Post #135421 by Hale Tiki on Thu, Jan 13, 2005 7:14 PM

Actually, I'm going for quantity. You see, most of the Tiki Bars on the east coast are defunct. There's very few still in existance, let alone traditional, established bars. I've got mugs from Kowloon, Bali Hai, and a few others. But, mugs from the original Kona Kai, Pub Tiki, etc, are insanely hard to find. I've scoured the Philadelphia area for about a year looking for Tiki stuff from former bars, with no luck. I spent 2 years in DC searching everywhere I could think of, including going to VA and MD to find thrift stores. I'll be damned if I can find ANYTHING that even proved TV's existed. I did, however, get to spend many a night at the Honolulu, and have some lovely prints of the food and people there. So, for now, I go for quantity. Especially if that means mugs that are no more than $2, and most under $1. I still have yet to hit Kahiki Moon, and the NYC bars. And I'm dying to go to the Mai Kai, crossing my fingers for Hukilau 2005!

I realized I didn't explain why I'm going for quantity. I buy anything I even remotely like, in hopes of being able to have a wall of tiki mugs, hopefully behind MY bar. Not that that will happen. But, I look at tiki mugs, antiques, and records as such "If it is is older than 20 years, and I haven't seen it before, and it's a deal, I buy it. If its not a deal, I weigh how much I want it, and what are my chances of seeing it again." Whereas I go to thrift stores at least once a month, if not more, I know what I will and won't see again. So, if it's super common, I only pick it up if I don't have it. Anyway, how hard is it to collect in the UK? At least you've got a Vic's within reasonable distance. ALoha!

[ Edited by: Hale Tiki on 2005-01-13 19:19 ]