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Hawaiian Gardens Apartments/Condiminiums, Lauderdale Lakes, FL (apartments) |
tiki_kiliki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 01, 2002
Posts: 1046
From: Fort Lauderdale, FL
|  Posted: 2005-10-20 10:13 am Permalink
Name:Hawaiian Gardens Apartments/Condiminiums
Type:apartments
Street:5101 W Oakland Park Blvd
City:Lauderdale Lakes
State:FL
Zip:33319
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational
Description:
This is one of the most preserved, well maintained remnants of Polynesian Pop I've ever seen. It is primarily a retirement community now but was once a spot where visitors from the North would rent the apartments while on vacation or as a 2nd home. The fact that it is a retirement community now is probably why it's maintained in the highest regard. The flowers and grounds are beautiful. I had such a great time exploring here! This post is image heavy and I apologize but I just thought you'd enjoy seeing as much as possible. I visit here often. There are actually more pictures but I thought this might be enough to wet your appetite.
The sign as you enter.
A pond just in the rear area of the 1st clubhouse was my first sign of Tiki!
The drive as you approach the apartment buildings.
A close up of the light fixtures that top the columns.
A night shot.
The stairs even have bamboo accents
Closeup to see detail
Clubhouse on the grounds
Spaghetti glass panels!
Light shining through the spaghetti glass!
Furniture inside - there's lots of it.
more rattan inside!
A hidden Tiki on an island inside a pond.
I held the bush down while I snapped this shot - a duck was biting my other ankle!
The pool area.
Closeup of the amazing Tiki that was recently stolen.
All buildings are named after tropical plants or flowers found in the South Pacific.
More clubhouse finds. I wonder if these are all Witco?
Another pool area shot
An amazing planter
Pool in Phase 2 - incredible Tiki!
[ This Message was edited by: tiki_kiliki 2005-10-20 10:14 ]
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heelgrinder
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 10, 2005
Posts: 116
From: Palm Springs, CA
| Posted: 2005-10-20 11:56 am Permalink
i had the pleasure of getting a personal tour of this place from the lovely Tiki Kiliki. we went post-stolen tiki though  -- it is every bit as amazing as she described. i want to live there!!!
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Formikahini
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 1512
From: Houston, Texotica
| Posted: 2005-10-20 2:05 pm Permalink
DAH-ham, girl!!
You've found the future TC retirement community all right!! Put me on the waiting list!!
I could just spit I'm so mad about the stolen mask! That's possibly my favorite style, the Hawaiian Eye eyes. I bought an old '50's-ish tiki (or "tikie"!) from BK at Hukilau with that face. Now I'll possibly never get to see it
(The bus tour was going to see this place, wasn't it, before the delay squashed it? Rats!!!)
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Matt Reese
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 09, 2005
Posts: 1182
From: San Diego
| Posted: 2005-10-20 2:11 pm Permalink
Fantastic!
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tiki_kiliki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 01, 2002
Posts: 1046
From: Fort Lauderdale, FL
| Posted: 2005-10-20 2:13 pm Permalink
Yep - this was to be on the Bus Tour but due to the delay and how huge this place is, we couldn't make it. Next year though - don't forget next year!
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Yee-Haw & Aloha,
Tiki Kiliki
The Hukilau
The Most Authentic Tiki Event in the World and the Official Event Honoring the Mai-Kai est. 1956
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donhonyc
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 13, 2003
Posts: 1173
From: The Quiet EAST Village
| Posted: 2005-10-20 2:52 pm Permalink
WOW!
For me this is one of those "you don't know what you have until you don't have it no more" moments. My grandparents used to live on the other side of Oakland Park Blvd. right across from Hawaiian Gardens in a similar (but not Tiki) retirement community called Stonebridge Gardens. They moved there in 1973, and I hear that now that place (Stonebridge) has gotten really shabby.
When I was a kid I occasionally bugged them to drive me over to Hawaiian Gardens so I could see what it was like, but they never did. It seemed kinda Disney-esque to me as a kid. When I actually moved to the area in the mid-70s I think I stopped caring about what it was like over there. And by the time I was in high school and had a car I must have driven past it literally thousands of times. Pretty crazy to see what it's like all these years later. Looks like they've kept it together pretty well. I'll have to check it out on my next visit.
