Tahitian Lanai & The Waikikian

The Tahitian Lanai (1956–1997) a iconic restaurant that was located in Old Waikiki (1956 circa) and where it was at the Iconic Waikikian Hotel overlooking the Lagoon with a open kitchen where people could see where their food was coming from with a swimming pool with tables all around and a bar with a dining area that would be full of great times day or night. Spence Weaver had a love for Tahiti where he would go for vacation and eventually run a hotel out there and fall in love with his wife in Tahiti where it is said that he got the name for the Tahitian Lanai. The South Pacific experience would be brought over as an authentic “South Seas” experience according to the brochures and ads, so to add to its authenticity there was decor flown in from Tahiti. Spence would ignore the old proven ways for a more regional solution based attitude in establishing things that were regional for Hawaii and that wouldn’t just be for the restaurant itself, but this went to the treatment of the people and employees. 

The Waikikian hotel was built in 1956 with Pete Wimberly (WATG) for Fred Dailey where the Architecture group had the idea of a Polynesian theme, Tropical Landscaping, Pacific Arts and Crafts, and Architecture for the climate and not to reproduce authentic and native replication. While it was partially artistic it would be different from how Polynesian looking buildings would be during that time, because of two reasons: One before the war people had a ignore it and westernize it ideal and after the weight of post-war many soldiers saw places all over the world, so the appropriateness of cultural designs, building processes, local environments, were seen as a way to respect those of Pacific Heritage and business wise it left considerable design potential to be much more Hawaiian. The Dining Room of the Waikikian was an open lanai with louver doors with the swimming pool near the beach. 

Hawaii Tiki Culture, Looking to bring someone on to the project that was well aware of the trends of Tiki Culture of the Pop Polynesian as well as Polynesian culture would lead the company to seek out someone who had that sort of experience. So, at that time Spence Weaver would seek out restaurateur Bob Bryant who was a bar manager and knew how to run the bar as a bartender at Trader Vic’s and became the founder of Tiki Bob’s (1955) in San Francisco California. There would be pillars and originally simplistic design that was at the time iconic of Bryant, there would be Tiki’s on panels made out of wood, and the way it would look would really take on a Tahititian theme with American Polynesian that took Tiki Culture as the basis as the place would be changing as the project would continue its developments. 

"Before leaving the Mainland for the first time, everybody has his own dream of what Hawaii and Tahiti will be like. In designing this hotel-restaurant complex, we tried to fulfill those ideas. We tried to make this a 'dream Tahiti' instead of just a duplicate of the real island." -Bob Bryant

The Papeete Bar, it was located in the Tahitian Lanai and was marketed for “Exotic Polynesian Tiki Drinks” at the bar, a piano playing area to make it a “Piano Bar” where people would sing-a-long with the pianist, and they had cocktail servers dressed with a Haku lei, Slippers (flip-flops), Tahitian-Pareo (Waist Wrap) and went by their “working names” rather than real names. The bar was named after the capital of Tahiti “Papeete” and kept that with the artwork as well. John McMahon was a known artist at the time and he knew Spence Weaver and did Black Velvet paintings for him that were copies of Edgar Leeteg’s Artwork that was known in Papeete Tahiti. 

Spence Weaver would come in every Saturday for lunch and wanted me to be his server at the Long House, one of our grass shacks." "He’d bring his buddies with him, such as restaurateur Pete Canlis. They were a boisterous group of men."On one occasion Spence ordered an open-faced club sandwich — something not on the menu. "I didn’t even know what that was. It wasn’t common 40 years ago. I brought him a regular club sandwich." -Waitress, Tanya

The Huts, they looked like mini-bungalows but the Thatched-roof areas were referred to as “Huts”. They were named after Tahitian Royalty like: Queen Pomare IV Hut, Prince Hinoi Hut, and one was named Princess Hut after Spence's Daughter Chantal. 

