My friend knew the Pub Tiki and asked if I cold track down any more images. I found a few, presented below. My memories of Pub Tiki are slightly traumatic, given (1) the exotic nature of the food by Philadelphia 1962 standards, and (2) my Very picky eating proclivities. But, the images are great:
My friend reminded me that Pub Tiki wasn’t the only Tiki joint in Philadephia at the time, that there was also the Kona Kai in the Marriot. It opened in 1961. I remember that Gabby was partial to it, not Pub Tiki. It was pretty wild too:
Before my time there was the Tahiti Bar on South 16th Street.
The Tahiti Bar was a strip joint. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania disapproved and the First Amendment issue – sex dancing as expression – went to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The bar lost.
Across the river in Jersey was the Hawaiian Cottage.
A giant pineapple to boot! The interior:
And the clientele!
Girls night out!
Lastly, closer to home for me was Langerman’s Lounge at 915 Montgomery Avenue in Narbeth, on the eastern edge of the Main Line.
When I had gathered these images I went to my friend’s study to show him. He had stumbled on a series of photos of honey-gathering in central Nepal. He was stuck on this one picture:
When I say stuck, I mean stuck. In the end I just took the picture away and asked him to look at these of Pub Tiki and Kona Kai and the other Philly Tiki joints. His verdict:
