Chin Tiki
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The Chin Tiki was the second restaurant opened by Marvin Chin. His first restaurant being Chin's in Livonia, which opened in 1955, is still open today.
Work began on the Chin Tiki in 1965 and it opened in 1967. Marvin Chin, a former Ford engineer, not only designed the building, but had a huge hand in the construction of it, as well. The restaurant was the first Polynesian restaurant to open in the city of Detroit.
The establishment was not only a restaurant, but a nightclub and banquet hall to boot. Asian culture was all the rage in the '60s and early '70s with the rise of Don Ho and the phenomenon of Tiki torches popping up in backyards. This made Chin's business a swinging place when it opened. Chin's son Marlin, who manages the Livonia Chin's, told the Free Press in 2009 that he recalls visits from the likes of Barbra Streisand, Muhammad Ali and Joe DiMaggio in the restaurant's heyday.
The Chin Tiki had two waterfalls, one on each level. The lower level had a bamboo bridge and thatch-covered booths, where patrons could take in live music or weekly shows with Hawaiian dancers and fire-breathers on a small rattan stage.
The restaurant managed to stay open through the major riots that occurred in Detroit but finally closed in 1980. “The city closed. I went with it,” Marvin Chin told Metro Times in 2003.
The decaying restaurant had its second-floor banquet area cleaned up and restored in 2001 for a cameo in the movie "8 Mile" featuring Detroit rapper Eminem. Universal Studios paid $20,000 for the use of the building. Marvin Chin said he was happy to see the Chin Tiki filled with activity, but he accused crew members and actors of taking valuables from the building, including autographed photos, mugs and kitchen equipment.
When Chin witnessed the building filled with people once again, he said it inspired him to reopen it. Soon after the scene was filmed, Chin began to undertake the project of restoring the building. Work had been tough for Chin. He had been funding the restoration out of his own pocket and performing the work without much of a crew. He had hoped to reopen the building one day.
Chin passed away April 26, 2006, leaving the future of the building in doubt, and the building was put up for sale. Ilitch Holdings bought the building in February 2007, and its fate was sealed. On March 6, 2009, demolition began at the back of the building. By March 8, Chin's dream was nothing but a pile of rubble and twisted steel. For days afterward, cheap, bright-colored plastic leis laid strewn about the wreckage, along with Chin Tiki receipts, postcards and other relics.
A spokeswoman for the Ilitches told the Free Press shortly after demolition that, like almost every other piece of land the family owns in the Cass Corridor, the Chin Tiki site would be turned into a parking lot for sporting and entertainment events.
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