They were also called “Privacy Huts” where people could get some privacy with a group that would want to have a business meeting for lunch to bond with other workers or discuss something big, but it helped occupy the space for hours at a time. At times there were large gatherings of people, especially those with larger friend groups, clubs and stuff, but those who wanted to celebrate something. And sometimes other sorts of activities for some. Waiters use to purposely make a lot of noise on their way to the huts, especially if they knew what sort of client they were dealing with the ones who had tendencies to get a bit frisky, so coughing would be code to the client that was a way to let people know service was coming in. 

The Dining, people would head on over for lunch and take out those Banana Muffins and would go there to relax on their breaks if they worked nearby and it was known to be a place of Romance and Relaxation in the evenings. The aunties that worked there and uncles were there for a really long time and people sort of aged with the venue and that made a strong familiarity to the place, because it wasn’t really like the feeling of dining out for locals, but like eating at a fancy home that still felt like a home. It had the perfect ocean view that was incredible back when there wasn’t as many buildings and people, but things really got romantic at night where there was a warmth sitting and eating with the people singing and the laughter amongst the staff while sitting there in good company with foods coming from the broiler: Flanking Brochette Filet Mignon, Extra Thick Lamb Chops, Lobster Tail in Butter, Island Chicken in a Coconut Shell, and Fresh Garlic Bread. The place was packed as a well known iconic part of Waikiki and the parking full, so sometimes the parking attendants would sometimes double up as a busboy if the lot was full, but the payouts would be wild at times, because some customers really wanted to splurge.

The menu had that real old style Waikiki feel where people were trying to grasp what made Hawaii, well Hawaii and it could be that many of such old establishments were sort of culinary Pioneers looking for that Hawaii identity by talking to the people the customers who lived there and had that tourism appeal as well in a balance. The cuisine had all sorts of influences like the Tahitian aspect of all the coconut dishes like the “Coconut shell filled with Shrimp Curry” with the nice touches of French cuisine that would be in the herbs, but the dishes chosen seemed to be part of the general idea of Polynesian as many of the ingredients used can be found on many of the islands. 

Banana-nut Muffins, the Tahitian Lanai had some famous banana-nut muffins that came before everything else and were wonderful for breakfast, went well with the Butter or mixed in with Poha Jam, and best of all they were served free. People use to get the urge for something fruity and a drink because of the dryness of the bread and the taste of the banana called for some sort of fruity drink like the Pineapple Juice, Guava Juice, Grapefruit Juice. So it’s no surprise that people had to order something with it as it really pulled in people with the whole idea of “Free” coming to mind. Chilled salads were nice and cold with the Fresh Hawaiian Fruit Salad that had a pineapple filled with a variety of fruits and sherbet and back then people opted for country-style cottage cheese, but that isn’t the usual sort of thing eaten today with many dishes with fruits. People on vacation would be looking to treat themselves, so eating things overloaded with sugar was pretty typical, like the: Banana Pancakes, Coconut Waffles with Tropical Syrup, Toasted English Muffins with Canadian Bacon and Jam, or a Monte Cristo Sandwich dipped in Jam. Also many couldn’t resist the Fried Taro Topped with Tropical Syrup and that actually introduced many people unfamiliar with Taro to have a taste for it.

Lanai Eggs Benedict, They would really double on using those english muffins as they were already great by themselves, but they would take it to the next level by grilling them to get a sort of smoky crustiness to them and had a seasoning of olive oil and paprika with maybe salt and the sort to make it a quality english muffin. It had a nickname for them called Lanai Eggs Benedict in reference to the “Tahitian Lanai” real thin sliced meat the Canadian Bacon, Poached Eggs, and Scratch Made Hollandaise Sauce served with American Home Fries. Really thinking back on it the breakfast is what would be a large draw with people who were foodies back then talking about what ifs with the varieties of Eggs Benedict options that could have been like: large thin-sliced portuguese sausage eggs benedict with crab meat avocado, thin baby shrimp salad on sliced luncheon meat, or large thin-sliced American bacon with garni crab meat on fried taro hash. People would often pair their Eggs Benedict with an order of one of many sorts of Bloody Mary’s that really caught on or with Tomato Juice, but it was probably the acidity from those drinks and the bit of herbal-spice that went well with that creaminess and crunch of the Eggs Benedict.

