This was the second location for the Luau Room in Louisville. It was originally located at the airport and was a Dobbs House Luau location. The restaurant was sold by Dobbs House to Vern Ferguson in 1983 as the airport expanded, and Ferguson relocated it to this spot near the University of Louisville.

Their logo sketch of a hut exterior with moai on the side was stolen directly from the Mai-Kai in Florida and appeared on ads and stationary.

Amazingly, much of the decor from this large paradise (9,000 sq. ft.) remained intact over the years, surviving incarnations as a Mexican restaurant, a Salvation Army (that's right -- imagine walking into a thrift store and being surrounded by tikis you can't buy!), and a nightclub. The owner of the property reportedly insisted the decor remain, and had more in storage. As of summer 2005, the space was for lease again.

Most recently, in 2018-2020, the property was leveled and incorporated into the 2400-2420 site for the new Marshall Louisville student housing complex intended to house students at the University of Louisville.

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 Royal Tahitian, built in 1960, and opened June 24th, 1961, claimed to be the world's largest Polynesian restaurant, with 250 acres of tropical landscaping and "lagoons" -- however, this was simply a reference to the Ontario National Golf Course next door. The main floor was the restaurant, with a bar downstairs, and a show area outside. It featured a dramatic asymmetrical swooping A-frame entrance.

In later years, after the Royal Tahitian closed in 1967, its building became the club house for the golf course. In 2003, the building was set to be demolished, but it lingered for several more years and was torn down some time after 2010.

Just down the street there is an apartment building built in 1962 (now the Whispering Lakes Apartments) that once featured some large Milan Guanko tikis, and still retains some Polynesian influence.

This new Trader Vic's location opened in November 2004, marking the return of Trader Vic's to San Francisco proper. Until the early '90s, Trader Vic's had a location in San Francisco at Cosmo Alley. This new location had most recently held the famous Stars restaurant. Renovations were rumored to be budgeted at $3.5 million dollars.

The restaurant had several dining rooms, many suitable for private parties. The main dining room and bar area were large and open, with many Papua New Guinea masks and very large carved tikis. There was a bit of a rough start as the restaurant first opened, but after a series of improved bartender hirings, the drink quality improved.

The restaurant never quite found its footing, and closed in December 2007, after just three years in operation.

Don the Beachcomber's Chicago location was a legendary hotspot on the Chicago restaurant scene for decades. It opened on May 1st, 1940, and was open at least until the late '60s, probably later. It was in Chicago's Magnificent Mile neighborhood, about where the Four Seasons Hotel is today.

The building had a simple entrance, with a large neon sign in the trademark Don the Beachcomber driftwood sign shape. Inside, the restaurant had several rooms: the Tahitian Room and the Zombie Room were dining rooms, and the Cannibal Room was the bar. The bar had striking black posts carved with a stacked trio of Tahitian cannibal tikis. The whole restaurant was thoroughly encrusted with bamboo, and float lamps and beachcomber lamps were everywhere.

One of the key bartenders at the Chicago Don the Beachcomber, Mariano Licudine, eventually went on to lead the bar program at the Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale, bringing drinks in the Don the Beachcomber style with him that can still be tasted there today.

Lava Lounge opened in December 1993. This non-traditional tiki bar in a tiny strip mall in Hollywood attracted a steady flow of hipsters. Appropriate to the name, the interior had lava-dark walls, with a smoke-heaving, water-dripping wall in the rear, and pin-point lights across the ceiling. The design was sleek, with a heavy use of bamboo and Oceanic Arts lighting. There were a few tikis near the front. Live music was often featured here, almost always of the non-tiki-friendly variety. Tropical drinks were served, but not in tiki mugs. Lava Lounge closed in February 2007.

The Hu Ke Lau was a tiki bar at 7 Veterans Memorial Parkway in Salem, NH and opened in about 1970, but closed in 1976 due to the owners having to run another location in Chicopee, MA. The building was built in 1967 and was originally home to The Friar & Tuck Pub, from 1967-1970. After the Hu Ke Lau's closure in 1976, it was bought and then turned into the Grand China which was a Chinese Restaurant still having most of the remaining tiki decor. The Grand China closed in 2017 after 41 years in business, was then remodeled, and now is The Lim's Sports Bar & Cafe and also Chaser's Poker Room. It is still owned by the same family who owned the Grand China.

The place was adorned with vintage lamps, bamboo poles and some tikis.

Check out ThatTikiKid's YouTube channel (@ThatTikiKidOfficial) on the "My Vintage Menu Collection!" video at 7:29 out of 12:46 for the whole menu.

This Hu Ke Lau was also one in a small chain of restaurants. Johnny Yee partnered with Frank Chin and Robert Lew to open other locations, including the first in Chicopee, and others in: Lenox, Massachusetts (re-named Luau Hale in the 70s), Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a Rocky Hill, Connecticut location, and a Bridgeport, Connecticut location (which burned down in 1983) also.

