How fast are we losing tiki? - General Tiki

P pappythesailor Member Mass. Joined: Jul 07, 2005 Posts: 1566	P pappythesailor Posted posted on Wed, Sep 14, 2005 2:59 AM Wow. I must have been onto something. (I bought my first Louis Jordan CD about 1990 too--creepy!) Although, I can't deny I'm enjoying the easier access to Aloha shirts and Exotica in the stores, I have to disagree we're in the middle of, or even the start of, the "next big thing". I just don't see it. We spot tikis on TV because we're a bunch of maniacs, not because TV and movie people think they're hot. Ditto tiki mugs at thrift stores. If you're the owner of a thrift store, it's your job to notice when you can't keep a tiki mug on your shelf but it only takes one tiki-head to keep an area's thrift stores scoured of tiki, am I right? (or it was the Tiki Taliban!) Luckily, I've reached the age where I don't really care what anyone thinks of me. Plus, I'm about to be a dad so we all know how uncool Dad was. So I'm willing to live through the aftermath. I understand why something that goes out of style once can never fully come back. to me, nothing is more puzzling than seeing the faux 70's fashion and decor at Target--man I HATED the 70's! My parents dressed me like a buffoon! Looking back at pictures of our house during those years is rough; everything we owned was hideous. But you have to live through it and see it go turn un-hip to really snub something for good. My parents both high-hat tiki--"Isn't that stuff a little tacky?" But, you know, they were never cool. If tiki DID have just one more flash of popularity, say for 2 or 3 years a-la Swing in the 90's here's the most I could hope for: Out-of-print Exotica on CD Lots of mass-produced tiki at low prices--maybe even some of it quality repros Getting a decent Mai Tai when I go out to eat Chinese food places that were remodeling anyway go tiki (again) Existing tiki joints get a shot of dough enough to de-shabby the place, re-do the bathrooms, re-pave the parking lot, fix the burned-out lights on the sign and buy more tikis from the amazing carvers on TC I get to be cool for 2 or 3 years which would be a record a new generation of tiki heads is born By this point, you're all probably thinking about the negatives of full-blown tiki boom 'cuz so am I so I'll stop now. I give 5-3 odds against it happening anyway.

Wow. I must have been onto something. (I bought my first Louis Jordan CD about 1990 too--creepy!) Although, I can't deny I'm enjoying the easier access to Aloha shirts and Exotica in the stores, I have to disagree we're in the middle of, or even the start of, the "next big thing". I just don't see it. We spot tikis on TV because we're a bunch of maniacs, not because TV and movie people think they're hot. Ditto tiki mugs at thrift stores. If you're the owner of a thrift store, it's your job to notice when you can't keep a tiki mug on your shelf but it only takes one tiki-head to keep an area's thrift stores scoured of tiki, am I right? (or it was the Tiki Taliban!)

Luckily, I've reached the age where I don't really care what anyone thinks of me. Plus, I'm about to be a dad so we all know how uncool Dad was. So I'm willing to live through the aftermath. I understand why something that goes out of style once can never fully come back. to me, nothing is more puzzling than seeing the faux 70's fashion and decor at Target--man I HATED the 70's! My parents dressed me like a buffoon! Looking back at pictures of our house during those years is rough; everything we owned was hideous. But you have to live through it and see it go turn un-hip to really snub something for good. My parents both high-hat tiki--"Isn't that stuff a little tacky?" But, you know, they were never cool.

If tiki DID have just one more flash of popularity, say for 2 or 3 years a-la Swing in the 90's here's the most I could hope for:

Out-of-print Exotica on CD
Lots of mass-produced tiki at low prices--maybe even some of it quality repros
Getting a decent Mai Tai when I go out to eat
Chinese food places that were remodeling anyway go tiki (again)
Existing tiki joints get a shot of dough enough to de-shabby the place, re-do the bathrooms, re-pave the parking lot, fix the burned-out lights on the sign and buy more tikis from the amazing carvers on TC
I get to be cool for 2 or 3 years which would be a record
a new generation of tiki heads is born

By this point, you're all probably thinking about the negatives of full-blown tiki boom 'cuz so am I so I'll stop now. I give 5-3 odds against it happening anyway.

Post #186522 by pappythesailor on Wed, Sep 14, 2005 2:59 AM