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Waitoma Grotto - Holly, MI |
uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1542
From: Kalamazoo
|  Posted: 2009-04-12 12:20 pm Permalink
Thanks Sven. Still more to uncover on this one. Here is the follow-up story in the local news paper.
http://www.mlive.com/fenton/index.ssf/2009/04/holly_woman_recalls_happy_memo.html#more
_________________
"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10599
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2009-04-12 2:38 pm Permalink
A so-called "human interest" piece, I guess. Don't they know about "Tiki interest"? 
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1542
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2009-04-13 08:54 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2009-04-12 09:29, bigbrotiki wrote:
And now to the sign ordinance theory...? 
Do we know who was responsible for the mobile home park development? There are several mobile home parks in L.A. and Palm Springs which have used that Hawaiian place name concept for their streets.
[ This Message was edited by: bigbrotiki 2009-04-12 10:07 ]
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Seems Fred was the mastermind of the concept for the mobile home park but I am not sure if he saw the deal through or if another party picked up on the idea and ran with it. Here is a quote from the newspaper article.
("Like many Holly business owners today, Barton began running into local opposition against some of his other business ventures, including a multi-million dollar mobile home retirement park.")
And I'm still working on the sign question.
_________________
"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
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tikigik
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Oct 25, 2005
Posts: 118
From: Ann Arbor Michigan
| Posted: 2009-06-17 12:53 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2009-03-18 12:38, uncle trav wrote:
Great cards Dusty. I was hoping you would have something out of your treasure stash. Thanks for posting those. I was looking back at all of the images in the post a noticed some thing curious ( to me anyway ).The first image is a photo that Chub came up with which shows a canoe on what looks to be the roof of one of the buildings.
Then in Sabu's post I noticed that the canoe is over the entry way attached to an outrigger feature. Looks to be either another canoe or it was moved at some point. Sabu's card of the exterior may not show the whole complex as I think this maybe a building out of frame from that card. Just got curious. Thanks.
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Perhaps it's just me, but I think they are two DIFFERENT outriggers. The first looks "taller" (larger distance
from the bottom of the canoe to the gunwales (sp? I think that is the correct term... the top edge of the side
of the canoe). Also, on one canoe the front paddler has his paddle on the right and every other paddler behind
him. The other canoe's front paddler has the paddle to the left and again every other paddler behind him. The
other possibility would be that the b&w negative was reversed at printing (I can't read the signage on the color
one but it doesn't appear reversed to me).
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1542
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2009-08-30 3:57 pm Permalink
A couple of images from a recent eBay auction for a grouping of items from the Hawaiian Gardens. An item of interest is the little plastic Maori carving. It was mentioned in the thread that these were put on the tables as a keepsake. I hope someone on TC got this grouping as it was a great buy.
_________________
"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-12-31 3:05 pm Permalink
Wow, this is one exhaustive thread and a great read! Time for a Tiki Revival bump.
I found some more images of the menus from the Hawaiian Gardens on my hard drive.
DC
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10599
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-12-31 6:49 pm Permalink
The story of this place and the small town magnate who built it is such a wonderful, telling example of American Tiki Fever. All the concepts are there! It is a shame that the visuals surrounding are not of the same quality than the text material...
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-05-23 7:45 pm Permalink
Well, after much searching I finally found the oversized postcard from the Hawaiian Gardens that Sabu posted many years ago at the start of this great thread. All of Sabu's photos are Red X, so here we go.
The Banyan Court overlooking the lake.
The Polynesian Longhouse.
The Kahili Room
Close ups of the great exterior.
The back of the card.
Home made Tiki style.
DC
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-07-04 6:15 pm Permalink
Got a new menu item from the Hawaiian Gardens. A fold up take home version listing the Chinese food selection.
The cover.
The Tiki story.
Menu first page.
The back map.
One of my favorite places!
DC
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-07-26 12:59 pm Permalink
When it rains it pours, I got another oversized postcard from the Hawaiian Gardens.
This one has a few different photos, including the King and Queen's Suite.
The Wonder World Import gift shop.
And the new 9-hole golf course that had been added to the grounds.
Back of the card.
DC
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ROCKINROG
Member
Joined: Oct 20, 2012
Posts: 1 | Posted: 2012-10-20 5:33 pm Permalink
Thanks to all of you who posted this stuff. I wasn't born yet when my Aunt Jane was married to Fred Barton so it's really cool to see the other stuff that this guy was all about. I'll have to ask my mother if she has any of this old stuff from that era. I recall seeing that menu when I was a young kid.
Cheers, Roger R Cunningham.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10599
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-10-21 04:36 am Permalink
Thanks for posting, Roger. I would be curious to find out WHEN the Bartons went on their "many trips" to Hawaii and New Zealand that they mention in their menu text as inspirations for the place.
It seems likely that they took the Matson line cruises, as they used one of Matson's McIntosh menu covers for their own place, and it also looks like they decorated some of the hotel rooms with the Matson Eugene Savage menu covers:
See above to the right:
The Matson Line ships went to Hawaii and from there to New Zealand (see Book of Tiki pages 30/31), where the Bartons saw these classic tourist destinations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotorua
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waitomo_Glowworm_Cave
Misspellings aside, the menu clearly names the two places above as their source of inspiration:
I doubt there are any of the old brochures/tickets form their trips left, but sometimes people made scrap books of their vacations:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=33163&forum=5
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LapuRocker
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Nov 10, 2002
Posts: 67
From: Costa Mesa
| Posted: 2012-10-22 12:23 pm Permalink
Very cool story here. My tiki/two cents.
Funny enough, my wife and I have been to the original Waitomo Caves area in New Zealand. We actually have been to the actual Waitomo Grotto (yes I think after all these years they got the name wrong). We witnessed the Glow Worms (which is actually feces from an instect larva). We camped near hangatiki scenic reserve and vistited the Villages of Rotarua.
Check it out:
The boat ride in Waitoma Grotto was a little touristy, so we took a more adventurous route. We repelled into Waitomo Caves and went spelunking hundreds of feet underground for hours.
Camping near Hangatiki Scenic Reserve
Me with a giant Maori carving
The Villages of Rotarua
We also had hours of Video from the area including the buried Village of Te Wairoa, but when we got home my car was broken into and the video camera was stolen. This was back in 2006 so luckily we had a video camera and a still camera.
[ This Message was edited by: LapuRocker 2012-10-22 12:32 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10599
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-10-22 10:48 pm Permalink
Rotorua has been a tourist destination for viewing Maori arts and traditions for over a 100 years.
This thread has some nice visuals:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=41593&forum=1&13
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