian Hut came along.

Hawaiian-born Tony appeared in a few films and was married to former child actor Charlotte “Peaches” Jackson. He sold his interest in the Hawaiian Hut by 1940 and the couple moved to Honolulu where they operated a restaurant, The Tropics at Waikiki.

Ornellas’ Hawaiian Hut featured not just mere rain on the roof but an entire tropical storm effect. On July 13, 1942, the hut was damaged by an arson-set fire; it reopened September 2, 1942 and continued here through 1945.