 |
Zulu Magoo's Tiki Tour of Southern California (Image Heavy) |
Tiki-Kate
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: 1678
From: Yucaipa, CA
|  Posted: 2008-08-31 7:22 pm
Yesterday I finally achieved one of my silliest personal goals ever. I completed Zulu Magoo’s Tiki Tour of Southern California. Back in 2005, Mike published a list of tiki locations in and around Orange and Los Angeles Counties which he gave out at Oasis V. The list consisted of more than 50 sites.
Earlier this year, I found a matchbook from the Royal Tahitian in Ontario. I thought, “What an amazing place this must have been,” and I wondered if any of the bones were left. I went home and did a TC search and found Johnnie velour’s post from 2003 stating that the building was about to be torn down. I don’t know why I felt the need to see it for myself. I swung by one day on my way home and found the building still standing. I also met an employee who told me some great old stories about the place.
That seemed to have sparked something in me. I got out my copy of the Tiki Tour to see how many places I had already visited. 16. Yes. 16 out of more than 50. Lame. I’ve spent the past five months hitting the other 36 locations. I live out toward Palm Springs, so I’m over an hour away from most of these locations. This project got much tougher as the price of gas continued to rise.
I really wish I had started sooner because so many of these places have disappeared. 
Here is what I did find.
Aloha Arms Apartments - Pico Rivera
Beautiful, but also scary and gang-ridden. Going here alone was a very bad idea.
Paradise island Apartments - Pico Rivera
Kapu Tiki Apartments - Pico Rivera
Bahooka Restaurant - Rosemead
I try to make it out to Bahooka at least once a month for my pile of ribs. I’ve been doing this for several years now, and this is the only picture I could find. We’re at Bahooka. I swear.
Kahlua Apartments - Rosemead
Kona Kai Apartments - San Gabriel
Outrigger Apartments - Pasadena
Kona Kai Apartments - Torrance
Eli Kai Apartments - Torrance
Tiki Apartments - Torrance
Samoan Sea Apartments - San Pedro
Islander Apartments - Santa Ana
Hanakiki Apartments - Santa Ana
Kona Luanii Apartments - Anaheim
Oceanic Arts - Whittier
I visit Oceanic Arts once a month without fail. I make one purchase, and it is always something that you can only buy at OA. I spend a lot of time admiring all of the flotsam and jetsam that fills the place. This is my favorite lamp.
Islander Apartments - Gardena
Tiki Apartments - Los Angeles
Gone. They are now nameless box apartments.
Purple Orchid - El Segundo
Tiki Aloha Apartments - Torrance
Exotic Isle Apartments - Alhambra
Now the Jade Gardens. No tikis remain.
Tahitian Village Apartments - Reseda
Tonga Hut - North Hollywood
This is another one of those places that I visit frequently but could only find one usable picture. These are Tiki Diablo’s mugs.
Island Village Apartments - Fullerton
Hawaiian Village Apartments - Norwalk
Kona Gardens Apartments - Anaheim
Now the Hidden Village Apartments. No signs of tiki anywhere.
Kona Gardens Apartments - Garden Grove
Kona Kai Apartments - Westminster
Kona Kai Village Apartments - Glendora
Now the Valley Glen. Boo.
Hale Hawaii - Torrance
Tony’s on the Pier - Redondo Beach
I’ve been to Tony’s and yet could not find a single picture. I was there last month and took this shot of another building on the pier.
Hurricane Room - Lawndale
I could not find any evidence that the Hurricane Room still exists. I followed the directions in the guide, but all I found was La Bamba.
Trader Vic’s - Beverly Hills
Islander Motel - Eagle Rock
Royal Hawaiian Motel - Hollywood
Java Lanes - Long Beach
I had to scan this one. I took it before I owned a digital camera. The Java Lanes is long gone.
Tiki Apartments - Los Angeles
Gone. Another nameless box apartment.
Mauna Loa Gardens Apartments - West Covina
Maui Apartments - West Covina
Now the Atrium. Serious boo.
Pacific Isle Apartments - West Covina
Now the Oasis Apartments. Still stunning.
Aku Aku Motor Inn - Woodland hills
Now a Best Western. Boo again.
Tiki-Ti - Hollywood
Sam’s Seafood - Huntington Beach
Now Kona.
The Warehouse - Marina Del Rey
Don the Beachcomber - Marina Del Rey
No longer operational, but still a swell building.
Horace Heidt’s Magnolia Estates - Sherman Oaks
Shangri-La Apartments - Sherman Oaks
Kona Pali Apartments - Granada Hills
Caliente Tropics Hotel - Palm Springs
Royal Hawaiian - Laguna Beach
Islander Apartments - Inglewood
Unnamed Tiki Apartments - Duarte
Lucky Tiki - Mission Hills
I never made it to the Lucky Tiki while it was open. Here are the remains.
I could not seem to find any pictures of the places that I frequent most often. I know that I take them. I just have no clue where they are. (I borrowed the photos of Sam's, Tiki-Ti and the Purple Orchid.)
Thanks again for the guide, Mike. This was so much fun.
