Kahiki Supper Club Read online

  Published by American Palate

  A Division of The History Press

  Charleston, SC 29403

  www.historypress.net

  Copyright © 2014 by David Meyers, Elise Meyers Walker, Jeff Chenault and Doug Motz

  All rights reserved

  Front cover: An artist’s rendition of the Kahiki showing the “fire-fish” along the roof ridge. Courtesy Sapp/Henry.

  First published 2014

  e-book edition 2014

  ISBN 978.1.62585.133.8

  Library of Congress CIP data applied for.

  print edition ISBN 978.1.62619.594.3

  Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  To the power of diversity and friendship.

  CONTENTS

  Foreword, by Linda Sapp Long

  Preface

  Acknowledgements

  1. The Rise of Tiki Culture

  2. The View from the Top

  3. Sail to Tahiti

  4. The Story of Kahiki

  5. Song of the Islands

  6. Mugs, Bowls and Gravy Boats

  7. The Maker of the Moai

  8. Mystery Girls and Mystery Drinks

  9. Starry, Starry Nights

  10. The Roast Beef Wars and Other Campaigns

  11. The Man Who Put the Tiki in the Kahiki

  12. Passing the Tiki Torch

  13. Tropical Memories

  14. Trouble in Tahiti

  15. All in the Ohana

  16. National Treasure

  17. Bon Voyage

  18. Afterlife

  Appendix A: Kahiki Dishes

  Kahiki Beef KaTiki

  Tahitian Mermaid

  Chicken Pineapple Kahiki

  Kahiki Egg Drop Soup

  Kahiki Ham Fried Rice

  Chinese Chicken Sauté with Star Anise

  Kahiki Caesar Salad

  Appendix B: Kahiki Drinks

  Port Light

  Polynesian Spell

  Kahiki Bahía

  Kahiki’s Jungle Fever

  Kahiki Smoking Eruption

  The Kahiki Outrigger

  Polynesian Martini

  Appendix C: Cuban Adventure

  Notes

  Bibliography

  About the Authors

  FOREWORD

  As the daughter of Bill Sapp, co-founder with Lee Henry of the celebrated Kahiki Supper Club, I found a playground at the Kahiki, which provided me with an escape from the cold, gray skies of Columbus, Ohio. It was also my own little piece of paradise—all twenty thousand square feet of it!

  The restaurant was a truly magical place, where you were transported to a tropical oasis from the moment you pulled into its parking lot. First you passed the towering moai, fire spewing from their topknots. They guarded and lighted the way across the bridge spanning the moat. Then, opening a pair of giant doors, you entered a passageway with roaring waterfalls on either side. Arriving in a circular cavern, you had to choose which path to follow to continue on your journey.

  To the right were the Tiki Hut Coatroom, the Beachcomber Gift Shop and the Outrigger Bar. To the left were the bamboo-wrapped telephone booths that you could spiral into like a shell for privacy—an excellent place to hide—or the restrooms with their conch shell sinks and cowrie shell faucet knobs that made water flow from the mouth of a protectant tiki.

  Circling the center wishing well with its sacramental pig fountain, you would reach the grand entrance. As you looked down the palm tree–lined main dining room, you would see the fierce-looking fireplace moai with glowing eyes and a flaming mouth. On the left side of the dining room were booths lining a wall of the aquariums with a plethora of tropical fish from faraway seas. In the center were tiki statues and intimate dining huts with exotic rattan peacock chairs fit for royalty. And on the right were the booths that overlooked the rain forest with live tropical birds flying among exotic plants and trees. Periodically, lightning would flash and thunder would boom as a shower fell on your window, providing a glimpse into an exotic land.

  As magical as the décor was, the restaurant staff, representing twenty-one different nationalities, were more so. During frequent visits to Cuba, my parents and Sandro Conti, the bar manager, had come to know doctors, lawyers and business people who lost everything when Castro came to power. Some of them came to work at the Kahiki. This was a time of turmoil for many countries around the world. It was this coming together of so many people from such diverse backgrounds, all working cooperatively, that made the Kahiki such an extraordinary creation.

