Club Trade Winds was the restaurant in the Tulsa Trade Winds Motel at 51st and Peoria (1120 E. Skelly Drive), which later became Trade Winds West as other Trade Winds motels opened in the area.

At one time, Tulsa was home to three Trade Winds motor hotels. They were located at 51st Street and Peoria Avenue (1120 E. Skelly Drive), 51st and Harvard, and 3141 E. Skelly Drive (added in 1968 and still open as of 2021). There were also two in Oklahoma City and one in Muskogee.

This Club Trade Winds, at 1120 E. Skelly Drive, later became The Tiki Nook (operated during the 70s - 80s).

Frankoma was contracted in 1960 or 1961 to create mugs and serveware for Club Trade Winds. Some of the mugs tend to be oversized. Frankoma reused the designs a decade later (in a more normal size) for a short-lived Tulsa restaurant, The Cultured Pearl. All of these Frankoma tiki ceramics remain highly collectible. Years later, Wendy Cevola would secure the trademark/copyright to reproduce more Frankoma pieces, especially the War God. She did collaborations with Gecko and other artists, including with the Frankoma company itself.

Opened on August 25th, 1957 and closed due to fire on February 16th, 1959. Refurbished and re-opened in 1960 to run for 4 more years before being sold in 1964.

It was festooned with tiki idols, torches and artifacts, lots of palms and other exotic flora to frame diners enjoying authentic Polynesian cuisine. They even had a miniature volcano and waterfall built in the tropical garden, which also featured an ornate bridge.

The unusual Polynesian Kava and Tiki bowls in their old menu have fueled many expeditions for these "crypto mugs", and it is thought they must have been available for only a brief time as they are not shown in the later menu version.

In 1964 the Polynesian briefly became Jamaica West (a youth-oriented dancing and nightclub spot) for a year or so, and was then purchased by Hop Louie who re-opened it as Latitude 20 in 1966. Latitude 20 ran through 1980 before being sold to developers who decided to stray from the Polynesian theme and go Country. It was a Waco's and then a Calamity's before the structure was finally leveled in 1984.

The site is now a strip mall.

This restaurant was located in the Hotel Windsor and opened on December 2nd, 1953.

It was one of the first to put a tiki image next to its name in their logo and advertising.

It also issued several mugs which are thought to be some of the earliest as well, close on the heels of the Tiki Bob mug and some of the early Trader Vic's pieces.

The Kalua Room closed @1968 or 1969.

There is now a large shopping & restaurant complex where the hotel once stood.

Oceanic Arts was a major contributor to tiki culture since its opening on June 25th, 1956, when it was opened by LeRoy Schmaltz and Bob Van Oosting.

Bob and LeRoy have provided carvings, decorations, signage, light fixtures, and all the outfitting needed for a tiki location to nearly all of the major spots, including Disney. Oceanic Arts served as a Home Depot of sorts for the tikiphile.

The store was closed for good on November 24th, 2021.

Bob and LeRoy went out on a triumphant note by announcing the publication of a book chronicling their much beloved business on the same day. This book, authored by Jordan Reichek and published by Peekaboo Gallery, was issued in a regular or slipcover edition. This was accompanied by 2 rounds of auctions and accompanying auction books. Together, these books give a very thorough overview of the work produced by Oceanic Arts.

The Hawaiian Village in Florida opened in 1961. It was incorporated in 1967-1987.

It was a massive Polynesian-themed complex featuring not only 246 air-conditioned rooms and a swimming pool, but dining rooms and supper clubs, live shows, a cocktail Tiki lounge and even a golf putting green and coffee shop.

It had a great neon sign and a flaming moai out front as well.

There are also a wealth of collectibles from this location, including mugs, menus, swizzles, etc...

In 1971, the complex was sold to Red Carpet Inns (photo below shows a Red Carpet Inns sign that appears cut and pasted onto an earlier night time photo) and then it was later sold to Days Inn.

This location is now a Westshore Honda dealership.

The Islander (1966-1980) was a staple of Stockton's late-night entertainment in the 70s and 80s. Tommy Lee bought The Islander from restaurateur Hop Louie, who had hired architect Warren Wong to design the building to resemble a shipwreck on a sandy beach.

Most of the Islander's mugs were manufactured by Otagiri (OMC) and included: the "Islander child's tiki" mug, more commonly called a peanut mug today, which was available in black and the more common brown; three-face bucket mugs in both a short and tall size, which Mai Tais were served in; a rare green Maori-face bucket mug; a strangely large Scorpion bowl for two with an outrigger scene on one side and palm trees on the reverse; a "surf rider" mug that was also used at the unrelated Latitude 20; a tall wahine mug in the shape of a palm tree trunk (also the same shape as a Tiki Bob mug); a tiki mug with the image of an Andres Bumatay tiki on it (this same tiki was also used for early Islander menu cover artwork); a three-tiki bowl by an unknown manufacturer, and marked as being from the Islander only with a clear sticker on the bottom; a "Hurricane" mug (more commonly called a Kon Tiki mug today, as the face was borrowed from Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki); a later Hurricane mug that looked like a section of bamboo; a Wan Fu mug that is commonly called Mr. Sleepy by collectors; an unusual bug-eyed moai mug sometimes seen with white eyes; skull mugs for serving the Kona Grog, which came in black or white; a coconut mug which can be found in varying shades of brown, for serving the Coconut Punch; a pineapple mug with holes for two straws, which came with the Pi-Yi; a Suffering Tiki mug with two straw holes and a toothy grin that will be familiar to Kelbo's fans; and a Bora Bora head mug, also with two straw holes.