[ This Message was edited by: donhonyc 2005-10-20 14:57 ]
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Karbora
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: Oct 11, 2005
Posts: 103
From: Orlando, Florida
| Posted: 2005-10-20 8:42 pm Permalink
I'm with Formikahini...put me on the Hawaiian Gardens waiting list. I truly hope the tiki gets returned safely and soon. I am disappointed that we had to forgo this part of the home bar tour this year but Tiki Kiliki made a wise choice with the available options, and the event could not have been better! That's another list I want to get on...the home bar tour for next year!
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donhonyc
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 13, 2003
Posts: 1173
From: The Quiet EAST Village
| Posted: 2005-10-21 12:31 am Permalink
Also FYI: there was a go-go lounge in the Tiki style a mile or two, or maybe three miles east of Hawaiian Gardens on Oakland Park Blvd. called The Islander. Back in the day...70s and early 80s, it had a HUGE tiki god statue in the parking lot. Probably 15-20 feet tall and an A-frame structure where all the go-go-ing went on. Today it is a used car lot. Sadly the giant Tiki is gone, but the A-frame remains as the office of the car dealership. Tiki-Kiliki, if you're up that way again, if you drive east (toward the beach) and look on the south side of Oakland Park Blvd., you'll see what I'm talking about. I can't remember the intersection of where it's at, but it's..as far as I know...the only A-frame structure on that road. Check it out.
The Islander Go-Go Lounge. i f I was old enough...i woulda went in!!!
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tiki_kiliki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 01, 2002
Posts: 1046
From: Fort Lauderdale, FL
| Posted: 2005-10-21 04:58 am Permalink
I'll definitely check that out and take some pics to post. Do you have any memorabilia from the Islander? I'll start looking around for things here! I'm surprised that I've never seen this before - I've got an eagle eye for architecture and I can scan a yard sale is half a second from the car while driving, the only other person I've ever met like that is Charles Phoenix.
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Yee-Haw & Aloha,
Tiki Kiliki
The Hukilau
The Most Authentic Tiki Event in the World and the Official Event Honoring the Mai-Kai est. 1956
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exotica59
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Posts: 483 | Posted: 2005-10-21 06:12 am Permalink
What a great retirement complex. You can see the over all care taken. Love those spaghetti windows, so cool.
I sure hope the missing tiki returns. From the pictures he looks pretty big. I am always browsing eBay, as many do, looking for tiki masks so I'll keep watch.
Very much bad luck for the person who took this....
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JonPez
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 01, 2003
Posts: 226
From: Orlando, FL
| Posted: 2005-10-21 07:30 am Permalink
A great time capsule!
OK, put me on that waiting list, too.
I have enough Hawaiian shirts and plaid shorts to fit in. Oh, and the gray hair, too.
Beautiful place, with style to spare...
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donhonyc
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 13, 2003
Posts: 1173
From: The Quiet EAST Village
| Posted: 2005-10-21 08:55 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2005-10-21 04:58, tiki_kiliki wrote:
Do you have any memorabilia from the Islander?
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Only in my head...only, in my head.
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Kava King
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 20, 2002
Posts: 217
From: Kensington-on-Avondale
| Posted: 2005-10-21 09:02 am Permalink
Christie, how many careers DO you have? Now you're selling real estate too? Put me down for a nice corner unit, the wahine and I are ready to start planning for our "golden years".
That's an incredible community and I hope the weasel that took the wall tiki gets attacked by palm mites. How (not to mention WHY) do you just walk off with something like that?!?
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theARTFINK
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jun 02, 2002
Posts: 40
From: behind the green door
| Posted: 2005-10-23 5:23 pm Permalink
I've ridden through here many times on my bike
and have taken many pics. It is pretty huge with
like 9 phases or somthing. the only thing is after
like phase 4 the living quality goes down.....way down.
the apartments in the back of the complex are pretty
rundown and low,low income. also there is a place next
door called Tahiti garden apartments,but after noseing
around there is nada to be found. this neighborhood
was definatly pretty hip in it's day but unfortunatly
not anymore. Hawaiian Gardens however have weathered
the storm and are pretty freakin' cool!
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TikiTex
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jul 25, 2003
Posts: 40
From: Texas
| Posted: 2005-12-19 2:30 pm Permalink
Here is a rather disheartening update about Hawaiian Gardens:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/13224062.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_broward_county
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