The Trade Winds, located at 51st Street and Peoria in Tulsa, was the first of the Trade Winds Motels. Later it became known as Trade Winds West. When it opened, the restaurant was called Club Trade Winds and was Polynesian in concept and motif. The management changed some years later and it became The Tiki Nook. It was originally planned to be the ultimate in Polynesian style restaurants, to surpass and become the superior successor to the then-popular Trader Vic restaurants.
Club Trade Winds followed Trader Vic's practice of serving exotic drinks in exotic containers that the customer took home, with the cost of the container being included in the price of the drink. Frankoma was contracted (1960-1961) to furnish a number of appropriate pieces. Joniece Frank designed these interesting items, with her Father's assistance on the T12 Bird of Paradise Pitcher and the T11 Palm Leaf Platter. The original beverage containers were the T3 War God Mug, T4 Widow Maker Mug, T7 Coconut Mug and T2 Bamboo Tumbler. The reason these mug containers were so large is that Club Trade Winds could charge a whole lot of money for a whole lot of ice, while the customer felt he was getting his money's worth!
As companion pieces to complete the Polynesian line, there was the T12 Bird of Paradise Coconut Pitcher, T11 Palm Leaf Platter, T5 Tiki God Salt & Pepper Shaker, T8 Fish Ashtray, T9 Clam Shell Dish, T10 Clam Shell Tray, and the T6 Tiki God Serving Bowl. The latter piece was half of a 3-sided coconut shell, held by three tikis (same as T5 Tiki God Salt & Pepper Shaker), used not only to serve food, but drinks as well. It has what seems to be a little "foot" on the bottom, but if you look at the inside, you'll see that the foot is actually a "well" that a tall highball glass fits down into. When the bartender set the drink down into the center, he then filled the bowl with ice and the drink stayed chilled in its nest of the ice. It also kept the glass upright as the ice melted and/or as the drink was consumed. Joniece tells us that, as best she can remember, the original order was for 350 of each of the drink containers, with an appropriate number of the other pieces, probably 25 of the pitchers and platters and maybe 50 each of the other pieces. She also says that she remembers only the one original order. If there were reorders, she says, they were very small, like a couple dozen each of one or two items. In the first few months, the theft rate on these beautiful pieces was high and it became cost prohibitive. The Club Trade Winds could no longer justify continuing to use the Frankoma pieces.
As these were popular items, several of them were put into the Frankoma line for a short time. The T3S War God Mug and the T4S Widow Maker Mug were reduced in size (1967-1971) to become either vases or decorative drinking mugs, but only a small quantity was made. In 1971, Joniece became friends with two men who were starting a small Polynesian restaurant in conjunction with an after-hours club called The Cultured Pearl. With the encouragement of her father, Joniece made a few of the old Club Trade Winds items, perhaps 25 or so of some of the smaller items. Both the restaurant and this association were very short lived and items with The Cultured Pearl marking are very rare.
