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Polynesian Murals and Dioramas - Vintage & Other |
Fres-tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 11, 2007
Posts: 109
From: Fresno, CA
|  Posted: 2008-04-24 2:52 pm Permalink
I double checked one of my architecture books - it actually credits the theater's architect, S. Charles Lee, with using black light paint as a decorative element. As far as theaters go, he first used it at the Academy Theater - which I think is in Inglewood. Not sure who else would have been using it at the time.
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1542
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2009-02-15 10:38 am Permalink
Here's a postcard for the Hurricane Motor Lodge located in Marathon Florida ca. 1970. Nothing to get worked up about but a nice couple of murals. Thanks.
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"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: 2009-02-15 11:45 am Permalink
UncleTrav,
Nice card. Love that old sign out front and a ship in the parking lot - wow! It also looks like there is a liquor store attached? I like those umbrellas on the ceiling - maybe Bongofury could slap a light kit on something like that. Does it say what the name of the Hawaiian lounge is?
DC
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1542
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2009-02-15 12:19 pm Permalink
Dusty. Kinda bad quality to this card, the only thing I see on the side of the building is Hurricane. This may have been the name of the lounge as well. I did a search and found zero the place must be long gone by now. Thanks
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"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
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Sabina
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Apr 08, 2002
Posts: 367
From: The Lounge of the Seven Pleasures!
| Posted: 2009-02-16 12:29 pm Permalink
Be forewarned, this may be about my longest post ever, and very picture intensive, but you've hit on one of my favourite topics. Dioramas, particularly those that change night to day, or have elements such as the thunderstorms that would "rain" alongside your table in places such as the Kahiki are an absolute inspiration to me.
Murals also add that extra special touch that make a place really sing. I love seeing them across the room, or peeking out from behind tiki poles, as you'll see below in my picture from Sam's. I also love what lightboxes can do when worked into a space with care, as you'll see in my pictures from the Honolulu, it's a very different style from say the lightboxes at Chan's Dragon Inn in New Jersey or the Bali Hai in Massachusetts.
As my home bar is named for the lounge that was once part of the Hawaii Kai, we'll start there-
These treasures are pulled from an oversized postcard we scanned and enlarged from the Hawaii Kai in New York City (you can find the original here-http://www.sevenpleasures.org/gallery/Hawaii-Kai) the descriptions are from the back of the card. Somewhere, perhaps in the cookbook, I have a written description of the diorama behind the bar but it's not at my fingertips at the moment.
"The Waikiki Outdoor Waterfalls: Overflowing with the exotic flowers of the Islands"
Note the diorama enticing foot traffic in off the street.
And the lovely diorama behind the bar, making a pleasant place to sit and "look out the window" while sipping a cocktail.
(Is it just me or is there a mannequin's torso hanging strangely above the bartender?)
"The Okole Maluna Bar with Diamond Head diorama: Scenes from Dawn to Dusk in realistically colorful settings"
Here's a sadly inadequate picture of the mural from Cheng's Pacific Restaurant that closed recently in Virginia:
A few treasures that were preserved despite repainting in the Men's washroom at the Waldorf hotel in Vancouver:
and
they provide quite the contrast to to more upscale murals in the other rooms of the Waldorf. Others have been already been covered in the thread, but I wanted to pull these two photos of the Savage mural from the Polynesian room for you:
Also note the "fishtank" dioramas built into the wall:
Blacklight lovelies from the Alibi in Portland, Oregon:
Foreground fading into murals at the former Sam's Seafood in Huntington Beach, CA (Now Kona):
and Sam's murals
and note the Tiki
From Sam's bar, look to the back wall
going directly to the back
Glimpses into the Royal Hawaiian's former indoor/outdoor glassed in spaces in Laguna Beach, CA, such as at the back of the room here-
or here-
or here-
Lightbox murals from the now gone Honolulu in Virgina, created by the Chan's daughter-
and the full effect, looking from one end of the restaurant towards the other, with another lightbox mural at the far end glowing softly behind the decor-
Mural from the outside of Vera's White Sands near Lusby, Maryland (now Vera's beach club)
with the artist's signature-
The mural survives, but clearly with the shift to "beach club" certain things have shall we say "changed"
if you think that's Tiki-gone-awry, the new murals inside are even more confusing
none the less many artifacts from Vera's day survive, but I digress... .
