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Ren Clark's Polynesian Village, Ft. Worth, TX (restaurant) |
Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3925
From: Santa Barbara, CA
|  Posted: 2011-02-11 3:33 pm Permalink
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On 2011-02-11 09:26, Swanky wrote:
That cocktail menu was on Ebay about a year ago. Did it not get posted here?
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I checked my image files gleaned from the web and the only thing I could find was this shot of the menu cover. Do you remember what the inside looked like?
DC
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2011-02-14 09:12 am Permalink
Yes. THere were actually 2 or 3 mugs/bowls in it I had never seen before.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-02-17 02:20 am Permalink
Aaaah, luckily someone (in this case my old friend and Marquesas travel companion Martin McIntosh) clipped the pics from the auction:
A menu cut out in the shape of the establishment's logo Tiki is very special already, but this one is definitely in the top ten, if not THE most desirable piece of Tiki culture paper ephemera!
Great concepts and illustrations. Some of the vessels, like the Tiki Bowl, might never have been realized. Another curious fact is that the unique Headhunter mug is not depicted. It might be that it was not made yet, or that it was too gory of an image to be on a menu. Seeing this illustration in place of it...
...makes me amend my theory that the idea for this seminal mug was solely inspired by Ren Clark's guillotine act he performed in his magic show. The rendering here seems to be taken from the wooden Igorot statues that were used as decor in some Tiki temples, like this one:
...or the one that stood at The Islands San Diego, depicted on page 16 of Tiki Modern. I have a smaller version I bought from Basement Kahuna at home (lower left corner):
These were not that uncommon and it is quite possible a version was owned by Ren Clark. Man I wish there would be a chance to hear the true story of the conception - and the reception - of that mug.
Here the other details clipped from the auction....not necessarily showing the highlights of the menu:
Now WHO got that menu? Biffcoz would a good home considering he owns such important Ren Clark artifacts already.
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3925
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-02-17 08:13 am Permalink
Nice job Bigbro, and a big thanks to your friend Martin. Finally get to see the inside of the Polynesian Village drink menu. How about a close up on those two bowls, they look unique.
Ren Clark had a bit of a dark sense to his place, with the Cannibal Room for the lounge and drinks like the Widowmaker, Cannibal Bowl and Headhunter.
DC
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abstractiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 29, 2009
Posts: 582
From: Lodi, CA
| Posted: 2011-02-17 7:00 pm Permalink
Awesome!
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Bora Boris
Mr. Unreasonable
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2401
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2011-02-17 7:16 pm Permalink
Thanks Bigbro and like DC said please thank Martin for us. That Cannibal Bowl looks amazing!
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Grand Kahu
Grand Member (2 years) 
Joined: Jul 31, 2006
Posts: 142
From: Dallas, TX
| Posted: 2011-03-16 4:42 pm Permalink
Unfortunately, I don't own the original cocktail menu and there is not one in a public collection, as with the food menu. I have high res-scans of the Cornell food menu, which I knew about the other year when I found the reference online, but out of deference to the archives, did not want to post the images without permission. And, there is another reason we have been "holding out."
Full disclosure here -- Kenike and I have been amassing a great deal of information and images relative to the Dallas and Ft. Worth tiki bars, now gone, including Ren Clark's, which has been the focus of my own research. You can read about it here (before we knew of the cocktail menu!):
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/cityofate/2010/08/not_dallas_don_the_beachcomber.php
As to that picture of the fellow sitting next to one of the signature tikis, I don't think that one is Clark, though I did not find it with the other publicity pictures I have seen. That said, we do have access to a great deal of information and images which we want to publish in a modest (probably electronic format) publication chronicling the history of these places -- Dallas locations of Trader Vic's, Ports O'Call, Don the Beachcomber, Dobbs House, the Hawaiian Century Room at the Adolphus, the Bamboo Room at the Tower Courts -- and in Ft. Worth, Ren Clark's Polynesian Village.
So, ohana, we are asking for your help, not for profit-making (which one can imagine there is little to be made in such a focus publication), but for disseminating information, stories, and images about these sites in a way which goes beyond the entires here in Tiki Central. The reason we are not just dumping it all here is one of design and structure -- to be able to write, graphically orchestrate, and otherwise assemble a publication which will be (hopefully) of use to not only the tiki-enlightened, but to those preservation and pop culture minded individuals in Dallas and environs. The other reason is one of cost in acquiring images and permission to publish. Rest assured the final result will be as *cheap* as possible, hence the idea of an electronic publication; we simply want to recoup our costs in photography, scanning, etc.