Story goes that chef Anderson Washington (1910-2002) made the Hollandaise sauce for the Eggs Benedict and had very specific procedures on making it like a specific storage area for it for the coolness, at the consistency the mixture would be stirred to make sure the eggs didn’t warm up, and while some of it might be French Cuisine the taste wasn’t like other places that had scratch made Eggs Benedict and that's probably because of the tropical climate and the small differences in being in Hawaii like the made in Hawaii Butter and the Local Hawaii Chickens as well as the the Hawaii grown fruits. Many would try to replicate it overseas to get that same taste, but the Hawaii part made the large differences, so knowing that it was important to visit the farms and the people who grew fruits and talk with them to get the best ingredients for the best Eggs Benedict or at least that's how we felt in the kitchen looking out to the terrace. There was eggs benedict that was found all over the island and they all tasted similar with the pre-bought powdered Hollandaise sauce with add water and stir. But at the SpenceCliff restaurants the craft and power houses of the back of the house would really show in the scratch made sauces of the Hollandaise that many people theorized about, because they were the best in Waikiki, but it was that extra time and effort that they put into it or “Aloha'' in the sauce as one of the cooks said. 

The Celebrities, the cast of the TV series "Hawaiian Eye" used to hang out there. Connie Francis and the Lennon Sisters sang there. “Magnum P.I.” Tom Selleck passed by the table and said Hi Ladies—we fainted!! He was so good looking!! Chuck Berry was dressed as Santa and an outrigger brought him into the lagoon beach. There was also Prince Charles who was very young at that time was close with Mike Daily the son of the owner of the Waikikian Hotel and Marlon Brando who was also well known would go to play Polo with the Daily’s. Celebrities just loved any excuse to come to Hawaii at that time as it was the place to go of destinations with the achievement of Pacific Flight and all, so going to Hawaii was a big deal, expensive and a sort of dream to most, because most people would simply not beagle to afford to travel to Hawaii more than once in their life until much later on in flight history of jam pact flights and many more airlines companies competing for lower prices to the islands in the 1990s. 

Don Ho released a album called “Don Ho Presents The Gang, Live At The Tahitian Lanai” where he went and jammed with Dennis Kamakahe, Ron Kaipo, John Alemeda, Leon Pober, Webley Edwards, John Spenser, Bima Mossmon, Albert Nahalea, Bob Nelson, Samuel Kuahiwi, and Lorenzo Lyons.

In the 1960s, 

Tableside dining, when people ordered tableside Salads like the Caesar Salads there would be a huge monkey-pod tray that was heavy and needed one of the stronger wait staff to bring it out. They had to be brought out for making it live in front of customers as a sort of private performance, but also there was another tray when people ordered the Curry in a Coconut shell with the husk intact with an assortment of optional condiments for them to choose from, but it would be difficult to do when these orders were poolside table orders near the pool that had the map of Hawaii at the bottom of it. If it got too windy there were no wind breakers and it could be slippery at times too when it rained, but if it was getting bad like a storm the poolside dining area would be closed and only the huts would remain open. 

1960s Cohort: 

In the 1970s, the Tahitian Lanai was a Premiere Hawaii Tiki Bar during a time when there were plenty of Tiki Bars that brought a whole lot of competition with only a few other notable destinations for Tiki Bar Goers, like the world famous “La Mariana Sailing Club”. There was a reputation to have great live music with live piano music and it had the distinction of Live Hawaiian Music along with other sorts of music, so people who went would start attaching the idea that Hawaiian Music would be necessary for a Hawaii Tiki Bar to be different from other sorts of Tiki Bars that were becoming less distinct. It was known to be as close to a "real" Polynesian mostly Tahitian and Hawaiian with a touch of mid-century Continental as you could get for a tourist destination for most of its existence. But overtime it went from an authentic-vibe and then an old-school Tourist vibe as people learned much more about the different parts of Polynesia. It was the last days that were coming as people could see all sorts of construction coming along and new owners that were not familiar names of the Old Waikiki. Soon it would seem that for the years of many small themed, intimate hotels, and family restaurants were going to see “progress” by demolition in the expansion of large hotels, luxury hotels, and development of Waikiki Tourism, and much less input from the customers themselves, both locals and travelers. 

