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Aku Aku, Toledo, OH (restaurant) |
bdzmusicprod
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jan 16, 2007
Posts: 17 |  Posted: 2012-11-05 05:41 am Permalink
Yea...not much in the way of Tiki decor to be sure...the club/restaurant had more of a suburban feel to it according to the son of it's second manager Henry Steeber. The architecture was more of a mid century modern with the multi angled roof line in front giving it the look and feel of a googie coffee shop minus the over sized glass windows. If this is taken into context it WAS a beautiful place inside. The real aura of the place was created by the people who ran it and the entertainers that appeared there. I would hate to see the build up of nicotene stains from the smoke residue in the place...they probably had no smoke removers either. That being said this place still has a unique place in history.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-11-05 11:04 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-10-30 07:20, Swanky wrote:
All those smokers! Look at everyone with their elbow on the table and smokes in the air. If we went back in time, we'd be freaked out by the smoke first of all...
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I have been a non-smoker all my life, but I grew up in Europe, where if you wanted to go to clubs, there either was smoke thick enough to cut, or you just didn't go out. Never bothered me, in fact I miss it, to me it was part of the atmosphere and social ritual of night-clubbing. All that second hand smoke I breathed, and my health is still fine. The anti-smoking campaign of the 90s can only be compared to the alcohol prohibition of the 20s in my mind, it was (and is) a little too obsessive. I mean it's all for good reasons, but when something takes on such a totalitarian form, it becomes suspect to me.
I indeed appears that the Aku Aku is a great example of mid-century modern restaurants that were NOT expressively Polynesian in decor, but lived their exotic-ness through their cocktails. This sub-genre of "Tiki Modern" still deserves further exploration. Another good example of purely modernist decor but serving Tiki cocktails was The Fireside:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=34423&forum=2&start=0
It all is part of the "when it was modern to be primitive" credo that I explored in Tiki Modern.
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bdzmusicprod
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Jan 16, 2007
Posts: 17 | Posted: 2012-11-07 12:33 pm Permalink
I am a semi-professional musician and did a gig nearly 30 years ago at a banquet for alcoholics anonymous. There was so much smoke in the hall that the smoke eating machines could not handle it and the smokers were complaining! My clothes smelled so bad I almost had to burn them. Regarding mid-century architecture there are a lot of books out there on the subject as well as web sites that have many photos of past and still existing sites. Toledo lost one such place the last few years...the former Crown Room which was part of Imperial Lanes was a fine example of mid-century architecture. It's a shame that the night club portion of the Town House Motel could not have been spared and restored to it's original decor but as one individual put it...after Irv Shapiro left the place it eventually became just another dining room. After the race riots hit the inner cities in the late 1960's the location of the Aku Aku made it a less than desirable place to spend an evening and that had a major impact on the future of the hotel and nite club. A lot of Toledo is blighted...just look at the area around what used to be the Southwyck Mall, the Northtown Mall, the Woodville Mall, downtown itself...even with the new stadium and hockey arena there is a lot of empty building space not to mention the empty lots.
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Tattoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 24, 2005
Posts: 151
From: Los Angeles
| Posted: 13 days ago; 7:15 pm Permalink
Picked up this great menu from the Aku Aku. I really love these modern abstract art menu's (like the Boston South Seas one) that have that Picasso quality to them. Back "when it was modern to be primitive."
Inside Image:
Back:
Created by Ad Art Litho
Did a quick little search Ad Art Litho and shockingly it seems like they might still be around.
Ad Art Litho Menugraphics
Address: 3133 Chester Ave
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
United States
Phone: (216) 696-1460
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[ This Message was edited by: tattoo 2013-05-11 14:07 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10561
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 12 days ago; 02:53 am Permalink
What a stellar find! I have never seen this anywhere before! Great Aloha Jhoe's-style modernism....can you post some full shots of the inside?
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Big Kahuna
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2007
Posts: 1908
From: SoMass
| Posted: 12 days ago; 4:20 pm Permalink
That is spectacular! Is it just a food menu or is there a drink menu page with illustrations?
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Tattoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 24, 2005
Posts: 151
From: Los Angeles
| Posted: 11 days ago; 2:21 pm Permalink
Here's the complete menu from front to back. It does have the drinks in it but without drink illustrations.
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The plane! The plane!
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