vintage tiki decor found in ocean city, maryland

well we had the good fortune to be able to escape to off-season o.c. this weekend (the "real oc" btw), and while it was not the intent of the enjoyment of the boardwalky honky tonky goodness, we ran across some vintage hidden tiki decor.

the safari hotel was closed for the season, but as you can tell immediately by the exterior, this place is easily from the time that people drank martinis and rob roys at the beach instead of margaritas and beer.

my eagle-eyed matrimonial conspirator caught this africanized fellow thru the reflective plate glass, and upon futher inspection we found a foyer full of all sorts of imagined african exotica. pretty wild!

i think what might have happened is that the decorators ordered the three tiki totems from a company like "orchids of hawaii," a supplier for many of the chinese and polynesian restaurants across the usa. i don't know if they were supplied with the "african" paint job or if that was applied onsite.

this photo above supports my theory ~ this is a tiki at the fiji island restaurant in roanoke, virginia. looks like they're related, huh?

i'm not sure what the point of this post is, but it was fun to find hidden tiki in the o.c. we'll have to book a nite at the safari notel during the on-season.