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Mai Kai - Tiki Archeology |
GatorRob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1766
From: 3 hrs 33 mins to paradise
|  Posted: 2009-06-24 8:04 pm Permalink
Whoa... we're all over the place with the topics on this thread!
Johnny D, nice score! I'd love to find one of those lamps.
Trav, extremely cool photo. That calls for more investigating!
Okay, the tiki... Sorry Will, but I have to agree with Swanky and BK. I've compared them closely and it has to be the same tiki. There's another picture of that tiki, but in it, the tiki is located under the A frame and you get a slightly better view of those wings behind the head. I'll post it if/when I can.
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Robb Hamel
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Mar 07, 2008
Posts: 1013
From: Ohio
| Posted: 2009-06-25 06:02 am Permalink
I just found this thread - wow! Thanks for posting this preservation info.
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AlohaStation
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2003
From: So FL
| Posted: 2009-06-26 6:26 pm Permalink
Thanks for popping in Robb.
After closer inspection, I can accurately say that its the same tiki in the bar shot. Still need a photo with the wings.
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3929
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2009-06-27 09:07 am Permalink
MAI KAI GRAND OPENING!
Bought these gift shop photos of the early Mai Kai on ebay some time back and came across this ad for the grand opening of the Mai Kai. Thought they went together well.
DC
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4807
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2009-06-30 09:32 am Permalink
Kohalacharms image posted elsewhere shows the real size of the piece in the Surf Bar. Huge. THis is around 1958.
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tiki_kiliki
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Apr 01, 2002
Posts: 989
From: Hamtown USA
| Posted: 2009-06-30 11:39 am Permalink
Sorry this is so late and thanks to Gator Rob for telling me of this thread, I'm still knee deep in Hukilau.
This is definitely the Tiki that is now in the gardens. I have other pictures as well but I'm trying to find them from when I scanned the archives. Enjoy:
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AlohaStation
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2003
From: So FL
| Posted: 2009-06-30 12:11 pm Permalink
That's what I'm talking about!! 
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tiki_kiliki
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Apr 01, 2002
Posts: 989
From: Hamtown USA
| Posted: 2009-06-30 4:59 pm Permalink
Just so everyone is not confused. The Surf Board Bar was in a different location to the Molokai. It was located where Tonga is today along the side of the room on your way to the gardens. It once had a diorama that featured a sunrise, sunset, men carving tikis and women doing the hula. The diorama was located behind the bar. I have a few pictures where you can see it in the distance - will post when I can find them. There's also a picture in this thread that shows those dining in the garden area and the surf board bar just behind them. http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=21971&forum=1&start=15
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Robb Hamel
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 07, 2008
Posts: 1013
From: Ohio
| Posted: 2009-07-01 3:26 pm Permalink
Someone needs to do a COMPLETE and EXHAUSTIVE book on the Mai Kai.
I'd pay $150 for it. Maybe more.
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wentiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Apr 20, 2008
Posts: 48 | Posted: 2009-07-01 5:48 pm Permalink
No question, a nice glossy coffee-table number on the Mai-Kai would sell. And more calendars!
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4807
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2009-07-02 10:03 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2009-07-01 15:26, Robb Hamel wrote:
Someone needs to do a COMPLETE and EXHAUSTIVE book on the Mai Kai.
I'd pay $150 for it. Maybe more.
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Been discussed, and to some extent written.
I am hoping to lead a walking history tour of the Mai Kai for next Hukilau, but, it has to be worked out with the Mai Kai and Hukilau. It's a great excuse to go down there and talk history with the old timers though. Maybe it can be done.
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GatorRob
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2004
Posts: 1766
From: 3 hrs 33 mins to paradise
| Posted: 2009-07-07 3:29 pm Permalink
Here is another picture of the tiki now in the gardens when it was indoors in the Surfboard Bar:
Sorry about the quality, but we're zoomed way in to a low res image. If you look closely, you can see that not only are there wings behind the figure's head, but an entire bird! So this makes him (her?) a close relative of the other winged tiki that we know was at the Mai-Kai as Chip pointed out earlier in this thread.
According to Bob and LeRoy at OA, our tiki here may have been carved by Barney West, although they are not certain. Bob pointed out that they sold Jack Thornton tons of authentic New Guinea artifacts in the early days. But I don't know that this would have been one of them. It seems more like someone's (Barney's?) take on a PNG carving. But that's just my opinion.
Big mahalo to Bob and LeRoy for sending me this next image from the ARTS OF THE SOUTH SEAS book (Museum of Modern Art, Simon and Schuster, 1946). If the Mai-Kai tiki is a mid-century interpretation of a genuine Papua New Guinea carving, this may very well be the image it was derived from:
That's quite a bird! And what a sight that big tiki must have been when it was under the A frame of the Mai-Kai!
This last image is one I found of another authentic carving of the same general figure:
The accompanying text reads: "This ancient and elegant piece is a roof spire from a Middle Sepik ceremonial house. Represented is a heron carrying away a woman — a classic Sepik River creation figure."
Tom and Will, you've got your work cut out for you if you're going to try to replace the missing bird! Not to mention some trees that might get in the way of that wingspan.
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4807
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2009-07-08 09:32 am Permalink
It's too big to be an PNG original I am fairly sure. It's someone's interpretation.
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AlohaStation
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2003
From: So FL
| Posted: 2009-07-09 10:36 am Permalink
It is a reproduction. I'm not sure who did it. The carving was created by laminating 4" thick slabs of wood. My concern is - without protection from moisture - how long will the piece be able to hold up to the South FL humidity?
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Sabu The Coconut Boy
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Aug 20, 2002
Posts: 2784
From: Carson, California
| Posted: 2009-07-09 3:00 pm Permalink
BINGO! This also solves the enigma of the strange winged figure at the Mauna Loa in Mexico City:
Thanks for doing the research!
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