Turtle Bay opened its doors in May 1972 as Del Webb’s Kuilima Resort Hotel and Country Club. The hotel boasted 443 ocean view rooms and a golf course. Webb was inspired by the name of the area the hotel sits on called Kuilima. In the Hawaiian language kui lima means "joining hands".

The former owner of the New York Yankees opened the resort with none other than Bob Hope as the headliner.

Webb had the vision of making Kuilima the first casino in Hawaii, however a bill that would make gambling legal that he anticipated passing died.

The resort took the Turtle Bay name officially in 1983. However, locals called the area Turtle Bay before then because turtles commonly feed in the bay.

Over the years what hasn’t changed is Turtle Bay’s untouched coastline, expansive grounds and legendary surfing. The resort rests on 1,300 acres of paradise. It is home to the stunning Kawela Bay, Kuilima Farm and the most northern tip on the island of Oahu, Kahuku Point.

The splendor of Turtle Bay has drawn Hollywood to its shores over the past 5 decades. More than 150 movies, TV shows and series have been filmed at Turtle Bay including Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Hawaii Five-0 and Jumanji - Welcome to the Jungle.

In April 2020, the hotel closed to the public in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic. Owners used the down time to completely transform Turtle Bay from the inside out with world renowned designer Dianna Wong and the architects of WCIT Architecture leading the charge.

*NOTE: It does not appear that the three tikis that stood outside in the 70s are still in place, although with all the remodeling it is possible that there may be new Polynesian art and decor somewhere on the grounds.

Opened in 1958 by Pat Gilmore, the Islander Lounge is the oldest continuously open beach bar from Destin, Florida to Orange Beach, Alabama along that 70+ miles of Gulf coastline.

To put that in perspective, it was opened the same year as the Tonga Hut in North Hollywood, California.

The Islander has expanded over the years. A game room area with its own bar was built years ago to adjoin the main bar. The club added an upstairs bar, the Cypress Bar, long ago, which is used for private parties and charity events, and open to the public on weekends. It leads out to an outside deck that looks south toward the Gulf of Mexico.

However, the striking remodeling from an immaculate 1950s Polynesian themed bamboo bar to a generically decorated neighborhood dive bar is disheartening for purist tikiphiles to look at. The gray walls and floor, not to mention the blaring televisions and signs for lotto and whiskey -- make it tough to spot any semblance of the former Polynesian theme.

Despite this, the bar is a survivor and still sports a few more modern tikis at the entrance and the upstairs deck. It is also much beloved by locals and doesn't need approval from outsiders who might disapprove of its decor.

The Tonga Hut in North Hollywood also saw a slide into generic dive bar status for several years, though, before being updated and refreshed. So, too, did the Bahi Hut in Sarasota, Florida. Perhaps the Islander Lounge also has a tiki remodel in its future?

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...

Bruce T. Marston was a Californian serving in Tahiti as a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. There, he met Louise, who was from Tubuai, just south of Tahiti. They fell in love, and moved to the town of Hanalei on the north side of the island of Kauai in Hawaii. There, in 1963, they opened Tahiti Nui.

Tahiti Nui became the go-to gathering place for Kauai's north shore, with musicians, hula dancing, and occasional singing from "Auntie Louise" Marston herself. Louise passed away in 2003, and Tahiti Nui is now run by Bruce and Louise's son, Christian.

Tahiti Nui makes an appearance in the 2011 film The Descendants.

The restaurant serves a mix of Hawaiian seafood standards and Italian food. The drink menu is limited, but they do have their own Mai Tai recipe, which they've been serving since they first opened. They still have live music and hula dancing.

The walls are lined with lauhala matting and bamboo, with Oceanic art pieces hanging here and there. The small round tabletops are painted with Polynesian designs, and the barstools are carved tikis. There is a small curio shop attached to the restaurant.

Vera's White Sands began in 1960 as a private club, White Sands Yacht Club, owned by Dr. Effrus Freeman and his wife, Vera, and opened on a small part of 800 acres of land they owned. As the years progressed and the area was developed, the once-private club was opened to the public, sometime in the '70s.

Vera's White Sands has varying seasonal hours, open more during the summer months, and slips are still available for rental. For many decades, the main attraction was Miss Vera herself (Dr. Freeman passed away in the '70s); the well-traveled woman added a touch of glamour and exotica to the proceedings, and played the perfect hostess to the guests. She passed away January 23, 2007, at the age of 93.

In 2006, Vera transferred ownership of Vera's White Sands to a new owner, who has removed most of the classic Polynesian Pop touches, in favor of a more Maryland Crab Shack or Jimmy Buffet-flavored tropical scene; the changes have been poorly received in the tiki community.

For all intents and purposes, Vera's White Sands Beach Club as tiki fans remember it is gone. The new restaurant may have "Vera's" in the title but that's about it -- there are a couple of cartoony tikis flanking the stage in back where they have live music and bikini contests. A few other details remain, but nothing like it was before.