Kahiki 1998 Promotional Video
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- Опубліковано 28 лис 2018
- "Kahiki. To the islanders the word Kahiki means 'Sail to Tahiti.'"
Made in 1998 this is the only known promotional video of The Kahiki Polynesian Supper Club in Columbus, Ohio. Offering a brief tour, it highlights the unique atmosphere of the Columbus restaurant which was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It contains brief commentary by The Kahiki's owner the late Michael Tsao. Opened in 1961, it remained in operation until August 2000, then a few months later it was razed and replaced by a Walgreen's Drug Store. Plans were in the works to rebuild The Kahiki on a waterfront lot in downtown Columbus but those plans never materialized.
Length 4:32 with a stereo soundtrack.
god this makes me almost at the verge of tears. My parents took me here when I was like 6 or 7, it looms large in my mind as one of the best places I've ever been.
I feel your pain. the most exotic and tasteful and exciting place with great food, style and class probably unique in all the WORLD and the good folks of ohio could not find some way to keep this place alive and tore it down and added a much needed pharmacy so now people only have to travel five minutes instead of ten to get their prescriptions filled.
Agree with both of you! I will never ever forget my experience of this magical place! I’m so glad we had a chance to visit at least once! And my heart crumbles when I realize that it’s now gone forever 🥺 Someone needs to rebuild it all over again! It would be a blast now a days, even twice more than before!
Same
I was just a poor kid growing up around the kahiki, i always thought it was beautiful and that it was a place that rich people ate at.(i was very young) I always wanted to go but sadly never took the chance. What a shame it was torn down.
My very generous aunt Clara used to take me to this restaurant many many times. I was around 13 to 15 years old. I was a very creative kid and took in every detail of the experience. Later in life I became an architect and to this day, I feel that the restaurant had an impact on me. Now that I’m older, if I close my eyes, I can remember almost every detail as if I am building an architectural model in my head.
I would happily be a part of reconstructing the next vision and interpretation of a new Kahiki.
Those who had a hand in destroying it, should definitely play a major role in its reconstruction.
Keep the idea alive.
You never know when you plant a seed, what will become of it
I think Whitehall needs something to aspire to - and should pursue its heyday and reestablish its old mainstays as a "historic district." Where there is a will, there is a way. It was very sad to see Zettler, Jolly Pirate, Drug Emporium, Big Bear, the old awnings at T+C, Kahiki, Block Buster, and Broadmoor market go away. To see the Pac Man arcade machine and Muhammed Ali poster and Eastmoor academy team photos come down at Grandma's Pizza. Even the Block's - these were all the best places to go, and they were specifically what went. They should drive out the national chains and build up their local businesses again. Their people need better opportunities and "jobs" are not it - business ownership and local market vendors will solve the problem and keep the money there.
I would support the reopening of the Kahiki anywhere in Columbus
Start a kickstarter
Such a shame this was torn down. I grew up a few blocks from it, and my family actually happens to be from Hawai'i - it was a visit to a home my mom would describe, to which I had never been. Just such an impressive place, it changed the whole landscape and vibe of the neighborhood
I grew up just west of James Road. We used to walk there on our way to Town & Country. We used to go there for all special occasions.
I do npt know why another businessman wouldn't try to rebuild it!
@@MsDana-mo9fp elsewhere - the Walgreens may be a small store but it has national corporate roots. They would have to rebuild somewhere else.
@@dh7164 I meant maybe near the Scioto Mile or in a better neighborhood. I live in Bexley, & I try to go elsewhere if I can!!!!
@@MsDana-mo9fp I heard maybe a rebuild in Gahanna(which would be perfect - still near the airport and to its original location) - but that may have actually been the production plant for the frozen dinners division..
My late Mother worked there when she was 22 and it first opened in 1961. She had a full time job as an accountant during the day and worked there in the evenings. I also remember it during my 10th birthday in 1968 and other family events. When I told her back in 2000 that the Kahiki was about to be sold and either re-built or torn down, it didn't surprise her. She said the restaurant was built during an era that no longer exists today. That no amount of restoration or investment will change the way people will dress or behave anymore when going out. She went on saying that you can put up an upscale 5 star restaurant, but it will not change the class of people that would patronize it. She was so wise to this as I experienced myself when dating back in the early 2000's that some, if not most, of the women I took out for dinner pretty much dressed ready for lawn work then going out anywhere.
Sad, but so true. Thanks for sharing.
How in the hell does a place on the National Register of Historic Places end up as a Walgreens? It'd be infuriating if it wasn't so sad. I suppose it didn't bode well that the marketing for a historic tiki bar had a calypso soundtrack....
I was wondering the exact same thing...
Walgreens sells opioids and blue collar midwesterners will take risky jobs when their wife and family need roofs over their heads.
Walgreens also bought UHG and became its own national healthcare system. CVS is looking to do the same. Doctors can be sued out of their license if they treat causes rather than say the word "chronic" and throw pills at symptoms. Now health directors issue government orders that contradict and override constitutionally superior laws.
