UCLA has made a library of LA photos from 1920-1990 available and searchable online. I tried the names of some Polynesian Pop locales to see if I got a hit on the Luau or Tropic’s or Latitude or Tiki or Trader, etc. Nothing. This was the only teaser. A 1946 picture of Hilo Hattie (center) hamming it up at a Polynesian Society luau.
And who wouldn’t love to go to this 1949 Swimming Club Luau? I just noticed the lady second to left has a flower that appears to be taped to her chest. No straps on that dress…
Via BoingBoing
excellent find, my friend.
that swimming club luau is great with the womens, uke, and haywood wakefield furniture – ahhh…..
GMTA, Swanky. I did exactly the same thing when I saw that post on bOINGbOING, and found those photographs too.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. We at the South Seas Cinema Society have been trying to identify 3 Polynesian dancers for years. They were living in So Cal and were prominent dancers used in the background of many South Seas or Tiki movies. One of three has been identified, a male but the two mystery women have been a challenge. Recently one of the two wahines was named as a Mansfield sister but which sister? With your snooping at the UCLA photo library you corrected this mystery in two ways; one, it was the wrong woman identified as a Mansfield – it was the other mystery wahine, and two, the caption of this photo in the UCLA website names the right Mansfield sister – Telu.
Mahalo nui Swanky we found Telu! (the woman on the right) One more left to find!