Newport Beach Tiki

Americans sought adventure in tiki culture after WWII. Newport Beach, with its sunny coastline and growing leisure scene, became a mecca for this midcentury trend. The SoCal region had a Hawaiian-inspired design with California's own identity. Disneyland open their doors in July 1955 with unique experiences like the Jungle Cruise that propelled this fascination. 

Tiki restaurants with bars flourished in the starting in the 1950s with restaurants like Christian’s Hut and Don the Beachcomber. Newport Beach also had Beach Boy and Castaway's Club that kept this tiki theme. Does anyone remember the Beach Boy at 353 East Coast Highway, Newport Beach? The restaurants had thatched roofs, flaming torches, carved wooden idols, and tropical cocktails like the Mai Tai and Zombie.

Newport Beach Tiki was more than décor—it was a lifestyle. The culture offered a playful blend of adventure and island music. Newport is know for the surf rock concerts, aloha shirts at beach parties, and backyard luau parties. Today, Billy's at the Beach offers Hawaiian-inspired cuisine found right in the heart of Newport Beach Bay.

Hollywood films like South Pacific and the TV show Gilligan’s Island, the harbor opening scene was filmed in the Newport Beach Harbor in the 1960s, popularized tiki style.

This exhibit explores Newport Beach’s role in the rise of Tiki and reflects on the culture’s enduring legacy. The exhibit contains artifacts on loan from Ken Carpenter (NBHS Board Member), Barry Haun (Curator of Surfing Heritage), Surfing Heritage & Cultural Center, and Jennifer Keil (70° Founder).

Tiki Events

When Walt Disney was designing Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise in the early 1950s, he wanted to create an immersive “adventure through exotic rivers of the world.” But Disneyland was built in the middle of Anaheim orange groves — there was no jungle, no waterway, no lush tropical feel. So Walt and his Imagineers had to design and landscape the jungle themselves and find the right boats. The Jungle Cruise’s original fleet of boats were steel-hulled riverboats that could navigate the artificial rivers in the Adventureland attraction. They were styled to resemble British colonial river launches of the 1930s, with canopies, small smokestacks, and “steam” whistles (though they were electric). The boats were delivered to Anaheim and installed in the new attraction’s winding river system. The boatbuilders’ skill in working with lightweight yet sturdy hulls allowed the small craft to operate in narrow, shallow spaces making them a natural fit for Walt Disney’s needs. These Jungle Cruise boats were tested in Newport Beach's harbor!

Gilligan’s Island, the classic American sitcom that aired from 1964 to 1967, is remembered for its quirky characters stranded on a desert island after a “three-hour tour” gone wrong. While the show was set on a remote, fictional island, much of it was filmed in California. The lagoon scenes were shot at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. The opening credits also incorporate shots of the entrance to Newport Bay with the rock jetties featured in the "three-hour tour" sequence of the S.S. Minnow. In the episode "Waiting for Watubi," The Skipper is convinced he is doomed after he accidentally disturbs the resting place of a vengeful Tiki god, and the only thing that can break the curse is a visit from The Great Watubi.

Newport Beach embodies the kind of coastal lifestyle that Gilligan’s Island gently parodied — with its yacht clubs, boat harbors, and island communities such as Balboa Island and Lido Isle. Newport’s real-life boating culture, coupled with its status as a playground for Hollywood stars during the mid-20th century, creates a rich backdrop for understanding the cultural moment in which Gilligan’s Island was conceived. Locals included Desi and Lucy Arnaz on the Desilu, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart  on the Santana, and John Wayne on the Wild Goose.

Visit our Newport Beach Tiki exhibit at the Fun Zone!