Opened in 1960.

24 lanes “equipped with automated pinsetters, a billiard room, children’s playroom, coffee shop, and cocktail lounge”.

The top of their exterior sign was a horned tiki mask, which although it is blurry on their matchbook logo, is clear and crisp on their award ashtrays that were given out to exceptional bowlers.

Closed in 1968.

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.

The Mandarin was a Chinese Restaurant and not a tiki establishment, but it was extremely influential and deserves some recognition for the part it played in the development of American Chinese restaurants and tiki restaurants going forward.

The Mandarin Restaurant was founded in 1968 by Chinese food doyenne Cecelia Sun Yun Chiang. What Julia Child did for French cooking in the United States, Cecilia Chiang did for Chinese cuisine in America. Trader Vic (Bergeron) became a sort of mentor to Cecilia Chiang, especially when she moved to Ghirardelli Square where he had Senor Pico. Trader Vic brought columnist Herb Caen to The Mandarin, Caen wrote about it, and off it went. (Note: This writer was handling public relations for Trader Vic’s at that time.)

The interior of the Mandarin Restaurant also looked very similar to many tiki establishments with its large screens of Chinese temple tiles and wall sections comprised of thatch, lauhala, rattan, and bamboo. See photos below.

And, The Mandarin also served cocktails in their own signature mugs, much as her mentor, Trader Vic, did in his own restaurants.

In the heyday of the Mandarin’s success, Cecilia presided over an elegant restaurant that achieved a national reputation. Visitors from all over the country came to seek authentic and fine Chinese dining. She held cooking classes that saw students the likes of Julia Child, James Beard, Alice Waters, Marion Cunningham, Jeremiah Tower and Danny Kaye come through.

Her cooking undoubtedly influenced Trader Vic's appreciation of Chinese food going forward with his Trader Vic's restaurants and set a high bar for tiki restaurants wanting to incorporate high quality Chinese food.

After 23 years, Chiang sold her interest in the business in 1991.

This Ghirardelli Square stalwart closed its doors in 2006.

However, the family legacy lives on...Chiang's son, Philip, is a co-founder of the restaurant chain P.F. Chang's. He also ran a sister version of the Mandarin in Beverly Hills (1975-2001).

Previously the site of Charlie's High Hat Bar/Charlie's Grill and Cocktail bar, built in 1932, which has a convoluted history of murder and suicide (and which you can read about in the Tiki Central thread below).

In 1948, 39-year old Jimmie Kam Sun Lee immigrated to the Daytona Beach area from Hong Kong. He was born in Canton, China. Jimmie Lee opened the doors of the Lotus Restaurant as owner-operator in 1950 at 308 Seabreeze Boulevard, on the ground floor of the building formerly hosting Charlie’s Grill & Hi-Hat Club.

Laney's was upstairs and offered strippers and other entertainment. Laney’s Supper Club continued to operate until 1963.

By 1962 at the Lotus Restaurant, Jimmie Lee was joined or succeeded by Wei Lee. Various members of the Lee family shared responsibilities throughout the years.

The interesting tiki facade of the Lotus Restaurant remains a bit of a mystery. However, another member of the Lee family who worked at the Lotus Restaurant in the late 1950s, the venerable Ho Lum Lee, also known as “Papa” Lee, worked several years as chef at the Hawaiian Inn in Daytona Beach and then moved on to be chef at Tiki Gardens, retiring after 20 years there...

So this might be the missing link to explain the Polynesian/Hawaiian influence.

The Lotus Restaurant continued in business until 1987, when the remaining family operating it acquired and moved on to an existing restaurant in Deland, renaming it the New China Restaurant.

A slew of bars have been at the old Lotus Restaurant location in recent years, including Front Row, The Joint, Moonshiner's Hideaway, and ROK Bar. Current status is uncertain as of 2025.

This was perhaps one of the biggest pre-tiki locations on the West Coast.

The location has a long history, but its pre-tiki history began in 1933 with its first incarnation as Club Kamokila.

