MC
Joined: Jun 21, 2002
Posts: 540
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MC
I love the old TIKI and all of it should be preserved. But also, a culture which never grows/ adapts/ changes will eventually die. If we constantly compare contemporary TIKI with a standard which exists in the past, we are screwed. It would be perfect to have a Mai Kai everywhere, but this can't happen despite all the pineapple-less Mai Tais we drink. We really have to work with the TIKI we have or else we are gonna be right back in the '90s with no TIKI. Keep your fingers crossed that Trader Vic's is opening in NYC--and all the tourists will be happy with their perfect tiki experience for the one night they in town--, but that's just TIKI dreamin'.
Steve is right--it is not realistic in a economic sense to be full-on TIKI in NYC. We don't have enough patrons interested YET. Remember everyone visiting NYC--our three tiki bars have only been here for 7-8 months tops! This isn't T V's decades of experience! Plus, this is in a town that's really struggling financially since 9/11. I admire anyone who has taken upon a tiki endevor in such a hard time to do so.
What about the Tiki-cross-over with other genres? I Love IT! It's creative, it's ingenious, and it is people setting their own standars rather than conformity to an economic/social/cultural reality which thrives primarily on the West Coast. What's happening is 21st century NYC TIKI which is an unique interpretation of the Tiki Style. How many of us are just gonna copy what's been done before or how about making Tiki an expresion of ourselves?
Go, to Steve's at Otto's--you're gonna get some rockabilly, punk, loud stuff. (From the looks of some of our threads, it seems that other Tiki centralites were punk kids back in the day too.) But you want only Tiki? Do some homework--it's there on Monday and Thursday nights. With WW, Drag Queen culture is mixed right in. Tiki Drag--It's a fresh experience. (By the way, if you are hating the WW scene, there's also a private tiki space between WW and Luck Cheng's. Here, you can avoid the weekend crowds.) And yo--if you mention the cracks in WW mugs, they will gladly give you several to take home so that they have room for the newer ones. Cracked or not, I'm always happy for a tiki mug--I can get really creative with its usage. I can make a lamp, planters, ceramic mosaics, coin jars, etc. So as an analogy, instead of throwing away NYC TIKI because it's "chipped" or not what you expect and want, try to see our situation here in a fresh light and recognize NYC TIKI's potential to become new, progressive, and different. (Thank you tikibar James for pointing out that no new tiki bar is just like the originals)
I really don't want to be taking steps backwards because one year ago, the number of tiki bars in NYC = zero.
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