Post #239218 by litlnemo on Fri, Jun 23, 2006 3:01 AM

Hello -- just posting an intro as requested. :) I'm a long-time tiki aficionado (I have fond memories of living almost within sight of a tiki restaurant for a while as a child). In the 80s I started having yearly "Hawaiian Nightmare Parties" which featured as much tiki decor as I could manage on my student budget. I would buy tiki mugs for a buck or two at the local thrift stores.

In the 90s I had to put my small tiki mug collection in storage, and so for the last few years my collecting bug has been mostly dormant. (It didn't help that the darn things started to disappear from the thrift stores!) But recently I got my collection back out of my mom's attic and I can feel the bug starting to hit again. :) I've put my collection up on Ooga-Mooga and I've got my eyes open for new stuff to add.

I think I stopped collecting right after the Seattle Trader Vic's closed... and now that the new one is open in Bellevue, I'm starting up again! Coincidence, or...?

(I have a pair of tiki salt & pepper shakers from the Seattle TV's; my mom and I went there to see the place a last time before they closed. I told her I wished I could have those shakers. Then she mortified me by asking the waiter if I could have them! To my surprise (since the restaurant still had a couple of weeks left to closing day) he said yes! So I have a little piece of the Seattle Trader Vic's in my dining room.)

Glad to be here. I'll probably mostly lurk, but this is a great board!