A few more of the commercial slides. You can see a big difference in color in some of these as they had become very red with age. Photoshop corrected them a lot, but they are not quite right.

Okay, a few more. These are from a batch of commercial slides for the tourists.

When your 1974 Mai Kai calendar arrived, this was the image that greeted you on the envelope. Nice.

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL

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Patti is Miss January 1967
Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL

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This starts the 1967 Mai Kai calendar. This is a front image:

Lorie is our front girl for 1967

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL

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Charmaine is Miss December 1963.

For the end of this calendar year of 1963, we have this Extra. Were the first letters of that poem meant to mean anything?

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL

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Ellen is Miss November 1963.
Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL

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Jean is Miss October 1963.

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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Sallye is Miss September 1963. Look at that awesome material her costume is made of!

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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Diane is Miss August 1963.

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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Hmmm, there’s just something about Jean, Miss July 1963 that I really love. Not sure what…

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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Lita, the Oriental Mystery Girl is Miss June 1963.

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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Nice Rarotangan tiki there Andre! Miss May 1963.

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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Mimi is Miss April 1963.

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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Miss March is Mireille, better known these days as Mrs. Thornton, owner of the Mai Kai. I love this image. Very fun, and I love to see the cannibal tiki trio over her shoulder!

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL

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Ah the Mystery Girl, Dondi. Dig that bowl! Miss February 1963

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL
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I meant to share these in chronological order, but somehow I messed up. So, now we start the 1963 Mai Kai calendar.

Donna is Miss January 1963. That Old Black Magic has had me in its spell many times…

Mai Kai, Fort Lauderdale, FL

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A nice illustration of the Mai Kai in 1964

The legendary Mireille Thornton on the back cover.

This ends the 1964 calendar. These early 60s ones are very rare.
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Barbara is Miss December 1964
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Dee is Miss November 1964
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Sizou is Miss October 1964
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Joann is Miss September 1964

An illustration of the bar in 1964 with the portrait of Bob Thornton drawn in there.

Fixed the images on yesterday’s vintage hula cheesecake post.
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Idola is Miss August 1964
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Sandi is Miss July 1964
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Kawana is Miss june 1964. This is one of the large tikis that used to be in front of the restaurant.

Here it is in a postcard. This tiki was stolen in the night long ago…

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Sallye is Miss May 1964 - Shout out to Pablus and the Crazed Mugs who played the Molokai Lounge last night. I wish I could have been there. Can’t wait to see him in the round at the Aku Tiki Room in Kewaunee Illinois at next year’s Tiki Eyeball.

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Yvonne is Miss April 1964

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Ann is Miss March 1964

An illustration of the bar in 1964
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Jean is Miss February 1964, keeping the torches burning.
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This is a filler image used throughout this 1964 calendar. I believe the man in the drawn portrait is Bob Thornton. The Okole Maluna sign is not just an exhortation to “drink up”, but was a “club” that guests could join and work their way through the menu to get special stuff.

Pat is Miss Jauary.

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As a proper build up to the new Tiki Daze calendar I am producing, I am going to be sharing my Mai Kai calendar collection over the next few months. The Mai Kai means a lot to me. It’s the greatest place on Earth as far as I am concerned. They are the anchor of Hukilau and it was the fantastic presence of the Mai Kai and the incredibly welcoming spirit of the owners and staff that keep Hukilau in Fort Lauderdale. I owe a lot to this place. It helped light and continually rekindles my tiki fire. The people who work there are great sources of information and are just the best.

Also, I spent a few hours at the Mai Kai, photographing the place for the calendar. It’s is far more dense with imagery than you realize.

So, it only seems fitting to share images of my Mai Kai calendars to celebrate the new Tiki Daze calendar. Over the coming months, you will see an mage a day. If you think the images should be bigger, let me know. When I can, I will add side information.

Enjoy!

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After a long year of working on this, we are nearly done! The fantastic graphic design artists have taken my thousands of photographs of vintage tiki bar ephemera and turned them into dynamic works of art. These things you have seen in the Book of Tiki, Tiki Quest, The Bum’s books and now the wonderful Tiki Modern. So, to simply photograph some very rare mugs and drop them on a background would be, well, already done and semi-boring. The real tiki geeks would dig it if I had the uber-rare items, but most people would not. So, I challenged my artists to do something fun, and creative with these images, and I think they have. Plus, all calendar images were approved by Ms. Swanky who, though she fully understands the tiki aesthetic, is not enthralled with it like I am. She understands a more broad perception that will make this calendar appeal to us tiki freaks, and the general freaks too.

If you look at the calendars in thte kiosk at the mall, you will find they all fall into a few categories:

1. Images of things, i.e. Dogs, Cats, Babes, Hunks
2. Art, i.e. Ansel Adams photos, Picasso paintings
3. Cartoons, i.e. Dilbert, Farside
4. Still Lifes, i.e. staged kitchen cooking scenes, islands, etc.

What we have done with this calendar is combine several of these styles. We have photographs of things, as in postcards, swizzles, mugs and menus of classic tiki bars. Mixed with images of thatch, tapa, etc., blended with custom artwork, and put together into a new image, which is a sort of “still life” of tiki that is more than a sum of its parts.

Quite simply, it is unlike any calendar I have ever seen, both for its subject matter, and especially for its design.

So, head over to the new website and get the only 2008 calendar that matters!

In a follow up to this popular post on the Hawaiian Village in Myrtle Beach, SC, I add this vintage postcard of the exterior.

Great sign, and what looks like a 15 foot tiki out front.

It is good to see more of this place….

I came across this site by accident and looked down the list of motels in my area. I realized it was actually a list of vintage motels that are still open. “Reasonable rates” sure. $39 a night or less. Will the room be awful and totally unacceptable, or will it be a blast from the past? I stayed at one not so long ago that had the coin-op vibrating bed with incredible vintage graphics on the box.

So, next time you are planning a road trip down memory lane, or, well, trying to relive a past you may never have had the chance to experience, this site will steer you in the direction of the survivors.

Motel Guide.com