  A Cuban doctor delivered me. The chef would babysit both my brother and me. They were joined by many Japanese and Korean women, often wives of servicemen fighting for our country. The Kahiki was in many respects a global village. Of course, I became particularly attached to several members of the staff. I loved to spend time with Tilly, our horticulturalist, who also took care of all the birds in the rain forest. He worked as the groundskeeper at the Columbus Country Club as well. Sometimes, when my dogs, Chi-Chi and Cha-Cha, brought a baby bunny home, we would nurse it back to health and then take it to Tilly’s to live in his fantastic backyard. He was an amazing man.

  At the age of thirteen, I started working at the restaurant at the urging of my father’s secretary, Wanda Stevens. I joined the ranks of the employees who had become my friends, family and mentors. Over the years, I held nearly every job I was old enough to do. I got to know many wonderful people at the Kahiki and learned the value of hard work. I remember busboy Jimmy, who worked there through the middle 1970s. By the time my daughter was two, he had become manager, having climbed his way up the ladder from waiter to captain to maître d’ before reaching the top. My dad and his partner, Lee, take pride in the many success stories that have their roots in the Kahiki.

  For much of my life, I thought my childhood was normal. After I got married, my husband, Craig, told me that he was fascinated by how blind I was to my father’s legacy. When my dad and Lee sold the Kahiki, they kept nothing. Everything was part of the business. Some of the most sought-after pieces of pottery and china that were later sold on eBay had, in fact, been “appropriated” by customers who wanted a souvenir.

  As the daughter of the co-owner, Linda Sapp Long (center) has many happy memories of the Kahiki. Courtesy Sapp/Henry.

  When I was contacted by David and Jeff about doing a book on the Kahiki, I was excited by the prospect of finally having a definitive history of the place I loved so much. Over the years, I have learned that the feelings I hold for the Kahiki are shared by many others who worked or dined there. If anything, the legion of Kahiki fans seems to have increased since it fell to the wrecking ball nearly fifteen years ago. It is for them that this book was written. I feel very lucky to have played a small part in its story.

  Linda Sapp Long

  PREFACE

  The palm-clad isles of the South Sea bear a closer resemblance to the description of the Garden of Eden than any other of the many parts of the world that I have ever seen; and of these, Tahiti is a real paradise on earth. There is no country nor other isle where Nature has been so liberal in the distribution of her gifts. No other island can compare in natural beauty with Tahiti, the gem of the South Pacific Ocean. It is the island where life is free of care. It is the island where the natives are fed, clothed and housed by
nature. It is the island where man is born, eats his daily bread without being forced to labor, sleeps and dreams away his life free from worry, and enjoys the foretaste of the eternal paradise before he dies.

  —Nicholas Senn, 1906

  Once upon a time, not too long ago, a little corner of paradise—heaven, Eden, Shangri-La or whatever term you prefer—occupied a three-acre plot of ground on the east side of Columbus. It was called the Kahiki Supper Club, and no one had ever seen the likes of it before or since. Although it is gone, the Kahiki is without a doubt the most fondly remembered restaurant in the city’s history and, arguably, in all the tiki universe. That is why the Kahiki Supper Club: A Polynesian Paradise in Columbus came to be written.

  My daughter, Elise, and I have previously collaborated on five books of local history. When we were casting about for a follow-up to Look to Lazarus: The Big Store, first Doug Motz of the Columbus Historical Society and then Jeff Chenault of the Fraternal Order of Moai urged us to do one on the Kahiki. While we both were fans of the fabled Polynesian Palace, we were reluctant to embark on such a venture without taking Jeff and Doug along with us as coauthors. It’s safe to say it would have been a lesser book without their contributions.

  As we soon discovered, there is more to the story of William “Bill” Sapp and Leland “Lee” Henry than just the Kahiki. Even without it, they still would have been responsible for creating a handful of the best dining establishments to ever grace the local scene. A book of this sort would not be complete without some mention of these restaurants as well.