Club Kamokila was located at 960 Bush St., in San Francisco. Founded in 1933 by pineapple heiress Alice Kamokila Campbell, it was originally called Kamokila's Temple to Art. The temple was the auditorium, as the building was a former church that became a speakeasy. Legal issues arose after the club was raided for unlawful liquor sales, and Campbell closed the club in April of 1934, & moved back to Hawaii. It was then taken over by Kamehameha Corporation, and renamed the Royal Hawaiian.

The Kamokila mascot was a pineapple wearing a top hat and monocle (very similar to the Planter's Peanuts mascot from a distance) and the pineapple mascot was kept for the new location for a time as well.

At some point, this location was connected to the Hawaiian Gardens in San Jose, which was considered for a time to be a sister location.

Closed and then re-opened in 1943 as the Bush Street Music Hall.

Built in 1955.

Located in the Point Loma area of San Diego, this motel was right across the street from the famous Fisherman's Landing fishing docks.

Originally, this motel featured the name in a very cool font sign along with a large actual outrigger canoe out front.

The building is still here but appears to have been converted to condos and has been re-named several times and barely resembles its former self.

No outrigger canoe to be seen...

There was also an Outrigger Motel on Atlantic Avenue in Ormond Beach, Florida (now the Outrigger Beach Club Resort) but there appears to be no connection to the San Diego motel other than the name.

Joe Chastek was first introduced to Polynesia when he and a high school buddy stowed away to the Philippines when they were both 17. Joe was one of the first to open a club with the South Seas motif. His first pre-Tiki bar was the Zamboanga. His second was the Tradewinds. His third was Vagabond's House.

The Trade Winds was opened during the war, in December 1944. He kept the same monkey theme that worked for him at the Zamboanga.

This restaurant appears to have been open in the early 1970s on 7th Avenue near 51st Street at the Hotel Taft.

The floral patterns on the booths and the carpet have a very 70s vibe. Other than this, and some groovy 70s advertising, much of the decor and concept seems to have been "borrowed" whole-heartedly from the Trader Vic's and Steve Crane franchises.

The 1968 demolition of Madison Square Garden, the increasing presence of unsavory businesses in the area, and the desire for newer, more elegant hotels contributed to the gradual decay of the Taft Hotel. In 1974, Urban Renewal Housing and Development Corporation, headed by Gilbert M. Federbush, acquired the hotel from Lawrence A. Wien. At the time, the hotel was struggling with a 51% occupancy rate and losing $80,000 a month. A year later, the hotel fell into receivership and was foreclosed on by its lender, the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Soon after, the hotel was converted to mixed use and sections were re-named.

It would appear this was a brief flash-in-the pan restaurant during the early 70s before closing.

This complex was located on the South side of McDowell, just West of 68th St., and included Polynesian Paradise condominiums (built in 1962), The Polynesian Dairy Queen (built in 1964), and The Polynesian Plaza (built in 1964).

The Polynesian Paradise condominiums were built in 1962 by Kaufman and Broad. The condominiums are located just to the South of the Polynesian Dairy Queen, which (along with the rest of the Polynesian Plaza) was built by Haver & Nunn two years after Polynesian Paradise. Based on historic aerials, there was a street entrance to Polynesian Paradise that went right by the Polynesian Dairy Queen. The mall and condos were demolished in the 1990s.

The former Dairy Queen was referred to as the Polynesian Dairy Queen in phone books at that time. It originally had a thatched roof reaching 42' in height. It was open for about 20 years, closing in the mid 80s. After its incarnation as a Dairy Queen, this building housed an Enterprise Rent-A-Car for many years but it was left vacant since 2009. In 2014, the building was put to use as office space for Scottsdale RV. In 2019, the building was dismantled. The A-frame structure was recreated at a different location in 2022 for Oliver's restaurant (still open as of 2025 and shown in last photo below). Some of the rocks were used from the previous location.

Open from approximately late October 2022 through May 2025, this small tiki bar was situated in The Apostle Supper Club restaurant in West downtown St. Paul, Minnesota (which was across the street from the Minnesota Wild NHL Hockey club).

This modest space had one custom Tiki mug "The Goalie", which looks suspiciously like the GeekiTiki Jason Vorhees mug, though this version is labeled "Apostle", bears the red and green colors of the Wild hockey team, and is heavier and much more substantial. And he's holding a hockey stick, naturally. The incised brand on the mug bottom states "Purpose Restaurants".