How can you help? Let us know of your related items, images, or anything you can share about these sites OR, importantly, the people associated with them -- owners, chefs, bartenders, or just that father or grand-pap with the story about drinking from a severed head mug. (Sorry Bigbro, I've yet to find a woman with a beehive drinking from one, but have found period pictures of ladies and men drinking from the other PV mugs!) Again, let me stress we are interested in information and images -- not treasure hunting. Would we love to know what happened to the various artifacts and rarer ephemera from the sites? Absolutely. Are we looking to buy, beg, or steal them? No!
If you have suggestions, we'd love to hear them, here or via PM. Kenike is an accomplished photographer and I am (immodestly, he says) reasonably accomplished author and researcher, so the combination of our respective talents and interest in tiki culture makes this project a natural fit for us.
We will post more information in the build-up to the completion of the project, but for now, please keep us in mind and know we will certainly do what we can to make this project one which will be exciting AND as accessible as possible.
Thanks,
GK
_________________
Grand Kahu
Tied by my Mai Tai...
[ This Message was edited by: Grand Kahu 2011-03-16 16:43 ]
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Grand Kahu
Grand Member (2 years)
Joined: Jul 31, 2006
Posts: 142
From: Dallas, TX
| Posted: 2011-03-16 4:50 pm Permalink
And BigBro, your amended take is correct, save for the ownership of the sculpture, which I cannot confirm. The headhunter mug was NOT a reference to his magic act. His family confirmed that for me.
GK
_________________
Grand Kahu
Tied by my Mai Tai...
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3925
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-03-16 5:02 pm Permalink
Grand Kahu,
Looking forward to seeing your finished project, thanks to you and Kenike for doing all of the research.
DC
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Or Got Rum?
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 29, 2009
Posts: 289
From: Wisconsin
| Posted: 2011-03-18 2:32 pm Permalink
Kenike and GK, Sounds like a great (and ambitious) project...good luck. P.S. I PM'ed you. OGR
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Big Kahuna
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2007
Posts: 1908
From: SoMass
| Posted: 2011-03-18 4:05 pm Permalink
Good Luck, guys. Unfortunately, I have no info, but I am anxiously awaiting your publication.
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Baron von Tiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 09, 2010
Posts: 86
From: Wichita KS
| Posted: 2012-04-24 11:16 pm Permalink
A postcard from the lobby of the Western Hills Hotel in Fort Worth, TX.
Ren Clark's restaurant may have been tiki-themed but the hotel it was in was Western themed. My guess is that the two men in the identical Western wear in this image are bellhops. From the looks of things, I'd say this image was taken in the early 60s.
The text from the back:
Spacious and handsomely-styled LOBBY of "The Nicest Hotel Anywhere." Called "Dazzling" by TIME Magazine and "A Revolution in Inn-Keeping" by Columnist Robert Ruark has free swimming. . . free ice cubes. . . free golf. . . and free parking for guests.
WESTERN HILLS HOTEL
6451 Camp Bowie, Fort Worth, Texas
"Resort and Country Club luxuries at Hotel Prices."
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[[[((8-0))]]]
The Super Secret Sigil of The Electric Tiki Society(tm)
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Atomic Tiki Punk
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 19, 2009
Posts: 4021
From: Costa Misery
| Posted: 2012-04-24 11:42 pm Permalink
I would say it was from the late 1950s from the attire.
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3925
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-04-27 07:00 am Permalink
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On 2011-02-17 19:16, Bora Boris wrote:
Thanks Bigbro and like DC said please thank Martin for us. That Cannibal Bowl looks amazing!
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I snagged some images of the menu, here is a close up of the Cannibal Bowl.
Have never seen one surface, wonder if it really existed in that form? And what's with the storage locker? Must have been a liquor law thing.
And a matchbook rendering of the Ren Clark Tiki.
DC
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croe67
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 05, 2003
Posts: 1011
From: Land of Cheese & Beer
| Posted: 2012-04-27 07:03 am Permalink
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On 2012-04-27 07:00, Dustycajun wrote:
And what's with the storage locker? Must have been a liquor law thing.
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My thought exactly!
Anyone know what's up with the locker & why it would be mentioned on the cocktail menu!?!
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