_________________
|
4WDtiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 03, 2004
Posts: 1095
From: Vista, CA
| Posted: 2008-08-31 8:02 pm
Epic post, Kate! Thank you!
|
kustomtiki
Grand Member (3 years) 
Joined: Oct 28, 2003
Posts: 107
From: La Mesa
| Posted: 2008-08-31 8:12 pm
Thanks Kate,now i need a cigarette,and i don't smoke.
|
VampiressRN
Grand Member (3 years)
Joined: Nov 23, 2006
Posts: 3266
From: Sin City Lincoln Hills (NorCal)
| Posted: 2008-08-31 8:33 pm
Very nice...how I wish we had some big A-Frames in Sacramento...they are so beautiful. Your hard work is much appreciated...the pictures and narratives are great. 
_________________
 "Oh waiter, another cocktail please!!!"
|
ZuluMagoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 26, 2002
Posts: 449
From: Denver, CO
| Posted: 2008-08-31 8:39 pm
Excellent work Kate!!! You are the only person, other than myself, that I know has visited all of these places. You have truly earned your Urban Archeology merit badge.
Now for the good news/bad news. I probably have at least another 30ish places to add to that tour since I gave away the copies back in 2005. Time to publish the revised second edition I guess. And then there is always the Tiki Tour of San Diego that I put together online back for the first year that Oasis moved to the Hanalei ( I think there are about 18ish listed in that tour).
And to think, I don't even live in Southern California and have complied all of this research, think what a hardcore local could do (Boris???...) This is the booklet that I gave away at Tiki Oasis 2005, I think I gave away about 30 copies.
This is an old version of the map that was included.
Zulu
[ This Message was edited by: ZuluMagoo 2008-08-31 21:06 ]
|
TIKIBOSKO
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Posts: 208 | Posted: 2008-08-31 9:20 pm
Amazing job Kate
Bosko
|
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 7054
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-08-31 11:48 pm
Aaaah, what a wonderful injection of Urban archeology eye candy! Kate definitely deserves that badge. Here is all I can ad at this moment, from where I am:
St. Petersburg Tikis...
..of a different scale, and time period.
|
Robb Hamel
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 07, 2008
Posts: 793
From: Ohio
| Posted: 2008-09-01 05:33 am
Incredible pics. Musta' been a hell of an experience, thanks for sharing.
|
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 7054
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-09-01 06:08 am
This post is a call to all (specially L.A. area) Tikiphiles: Do not just be Tiki CONSUMERS, be urban EXPLORERS, find and visit these places and the remnants yourselves, they are still out there. Just the other day Boris and Kate took me to a mysterious site (any progress on that?).....But for how long...just because some of these are documented in my books does not mean they are protected, they are vanishing more and more. Go while you can!
|
Tiki-Kate
Grand Member (6 years)
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: 1678
From: Yucaipa, CA
| Posted: 2008-09-01 10:14 am
Quote:
|
On 2008-08-31 20:39, ZuluMagoo wrote:
And then there is always the Tiki Tour of San Diego that I put together online back for the first year that Oasis moved to the Hanalei ( I think there are about 18ish listed in that tour).
|
|
I did the Tiki Tour of San Diego that year. There were 16 locations on it. Based on the pictures that I found, it looks like I made it to 11 of them.
I'd like to thank the friends who tolerated me while I was utterly obsessed with this. Boris was my co-pilot on several trips, and a few other TCers enabled me to indulge in this particular passion of mine. The company was much appreciated.
_________________
|
Bora Boris
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 1356
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2008-09-01 10:18 am
• Nice work Tiki-Kate,
I'm glad that you never took "Oh that place is gone." for an answer and insisted on kicking the corpses yourself to make sure they were dead.
• Zulu, thanks for publishing your guide in the first place and I look forward to an expanded update. If there's anything I can do from here in L.A. let me know and I'd be happy to do it. Do you have any more copies of the original guide? Every time I try to look at Kate's copy I can only glance at a page and half before she snatches it back.
• Bigbro, Kate has a good story about the secret location from a great source.
• Everyone else get off your ass and find and take pictures of the place you know of which might still be there that you used to ride your bike past on the way to piano lessons or the Orthodontist but you're not 100% sure because you haven't seen it since last week! Jeez!
• Tiki-Kate when are you going to post the results of the Palm Springs guide?
|
Tiki Shaker
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Jun 28, 2008
Posts: 532
From: Oceanside, CA
| Posted: 2008-09-01 10:33 am
Does anybody have the list of places for San Diego?
|
The Sperm Whale
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 23, 2004
Posts: 1315
From: Hawthorne California
| Posted: 2008-09-01 10:59 am
Thank you Kate!! I really enjoyed your post. I also want to thank Zulu Magoo for making the guide. I belive I gotmy guide from you maybe 4 or 5 years ago and I still have and love it!!
|
virani
Grand Member (6 years)
Joined: Sep 17, 2003
Posts: 1187
From: Paris, France
| Posted: 2008-09-01 11:17 am
Wow, thanks for that great post.
ZM, I wish I had your guide when I did my south california tiki tour in 2003. But thanks to the tiki road trip that helped me at least get to the bars and restaurants.
|
TikiG
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Jun 17, 2008
Posts: 616
From: Sylmar, California
| Posted: 2008-09-01 12:43 pm
Thanks Kate for posting this. This is something I want to do as well..I've seen a small percentage of these places myself but it does take time and money to do it - and before long sometimes they disappear like a fresh Mai Tai during the dog days of summer. What an accomplishment. I hope to speak to you about these locations next time our paths cross. Aloha!
|
