Originally built in 1953 as a meager 40-room roadside lodge, Town and Country is now a bustling, full-service resort with a nostalgic and playful celebration of its mid-century roots.

It is located 5 miles from the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park.

The Tiki Hut (aka Tiki Pavilion, Tiki Room) is an event space built on the grounds. The octagonal shake-covered building was designed by Hendrick and Mock (also designers of the Islands Restaurant and Hanalei Hotel -- at the site of the current San Diego Crowne Plaza) as part of a 1962 expansion project that brought 80 more rooms to the hotel complex. The pavilion was topped with a William Westenhaver Witco Mainlander carving named “Riki Tiki.”

On special occasions, Tiki torch flames or fireworks would be set off from his head. Riki caught fire a couple of times even though he was protected from the flames via a sheetmetal dulì (Chinese farmer’s hat).

San Diego Fire Department officials soon put a stop to that, and Riki Tiki was relocated to good ol’ terra firma. The pavilion and Riki Tiki have survived under various names to this day.

Starting in 2021, the Town and Country became host to the growing Tiki Oasis event, previously hosted at the Palm Springs Caliente Tropics (2001-2005), then at the San Diego Crowne Plaza (2006-2019), and briefly at San Diego's Paradise Point (2020).

This location has a long history and is known as the Fred Thompson building. It was built in 1927.

On October 5th, 1962, the site opened as the Mauna Loa restaurant.

Mauna Loa did not last long.

By December 1963 it had become the Garden Room.

On May 6, 1965 it opened as Mouling, featuring Chinese cuisine in the Spanish Village, the Polynesian decor still intact. Mouling had a long run. A Times restaurant reviewer described the place in 1978 as “a slightly ramshackle patio in the old Hollywood style with plenty of Old Hollywood charm.” Mouling closed in April 1980, the equipment and fixtures (including the Polynesian decor) sold at auction.

Most people today associate the Fred Thompson building with its incarnation as the Cat & Fiddle from 1985-2014, although other restaurants have located here since then.

The Polynesian Motel ran through the 1960s and was permanently closed around 2015.

The wonderful neon sign was removed long before then, during or prior to 1997.

This vintage motel at one time featured an impressive neon sign on front and a large tiki pole below it.

Although it became a bit run-down, the sign and facade was basically original through at least 1997, if not later.

The motel was eventually remodeled completely and as of 2021 is named America's Best Value Inn & Suites Anaheim Convention Center.

The front lettering of "Samoa Motel" is gone and has been replaced by a diamond checkered pattern.

Hawaiian Punch Village was an area tucked into the back of SeaWorld in San Diego — SeaWorld used to have lots of Polynesian theming, but it’s sadly gone now. (One of SeaWorld’s creators, George Millay, also owned The Reef, a Polynesian restaurant in Long Beach.)

SeaWorld San Diego opened in 1964 and the Village appears to have been original to the park. It was gone by the end of the 80s, however.

Hawaiian Punch Village featured Punchy's animatronic band and a Hawaiian Punch Restaurant where you could order a Hawaiian Rum Cooler if you were an adult.

Apparently there were other similar Hawaiian Punch Villages located in the SeaWorlds at Aurora, OH and Orlando, FL as well.

Just a stone's throw from Hollywood is Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, which opened in 1906. It is the final resting place for hundreds of celebrities from Walt Disney to Sammy Davis Jr. The sprawling cemetery is also home to "Henry", a thirty-one inch Moai head from Easter Island. Although the figure hasn't been authenticated, it was obtained in 1954 by park founder Dr. Hubert Eaton who affectionately named it after his friend Henry Wendt. On a trip to Easter Island, so the story goes, Wendt and Eaton received the head in a legal transaction between Rapanui fishermen who were using it as ballast for a boat.

The In Search of Tiki exhibition was held at the Forest Lawn Glendale Museum from August 8th, 2009 to January 4th, 2010. The show was curated by Doug Nason and Jeff Fox, and featured traditional oceanic art, Polynesian pop, and modern Tiki art. The group exhibition included Josh Agle (SHAG) whose original acrylic on board painting In Search of Tiki was used as the name and advertising print for the show. Henry the Moai is portrayed on the far right of the painting.

Milan Flores Guanko (1906-1994) had a carving shop at Gray's Nursery on Beach Boulevard in Westminster.

