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Kelbo's, Los Angeles, CA (restaurant) |
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10600
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
|  Posted: 2009-11-30 8:31 pm Permalink
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On 2009-11-30 20:02, JOHN-O wrote:
I don't live far. I'll check it out and report if any Tiki remains. Besides it's on the way to Billingsley's (another JOHN-O fave).
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JOHN-O! Do you really mean you are unaware of the classic Tiki Devolution history of Kelbo's !?
From Horrace Heidt Swingband member opened Beachcomber style haven ---to 90s Lounge Revival Zsar Joey Cheesey's haunt ---to stripped out/black painted Strip Club appropriately mal-named Fantasy Island!?
SOMEWHERE I know that name Sonny Heideman from! But there is a dark hole where that memory sits...
I think this memory hails from early O.A research days...
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On 2009-11-30 19:46, 1961surf wrote:
Note the killer ultra cool lucite chunk swag lamp hanging above the bar register .
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And that is not a chunky resin, but a FLOWER resin lamp, comme ca:
I now remember that I probably laid eyes on this style for the very first time at Kelbo's in the 90s....longingly gazing at that ceiling plastered with resin floats....there were dozens of different ones, Kelbo's even outdid Bahooka's in that respect.....must have been ten years before I actually found this one....which proves that if you are patient, all things will come to you, eventually. 
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JOHN-O
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: May 16, 2008
Posts: 2488
From: Dogtown, USA
| Posted: 2009-11-30 8:34 pm Permalink
Ha! I'm just looking for an excuse to go inside the place. The things I do for TC and urban archeology 
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2010-07-23 7:25 pm Permalink
This thread needs some more visuals, I say.
I picked up a huge menu from Kelbo's some time ago, the cover art:
The Story of Kelbo's, updated from the one Polynesiac posted.
The menu does not fit on my scanners so I took a few pics.
71 drinks listed!
Here is a matchbook I just picked up.
I also saw this rare mug from Kelbo's that sold on ebay recently for mucho dinero.
Here is the information from the ebay listing. Apparently Popo was not referring to the Police as my sons do, but was instead the the name of the bartender.
This auction is for a Scarce Vintage Tiki Mug from Kelbo's Hawaiian Bar-B-Q formerly in Los Angeles off of Fairfax and 1st. Recently discovered in an old Hollywood estate. I believe that the Popo on the side of the handled mug refers to Popo Galcini the bartender.
A few more images I have gathered from the internet.
An old menu with Bar-BQ and Kar-BQ?
A few more matchbook types.
An ashtray
And a napkin.
Wish these places were still around like the Bahooka.
DC
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1542
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2010-07-24 05:05 am Permalink
Great roundup DC!! Keep up the good work.
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2010-08-04 6:39 pm Permalink
Here is a little bit better photo of the ashtray I just got.
DC
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-10-13 11:37 pm Permalink
Spotted this cool flier on ebay a while back for a Non show during the 80's at Kelbo's. A rare afternoon buffet performance!
I read somewhere that the Go Go's had a record signing party at Kelbo's.
Another shot of the Fantasy Island sign.
And a pick.
(I wonder if they had plate?)
DC
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abstractiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 29, 2009
Posts: 585
From: Lodi, CA
| Posted: 2011-10-14 06:25 am Permalink
That's a cool sign. It would be nice to see a picture of it when it was in it's prime.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10600
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-10-14 3:10 pm Permalink
That's easy: Page 170 in the Book of Tiki
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-10-14 4:39 pm Permalink
Sven, do you have every image in the BOT burned into your memory banks? Thanks for that reference, I couldn't recall seeing a photo of the original sign. Kind of takes the sting off the Fantasy Island incarnation.
And, another photo of some Kelbo's swag posted by twowheelin'tiki in a different TC thread.
I love that table tent - the Coco-Bo cocktail, coco-nut and pineapple madness in stereo!!
DC
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abstractiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 29, 2009
Posts: 585
From: Lodi, CA
| Posted: 2011-11-06 8:06 pm Permalink
I found these photographs in the Los Angeles library archives.
Napkin
Postcard
Menu
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-05-27 08:18 am Permalink
A few different Kelbo's mugs spotted on ebay. These have not showed up on Ooga Mooga yet.
A simple coconut mug.
Black Moai.
Not sure about the markings on the bottom?
DC
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Bora Boris
Mr. Unreasonable
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2416
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2012-05-27 09:57 am Permalink
EC Props is a prop rental company in North Hollywood, B192 is probably the box or bin where the Moai mug was kept.
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1961surf
Grand Member (3 years) 
Joined: May 03, 2007
Posts: 1896
From: Newport Beach, Ca .
| Posted: 2012-07-20 12:02 pm Permalink
I was in West LA yesterday and stopped bye the old Kelbo's location.The building looking shabby and broken
window taped in .The more I think about it the more it bogles my mind ....a lame bikini bar replaces a well
known tiki / rib bar .What is the world comin too ! The last real trace that there was ever a tiki bar there is the
tiki neon face that still adores the Fantasy Island upper part of the large googie style commercial sign .
Boy it would have been nice to have saved this place !
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dogbytes
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Mar 24, 2002
Posts: 2240
From: seattle, wa
| Posted: 2012-08-20 2:50 pm Permalink
more information at http://www.oldlarestaurants.com/kelbos/
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2013-01-16 3:30 pm Permalink
Picked up this nice matchbox from Kelbo's with a Moai rendering.
Also saw this Coco Bo glass on ebay
What's a Coco Bo you may ask?
DC
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