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Urban Archeology with BigBro, Sabu & Tangaroa (WARNING: Image heavy! About 4 megs...) |
Hiphipahula
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: May 27, 2006
Posts: 2376
From: The Valley! Female, leo,fav color pink.
|  Posted: 2010-10-18 10:35 am Permalink
I third it.
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TikiG
Grand Member (2 years) 
Joined: Jun 17, 2008
Posts: 1519
From: Palmdale, California
| Posted: 2011-03-09 3:24 pm Permalink
Today I came upon a newspaper clipping from the Santa Monica Evening Outlook dated 1958 - focusing on James B. Casey carving tiki totems for Pacific Ocean Park(this article may well have been shown here in this thread back in 2004, I don't know.)
I thought the clipping should be posted here for the benefit of James B. Casey / Pacific Ocean Park fans of T.C.
 
Carving Pacific Ocean Park Poles
Makes Him Pier's 'Biggest Chiseler'
By REED McCLURE
James B. Casey is a man who
lives with a bad joke, an out-
rageous pun.
It's all because of his job on
Ocean Park Pier.
Casey is an artist with an ax.
Using the double-bitted tool of
lumberjacks, Casey is chopping
out totem poles which will deco-
rate the "South Seas Island"
when the Pacific Ocean Park
Inc., family-style amusement proj-
ect, opens July 1.
When Casey is at work he is
surrounded by wood chips.
Hence the joke: "Casey is the
biggest chiseler on the pier," his
fellow employees say.
Casey, 39, a former musician,
orchestra leader, law student and
television director, is a profes-
sional woodcarver, with a studio
in North Hollywood. His work-
not totem poles- has appeared in
a number of exhibitions and cur-
rently is on display in Westwood.
Right now, he is converting
Douglas fir pier pilings into to-
tem poles. He carved one pole
out of a rotten water-soaked pil-
ing and it looks older than the
authentic articles from the South
Seas.
Casey has found that a hefty
ax is useful in roughing out the
poles. This is the first time he
has used an ax on a woodcarving
project-and he has the blisters
to prove it.
The ax-swinging woodcarver
has done some research into the
subject and he believes his
products have the mark of au-
thenticity, He points out that he
only follows the style of the old
islanders and does not copy exist-
ing poles.
Could Buy Poles
Pacific Ocean Park could buy
totem poles being made today in
the South Seas. But the Twentieth
Century has caught up with
Polynesia.
"Those cats are pretty com-
mercial," Casey joked. Their
work has suffered. It's not as
good as it was in the old days
when the poles "had a lotta guts,"
according to Casey.
Two of Casey's poles will deco-
rate the bridge which will span
the waterfall at the entrance to
the South Sea Island. The island
is billed as a major attraction at
the end of the pier.
Heading the South Sea Island
concession is C.V. Wood, former
vice president and general man-
ager of Disneyland, according to
Jerry Conway, POP publicity di-
rector.
A feature of the island will be
a "banana train ride." A tiny
locomotive will push small open
passenger cars around the island
and through a volcano.
Passengers, Conway said, will
be startled by earthquakes and
volcanic explosions. Man-made
monkeys will throw coconuts at
them. The coconuts will miss,
of course.
Surprises Planned
This is just part of the ride.
There will be some more sur-
prises, according to Conway.
Casey, armed with his ax and
clad in a lumberjack's shirt
(it gets a little chilly these days
out in the unprotected end of the
pier) doesn't look the part of an
artist.
He doesn't act like one either
when he is describing his work.
"It's just a matter of getting
rid of the wood you don't want,"
he explains.
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thejab
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2984
From: Forbidden Island, CA
| Posted: 2011-09-14 12:46 pm Permalink
I was watching I-Spy reruns on Retro TV (over-the-air in the San Francisco Bay Area and on Dish Network) and caught an episode from 1966 with a long scene at Pacific Ocean Park including many close shots of the poles. What was the Polynesian restaurant on the pier that is visible in the episode?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0609453/
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JONPAUL
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 12, 2010
Posts: 134
From: Venice, California
| Posted: 2011-09-14 1:38 pm Permalink
Jab,
Any bump of this thread is so welcome, as IMHO, it was one of TC's best ever!
It should be one of those "required reading" threads. Hmmmmm. (lightbulb moment)
I wonder how we could convince Tangaroa to re-link those initial photos?
Has there ever been discussion of an actual Polynesian restaurant on POP?
If that episode provides footage, this could be an incredible find!
Any chance you could post screen grabs?
