Our tiki heritage can be summed up in two remaining locations: The Trade Winds Motel on 3rd and Lincoln and the old Tiki Lodge on 2nd and Maple. Everyone who's been downtown via the Lincoln Street exit knows the Trade Winds by the large mural (now mostly obscured by a tree) painted on the backside of the building.
The Trade Winds is one of those underdogs where you wish management would pull its act together and turn the place around. If there's something we think Spokane is lacking it's a vintage Tiki night spot. Granted 3rd avenue is one notch below North Division on the appeal meter, but we think this place could be something. By the looks of an old image we found online (above) it used to look pretty good. The graceful curve of the building had to have been designed to look like arms opening up for a big hug...and that sign...what a loss.
The other spot, the old Tiki Lodge (now a Select Inn) really only had the big roof gateway entry going for it. Aside from that, any Tiki vibe it had is gone with the switch to Select Inn. An old image found online showed 'modern' rooms and a Jackie O. look-alike with beach ball at poolside.
Perhaps the one common thread shared by both these motels is the absolutely terrible reviews they get online. A quick read (Trade Winds)(Tiki Lodge) and you'll be better off resting your head elsewhere.
While on the topic, one shouldn't overlook the tiki origins of our own Spokane Anthony's - orignally a 70's-era Polynesia Restarant, and apparently built from the same blueprints used in the Seattle location. See www.arkivatropika.com for pictures of this one. Notice the striking resemblance? Anthony's has covered or disguised most of the tiki-carved timbers used for the building's framing, but last time I was upstairs, one could still see the same detailing shown in the restaurant interior view found on the Arkiva web-page. Like Easter Island, what became of Spokane's Tiki population??
Posted by: Rick | June 18, 2007 at 01:20 PM