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Maori Village, West Palm Beach, FL (other) |
uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1532
From: Kalamazoo
|  Posted: 2010-12-05 06:07 am Permalink
Name:Maori Village
Type:other
Street:?
City:West Palm Beach
State:FL
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status: unknown
Description:
Found these little gems yesterday. Yet again a location I can find no details on. I'm not sure if this was a bar, restaurant, motel or what. Was wondering if anyone has some info... Dusty..Sven...Sabu....anyone?
[ This Message was edited by: uncle trav 2010-12-05 06:08 ]
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abstractiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 29, 2009
Posts: 582
From: Lodi, CA
| Posted: 2010-12-05 09:12 am Permalink
This is what I found in old news reports.
Morai Village was a specialty restaurant and night club operated by Food Systems International, a subsidiary of Holiday Inn Inc.
It was located at 5706 Broadway and in 1972 S.T. Vandernoot was the nightclub manager.
Lory Maurice Johnston, a former owner of the Elbo Room and the Sea Breeze Restaurant on Fort Lauderdale beach and whose home movies were recreated in the legendary Spring Break flick "Where the Boys Are", is reported to have been "involved with other ventures", including Trader Jack's in Lauderdale-by the-Sea and Maori Village in West Palm Beach. Mr. Johnson passed away in 2006.
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1532
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2011-03-24 07:25 am Permalink
I have found a couple of ads for the Maori Village from 1970. The renderings look good but we all know how that can turn out all to often. Good to find something else for the location though. The current address has an empty lot where the restaurant may have been.
_________________
"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3926
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-03-24 08:15 am Permalink
Trav,
Nice find, those renderings look very promising! That A-frame on the left is dramatic and looks to be topped with a Tiki. Must find some photos.
DC
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-03-24 11:37 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2011-03-24 08:15, Dustycajun wrote:
That A-frame on the left is dramatic and looks to be topped with a Tiki. Must find some photos.
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MUST, MUST! --ALL the A-frames seem to have Tikis (or Tekoteko, in Maori) on top! This place is an amazing meeting point between Tiki Modern: The Googie A-frame on the left, and original Tiki architecture with the Maori meeting house roof line right next to it!:
There seems to be a Tiki standing on the corner to the left, and then, behind it, under the A-roof, some panels with designs:
Or they were the entrance doors, and the mod A-frame was the porte cochere, modeled after the Mai Kai - from which many Florida Polynesias took their cues.
These kinda details are clearly based on something that existed, nobody would make that up. Fantastic find, Trav.
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1532
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2011-03-24 1:44 pm Permalink
Thanks guys. It is always fun to pick up some small item from one of these forgotten restaurants and try and dig up the past. I never ever get tired of it. Hopefully more will turn up.
_________________
"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
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TikiB
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 05, 2010
Posts: 20
From: Juno Beach, FL
| Posted: 2011-03-27 2:35 pm Permalink
I searched Maori Village and 5706 Broadway in the Palm Beach Post archives. I could not find any pictures of Maori Village from the time it was open. All references to Maori Village are from 1970-1972. I did find articles on a restaurant named Gilligan's (named after the TV show). Which was at the location of the former Maori Village around 1980. There is pictures in the article of the A-frame entrance.
http://news.google.com/newspapers/p/palmbeach?id=rVQvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HMwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4541,1563692&dq=5706+Broadway&hl=en
This article gives a description of the inside of Gilligan's which has a few Tiki touches. I am thinking they were left from when it was the Maori Village.
http://news.google.com/newspapers/p/palmbeach?id=Zv8sAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Xc0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1249,2726826&dq=5706+Broadway&hl=en
This location is a few miles from my house so I am getting pretty excited learning more about it. Thanks OP for starting this post.
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1532
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2011-03-27 5:30 pm Permalink
Thanks for doing some digging TikiB. Here are the shots of the entrance and an ad for Gilligan's from the article both from 1982. It would be great to get some pics of what the location looks like now.
_________________
"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
[ This Message was edited by: uncle trav 2011-03-27 17:32 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-03-27 9:50 pm Permalink
Very cool, guys!
So if the "Maori Village" opened in 1970, the trend had peaked, and the operation didn't last long. An easy way to utilize some of the old decor for another, related theme concept would indeed have been "Gilligan's"-like the "Castaways". But the Tikis had to go, they were outdated! 
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pa'akiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 26, 2005
Posts: 70 | Posted: 2011-03-29 08:18 am Permalink
here is one of bifcozz and my favourite menu covers.
inside
pupu menu
Flyer
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3926
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-03-29 10:54 am Permalink
Pa'akiki,
Stunning! Thank you for posting.
DC
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-03-29 12:39 pm Permalink
Ooooh SH&# !!!!! (What's the emoticon for a jaw-drop to the floor, with eyes popping out and rolling around???)
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TikiB
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 05, 2010
Posts: 20
From: Juno Beach, FL
| Posted: 2011-03-29 1:15 pm Permalink
WOW! What a great menu. Thanks for sharing pa'akiki! I cant wait till someone posts some pics of the inside of the Maori Village. It is only a matter of time before someone with pics stumbles upon this thread. I live about 5 miles from the location of the former restaurant so I will ask some of the older locals if they remember the restaurant. I grew up in Palm Beach County but this place closed a little before I was born.
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TikiB
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 05, 2010
Posts: 20
From: Juno Beach, FL
| Posted: 2011-03-29 1:54 pm Permalink
I drove by the former location of the Maori Village yesterday after work. There was not much to take pics of but I took some anyway. I could not help but notice the irony of taking pics of an empty lot in the rain, with complete cloud cover and right next to a funeral home. I hope someone finds better pics from the past.
First pic is looking South bound on Broadway
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Looking North On Broadway
This is from behind the restaurant looking at Broadway
This would be the back half of the restaurant
This is the back of the restaurant looking South towards Broadway
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1532
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2011-03-29 1:56 pm Permalink
Outstanding !!!!!!!!!!!!! love how the clues start coming together. That menu is fantastic. Any way we can get a good closeup of the rendering from the menu and thanks for sharing.
_________________
"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
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