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TikiG
Grand Member (2 years)
Joined: Jun 17, 2008
Posts: 1519
From: Palmdale, California
| Posted: 2011-09-14 1:56 pm Permalink
I've seen the I-Spy episode shot at P.O.P. - I don't recall any shots of a polynesian restaurant...
Could the South Seas Island attraction on the end of the pier be mistaken here as a polynesian restaurant?
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thejab
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2984
From: Forbidden Island, CA
| Posted: 2011-09-14 4:28 pm Permalink
Perhaps it wasn't a restaurant. Maybe it's a museum or gift shop. It looked big enough to be a restaurant in the show. I found this photo online that shows the building in the left background. Correct, it's part of South Sea Village.
http://pacificoceanpark.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/00022765.jpg
From:
http://pacificoceanpark.tripod.com/
[ This Message was edited by: thejab 2011-09-14 16:47 ]
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thejab
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2984
From: Forbidden Island, CA
| Posted: 2011-09-14 4:32 pm Permalink
Here's another shot. It looks even smaller here.
http://pacificoceanpark.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/pop51.jpg
I was more familiar with this view of the attraction on the end of the pier. I didn't know about the South Seas Village before.
http://pacificoceanpark.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/pop52.jpg
[ This Message was edited by: thejab 2011-09-14 16:48 ]
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TikiG
Grand Member (2 years)
Joined: Jun 17, 2008
Posts: 1519
From: Palmdale, California
| Posted: 2011-09-14 4:36 pm Permalink
Can't view the pics you posted  - all I get is "image hosted by tripod"...
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TikiG
tiki since '67!
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thejab
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 2984
From: Forbidden Island, CA
| Posted: 2011-09-14 4:46 pm Permalink
Sorry, the photos showed initially, then stopped loading. Tripod.com must block embedding of their photos.
I found all the same photos in this old thread (posted by DustyCajun and TikiPhil):
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=31715&forum=5
Now I'm thinking it was a snack bar because it looks smaller in these postcard shots, and there's a sign that reads "...Whip".
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TikiG
Grand Member (2 years)
Joined: Jun 17, 2008
Posts: 1519
From: Palmdale, California
| Posted: 2011-09-14 6:19 pm Permalink
A-ha!
That A-frame, thatched roof building housed the "Gift Shop Mystic Isles" or "Pacific Island Gifts" - either way a gift shop. One half of the building (backside) housed the "Hula Horseshoe Game."
The "...Whip" is actually P.O.P.'s version of a standard Scrambler flat-ride, in P.O.P.'s instance called the "Jungle Whip" - obscured in the postcard view.
Hope this helps to clarify!
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Tangaroa
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 25, 2002
Posts: 1550 | Posted: 2011-09-14 10:07 pm Permalink
Ai yo, Mama Ko!
Did this visit really happen SEVEN years ago? Or was it all a strange dream...
Unfortunately, I don't have an archive of those photos in the order I originally posted them - and that was all lost when that rotten Japanese company hijacked my website many years ago... sorry! I could re-upload them here at some point, but I gotta find them on the external hard drive, then upload them to a website, then do the whole img url link thing.... I'm tired just thinking about it! Maybe later when I have more time on my hands after the P.O.P. book is out...
I just tried to link a few from my Facebook page... but it doesn't work in preview - sorry... Maybe the folks who currently run this board can add a function to easily upload pics, rather than linking them from another website? Dunno.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-09-14 10:18 pm Permalink
Chris, you can easily upload pix from your desktop here - that's the only way I have done it since day one. Anything else gets lost in the ebb and flow of the internet...
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Tangaroa
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 25, 2002
Posts: 1550 | Posted: 2011-09-14 10:36 pm Permalink
Now I see it! Ai yi yi... Sadly I don't have the fun pics of Sven & Sabu & myself horsing around before hand nearby - but I do have these on my laptop.
Jim & his wife Neri.
Whew! That's enough for now - gotta get back to work!
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TikiG
Grand Member (2 years)
Joined: Jun 17, 2008
Posts: 1519
From: Palmdale, California
| Posted: 2011-09-14 10:52 pm Permalink
Wow! Amazingly beautiful carvings and art. Thanks for taking the time to re-post these photos for us Chris.
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Tangaroa
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 25, 2002
Posts: 1550 | Posted: 2011-09-14 10:59 pm Permalink
I'll keep an eye out for the ones of the three of us too - as I recall it was a very cool & retro little diner Sabu & Sven introduced me to.
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