Tiki Culture

[Fading Fast]

...However, I don't think a Tiki bar can be authentic or even appealing if it's anywhere close to where you live, no more than a Moroccan restaurant or anyplace named Zanzibar can be authentic. Oh, the food can be authentic but it looses it's exotic appeal if it's a hometown restaurant. But if you have to cross the river and go into the city, it's okay.

⇧ This is absolute ridiculous but it makes perfect sense to me - I agree completely.

 

[Fading Fast]

Well, maybe not "true" Tiki culture, but here's what I got this week:

The little guy on the left is a dashboard hulla dancer. Still pondering if I'll put it in the car or not...

Since the entire "tiki" culture - at least in the US - is kitsch, I'd say your stuff is authentic tiki kitsch - looks cool as heck to me.

 

[Cocker]

Thanks mate! Dang, I wish there was a nice Tiki bar around here, but I think this culture never really catched in Europe, except for a few aficionados.

 

[BlueTrain]

I was being very serious and I take it you are, too. Of course, it is probably worth pointing out that a tiki bar would be foreign even in the South Seas, since the idea of any kind of bar would have been foreign to them. I don't know how Chinese restaurants always seem to have exotic drink menus but there have been Chinese restaurants in this country since before the Civil War. And everyone I've ever been in has real Chinese employees, so they must be authentic.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Since the entire "tiki" culture - at least in the US - is kitsch....

Ouch! You stab me to the core!

Thanks mate! Dang, I wish there was a nice Tiki bar around here, but I think this culture never really catched in Europe, except for a few aficionados.

Find a need and fill it! Could be your ticket to a fortune. (Come to think of it, there are no Tiki Bars in Vienna either. I will ask the Mrs if she is game to cash in the retirement plan and sink it into a tiki establishment that sells rum drinks.)

 

[MikeKardec]

Doing sound effects for a radio play set in Borneo.



We had to burn a lot of palm thatch, which we obtained from a Tiki Restaurant supply outfit. At the end of the year we would buy all their dried out useless thatch and rattan matting (the stuff that hadn't already been fireproofed) and then wait for winter when it was safe to record out effects. One thing I can say, fireproofed or not, keep this stuff clear of the stove!!!

 

[BlueTrain]

It is perhaps a little farfetched to use "Tiki" and "Culture" together? I can see it thriving in a certain kitschy way in the American South and Southwest because it's hot in those places for at least part of the year, except that it might clash with other kitschy themes, like a Cuban bar in Miami. That, however, would be quite authentic in it's own way, although Cuban style and music might have gone off in a different direction from what it was 50 years ago. That is to say, it's growing in different soil now and may have taken on a life of its own.

We could just as easily have a Viennese-style tavern or coffee house culture in the United States (We have a Vienna in Virginia) but we could probably never find a decent zither or harmonika musician to entertain us. The best we could do is a piano player. Even Cuba doesn't have Yuba and his tuba anymore.

 

[PeterGunnLives]

I would say that the Tiki subculture is a very real part of the overall retro-revival "culture." There are whole message boards dedicated to this stuff, with people who are seriously into seeking out authentic decor, enjoying rum cocktails while listening to exotica music, cataloging existing tiki bars, etc.

 

[Lucky Girl]

I would say that the Tiki subculture is a very real part of the overall retro-revival "culture." There are whole message boards dedicated to this stuff, with people who are seriously into seeking out authentic decor, enjoying rum cocktails while listening to exotica music, cataloging existing tiki bars, etc.

You just described some of my interests to a T(iki)!

 

[Talbot]

Recently returned from a short break in Samoa. A wonderful place and not the least bit 'touristy'. While oriented to tourists they live their culture and visitors are made welcome.

While out beach combing we were offered fresh fish from two gentlemen in a hand carved outrigger canoe. "We have enough for the village...."

 

[Tiki Tom]

Recently returned from a short break in Samoa. A wonderful place and not the least bit 'touristy'. While oriented to tourists they live their culture and visitors are made welcome.

Shshsh! Samoa should remain our little secret. (looks around and quickly changes the topic.) But seriously: those are beautiful photos. My wife and I visited American Samoa a few years back and had a great time. But everyone, locals and visitors alike said: "If you like this, then you should really go over and visit Western Samoa, where it is really unspoiled."

Here's a fun little article on the revival of Tiki Culture. BTW: I think my Tiki collection is larger than his, although his might be higher quality.

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/05/1...-this-guys-amazing-huntington-beach-backyard/

 

[DocCasualty]

Great thread! There were two classic Tiki bars/restaurants in Detroit where I grew up, the Chin Tiki and Mauna Loa. Unfortunately, I was too young to have gone to either. The Chin Tiki actually held out for quite a long time until its demise. The Mauna Loa was absolutley phenomenal by all measures but had a brief run. My parents had been to both. The Chin Tiki actually had floor shows by my recollection.

 

[Fading Fast]

If memory serves, a few scenes in the movie "Mildred Pierce" (an outstanding film noir) take place in a water-side tike bar (with a little fisherman wharf theme stuff thrown in as well). What reminded me of this is that one of the main characters is down-and-out at one point and takes a job as a kinda hula dancer in the bar. The movie is well worth watching on its own, but it is also a source of a few of-the-period shots of a tiki bar.

 

[Bamaboots]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BX9amAMgHSN/?hl=en&taken-by=hollywoodriffraff

 

[Big J]

So guys, if I was to make a Tiki cocktail bar at home, for my personal pleasure, what do you reckon are 'must have' items?

 

[PeterGunnLives]

So guys, if I was to make a Tiki cocktail bar at home, for my personal pleasure, what do you reckon are 'must have' items?

Polynesian-inspired artwork from the fifties and sixties, ceramic tiki mugs, bamboo trim.

 

[BlueTrain]

Polynesian-inspired artwork from the fifties and sixties, ceramic tiki mugs, bamboo trim.

A Polynesian lady to add authenticity. Any Asian lady will do in a pinch, however.

I have numerous images floating around in my head of a room with woven palm leaf wall covering, a ceiling fan in the fancier places (but I don't care for ceiling fans because I'm tall), shady customers wearing rumpled linen suits with no neckties sitting around waiting for the boss to issue orders, and never a view of the outdoors. For added atmosphere, throw in an ex-patriate who settled in the South Seas after the war and wears an ex-army cap or yachting cap. Can be American, British or French.

If you have the space, a roulette wheel and a blackjack table. Those are hardly necessary, of course, but if you do have them, then a bar is essential.

 

[Zombie_61]

Polynesian-inspired artwork from the fifties and sixties, ceramic tiki mugs, bamboo trim.

Also, a bar, a few stools, and some booze would probably be essential.

 

[Big J]

Ok, let's see what you've all come up with so far...
Bar stools, bar, booze. Ok, that's a given for any bar. I need more 'tiki' pointers.
Rattan, woven grass, ceiling fan. That's more like it.
Asian woman, sea captain, gangster. Err...look, I'm not going to kidnap anyone to put in my bar!

 

[BlueTrain]

My imagination runs wild sometimes. Anyway, I didn't say anything about kidnapping anyone. You watch too many movies. Or maybe just not the ones I watch.