  However, as both Lee and Bill would be the first to point out, what made the Kahiki such a success was not the incredible building—a veritable Polynesian shrine—but the wonderful people who worked there. Their diversity was its greatest asset. While there are far too many to mention by name, we hope that they will feel they are well represented by the various vignettes and anecdotes we have included in these pages.

  David Meyers

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  One of the great joys of writing a history book such as this is having the opportunity to meet some of the people who actually made the history. The story of the Kahiki Supper Club is the story of two men: Bill Sapp and Lee Henry. Lifelong friends and longtime business partners, there would have been no Kahiki without their vision and industry. We owe both an enormous debt of gratitude for allowing us to revisit those days with them and their families. We would also like to thank Bill’s wife, Dianna; his daughter, Linda, and her husband, Craig Long; and Lee’s wife, Marilyn. All of them were instrumental in coaxing stories out of Lee and Bill. Others who assisted us in one way or another include Lynn and Cris Wehr, Candi Spencer, Bill Harrison, Bruce Nutt, Eric Hoffman, Greg Dumais, Doral Chenoweth, Deborah Diez, Susie Gehrisch, Autumn Shah, Jo Hannah Ward, Julia Turner, Karen Wilcox, Linda Becker, Robert D. Thomas, Donna Newman, Syble Humphreys, the Cloyes family, the Delcamp family, Todd Popp, Jeff Lafever, Deb Chenault, John “tikiskip” Holt, Sam Walker, Evelyn Keener, Beverly Meyers and the Columbus Historical Society.

  1

  THE RISE OF TIKI CULTURE

  Tiki culture is a 20th-century theme used in Polynesian-style restaurants and clubs originally in the United States and then, to a lesser degree, around the world. Although inspired in part by Tiki carvings and mythology, the connection is loose and stylistic, being an American kitsch form and not a Polynesian fine art form.

  —Wikipedia, “Tiki culture”

  The year was 1934.

  The funny papers became a little funnier with the debut of Li’l Abner, the Three Stooges started n’yuk-n’yuk-n’yukking their way across the silver screen, gangster John Dillinger was gunned down outside a Chicago movie house and a madman-in-the-making became Führer of Germany. Meanwhile, a former adventurer, bootlegger and world traveler, Ernest Gantt, age twenty-seven, had recently opened a bar called Don’s Beachcomber Café on North McCadden Place in Hollywood. (The exact date is unknown, but it is believed to have been shortly after Prohibition ended on December 5, 1933). In 1937, he moved it across the street and renamed it Don The Beachcomber.

  Gantt adopted a tropical theme and a menu that relied heavily on Cantonese dishes. “If you can’t get to paradise, I’ll bring it to you,” he told his customers, who soon began to include such celebrities as Charlie Chaplin and Howard Hughes. However, it was for his “Rhum Rhapsodies” (rum cocktails) that he quickly rose to fame. The Zombie, Tahitian Rum Punch, Vicious Virgin, Missionary’s Downfall and Navy Grog, among many others, inspired countless imitators. Since patrons of his establishment assumed Gantt was Don the Beachcomber, he officially changed his name to Donn Beachcomber—or, simply, Donn Beach.

  Farther up the coast, thirty-one-year-old Victor Bergeron opened a small bar and restaurant in San Francisco on November 17, 1934, with a $500 loan from his parents. It was located at San Pablo Avenue and Sixty-fifth Street, directly across from the family grocery. He called it Hinky Dink’s, possibly after a notorious Chicago bar of that name. In order to drum up business, he would let customers stick an ice pick in his wooden leg. After a visit to Don The Beachcomber, Bergeron completely reorganized his own watering hole in 1938. According to Michael Stern, “He tore down the old deer horns and moose heads and covered the walls with green, grassy fabric and bamboo.” He also changed the name to Trader Vic’s, an obvious nod to the 1931 movie Trader Horn, which was notable for its on-location filming in Africa.