In the mid-90s, the building was moved to 10464 North Highway 99, and operated as the Pollardville Chicken Kitchen. The building is now demolished. The left-behind original lot is now a Tower Records.

Tommy Lee passed away at age 87 in 2002.

The Stockton Islander is not to be confused with the earlier Los Angeles Islander.

Images attribution: The Bank of Stockton Archives

Opened in 1998 by Gail Stringer.

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.

Kowloon opened on August 22nd, 1950 as The Mandarin House. In 1958 the Wong family purchased it and changed the name to Kowloon. Over the years they have expanded the restaurant into a broad complex of rooms, and it now has room for 1,200 dining patrons. Several of the rooms have Polynesian theming, including the Tiki Lagoon Room and Luau Room.

Fun Fact: The exterior Ku tiki below the A-frame is made of foam.

The restaurant has been a landmark in the north Boston area for decades, and photos of many celebrities visiting the restaurant are proudly displayed. They have a comedy club within the complex called "Kowloon Komedy".

The food is traditional Chinese American fare, and includes a flaming pu pu platter. Tropical drinks are served in tiki mugs.

As of 2024, the owners have announced that the restaurant is going to close. However, it sounds as though they have construction plans and that the end goal is to open a smaller venue on part of the same site. See 2024 Breezeway interview episode with Spike (Matt Marble).

Islands Sushi and Pupu Bar was known as the not-particularly-tiki sushi bar in the rather-tiki Crowne Plaza Hotel for many years.

In the beginning of the Covid pandemic the hotel was contracted by the city to house homeless Covid victims and this restaurant was closed since @2020 to the public. Fences and security were put up and those not registered to stay were turned away. Then, another remodeling was completed and the hotel opened back up in 2024 to show that all traces of Tiki decor had been removed from the premises, save some lava rock on some of the walls and some tiki railings.

This bar area wasn't terribly tiki before 2020, save for a few masks on the walls and some rattan furniture, but now it is totally bare of any tiki influence.

So, although you can visit the hotel now, as of 2024, it is essentially finished as a tiki point of interest, save for the memories.

Opened November 18th-19th, 1961. Aloha Jhoe's was created by Lyle R. Wheeler, a prolific Hollywood Art Director who won Oscars for his work on Gone with the Wind, Anna and the King of Siam, The Robe, The King and I and The Diary of Anne Frank, and was nominated another 24 times (many years, against himself). Wheeler was an Art Director on South Pacific four years before the opening of Aloha Jhoe's.

Featured on pages 28-29 of Sven Kirsten's The Book of Tiki.

Closed @ 1963.

Sam's Seafood started in its original location in 1923 at 2501 Coast Highway and, up until its Polynesian remodel in 1960 it was just a seaside seafood joint.

At 3 a.m. on Feb. 17, 1959, a fire burned the original Sam’s Seafood to the ground. Forced to rebuild, then-owners Ruth, Nick and Dick Katsaris glommed on to the midcentury fad sweeping Southern California: Tiki!

In 1960, they invested $1 million and hired architect Don Davis to design the new face of Sam’s and introduced Surfside to “Sam’s Seafood and Hawaiian Village.”

Sam's Seafood contained several dining rooms. The brightly lit main dining room had a large wall mural on one side and a dramatic tiki & waterfall display at the back. A pair of smaller side dining rooms were also bright and more aviation themed.

Of more interest to the tikiphile was the Hidden Village (Hawaiian Village) banquet room area in the back available for event rentals, which was large and moodily lit, with glass floats, waterfall displays, A-frame covered seating areas, and a small bar. On Friday nights from April to November, Sam's Seafood had a Polynesian Dinner Show in the Hidden Village. Last but certainly not least was the excellent main bar at Sam's. It was dark and full of excellent carvings, pufferfish and float lamps, and thatch.

A small bar with some tiki carvings inside, Turc's, can be found just down the street.

At the end of May 2006, Sam's Seafood was sold to developers who aimed to build retail spaces & condominiums on the site. Red tape appeared to be holding off any development on the site for years. Sam's closed for several months until June 2007, when the property owners allowed a new group to come in and keep the restaurant running in a somewhat modified form until the development could move forward.

In 2007, Sam's Seafood became Kona. In 2009, Kona closed and the restaurant reopened as Don the Beachcomber (no connection to the historic chain), which then closed in 2018.

The Tropics was purchased by Stephen Crane and renamed The Luau for its opening on July 25th, 1953. This was Crane's original restaurant; after the success of the Luau, he eventually went on to open the popular Kon-Tiki chain of Polynesian restaurants.

Steve Crane's Luau was one of the Hollywood/Beverly Hills restaurants (along with Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic's) that established Polynesian cuisine (and more importantly drinks) as de rigueur in the 1950s and '60s. The Luau produced some of the most beautiful and highly desired serveware objects (designed by Gabe Florian) to come out of midcentury Polynesian restaurants.

The Luau was demolished in 1979 to make space for a Rodeo Drive shopping complex.

There is no connection between this historic restaurant and a newer restaurant that briefly operated with the same name in Beverly Hills.