Guanko learned to carve from his father in the Philippines before immigrating to the U.S. in 1928. During WWII, he began carving full-time. His tikis appeared at Disneyland, the Western Hills Hotel, the Royal Hawaiian Restaurant in Laguna Beach, The Islands Restaurant in Phoenix, Ren Clark’s Polynesian Village in Fort Worth, Texas, and many more restaurants, hotels and apartments throughout the world.

He died at age 87 in Glendale, where he’d moved his shop in later years.

*NOTE: The large dark-stained tiki with hands crossed on the far left can still be seen at the Kon-Tiki in Tucson although it has been painted a few times and stood outside for many years (now in their covered outdoor patio).

Les Valentine's large Holo Wai Miniature golf course (next to Holy Family Cathedral) lasted from sometime in the 1960s until the late 1970s or early 1980s. It was apparently wiped out to make room for a freeway exchange.

Adjacent to Holo Wai was the A-frame Chinese restaurant, Kim's, at 574 South Glassell. Both Kim's and Holo Wai appear together in early advertising on matchbooks and other ads. Kim's apparently was re-christened as Yen Ching's in 1979 and stayed in business until New Year's Eve 2018. The restaurant was bought by a national senior living company that plans on tearing the restaurant down and building a 35-room permanent memory care facility.

Isla Nu-Bar is a walk-up bar located on the Lower Lot of Universal Studios Hollywood. It opened in summer of 2019.

The name is a play on words -- "Isla Nublar" is a fictional island that serves as a major setting in the first Jurassic Park novel and its film adaptations.

This bar was part of the newly renovated and imagined Jurassic World The Ride section of the park and features machine-blended slushy drinks as well as shaken cocktails -- all served in plastic take-home souvenir tiki mugs.

Opened in 2019.

This small tiki bar is located behind a nondescript sliding bamboo door and curtain inside the McFadden Public Market -- sort of a speakeasy vibe. It probably can hold about 30 people.

Among the interior decorations is a large octopus chandelier on the ceiling (created by David Outline of Outl1n3 Island), fish floats, ukuleles, tiki masks, palm & monstera leaf wallpaper, and lots of bamboo. Dimly lit with lots of purple and blue and red mood lighting.

Word on the street is their drinks are well made and dialed in to what the tiki crowd likes also.

Mojave Oasis was opened in Spring 2011, in Newberry Springs, by Amy Boylan (Queen Kamehameha on Tiki Central).

The concept was definitely influenced by the 1960s Lake Loreen's Blue Lagoon (which was located in Newberry Springs and was also situated on a man-made lake and had a plane called "The Tiki Bird").

Newberry Springs is a very isolated area, located 20 mi (32 km) east of Barstow, approximately 40 mi (64 km) due west of the Mojave National Preserve, and approximately 100 mi (160 km) south of Death Valley National Park.

Mojave Oasis was a private campground centered around a small pond/lake with both tent and trailer camping.

In addition to vintage trailers which could be rented, the property had paddle boats for going out on the lake, a wrecked vintage plane (The Tiki Bird), dozens of vintage tikis (some from Benzart Davis and some from Ben Wilson who ran the old El Tiki) and new carvings (like the carved mermaids by Tiki Ray for instance), a clam shell roofed bar (The Mermaid Lounge) and a hut called The Rapa Nui Roost -- both created by Danny Gallardo (Tiki Diablo), and an A-frame stage for live music performances.

Camp spaces could be rented out by appointment and Amy also held an annual Mojave Oasis event.

Financial difficulties forced the closing and sale of the property in 2016.

Ben Wilson 7/7/1929-2/18/2021 was the owner of El Tiki. Ben opened El Tiki in 1962 on Highway 111 and Worthington Rd.

They served great Mexican food combined with exotic Hawaiian decor, and it was the site of many memorable birthdays, anniversaries, and prom dates. He carved all the Tikis himself, collected nets and shells and tropical curiosities, and decorated it in true beachcomber fashion. There was even a full whale rib in front of the restaurant. The booths were lined with bamboo and had thatched roofs, it was dark and mysterious. Ben was the consummate host and bartender, he always had a smile and a story for everyone.

He closed the restaurant around 1978 but converted the property into a house and lived there for many years. The building is still there. Many of the original Tikis proudly stand guard on the property to this day.

3 of the larger tikis were purchased by Amy Boylan (Queen Kamehameha on Tiki Central) for her Mojave Oasis location in the early 2000s.