Post #230642 by Tikiwahine on Fri, May 5, 2006 11:12 AM

Finding Tiki Central is one thing, finding tiki is totally different.

How and when did you discover tiki?

For me it was a slow progression. As a young girl I took hula dancing lessons & won the roller skating Hawaiian Costume Contest every year. My Grammie was big into Hawaii & Tahiti, and she had a wonderful(though not tiki) basement bar. She owned the hula wiggler I use as my signature. When she passed away in 2003 I had just begun my decent into tiki, and asked for it from her estate.

I got into drink mixing & tropical gardening at a young adult. When my husband and I bought our home he asked me to think of a theme for our future bar - I knew I wanted tropical plants, and I knew I wanted vintage. I became hooked with the idea of dark, mysterious exotic hideaways full of nautical oddities, carved tikis & lots of bamboo. I searched around online and found TC, widening my knowledge of the whole Polynesian Pop past & present.