Sacramento Strip Clubs: Tiki a go-go: Polynesian landmarks gain campy cult status
Wong has only one regret. “They left out the totem pole.”
The Islander closed in 1983. An entrepreneur spirited away the tiki items to Los Angeles. They turn up on eBay.
In 1986, the owner of Pollardville moved the building to Highway 99. He later sold the land out from under it. But the recession gods cursed the buyer’s plans. The Islander building sits out there, vacant, like a Maori temple closed by Christian missionaries.
Its forgotten competitor, Tahiti Iti restaurant, opened in 1958 on South Monroe Street.
Tahiti Iti featured elaborate décor (tables of “Tahitian Tapa tree bark”) drinks such as the Koko Kiki and a Tahitian chef.
Tahiti Iti morphed into a strip club. That, too, closed and was moved in 1970 to the grounds of St. George’s southside church.