Post #22432 by Lake Surfer on Sat, Feb 8, 2003 2:42 PM

Hey, great piece of writing there James...

My interest in tiki began with my trip to two of the islands in 1996 and the connection between my surfing interests, the surfing history of Hawaii and the way that surfing in California started to borrow from traditions in Hawaii, i.e. early San Onofre. I became very interested in the history of Hawaii after spending a day on Oahu with a Hawaiian born guide of ours that told us of the gods and the ancient tales of the islands. I began digging for as much info as possible from outdated library books and started to collect tiki and polynesia where I could, mainly on vacations to California. What I couldn't find, I started making on my own. I think this was the best way for me to get into it all, it all started with a true passion for it all, rather than jumping on the hottest new trend. I think that's why I feel so selfish about letting the mainstream take over...