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Kona Pali, Granada Hills, CA (apartments) |
Tiki-Kate
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: 1678
From: Yucaipa, CA
|  Posted: 2008-05-11 4:27 pm
Name:Kona Pali
Type:apartments
Street:10520 Balboa Boulevard
City:Granada Hills
State:CA
Zip:91344
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational
Description:
The Kona Pali is the sister property to the Kona Kai Apartments in San Gabriel. While all of the tikis at the Kona Kai are tan, all of the tikis at the Kona Pali are green.
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Tiki-Kate
Grand Member (6 years)
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: 1678
From: Yucaipa, CA
| Posted: 2008-05-11 4:37 pm
I visited the Kona Pali Apartments today.
Luckily, someone had left the front door slightly ajar.
They have the same tile mosaic as the Kona Kai, but the water beneath appears to be chlorinated.
Every tiki on the property is indeed green. They almost blend into the walls.
There were a few notable differences between the two complexes. First, the tiki at the end of the entryway.
Next, the Kona Pali has this lovely structure near the pool.
Here are some of the tikis on the exterior of the building. (My mouse is cranky, so I'll upload the rest later.)
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 7054
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-05-12 08:13 am
Glad to see the Tikis are all still there, even if in that green coat. The brown color the Tikis had in the early 90s was a little more natural:
I am also glad you got into the place, as I remember it wasn't easy. I never knew that Bug Tiki was holding a bowl (and that it was ...female ?), it was so overgrown ! There used to be a freestanding, elongated face Moai in the courtyard too, the slide I took of it is unfortunately missing in action. But if there were two freestanding Tikis in the 90s, there must have been a few more originally! I also had forgotten that the entrance panel Tikis had one more member than at the Kona Kai. 
And I wonder if that fantastic naive mural in the rec room got painted over in the course of the Northridge earthquake renovations (likely), you can see it on the Kona Pali page in the BOT.
And again, just like the Kona Kai, this place is a great archive for incredibly creative Tiki Modern designs, even if some are not as successful as others, the artist apparently had free hand in trying all kinds of extreme stylizations. I wonder if he just whipped them up as he went along carving. These Tikis are a perfect example why I felt that mainland Tiki style needed to be established as an art form in its own right.
[ This Message was edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-05-12 09:42 ]
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CheekyGirl
Grand Member (6 years)
Joined: May 21, 2003
Posts: 884
From: Like Oh My Gawd..San Fernando Valley
| Posted: 2008-05-14 1:18 pm
Girl...you revisted this place before I got to it...
Too many places are getting torn down or worse yet turned into shapeless boxes with no personality (like the Aku Aku Motel in Woodland Hills)
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Tiki-Kate
Grand Member (6 years)
Joined: Sep 21, 2003
Posts: 1678
From: Yucaipa, CA
| Posted: 2008-05-19 6:44 pm
Here are the rest of the tikis from the exterior of the Kona Pali. The more I look at these and the tikis from the Kona Kai, the more I enjoy them. I'd love to know the source of the carver's inspiration.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 7054
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-05-20 11:14 am
Great to see them all. They must have cleared some of the foliage away, I remember it being really hard to get a clear shot of some of them. Also, I was shooting on film, and somehow was more frugal with its use. Now in the age of digital photography, one can just click away until all is recorded in the right exposure and angle, a definite asset. These should be an inspiration for all.
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Hiphipahula
Grand Member (4 years) 
Joined: May 27, 2006
Posts: 1548
From: SoCal Female, leo,fav color pink. jk
| Posted: 2008-05-20 1:37 pm
It looks good! I grew up in Granada Hills about 1 mile east of the apt. building & about 2 miles west of the Safari Room. When I was a very young child the building was Brown, Yellow & some splashes of orange it was fabulous. There are a couple books published on Granada Hills & the Valley one is written by a guy I went to Jr. High & High School with, Jim Hier, "Granada Hills (CA) (Images of America)" I'm going to get it & see if there are any other old pic's we may not have seen in the BOT (doubt it). My Boss lived in the apt. in 1980 it looked ok in'80... not horrible as I remember but not the "place to be". Great to see NEW photos & I'm happy it still there!
Granada Hills also has a fantastic track of Joseph Eichler Homes if your into Modern located North of Rinaldi. Not to mention a town with great High School athletic stars such as John Elway & everyone's favorite school chum, Valerie Bertinelli & Cuba Gooding Jr. The Brady Bunch used my High School for filming. Other Filming locations:
The actual location of the cul-de-sac in the primetime soap opera Knots Landing was on Crystalaire Place in the Knollwood Country Club Estates area of Granada Hills and the Knollwood Country Club
In the fifth episode of season 6 of the television show 24, Jack Bauer visits Granada Hills and rescues a man from a crashed helicopter.
Many locations along Chatsworth Street in Granada Hills were filmed in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and in My Tutor.
My Name Is Earl is frequently filmed in Granada Hills.
The high school scenes from Hannah Montana are filmed at Granada Hills High School.
Several scenes from the movie E.T. were filmed in Granada Hills.
The 40 Year-Old Virgin's final musical segment was shot near O'Melveny Park, located in Granada Hills.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granada_Hills,_California
Thanks Kate...
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TIKIBOSKO
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Posts: 208 | Posted: 2008-05-22 6:25 pm
Again great job Kate, you are correct Sven there are Tiki's missing from there, I was working right near there after the Northridge quake it was between our job site and the only Home Depot in the area. I had met Sven the year before he had told me about the Kona Pali so I was looking forward to locating the place and as it turned out the first day we got there I drove past it.
That whole part of the valley looked like a war zone, construction guys sleeping in cars (hotels were full) piles of rubble in front of every house many condemned buildings were still standing.
The Kona Pali had been damaged in the earthquake and the apartments looked like they were undergoing a huge remodel but every time I tried to get in it was locked. I finally gained entry and the inside of the place looked very much like ancient ruins, Tikis laying around, construction trash, over grown plants, etc… I wandered around for a while before I found the one guy who could communicate with me, he confirmed it was going to remain in the Tiki style, so I had to put any thoughts of saving artifacts away. There was a lava carved Tiki and several other carvings laying around (that I could find), the rec room was being used for tools and material storage it was locked but thru a dusty window the mural still looked to be there.
My very best Alohas
Bosko
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