 |
the lost chapter: Hop Louie and the Stockton Islander (image heavy) |
abstractiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 29, 2009
Posts: 582
From: Lodi, CA
|  Posted: 2009-10-19 6:29 pm Permalink
I just received these pics from the Bank of Stockton. There is only one more that they have but it is almost the same as the one with the girls on stage I posted a few days ago. I included two current Pit Bar photos for comparison.
Lani
Pit Bar
current Pit Bar photo for comparison
current Pit Bar photo for comparison
Exterior
Aeriel Photo
Happy Hunting!
Abstractiki
|
Bora Boris
Mr. Unreasonable
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2401
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2009-10-19 6:49 pm Permalink
Abstractiki,
I wish there was something more to say to you other than "Great Job!" but you really are doing excellent work. Thank you!
When you get done with Stockton please feel free to drive the 2 hours North to Fresno and find some good Tropicana Lodge stuff. 
_________________
 
|
Unga Bunga
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 06, 2003
Posts: 5734
From: CaliTikifornia
| Posted: 2009-10-19 10:03 pm Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2009-10-19 18:29, abstractiki wrote:
Exterior
|
|
Classic!!
|
thejab
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2984
From: Forbidden Island, CA
| Posted: 2009-10-20 5:04 pm Permalink
Amazing pictures, abstractiki! Thanks for sharing those.
|
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2009-10-20 7:59 pm Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2009-10-07 05:20, bigbrotiki wrote:
It would be great to find a better picture of the Bumatay Tiki to get confirmation that it was indeed the prototype for the mug.
|
|
My wish has been answered! Amazing. I never knew that banks have photo archives. So they're good for something! 
One thought, please humor me: Now for us all here, heavily educated Tikiphiles that we are, urban archeologists who appreciate the faintest remnant of a lost Tiki temple, this is a fantastic find...BUT is it not also, after years of staring at that great exterior, and the endless parade of great Tiki mugs, a little bit of a let down?
I am not saying for me, I now like the clean, modernist style this place apparently had as opposed to the fully cluttered, nook'n'cranny full of tschotchkies look that some other Polynesian palaces sported. But I don't know if I would have put the bar photo in the Book of Tiki as a prime example of the style. For example, I left the interior postcard of Tiki Bob's consciously out of the book because it did not live up to the greatness of the name, the menu, and the mug. Sometimes it is more alluring to leave a mystery...
But this is mere mind babble, I love the fact that the Bumatay Tiki is clearly identified as the Islander's logo Tiki now, and I will never leave any image unpublished because I am trying to protect the myth. We have grown past that. 
My sofa corner lamp
|
abstractiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 29, 2009
Posts: 582
From: Lodi, CA
| Posted: 2009-10-27 8:52 pm Permalink
Sometimes, maybe most of the time, mysteries are alluring and exciting until their solved. remember watching Scooby Doo in the Mystery Machine 1973? exciting until the the last 3 minutes when they tell you the farmer did it or whatever and it all seamed so logical, mystery gone, fun gone, and then on to some Captain Crunch and Jonny Quest.
For me the Islander photos are as Unga Bunga said "Classic" and Bigbro & Jab said "Amazing". I didn't have years to dream of the Islander mysteries. Although I remember it as a teenager I didn't catch Islander fever until this summer. I had no real good idea of what I would find i just new I wanted to find it. When I finally found these photos, when I first laid my eyes on them it was so exciting. I couldn't wait to share them with everyone at TC. It was like finding buried pirate treasure, or a pot of gold. It wasn't a let down for me personally and I look forward to uncovering more Islander mysteries in the future.
So hears the latest:
Islander recipe for chicken in foil and a picture of the Islander in 1986 before it was moved to Pollardville.
recipe from Islander Chef Henry Lim 1964
1986
oh ya, I found out that most of the Tikis inside and outside were carved by Modesto Artisans from Palm trees dug up from downtown Stockton's Hunters square area. Also many of the decorations inside were from Hop Louie's own collection.
and this; there is a brand new 8ft tall chain link fence with a big padlock around the Islander,  the guard, the dog and the trailer are gone.
Happy Hunting!
Abstractiki
[ This Message was edited by: abstractiki 2009-10-27 20:56 ]
|
thejab
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2984
From: Forbidden Island, CA
| Posted: 2009-10-28 12:55 pm Permalink
All of the interior shots have fairly low ceilings (fine looking ceilings they are), but what was in the center of the restaurant under that massive a-frame? There is still a mystery here, bigbro.
|
tikicleen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 11, 2003
Posts: 324
From: ripon: almond capital yet no orgeat
| Posted: 2009-10-28 1:07 pm Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2009-10-28 12:55, thejab wrote:
All of the interior shots have fairly low ceilings (fine looking ceilings they are), but what was in the center of the restaurant under that massive a-frame? There is still a mystery here, bigbro.
|
|
excellent question!! what exactly did the mezzanine look like? before pollardville met its demise, neil told me how the center dining room opened up where you could look up at the mezzanine and see the tall ceiling with floatsam. most of the pictures seem to be of the side rooms.
|
abstractiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 29, 2009
Posts: 582
From: Lodi, CA
| Posted: 2009-10-28 6:27 pm Permalink
When I was inside the place this summer I went up an unstable small stair case like the drop down ladder kind. I got up far enough to take some pictures of the "attic" where the main A- Frame is. I took pictures of the window area and you can see that pic earlier in this post. The floor in the attic was plywood and it was covered with old boxes and some old Christmas decorations and paper files and such. It was a mess. I wanted to look around up there but got cold feet and came back down. The dinning room underneath was nondescript and striped. I took a lot of pictures but missed this area unfortunately. I may have to go back, but the new fence, hmmm... I have to think about that one.
