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BAHOOKA MEMORIES - a photo love story |
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10560
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
|  Posted: 2013-03-02 09:05 am Permalink
Being a visual person, recent reports about the Bahooka closing have been sadly lacking in images, so here is the thread to share all the pics ever taken, and still being shot. Even if you put them on Facebook, put some up here for the community. And I know it is work, but please try to caption them, if possible.
As John-O formulated it so aptly, the quality of Bahooka lies in the sum of its parts. Even I as a photo professional am hard pressed to portray its nautical catacombs adequately, so don't be shy to post mere snap shots. It will be the sum of photos here that will do it justice. I have seen some excellent HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos shot by by Hakalugi and Joe Banks already, please gentlemen share.
I will be hard to not double up angles, and I am not looking for page long plaster posts - just some telling images of friends, drinks, details...anything that represent the "Paradise Lost" of Bahooka
[ This Message was edited by: bigbrotiki 2013-03-02 11:22 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10560
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2013-03-02 09:30 am Permalink
An island in the asphalt sea:
...it calls to me: (to the strains of Bali Hai)  Bahooka!...BAHOOOKAAAH!
The great TAAROA is crying...
...for his lost habitat...
....where the underwater world mingled with Tiki....
...and fish and man (woman) fell in love!
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10560
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2013-03-02 09:58 am Permalink
Memorable moments in my Bahooka life:
The release of my Bahooka mug:
Holden holding Anders holding it
Elusive beauties of the night
Squid, Holden, Jeff, me and JP relaxing after a hard signing session
The release of the 10 Year Book of Tiki Anniversary mug:
A happy customer
More happy customers
...and a happy BOT mug (inexplicably turning its back on) The Hula Girls and the Crazy Al glowing eyes Tiki 
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forgotten tikiman
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 18, 2011
Posts: 345
From: Forgotten Tiki Room. Pismo Beach, CA
| Posted: 2013-03-02 2:33 pm Permalink
Mahaloz for sharing Sven. Some great photos there.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10560
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2013-03-02 3:19 pm Permalink
Thank you...but after almost A HUNDRED views, why aren't there any others? I tell ya, Facebook really figured out to what extent people are willing to participate in social media: Basically just slightly above the Twitter level.
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Or Got Rum?
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 29, 2009
Posts: 289
From: Wisconsin
| Posted: 2013-03-02 4:19 pm Permalink
Well, Again Sven you raise the bar...awesome documentation....but you have us always expecting the best. BTW, What is this Facebook/Twittering you speak of? Okay, I know, but being an old schooler I do not need THAT much instant gratification. Remember the reason behind Phone Booths? Back when men wore hats and opened doors....plus pulled out a ladies chair and stood up when they left and arrived. Oh Damn, I care too much...Thanks for the pics. OGR
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GROG
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Posts: 6174
From: Tujunga
| Posted: 2013-03-02 4:22 pm Permalink
GROG just steal these pics from another thread, some from the same thread you stole some of yours.
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Atomic Tiki Punk
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 19, 2009
Posts: 4013
From: Costa Misery
| Posted: 2013-03-02 4:54 pm Permalink
Rather then re-post the pics, here are the links to the original threads..
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=39286&forum=17&vpost=584901
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=39286&forum=17&start=90&hilite=Bahooka
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=36786&forum=17&start=90&hilite=Bahooka
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=41585&forum=17&start=0&hilite=Bahooka
Enjoy!
[ This Message was edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2013-03-02 17:11 ]
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Big Kahuna
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2007
Posts: 1908
From: SoMass
| Posted: 2013-03-02 5:01 pm Permalink
From my first trip out in 2011. I had dinner the first night at Bahooka.
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Joe Banks
Grand Member (4 years) 
Joined: Aug 02, 2007
Posts: 518
From: Hollywoodland
| Posted: 2013-03-02 5:09 pm Permalink
_________________
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Bora Boris
Mr. Unreasonable
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2401
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2013-03-02 5:22 pm Permalink
Here's a handful ~
The Bahooka Mai Tai, which came with a "Have you had a Bahooka Mai Tai before?" warning.
The Bahooka 40th Anniversary Party.
With Hinano Paul, Dave's Not Home, SoccerTiki and Myself.
Southern California is losing one of it's "Go-To" birthday spots
with unique lighting
and a cool fish.
From The Book of Tiki mug release event.
My last Bahooka House Salad 2/16/2013.
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lucas vigor
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 12, 2004
Posts: 3453
From: "I've chopped my way through real jungle
| Posted: 2013-03-02 5:28 pm Permalink
Well, the Bahooka has some good memories for me. That was one of the last times I ever played with the hula girls band (You can see me in one of those pictures) and I believe just before that the smokin menehunes had played some event there, and we had Jim Bacchi sitting in with us...which was unbelievably cool....
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http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/sets/set-3/
"yer jus not tuned into the series of tubes yet, let it soak in".
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Joe Banks
Grand Member (4 years)
Joined: Aug 02, 2007
Posts: 518
From: Hollywoodland
| Posted: 2013-03-02 5:33 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2013-03-02 17:22, Bora Boris wrote:
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That's the best picture of a Bahooka salad I've ever seen!
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Big Kahuna
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2007
Posts: 1908
From: SoMass
| Posted: 2013-03-02 5:42 pm Permalink
Souveniers from my first trip:
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10560
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2013-03-02 9:56 pm Permalink
THANK you! There we go, that's a start, thank you everyone Now, while we are looking forward to more BAHOOKA PHOTOS, here is some Bahooka HISTORY:
While there is precious little visual material from the early days of Bahooka, and much of its past is steeped in deep mystery, this brief time line explains a few things:
"The owner of the Bahooka was named Jack Fliegel, who traveled around the south seas as a navy private in the early 1950's. When he left the navy he learned the restaurant business while working at Kelbo's for 10 years.
In 1967 he started the first Bahooka restaurant in West Covina with his sister and younger brother. This restaurant was in operation from 1967 to 1980, and Jack kept adding on to it as the business grew. Unfortunately the building grew three feet over the property line and he lost his lease in a legal dispute. The contents were removed, a beautiful custom-built bar was sold off, and the building was demolished.
In 1976 Jack had opened a second restaurant in Rosemead. From 1976 to 1980 there were two Bahookas in operation. This time he owned the land rather than leasing."
So Jack took the Beachcomber concept, the firmament of resin floats, and the ribs-heavy menu from his former place of employ Kelbo's, which, as those Los Angelinos who were lucky enough to have visited it can attest, was just as crammed with flotsam and found objects as Bahooka.
Here's the front and back of the West Covina location menu:
It's original opening text was fine example of Polynesian pop poetry...
...even invoking the spirit of its guardian Tiki!
Fast forward to the early Tiki revival (we will skip over the Mark Ryden copyright issue here) and we are at a LA Cacaphony Society Meeting November 1991:
Having discovered Tiki a couple of years before, I eagerly attended this meet and greet - and afterwards decided that I had to be the one to do a book about it.
After earlier Tiki art group shows curated by Bobby Green and Otto at Cacao Coffee House, and at La Luz de Jesus, Copro Nason Gallery staged a Tiki happening at Bahooka entitled TIKI ART in 1998:
That's it, who can fill in the blanks? 
[ This Message was edited by: bigbrotiki 2013-03-02 23:33 ]
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