Tiki history - Sea World and The Reef restaurant... - General Tiki

T Tangaroa Tiki Socialite Joined: Apr 25, 2002 Posts: 1566	T Tangaroa Posted posted on Thu, Oct 30, 2003 6:09 PM Last week I did an interview with George Millay - creator of Sea World in the early 60s (which was the intent of the interview) - and found out some other interesting things as well.... He was co-owner of The Reef in Long Beach and The Castaway in Burbank The Reef opened in August of 1958, his original designer for the interior was Bobby Mavis The genesis of Sea World came from an idea he had to create a tropical / underwater restaurant, and "submarine" bar actually located under water in Long Beach harbor - next to The Reef! The original designs for Sea World were done by Moffitt & Nichol engineering, but the design was not to his liking. He wanted landscaping as well as Polynesian theming, and to get away from the "concrete tube" look - prevalent at Marineland. So he hired Victor Gruen & Associates - Ben Southland and Kenny Norris were responsible for Sea World's design, and heavy Polynesian look... During the 2nd or 3rd year of The Reef opening, they created some Hula Grounds & he hired a young man (he didn't remember a name) to carve some large Tikis for the restaurant. When he came to see them, they were beautiful - but 3 or 4 of them had a 6 inch dick! He told the artist, "Hey - take the dicks off - we got customers with kids!" The artist refused, citing his artistic integrity. "That's censorship!", he said. Millay responded, "OK - I'll make you a deal - leave the dicks on - but I ain't gonna pay you!" Needless to say - the dicks came off... I asked him, "Why do you think all the Tiki bars went away?" (Yeah, I know Sven has already answered this...) His opinion? "Two things - the price of booze, and that wine stuff is what killed booze in restaurants. But I'm not so sure that these things couldn't come back - they are very pleasing, colorful and restful!" He was a real character, and a lot of fun to interview! George Millay and son, recieving a lifetime achivement award at this years THEA awards. Anyone have any good pics of The Reef from back in the day...? "Oh mystic powers - hear my call... From my limbs, let new life fall..." [ Edited by: Tangaroa 2006-02-17 14:23 ]

Last week I did an interview with George Millay - creator of Sea World in the early 60s (which was the intent of the interview) - and found out some other interesting things as well....

He was co-owner of The Reef in Long Beach and The Castaway in Burbank
The Reef opened in August of 1958, his original designer for the interior was Bobby Mavis
The genesis of Sea World came from an idea he had to create a tropical / underwater restaurant, and "submarine" bar actually located under water in Long Beach harbor - next to The Reef!
The original designs for Sea World were done by Moffitt & Nichol engineering, but the design was not to his liking. He wanted landscaping as well as Polynesian theming, and to get away from the "concrete tube" look - prevalent at Marineland. So he hired Victor Gruen & Associates - Ben Southland and Kenny Norris were responsible for Sea World's design, and heavy Polynesian look...
During the 2nd or 3rd year of The Reef opening, they created some Hula Grounds & he hired a young man (he didn't remember a name) to carve some large Tikis for the restaurant. When he came to see them, they were beautiful - but 3 or 4 of them had a 6 inch dick! He told the artist, "Hey - take the dicks off - we got customers with kids!" The artist refused, citing his artistic integrity. "That's censorship!", he said. Millay responded, "OK - I'll make you a deal - leave the dicks on - but I ain't gonna pay you!" Needless to say - the dicks came off...

I asked him, "Why do you think all the Tiki bars went away?" (Yeah, I know Sven has already answered this...) His opinion? "Two things - the price of booze, and that wine stuff is what killed booze in restaurants. But I'm not so sure that these things couldn't come back - they are very pleasing, colorful and restful!"

He was a real character, and a lot of fun to interview!

George Millay and son, recieving a lifetime achivement award at this years THEA awards.

Anyone have any good pics of The Reef from back in the day...?

"Oh mystic powers - hear my call...
From my limbs, let new life fall..."

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2006-02-17 14:23 ]

Post #57768 by Tangaroa on Thu, Oct 30, 2003 6:09 PM