Just like when that payday loan place replaced the Broadmoor market a few blocks away, and why not - Kroger has to compete with Wal-mart on Main now - our society is showing symptoms of sickness and offers pills instead of a path to wellness.
Kahiki was a symptom of prosperity. Walgreens is a symptom of consolidation, illness, and addiction. We should think twice about where all this is going because a few pebbles does not make an avalanche, but every avalanche has pebbles.
I have one of their mugs. A tiki head. I remember the majesty when I look at it. RIP Kahiki, we will never know your equal. I've been to other tiki restaurants, they are cruel jokes.
Amen. The Kahiki was a big part of my family's life. Sure miss it. There was nothing like it. 👌
BRING KAHIKI BACK !!!
A few former employees tried about 12 years ago and opened a small restaurant called the Tropical Bistro. Sadly, it was a terrible location with no marketing. However, it was the same food, drinks, and staff. They even had the same glasses and tables from the original restaurant. It failed after two years.
😱@@baritonebynight
When i win the lottery this is going to be rebuilt in a better spot in ohio and I'm getting ahold of as many of the originals as I can. Employees architects artists ect and doing anything i can to keep it as a museum if the business fails somehow (it wont)
I saw your post on Facebook and had to find the commercial.
I miss this place!!!!
I hear the Walgreens that replaced it is closing end of April 2022.
Oh the irony. 🙁
Damn I went to the church like 3 buildings over
Even the Church has changed to a Masodonian one & the Seventh Day Adventist Church is still there, but the railroad tracks were taken out! You don't want to be caught in that neighborhood anymore!.the apartments always were bad but the houses around there redeemed the area - but now even the houses are rotting away.)
I've bought numerous boxes of Kahiki frozen egg rolls from the grocery store. I'm wondering why this amazing restaurant was torn down? Now you can only get their foods in the frozen foods section.
The Kahiki processed food that you bought is Kahiki in name only. It has nothing to do with the food served in the restaurant so it is a mistake to say you can only get their food in the frozen/processed food section. The only Kahiki food that exists now is made from the few recipes that exist in a few books and online. I sampled the processed food that the company puts out and I wanted to like it. It was, at best, unremarkable...and again...was never served in the restaurant and has nothing in common with that food. Its not even the same family that runs the processed food company. I hope they take the good name off the processed food and stop calling it Kahiki.
Now a....wait for it..WALGREEN'S!
That Walgreens is CURSED!
I would love to see the owner,who promised a rebuild,but took the money from Walgreens and ran with it!Another Historic Landmark now gone,I hope the owner is having or had a bad life.
My dad and I were friends with Michael Tsao, the owner of the Kahiki. Try not to be too hard on him because here's what happened. Walgreen's Pharmacy made Michael a good offer for the lot, plus Mr. Tsao was concerned that the area there was kind of going down the tubes, riff, raff, etc. So, he was going to relocate and rebuild it downtown. It was torn down and most of the fixtures and all those unique and special Kahiki artifacts were put into storage. Michael Tsao told my dad and I (when we were there the time I took the photograph of dad and him together, featured among some images I posted) that he felt he was getting stonewalled by the administration of then mayor Michael Coleman and they were asking far too much money for any decent tract of land downtown where he wanted to rebuild there. I suggested to Michael to build up at Polaris, which back then was just getting started and seemed to me to be a really great place, near a well-traveled interstate between Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland (I-71), along with developing communities growing there. I told him he should erect a great big tall sign (much like the Ricart Mega Mall sign on 33 as you go toward Canal Winchester and Lancaster). Have digital flames and some catchy lights, a pretty Island girl winking, etc. Everyone passing by on the freeway couldn't miss it, I said. And as the saying goes, "If you build it, they will come." Yes, they most certainly would have. Well, he liked the idea but was still trying to work things out for downtown at the time. That was his first preference. I asked him if things didn't work out downtown what he would do. His exact words to me were, "I'll just take a slow boat to China." In other words, he would bide his time and look for a better deal, perhaps Polaris. Well, as fate would have it in 2005 he was vacationing in Canada and passed away due to a previous medical condition. Boy, that was a bummer. He was a great man, had a great family, was a brilliant business man, but his Kahiki rebirth dream died with him. That's what actually happened. And that's just so sad. :/
Thank you for finally setting the record straight.Nothing was ever said about this.
I met the family at a Khaiki dinner at the Hill's Market in Powell. They were very gracious with all of the fans of the restaurant. I wish they would publish a Kahiki cookbook. There are few recipes from the old Taste of Columbus Cookbooks (1978-2000) and republished in the Kahiki Supper Club book, but its not very many of them. It is a shame that the Tropical Bistro (2006-2008 or so?) failed because it was the same food and drinks and people. The processed food that comes out of the Gahana plant is Kahiki in name only and as it's very best is unremarkable...which is the most kind way I can put it.
@@karljeney1708 Damn.. if true, that's beyond saddening to read. Thanks for sharing, truly.