(We now return you to your regularly scheduled content.)
Here's a small tucked away Tiki mural painted on a door from the Islander that was once in Seattle, Washington
Check in at the Hawaiian Inn Daytona Beach, Florida-
Outrigger mural in the lobby
close up, note how the doorway to the elevators becomes a thatch hut
And finally just another of the many murals around the property, Wahine's bidding you Aloha!
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GatorRob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1767
From: 3 hrs 33 mins to paradise
| Posted: 2009-02-17 3:15 pm Permalink
For good measure, here's one of the other Hawaiian Inn murals. This one is in the indoor pool area...
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2009-02-17 4:35 pm Permalink
Sabina,
Thanks for that extensive post.
DC
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4814
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2009-02-17 5:59 pm Permalink
I am still looking for detailed images of the moving diorama that was in the Mai Kai Surf Bar. I have many stories of it from the old timers. It turned from day to night and the moon came across the sky too.
Nice stuff Sabina!
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Big Kahuna
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2007
Posts: 1923
From: SoMass
| Posted: 2009-02-17 6:17 pm Permalink
WOW! Great stuff, Sabina. Thanks for the effort!
[ This Message was edited by: Big Kahuna 2009-02-17 18:17 ]
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Unga Bunga
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 06, 2003
Posts: 5738
From: CaliTikifornia
| Posted: 2009-02-17 7:30 pm Permalink
Great thread.
Thanks Sabina.
I always liked the dioramas at the Royal Hawaiian.
For some reason, being glassed in just made them cooler.
Anyone have anymore of RH's dioramas? (I mean before the demise.)
[ This Message was edited by: Unga Bunga 2009-02-17 19:37 ]
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msteeln
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 24, 2008
Posts: 236
From: Ka'a'awa, HI
| Posted: 2009-02-18 1:39 pm Permalink
Here's a shout out to anyone in Honolulu with a camera that wants to (quite possibly) be the only one to document and preserve (in some form) the incredible '50s era mural painted in classic Hawaiian kitsch, covering a main wall inside the Bowl-O-Drome on Isenberg St., in Mo'ili'ili, near Waikiki.
The alley has been closed for years, owned by Kamehameha Schools, with entry access very rare if not indeed impossible now, for safety/letigeous reasons.
But it's worth the effort. It will be gone before long, as the wrecking ball is inevitable and over due.
It depicts the royal family and court out for fun and games in the mountain lushness, playing a form of bowling, while fish are being caught in a nearby stream for the up-coming feast, and rascal menehune snatch the catch away. Classic stuff.
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Sabina
Grand Member (8 years)
Joined: Apr 08, 2002
Posts: 367
From: The Lounge of the Seven Pleasures!
| Posted: 2009-02-19 07:48 am Permalink
Thanks everyone. Just wish I had better pix.
I'm still on that quest to find the written description of the Hawaii Kai's Okole Maluna Bar Diamond Head diorama.
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"You're getting more interesting by the drink!" -Pepe le Tiki
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christiki295
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 3616
From: LA-2547 mls east Hawaii &5500 Easter Is
| Posted: 2010-09-21 8:15 pm Permalink
Good thread.
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A Frame
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 16, 2009
Posts: 214
From: Mr. C's on the Coast Highway
| Posted: 2010-09-29 11:47 pm Permalink
Late add from a funny colored hotel in the middle of the Pacific. After a few cocktails on an island, who cares what color the hotel is! 
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Sophista-tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 13, 2005
Posts: 1603
From: Seattle WA
| Posted: 2010-10-29 8:05 pm Permalink
bump
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