Wood Carvers, the Tahitian Lanai always had the rich people who would have their get-togethers and sometimes a meeting here and there in the little cabanas by the pool where it is said that Spence Weaver and Cantlis would talk business. It is said that Bart Cahoon another restaurateur and Lawrence Dorcy "aka. The Baron" had met in discussions of how to keep things maintained and keep things fresh, so the names of renowned Hawaii Carvers Joel Smith and John C. Nippolt came about for their motto in carving and portfolio of International Marketplace carvings, Charthouse carvings, and . This sort of background would be what Spence was describing of what he was looking for in a man of the arts where he wanted all the indigenous stories to be told with research and accuracy, but still with a sort of artistic license in the commission. Joel Smith would talk to Spence Weaver and end up taking on the task and draw up the Maori carvings for the Tahitian Lanai and have John C. Nippolt carved it out.

Joel Smith (1941-1980s) who had started in illustration, sculpting, and then as one of Hawaii's best wood carvers who lived on the motto “Indigenous Material with a Indigenous Spirit”. He did a couple of greatly detailed Hawaiian wood panels in Southern California that would end up in private estates each with their own research or “Live-in Research” as he explained each piece has a feeling of place and people and means something. Many of his works consisted of research done independently from stories in the archives of the Bishop Museum with old prints that were on file. He mentored John C. Nippolt as a teen and met him again in his later years in 1976 where he got a call from John on the phone and he hired him right away knowing the quality of his wood carving skills. 

Angry Parrot “Uku” who was near the entrance way where there was a place to sit and employees of nearby places like the Waikikian and the Pearl Factory would take a seat  to eat. There would be a cage that had a sign on it that said “Do not put your fingers or anything else in the cage” because their was a parrot that sent a police detective to the hospital with a nasty bite. The parrot was named Uku who was rumored to have come from an angry Sailor for his sailors tongue. He was always in a bad mood where he would say “Good bye, F you!” constantly until the tourists went away and he would be told it wasn't a nice thing to say and he would respond “I know”. 

1970s Cohort: 

In the 1980s, the Hawaii Tiki-scene was seen as generic, tacky, and old fashioned. It had little new school appeal and seemed to be targeted toward a specific old school audience that had a sense of endearment towards the general polynesian cultures, but that just was not sitting right after people had been exposed to: Instead of Tropical Jazz there was Local Jazz (Kalapana) and Hawaiian Music (Sons of Hawaii, Makaha Sons of Niihau), Hawaiian Quilt Patterns or Kapa Designs instead of Tiki Carved Designs, Hawaiian Kukui Nut oil burning fires (later in 2011 Aulani made “Kukui Torches”)  instead of generic American Tiki torches, Pareo (Hawaiian) and Lavalava (Samoan) instead of Pareu (Tahitian). They also had this funny thing where it was a tradition of tossing a leaving busboy into the pool after work.

1980s Cohort: Evelyn (hostess), Judy (waitress), Gloria Hirata (waitress), Yoshi (waitress), Susan Takara (waitress), Vic, Jeff, Vickie Shiroma (waitress), Pacifico “Pat”, Roberto (busboy), Carlos, Dien, Riu Liu (manager), Marian (pianist), Rose, Stephanie, and Ewalani. 

In the 1990s, In the morning there was an upcoming hurricane called “Iwa”, so the employees ran to take down the aluminum umbrellas. 

In its last years the Taxi drivers saw a difference in clientele from ten years ago, they would drop off Hookers and their Johns (pimps) there to the Waikikian and they would lounge near or in the Tahitian Lanai as a sort of “Hooker Haven”. Back when there were PanAm flight attendants who would stay the night at the Waikikian with someone they met at the Tahitian Lanai, but this was a whole new group of people that were coming in due to the uptick in clubbing and bars that were starting to become big in Waikiki, but so was the crime. They actually had DJ parties there at the pool towards the end, but it didn’t last too long with the change of atmosphere of the old Waikiki.

