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Mai-Khi , West Allis, WI (bar) |
uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1531
From: Kalamazoo
|  Posted: 2011-05-09 06:44 am Permalink
Name:Mai-Khi
Type:bar
Street:5630 W. Lincoln
City:West Allis
State:WI
Zip:53219
country:USA
Phone:
Status:defunct
Description:
The Mai-Khi has been mentioned a few times in the threads but I thought it deserved a spot in locating Tiki. The Mai-Khi was located in the suburb of West Allis. The street shots are the most up to date images from google earth. The location appears to be right in a residential neighborhood as are so many small bars here in the mid west. The entrance seems to be mainly intact with torches and a great A-frame and lava rock details. The location appears to have been a brew pub as the last occupant but now appears closed. After a long search I was able to find only an ad for the restaurant from 1977. The ad states "an intimate Polynesian atmosphere with one of the largest pirhanas in Milwaukee" I guess they had smaller pirhanas at other bars? Looks to have been a great little getaway in the past. Maybe some more info will turn up. This would be a great location to do some local research on. Thanks.
Here the ad I was able to find from 1977.
The exterior as it looks today.
Closeup of the A-frame.
From this view remnants of the old painted sign are visible on the side of the building.
My bad attempt at how the sign may have looked back in the day with the logo tiki and font style.
A matchbook from the collection of Mimi Payne.
[ This Message was edited by: uncle trav 2011-05-09 07:36 ]
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1531
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2011-05-09 07:34 am Permalink
This place had two levels, a Polynesian atmosphere at at least one aquarium it could have been a very cool spot. Now all we need is some interior shots. I am almost sure that the large Tiki in the ad is a ripoff from another restaurant but I can't place it at the moment.
_________________
"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
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uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1531
From: Kalamazoo
| Posted: 2011-05-09 07:54 am Permalink
Well I neglected to check Tiki Road Trip first. So I looked up The Mai-Khi and as always James T. has some good info on the location. Seems the owner since 1973 sold the bar in 2000 which is when it was "de-Tikified". Also James states that the sign lettering on the side of the building was made of wood. Don't forget to check your copy of TRT first for some great intell.
_________________
"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10556
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-05-09 1:13 pm Permalink
Cool A-frame, with those torches sticking out. Amazing they left it standing, while the left side of the building looks completely renovated. Something tells me it looked a lil' diffrint before 2000...
Oh and then there is the ad, with the Link Paola/Outrigger Rum Tiki:
How did it end up (from the foot hills of L.A.) in Wisconsin!
Maybe Link Paola's Chinese cook moved there and opened his own place?
[ This Message was edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-05-09 13:20 ]
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TikiTomD
Grand Member (3 years) 
Joined: Sep 20, 2009
Posts: 629
From: Flagler Beach, FL
| Posted: 2011-05-09 1:36 pm Permalink
Trav, I was wondering about the origin of the name "Mai-Khi" when I came across it on the web as a Chinese (Hokkien dialect) phrase meaning "Don't Go"... an inside joke perhaps?
Sven, let no good tiki graphic go unrecycled!
-Tom
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3916
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-05-09 3:16 pm Permalink
Another incarnation of the Link Paola/Outrigger Tum Tiki, cool. Someone has a photo of that Tiki relocated to a Canadian Tiki Bar!
Here nighttime photo of the Ma-Khi when it was the Bobblehedz Sports Bar.
Also the thread that first posted the link and discussed the Tiki-Beer connection.
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=25094&forum=1&hilite=ma-khi
DC
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10556
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-05-09 5:16 pm Permalink
Thanks for the memories, DC, totally did not connect that fun thread with this place (cuz there was no image of it posted in it)
Now you know what I was talking about at the Red Lion when I described the Lowenbrau Keller. We should go there sometime and check how it looks now...
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3916
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-01-31 12:15 pm Permalink
Here is another ad with that Tiki, this one features the Mai Tai special and you keep the galss.
DC
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10556
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-01-31 12:30 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-01-31 12:15, Dustycajun wrote:
Here is another ad with that Tiki, this one features the Mai Tai special and you keep the galss.
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Now THERE'S a custom that I support: Who needs the Tiki mug if you can keep the serving gal!
(Sorry Scott, just HAD to use that  )
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3916
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-01-31 12:42 pm Permalink
It's only you rich and famous authors and artists that get to keep the gals, the rest of us just get some lousy old mug!
DC
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10556
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-01-31 1:26 pm Permalink
But there is a "catch" to this custom!:
As cryptic hieroglyphs found on ancient scrolls relate, you had to CATCH the gal before you could keep her:
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Ragbag Comics
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Feb 24, 2009
Posts: 70
From: Chicago
| Posted: 2013-01-21 6:40 pm Permalink
On a recent excursion to Milwaukee, we drove by the remnants of the Mai-Khi,
only to find this guy in a nearby thrift shop.....
Thinkin' this must have been that free Mai Tai glass they mentioned in the ad?
--Pete
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TropicDrinkBoy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Feb 27, 2011
Posts: 151 | Posted: 2013-01-22 5:07 pm Permalink
Wow! That would be a great glass for a freebie.
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