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Mai Kai 50th Anniv. - a look back in pictures! |
Unga Bunga
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 06, 2003
Posts: 5738
From: CaliTikifornia
|  Posted: 2010-10-23 12:13 am Permalink
Awesome Sabu!
Great photo.
"Disneyland For Adults"!
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ErkNoLikeFire
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 07, 2010
Posts: 423
From: Michigan
| Posted: 2010-10-23 12:54 am Permalink
Seems wrong that at some point somebody may have willfully neutered a tiki. Even Bob Barker might object to that.
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GatorRob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1767
From: 3 hrs 33 mins to paradise
| Posted: 2010-10-23 10:32 am Permalink
You know... those old flaming Mai-Kai drink publicity photos, great as they are, always crack me up. I mean look at the size of that flame! Looks as if a rocket is blasting off. I think if there was that much flame, the servers would all be bald!
Thanks for the post Sabu. I know I've read this before, but I didn't recall the printing of that recipe. There's proof right there that falernum was once a big part of Mariano's arsenal.
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Chip and Andy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 13, 2004
Posts: 2084
From: Corner table, Molokai Lounge, Mai-Kai.
| Posted: 2010-10-23 7:02 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-10-23 10:32, GatorRob wrote:
There's proof right there that falernum was once a big part of Mariano's arsenal.
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Still is!
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4814
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2010-10-25 06:35 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2010-10-23 00:13, Unga Bunga wrote:
Awesome Sabu!
Great photo.
"Disneyland For Adults"!
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That dark space in front of the sign, is that the bird/tiki piece from the original postcard?
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Mai-Kai Memories Series Custom ceramic mugs!
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GatorRob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1767
From: 3 hrs 33 mins to paradise
| Posted: 2011-01-25 03:29 am Permalink
From a recent ebay auction. Small thatched building out front (no longer there) with the A frame in the background.
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Chip and Andy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 13, 2004
Posts: 2084
From: Corner table, Molokai Lounge, Mai-Kai.
| Posted: 2011-01-25 09:13 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2011-01-25 03:29, GatorRob wrote:
From a recent ebay auction. Small thatched building out front (no longer there) with the A frame in the background. |
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Poor little hut. One of the casualties of the Hurricanes in 2005. It covered some of the water pipes and connections.
To give you a point of reference for that shot, the coral stand with the torches and fern-wood tiki is the edge of the drive way.
If you look just past the hut you will notice the thatching does not cover the entire roof line. The roof above what is now the inside gardens used to be windows to let in light. The inside gardens were like a small tropical rain forest.
Here is an interior shot from around the same time frame:
Looking from inside towards the street.
And the inside gardens under the part of the roof not thatched.
Those two photos and many more here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/maikai/
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10600
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-01-25 09:24 am Permalink
Great image. What a nice fern Tiki. This installation must have been new back then, or why would there be a press release and photo. It is more evidence that, no matter when the first Tiki was used as a logo and a word, the real over the top expansion of Tiki style to baroque levels happened in the early 60s. This is probably when George Nakashima and Florian Gabriel came out to work on the Mai Kai. The recent T.C. link to the 1962 L.A. restaurant guide confirms that date was also the year of the expansion of the Luau.
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GatorRob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1767
From: 3 hrs 33 mins to paradise
| Posted: 2011-01-25 11:42 am Permalink
One thing to take notice of is the photo Kiliki posted at the bottom of page 5 of this thread. The fern wood tiki shown in her photo is perched on the same corner post as the tiki in this photo. I don't know which one came first though because we don't know the date of her photo. But I guess its another example of how the fern wood tikis just did not last long, especially when sitting out exposed like that.
Here's a side-by-side:
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-01-25 12:34 pm Permalink
Chip and Any & Gator Rob,
Thanks for the great image posts and history. That glass ceiling garden area sure looked awesome. Here is another shot of a flaming Kona Coffee Grog being poured in that room.
DC
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4814
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2011-03-11 07:27 am Permalink
FYI, the red head is Annie Campbell. She worked as a bar waitress and was a Mystery Girl aroung 1963-66. It was she who introduced the wigs to the Mai-Kai girls, and this is a wig. She said it was a very windy day when this was shot. It took Bob Thornton a while to warm up to the red wig, and even after he said okay, it was not common.
Annie was the Mystery Girl who appeared in that long lost relic the movie that was available in the gift shop. Her copy was destroyed by a water leak...
The above image is also Annie at a Derby Daiquiri party. She says it had to be a Daiquiri party because men would not order those. They wanted the more manly rum drinks! Probably Bob Thornton on the left in black. As you can see, she looks quite different. The use of the wigs has made it very difficult for her to know who she is in pictures now! The mole on her left arm visible in the top pick is the best way to tell when you can see it.
This is her too with "Big Susan" around 1968. She came back there then for a short time after the sudden death of her husband. Bob Thornton hired her on short notice as Mystery Girl where she could work in silence and not have to talk with her friends and locals about her difficult time..
Still undecided about this one. The mole is right, but, she isn't positive.
I am working on an article about her for the summer issue of Tiki Magazine. Would like to get her to Hukilau, but, her husband's health is probably not going to allow that to happen.
She has a great story to tell and you can read it all later! Her time at the Mai-Kai lead to her traveling around the world with incedible adventures for a woman at that time.
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4814
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2012-02-22 3:45 pm Permalink
Thought I should add this here with the other stuff about "Barney":
From April 10th, 1964, the paper reports on traffic snarled due to the Barney West carved Tikis being placed at the Mai-Kai. 11 pieces from 1 to 6 tons came by freight car.
16 foot, 3 1/2 ton "Barney gets put in place
23 foot, 6 ton Moai
"...constitute the largest carved South Seas statuary in the United States, and their addition to the restaurant's lavish tropical gardens make up what is believed to be the largest and most complete collection of artifacts in this country."
Back then, they were both placed at the south end of the property, out front.
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[ This Message was edited by: Swanky 2012-02-22 15:49 ]
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GatorRob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1767
From: 3 hrs 33 mins to paradise
| Posted: 2012-02-22 3:56 pm Permalink
Nice one! Haven't seen those pics before. And I never realized "Barney" used to sit out front. Must have been quite an operation to later on relocate him to the back.
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