The Air-Conditioned Eden
I found this documentary on YouTube which was made in the 1990s and gives a pretty good rundown on the whole Tiki Culture phenomenon.
Part 1
Part 2
E Komo Mai
Aloha, E Komo Mai . That is what I felt once I began to dig into the various web sites devoted to all things Tiki. Tiki Central in particular is an amazing amalgam of History, Art, Music and Culture surrounding the original Tiki movement of the 1950s and 1960s; and all the way through todays’ modern tiki revivial. You can even get tips and view other people’s home-built tiki bars.
For someone like me who loves history; and then to merge this interest with my recent love of Hawaii and the relaxed, ‘Aloha’ vibe was a perfect fit.
Another web site for a history lover like me is Critiki.com. Though by no means a complete catalog, it lists many old and current “Tiki” sites around the world. It even has a mobile optimized version which can help you locate near you any tiki places. I often times refer also to the “Locating Tiki” message boards on tikicentral.com also, since these can sometimes get very in-depth and contain many images which spark ones imagination. There are around 31 pages full of links to various old and current tiki wonderlands. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time just to see how these places looked in their heyday.
Here’s a place which existed in the town I grew up in, Burbank; Yet I never went there while it basked in the glory of the South Seas Island theme.. these days it is just a somewhat nautical themed generic restaurant.
Aloha for now!
Aloha!
So I went to Hawaii last year… I imagine that’s the way it begins for many people. I came back from my vacation with a deep, relaxed feeling of Aloha and began researching and looking at all things Hawaii related. I also thought about things which influenced me in my youth.
One such aspect was a love of Disneyland. Thus, a sub category of that love began to fan out from Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, and learning what the impetus of that attraction was. In the United States in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the tiki craze was in full swing and I guess Walt wanted in on that.
The next step in my journey involved visiting the recently built Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel. What an amazing place! I was sucked in. And hey, if I bought certain drinks they came with collectible tiki mugs!
So then I had to understand what all this was about tiki mugs. Which brought me online to places like TikiCentral.com and ooga-mooga.com. The spiral ever deepening at this point as I explored the many subjects and boards on the web sites.