This mug was served with the "False Eyedoll" drink, composed of Rumhaven Coconut Rum, House Rum Blend, Peach Schnapps, Lychee, and Mango.

Local media at the time stated: "That goalie glass is not a Halloween/Jason ref, it's available for purchase anytime for $30 and includes your first drink. Find classics like a Mai Tai and a Pain Killer on the menu, but also more creative takes like Pond Hockey Royale and Saint Paul Grog. Drinks hover around $12-13 and bar food includes fried Spam tacos, pickle rollups, and a Kalua pulled pork sandwich with fries."

*NOTE: There was a second location in Duluth that was open from 2022-2023, but is also now closed.

Opened in 1964 or 1965 and closed in 1967.

This location was home to Skipper Kent's until at least June 1964.

In 1965, the Bora Bora Club was owned by SF nightclub tycoon George Lavery (43). After a night of hard drinking, a violent fight broke out between Lavery and his newlywed socialite wife, Gail Woodfield Lavery. The young wife shot and killed her husband during the altercation - the deceased had apparently threatened her with bolt cutters during the fight.

The Bora Bora club survived this incident long enough to host the one and only Don Ho in his first mainland appearance(!) in November of 1965.

The Bora Bora was also notable for two giant Barney West tikis on premises:

1) The first one, we have no photos of it on premises at the Bora Bora, but several photos from after the Bora Bora closed and it made its way south to the Redondo Beach Pier (see photo below). Eventually it would come to have a reputation as a "Bad Luck Tiki". The Bora Bora used this as their logo tiki and it was featured on their menu cover.

2) The other Barney West tiki we have photos of being used as a stage decoration at the Bora Bora for live performances. It was famously displayed at Barney West's Tiki Junction in years prior (see photo below).

In 1972, Bill and Mary Koplin built Magic Carpet Golf on land they purchased from Marjorie Springmeyer adjacent to what was once the South Lake Tahoe amusement park. Marjorie had overheard Bill and his real estate agent talking in a local restaurant about Bill's plans for building the course. "I have a piece of property I can sell you," Marjorie told them.

At the time there was a gas station on the corner of Lodi and Highway 50, so the minigolf course was built on the land in-between the amusement park and the station. Years later the Koplins bought the land where the gas station was and expanded their parking area and home above the course.

Bill was no stranger to the business. He had built 13 miniature golf courses with uncles and brothers in the California cities of Alameda, Lake Berryessa, Bakersfield (an indoor course), Pinole and Konocti Harbor, then in Key West, Biloxi and Galveston. Family members ran all of those except for the ones in Konoti and Bakersfield.

In 1948 he built a popular course along the Russian River where he raised his family, one that daughter Karen has very fond memories of.

"Those were great times," said Karen. "All the kids hung out there."

In 1970, Bill and Mary bought property at Carnelian Bay and build the first Lake Tahoe area Magic Carpet Golf. This course was for his son Bill, Jr. who still operates the course.

Then came 1972 and South Lake Tahoe. Daughter Peggy was given this course to run.

In 1974 they added a Reno location for daughter Jeanne, who, you guessed it, still runs the place.

Daughter Karen operated the Russian River property until 1992 when she switched locations with Peggy and moved to South Lake Tahoe. Cal Trans bought the Russian River course in 1994 due to a freeway planned for the property.

Karen and her husband Gino Franceschi live most of the year above the Magic Carpet Golf on the corner of Lodi and 50, then head off the hill from time to time to their other home in Forestville, CA.

Their children, all now adults, have grown up at Magic Carpet. Though none of them live in South Lake Tahoe year round, they all come to town for the summer along with their own children to help run the family business.

Karen and Gino have four children, Tony, Nicki, Karey and Gina. They are also grandparents to ten. At any time you'll be sure to find one of them working the front counter at Magic Carpet. They also hire local teens to help out in the summer since the course is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Magic Carpet is open Spring through Fall, and with weather permitting, winter too. Last year they were open some days in December and February.

All locals get a discount, so make sure to mention you're from South Lake Tahoe the next time you play either one of the two 19-hole courses, or the 28-hole course.