Magic Carpet Golf
25-ton tiki head has a new home
Sculpture OK on its trip crosstown to The Hut
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Folks may not know how many Tucsonans it takes to change a light bulb, but they are now aware it takes dozens to move a massive tiki head.
Magic Carpet Golf's gargantuan, 50,000-pound tiki sculpture was severed at the neck Tuesday, outfitted in a custom steel girdle, lifted by two cranes and shuttled - at a snail's pace - on a flatbed truck down Speedway Boulevard.
After months of planning and fundraising, the tiki head was leaving its longtime home at now-closed Magic Carpet, 6125 E. Speedway, to its new lodging at The Hut, a nightclub at 305 N. Fourth Ave.
"We're a liquor establishment, so people will not have unlimited access to the tiki head," said The Hut's operator, Douglas "Fini" Finical. "It will have a gate around it." He estimated the total cost of the project at $30,000, of which at least $20,000 has already been raised through donations, including a benefit concert at The Hut.
"We used the slogan, 'Keep Tucson uniquey, save the tiki,' " Finical said. "I'm a tiki aficionado. It's a small price to pay."
The tiki head will spend some time hanging out in The Hut's parking lot until final permits are secured to make it part of the outdoor garden area.
"Not knowing how it was constructed was the biggest challenge," said Eric Jacobson, who oversaw the project. "Codes were different when it was built in 1969."
A new base that fits current standards will be built at The Hut and the old one bulldozed to rubble.
As the nearly three-story tiki head was hoisted above a small but dedicated crowd in the frigid Tuesday rain, folks were filled with mixed emotions. "It's emotional, bittersweet," said Michael Williams, son of longtime Magic Carpet owner Mel Williams and cousin of statue artist Lee Koplin. Michael Williams ran the golf course for a few months after his dad died last year, but ultimately sold the parcel to Phoenix-based Chapman Automotive.
"Just what we need," said Darral McDaniel, 47. He and his brother, 45-year-old Henry McDaniel, drove from the West Side to watch the tiki head being moved.
The Tucson natives have plenty of fond memories of Magic Carpet Golf, and the tiki head in particular.
"It used to be the tallest thing around," Darral McDaniel said. "Taller than the palm trees, taller than the buildings. You could see it a mile away."
Others who attended the event included friends and family members of workers involved in the project and a slew of curious onlookers.
Marc Arthur and Morgan Clinco, who identified themselves as "Star Children from Sirus" and had clear tape stuck to their faces, started chanting, moaning and playing a high-pitched pipe.
"We are performing a mystic ceremony," Clinco said. She said the goal was to levitate the tiki head back onto its Magic Carpet base. It didn't work.
Other statues to be saved include a giant fish, which was bought for $3,000 by a Tucson family, and several others that will find a new home at Valley of the Moon, 2544 E. Allen Road.
Known locally as "The Moon," the 1920s-era fantasyland has been instrumental in saving the Magic Carpet statues.
The Moon is revamping its front acre and half of its park for the statues, including the spider web, the little hut, the castle, the tree known as "Old Stump," and the alien head known as "Goop."
Other statues, such as the giant monkey, the dinosaur and the alligator, are still for sale. Those interested can e-mail Charlie Spillar at cspillar@q.com.
Fini-Thanks for saving the Tiki!
Making out in the tiki was a time honored tradition for a goodly number of teens in Tucson at one time.