I just got back from a major Tiki expedition to Stockton and will be working on that post for a few hours. Found big treasure and it possibly will shed light on this attic A-Frame mystery.
|
abstractiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 29, 2009
Posts: 582
From: Lodi, CA
| Posted: 2009-10-29 6:30 pm Permalink
The other day I looked up The Islander architect Warren Wong’s name in a directory on the chance he was still alive and in the area. He is 85 yrs old and to my surprise he answered the phone! I explained the whole urban archeology /Tiki thing to him and asked him if he had the old blue prints or any pictures of the Islander. He said maybe but he needed help searching for them. I quickly agreed to help out and met him at his home today. Come to find out he’s got a great MCM home that he designed in the 50’s on the Port of Stockton main channel.
So next thing I know I’m in his car and we are driving around Stockton. We arrive at a huge old Mansion (14,000 sq ft) that he said he grew up in. He took me inside, we wondered around a maze of rooms filled with old stuff and then wound up in the living room. This room was filled with big drawers that contained his old blueprints. There were lots and lots of drawers and each one contained probably 75-100 blue prints. After searching about 30 drawers I spotted the words Pollardville. I pulled it out and there it was, The Islander.
Warren told me that these were original prints that include new notes and new instructions/drawings added to facilitate the moving of the Islander to Palardville and its reassembly.
I took pictures of all the prints, there must have been 10 separate prints in all. I asked Warren some questions about the Islander and there wasn't much that he could remember that I didn't already know. He didn't have any photos or menus or any of that stuff. He told me that Hop Louie was a nice man and that he ran into him in LA a long time ago. I showed him a copy of the Islander artist’s rendering and asked if he new who drew it and he said he did! I asked if he new where it was and he took me through more rooms to the basement.
I was feeling pretty good about this expedition already having found the blueprints. If I could just find the original artist rendering, what a great treasure that would be.
Once in the basement we looked through a weird print hanging cabinet where he had more blue prints and artist renderings of different projects. No luck. He said one more place to look. A tall metal cabinet with long narrow boxes for prints that were rolled up. One by one I shined the flashlight on the labels on the lids. One by one I read them off to him. After about 100 boxes I was on the next to the last row at the bottom of the cabinet. Then I saw it “Hop Louie Islander” !! My eyes were popping out, “I found it” I yelled. I got down on my knees and pried the little metal door open. I shined the light inside and… my heart sank, it was empty.
We looked around some more but he said if it wasn't in there then he doesn't have them any more. I helped him dust and clean his cabinets and then we left for his house. In the car I gave him an 8x10 print I made of the color Islander photo, and some from the Bank of Stockton photo Archives. He was happy to have them and poured over them with his old eyes. I thanked him for his time and he thanked me for the visit. He had been wanting to go over there and rummage around for a while now. Mr. Wong is a nice man who is still busy working and donating his time to help American Indians obtain affordable “green” housing and further their education.
I then left his house and headed south, in search of Tahiti Iti… but that’s another story…
Happy Hunting!
Abstractiki
[ This Message was edited by: abstractiki 2009-10-29 18:31 ]
|
Tiki-Kate
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: 1700
From: Yucaipa, CA
| Posted: 2009-10-29 6:46 pm Permalink
Holy Cow!!! That's amazing. What a way to spend a day.
Can't wait to hear about the Tahiti Iti.
|
LOL Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 06, 2007
Posts: 932
From: San Diegoish
| Posted: 2009-10-29 6:49 pm Permalink
I think my head may explode!  You struck a motherload! A shame about the rendering, but those blueprints - what a find! Thank you! 
_________________
Ovarian Cancer Research
|
Sabu The Coconut Boy
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Aug 20, 2002
Posts: 2784
From: Carson, California
| Posted: 2009-10-29 7:00 pm Permalink
Good job, abstractiki!
You're getting me inspired to go out and do some more archeology and interviews. Really love the images on those blueprints. Now see if you can hunt down the company that did the Islander sign!
_________________
[ This Message was edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2009-10-29 19:01 ]
|
Fres-tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 11, 2007
Posts: 109
From: Fresno, CA
| Posted: 2009-10-29 7:09 pm Permalink
Thanks for sharing all your work - so many discoveries - so interesting!!
|
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2009-10-30 12:49 am Permalink
That's pretty good, son.
|
