Vintage Postcards: The Kon Tiki, Montreal
When I was growing up in Quebec in the early 1960s there were two really special vacation destinations – Paris and Hawaii. Neither my parents, nor most of my friends’ parents, had even been on an airplane for a vacation and Paris and Hawaii were very far away and very expensive.
My mother longed to visit Hawaii - the exotic Hawaii of hula dancers and beaches that she’d seen in the movies. This was before Expo 67 and Montrealers hadn’t been very exposed to foreign cultures so Hawaii seemed exceptionally strange and exciting.
She never did realize her dream of going to Hawaii but she did get the next best thing – the Montreal Kon Tiki. She used to go about once a year and it was always a very special occasion.
I remember her telling me that once you stepped through the doors you were plunged into a Polynesian world of wood and jungle plants and rich fruity drinks decorated with miniature umbrellas. These drinks became all the rage in surburbia where they were imitated for all our backyard and basement parties.
The drinks also came with swizzle sticks and my mother would bring these home as souvenirs. She used to stand them in a decorative container on our home bar as a conversation piece to represent all the different restaurants and clubs that she and my father had visited.
Before writing his piece I “googled” the Kon Tiki and found out that the fascination with all things Polynesian was a North-America wide phenomena! You can find out more about tikis at: Critiki
Related Posts:
13 Comments »
Leave a Reply
MAJOR INDEXES
VINTAGE POSTCARDS
Index: Vintage Postcards – Quebec
Index: Vintage Postcards – New Brunswick
Index: Vintage Postcards – Assorted
GENEALOGY
Index: Quebec & New Brunswick Cemeteries
New cemeteries – Val Brillant & Grande-Riviere
Index: Kahnawa:ke & the Iroquois | QC/ON
Recently updated
Index: Early French Canadian Pioneers
Newly updated with surname variations
Index: Theriaults | France – Acadie – NB – QC
Index: Mignier Lagaces | France – QC – NB
Index: Legers | France – Acadie - QC – NB
Index: Luces | Channel Islands – QC
Index: Evelyn in Montreal
Updating
*
Index: Recent Family History
-
YOUR COMMENTS
Suzan Porter on Dalhousie Suzan Porter on The Irish And The Queen Victor… Beth on Universite de Montreal –… Beth on Extracts: Native American Marr… Billy SnakeHawk John… on Vintage Postcard: Iroquois Ind… Gord on Vintage Postcard: Traymore Res… Evelyn Yvonne Theria… on Index: Vintage Postcards Of Ca… Michel Jolin on Early French Canadian Pioneers… Michel Jolin on Historic Image: Lake Megantic,… Michel Jolin on Harry Houdini And The Princess… Michel Jolin on Vive Le Vent! Michel Jolin on The Seville Theatre (1910s) | … Michel Jolin on Historic Image: Lake Megantic,… Michel Jolin on Index: Vintage Postcards Of Ca… Michel Jolin on Vintage Postcard: Ste-Anne-de-…
That is a great story about your mother and her special restaurant. We had a restaurant we always went to as a family growing up. I found a couple of postcards featuring it as I remember it being in the 60s and bought them a few years ago.
I can almost feel your Mother’s excitement! The building has quite a spectacular facade! What a surprise to find this in Montreal! Does the building still exist? I wouldn’t mind a big Hawaiian smooch from young Rlvis….swoon!
Would the Kon Tiki fascination date from the publication of Thor Heyerdal’s book, the “Kon-Tiki Expedition”? I remember reading that as a child and being transported into another world. It must have been one of the first “grown up” books I read.
We had the Chin Tiki in Detroit with fake palm trees out front – it was considered so very exoctic at the time. Yes there was a huge interest in all things South Seas in the 50′s and 60′s including TV shows and books and of course South Pacific based on Michener’s South Seas Adventures.
Beautiful postcard ~ Love the Vintage art! Such a shame that your Mom never got her dream trip to Hawaii, but I really enjoyed reading about how she created her own memories. She did not allow not going to Hawaii destroy her excitement for life! Thanks for sharing, and for the history as well…
~blessings~
Pearl
Cette carte postale te rappelle de bons souvenirs.
L’histoire du Kon tiki est vraiment interessante, exsiste t-il encore aujourd’hui ?
Si oui, nous pourrions y prendre un drink un jour…
Happy PFF from Paris.
Elvis est venu une fois à Paris lors de son service militaire, mais domage il n’y a aucune vidéo, il est resté une journée je crois!!
Bonsoir Evelyn Yvonne,
Cette histoire concernant votre maman est très touchante. J’imagine que ces petites ombrelles dans les coktails bleus lagon dans un lieu aussi insolite était sa façon de réaliser son rêve. Quelle devanture pleine de promesse !
Pour nous qui habitons si loin d’Hawaï ce serait encore le moyen de réaliser le rêve de voyager vers une destination aussi lontaine. Nous aussi nous rêvons par procuration.
C’était une très belle histoire.
Bon dimanche.
Hi Evelyn,
Glad you stopped by to check on my first Postcard Friendship Friday contribution. I’ve got to go looking for that 2nd Texas postcard you said was out there today. I haven’t finished looking at all the submissions yet.
I love your Kon-Tiki postcard. My in-laws loved the one in Orlando. They lived there in the winter and Nashville in the spring and summer back in the 60s and 70s. They sure liked their fruit drinks, too!
Hello Evelyn,
I just read your story about the Kon-Tiki in Montreal. I used to go there often in the early 1960s with the girls for drinks and entertainment. Had entirely forgotten about it until now. What memories you have brought back for me. Can’t believe it! Your mother and I were going there around the same time. And yes, I too collected the swizzle sticks and kept a collection in a jar.
I am an amateur genealogist presently doing my family history. No connections to francophones, except for a special place in my heart, so am also interested in their genealogy. I came across your website while searching for a Lise Theriault from Quebec City with whom I worked at CIBC in St. Roch in the early 1960s. She may have been born 1930-1940 in Quebec City. Can’t remember her father’s name, he was a local lawyer. I would love to track her down and have a coffee and talk about old times in Quebec. If anyone knows of her whereabouts, please, please contact me. I would be overwhelmed with joy!!!
Thanks so much for the memories,
Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for your comments!
It’s good that you left me a message because the text in the comment boxes does show up in the Google Search engine. Hopefully your long lost friend will google her name some day and find you!
Evelyn in Montreal
I remember the Kon Tiki in Montreal. Back in the early sixties, my sister who is 9 years old than me used to go there after work with her girlfriends and she always brought home the little umbrellas and swizzle stick for me. I graduated high school in 1969 and we went there after our dance. Of course we were under age but they let us in but we couldnt order alcoholic drinks. Oh how excited I was when I walked in to the place that I had heard so much about as a little girl. Lovely memories!
Yesterday was my wife’s and my 46th wedding anniversary.
We celebrated our engagement at the Kon Tiki in Otober, 1964.
Fortunately, we had our picture taken..
A lot of wonderful memories.
Picture is at:
http://users.vianet.ca/billvivianpaterson/Uploads/Image.jpg