  By 1940, Bergeron had begun rolling out franchises, the first in Seattle. Others soon followed.1 At one point, there were more than two dozen Trader Vic’s worldwide. It is said to have been the first successful chain of themed restaurants in the United States.2

  Meanwhile, Gantt/Beach was serving in the U.S. Army, assigned to operate officer R&R (rest and recreation) centers. Apparently, this was more dangerous than it sounds, for he was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his gallantry. While he was in the military, his wife, Sunny Sund, transformed his popular business into a sixteen-restaurant chain. However, when they subsequently divorced, he was prohibited from any further expansion in the United States. So Gantt relocated to Hawaii, which was then a U.S. territory, and opened several businesses, including the famed International Marketplace in Waikiki.3

  The competition between Trader Vic’s and Don The Beachcomber’s was generally friendly, but Bergeron and Beach did have a falling out over the historically “important” issue of which one deserved credit for developing the Mai Tai (from maitai, the Tahitian word for “good”). While there are numerous recipes for the Mai Tai, including three different ones at Trader Vic’s, Beach was the one who came up with most of the original drink recipes (his New York Times obituary mentions eighty-four), and others copied or improved them.4

  Just as Don The Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s were getting started, the Hawaii Visitors’ Bureau began sponsoring a live weekly radio broadcast from Honolulu. For forty years (1935–75), Hawaii Calls extolled the virtues of the islands. With the sound of the surf at Waikiki in the background, Webley Edwards would announce, “This is a call from Hawaii,” followed by a segue into Hawaiian music “and the trumpeting of conch shells.” Broadcast live from Moana Hotel’s Banyan Court, Hawaii Calls featured many guest stars, including Al Jolson and Arthur Godfrey. It also made stars of Hawaiian performers such as Alfred Apaka and John Kameaaloha Almeida. At its peak, the program was carried by 750 stations. However, after 2,083 broadcasts, it came to an end.5

  The public’s interest in all things Polynesian led the Nationwide Inn to host a “Waikiki Weekend.” Authors’ collection.

  The popularity of Hawaii Calls undoubtedly led to the making of a number of films with Hawaii as the setting. Harry Owens, music director for the radio broadcasts, won an Oscar for his original song “Sweet Leilani,” sung by Bing Crosby in Waikiki Wedding. Two years later, Eleanor Powell burned up the silver screen in her drum dance/hula/tap number for Honolulu.

  Once Hollywood discovered Hawaii, it was just a matter of time befo
re tiki culture had permeated the arts. Tiki culture is characterized by exotic drinks, island or even jungle décor, flaming torches, rattan furniture, bamboo screens, flower leis, brightly colored patterned fabric and carved wooden and stone moai and tiki statues. In the long run, Trader Vic’s has proven to be the more enduring of the original chains, but both it and Don The Beachcomber had an undeniable influence on those that followed in their footsteps, such as the famed Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.6

  Opened on December 28, 1956, the Mai-Kai was the first of the so-called Grand Polynesian Palaces of Tiki. Built by brothers Bob and Jack Thornton at a cost of over $300,000, they raided Chicago’s Don The Beachcomber, hiring away number-two chef Kenny Lee, number-two bartender Mariano Licudine (and his book of drink recipes), head maître d’ Andy Tanato and other assorted staff.7 Standing alone in a field along Federal Highway, the Mai-Kai earned over $1 million in its first year despite being open only during the winter tourist season. Its success did not go unnoticed.

  The Mai-Kai became the inspiration for many other Polynesian-themed restaurants, although few equaled it. It contained multiple dining rooms, a bar, tropical gardens, waterfalls, a stage for the floor show and a gift shop, all enclosed in an A-frame building. Originally, the roof in the main dining room was open to the stars, but this proved to be impractical due to the need to move diners under cover whenever it rained. Nevertheless, its location in a tourist mecca and a subtropical climate are no doubt major reasons why the Mai-Kai is also the last surviving establishment of its type.

  Then and now, the waitresses at Mai-Kai’s Molokai Bar were attired in bikini tops and wraparound sarongs. This costume was a Mai-Kai innovation, probably inspired by the example of the “sarong Queen,” movie star Dorothy Lamour, who had first donned her trademark outfit in The Jungle Princess (1936). For many years, a calendar was published featuring the attractive young women of the Mai-Kai. The restaurant also introduced the ritual of the Mystery Drink, a smoking concoction delivered by a Mystery Girl.