1990s Cohort: Chandy Bridges (90s waitress)

The Closure, it was sad when the place had to close because many customers felt like they were losing history and losing something that had significant meaning, however many of the stories weren’t really told, so it was hard to exactly explain that importance. The Tahitian Lanai closed on December 31st on 1997 with much of their furniture, doors, collectibles, and decorations being sold from an Auction house that would mostly be bought by a handful of people like the owners of the “La Mariana” that wanted many of those things preserved. La Mariana would hold many important pieces and people felt that much of the importance of the Tahitian Lanai had been preserved at La Mariana and were thankful for the pieces to have moved there along with musicians like Ron Miyashiro where they would continue their services of entertainment. Tourists who went a long time ago would come to the sign of the Tahitian Lanai and find it feeling a bit dead and overgrown with plants and a off feeling, but to their surprise they would end up finding out that the whole Waikikian and the Tahitian Lanai was already no more.

Moa Ta Haari Chicken
1-3/4 cups milk, coconut milk
2 tablespoons chopped celery, chopped onion
3 whole cloves
1 tablespoon chicken base (see note)
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon salt and white pepper
1 tablespoon cornstarch
18 ounces cooked, diced chicken
1/4 cup hollandaise sauce

Combine milk, coconut milk, celery, onion, cloves and chicken base in saucepan. Heat slowly, stirring constantly, until boiling. Add zest, salt and pepper. Dissolve cornstarch in small amount of cold water to make a paste. Add to saucepan. Cook 10 minutes. Strain and add chicken. Serve with each portion garnished with hollandaise sauce.

Hollandaise Sauce
5 egg yolks
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
16 ounces warm clarified butter (see note)

To make sauce: Place all ingredients except butter in top of a double boiler. Water should be hot, but not boiling. Heat gently and whisk slowly for 2 minutes. Whisk in clarified butter, a little at a time. Continue stirring 8 to 9 minutes, until thick. Keep warm. Clarified butter is melted butter that has been strained to remove all solids.

Boneless Chicken Kamaaina
2 small fryer chickens
4 spears pineapple
8 tablespoons grated coconut
1 cup milk
1 cup cracker meal
1 egg

Vegetable oil, for deep-frying.

» Coconut Giblet Sauce:
Giblets from chickens, sliced
1-1/4 cups coconut milk
1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
Bone chickens and remove wings. Cut in half to make 4 pieces.
Heat oil in frying pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place 1 pineapple spear and 1 tablespoon coconut inside each piece of chicken. Roll up chicken halves. Roll in milk, then in cracker meal. Fry in hot oil until golden. Drain and place on baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining coconut and bake 10 minutes longer. To prepare sauce: Heat giblets and coconut milk. Dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of water. Stir into sauce and stir until thickened. Serve on side with chicken rolls. Serves 4.

Tahitian Lanai Banana Muffins
1-1/2 cups butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
6 eggs, beaten
1 cup mashed banana
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon banana flavoring
4 cups cake flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease four muffin pans. Cream butter and sugar until light. Add beaten eggs, mashed banana, and vanilla and banana flavorings. Mix well. Sift the flour, soda and salt 3 times. Add to banana mixture; do not overmix. Turn into greased muffin cups and bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 4 dozen.

Unsorted Employee List: Ato Kelly, Raymond Kapuniai (busboy), Anita (waitress), Honey Brogan (waitress), Sue WIlliams (waitress), Iwalani Hodges (waitress), Danielle Tierno (waitress), Julie Dodd (waitress), Stephanie Egloria (waitress), Robert Harper (waiter), Sylvia Medeiros (pianist), Ron Miyashiro (pianist), Anderson Washington (chef), Marciano (cook), Stanton Haugen (cook), Roy Costa, Randall (cook), Jean Graham, Marion Kealoha (pianist), Val Nolasco (pianist), Ruben Yap (pianist), Jay Larrin (pianist), Isaac Kanealii (bartender), Lavaina “Lovey” Katherine Kia (bartender), Tony (bartender), Danny (bartender), Gary Fermando (bartender), Timothy DeFreitas (cook), Jose Gurrobat (cook)