Could someone please tell me about this tiki god? - General Tiki

B bigbrotiki Tiki Socialite Tiki Island, above the Silverlake Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 11621	B bigbrotiki Posted posted on Mon, Nov 6, 2006 11:43 AM My friends...I certainly don't wanna rain on your parade, but after seeing the whole gang, I am willing to bet my sorry German butt on the fact that, as hinted above, these puppies are with 99.8 % certainty NEW "Poly-Asian" carvings, supplied by that Tropical Imports place in Oakland (name escapes me) that Trader Vic's began using in the 2000s. Humuhumu wrote: .... two of the tikis are the same design as the Trader Vic’s salt & pepper shakers, and have “TRADER VIC’S” carved in the back of them — which anyone can do, but the carving doesn’t look fresh. For another, the tikis look somewhat consistent with (though larger than) some tikis Trader Vic’s still has in their possession, as seen when they loaned them out for the San Francisco Airport tiki exhibit.... Actually, Doug Nason was the first to do this (as can be seen in his Tiki book): He had experienced but cheap carvers in the Philippines/ Bali (?) carve Tikis from mugs and other vintage graphic sources. They come out okay, but always a little "off": Bodies too naturalistic, heads not oversize enough, etc. Nobody has actually told me this, but it makes economic sense that when the BOT and the Tiki Revival brought a revived interest in Trader Vic franchises, the T.V.'s management compared prices between the classic Oceanic Arts Tikis and the cheaper imports from Asia and saw no big difference in the quality, after all, the Poly-Asian ones ARE carved from fine tropical woods. And so the new franchises like the one in the Berlin Hilton, and even the OLD places like Emeryville, were infiltrated by these non-American made Tikis (what an outrage! :)) My guess is that these specific ones were prematurely bought/shipped to New York when T.V.'s was in negotiations for opening a new place there, but then these talks broke down, and these babies were stranded. All this is shear deduction, based on my keen Tiki eye, and putting two and two together: When I wrote the Book of Tiki, nobody told me if a Tiki was done by Barney West or Milan Guanko (Correction!: Leroy surely put me on the path for that), but I developed an eye for individual carving styles purely base on the volume of Tikis seen in the years of my research. And this Tiki eye tells me these are the nouveaux Poly-Asian kind, (just like some at the SF airport exhibit are!). I am not saying that that is a horrible thing...it simply is a part of the history of the Tiki revival now, if you/I like it or not. And it's here to stay, because it is an affordable alternative for some. I think for a new Tiki Bar, they are a good asset, and 99.9 % of the customers won't be able to tell the difference.

My friends...I certainly don't wanna rain on your parade, but after seeing the whole gang, I am willing to bet my sorry German butt on the fact that, as hinted above, these puppies are with 99.8 % certainty NEW "Poly-Asian" carvings, supplied by that Tropical Imports place in Oakland (name escapes me) that Trader Vic's began using in the 2000s.

Humuhumu wrote:

.... two of the tikis are the same design as the Trader Vic’s salt & pepper shakers, and have “TRADER VIC’S” carved in the back of them — which anyone can do, but the carving doesn’t look fresh. For another, the tikis look somewhat consistent with (though larger than) some tikis Trader Vic’s still has in their possession, as seen when they loaned them out for the San Francisco Airport tiki exhibit....

Actually, Doug Nason was the first to do this (as can be seen in his Tiki book): He had experienced but cheap carvers in the Philippines/ Bali (?) carve Tikis from mugs and other vintage graphic sources. They come out okay, but always a little "off": Bodies too naturalistic, heads not oversize enough, etc.

Nobody has actually told me this, but it makes economic sense that when the BOT and the Tiki Revival brought a revived interest in Trader Vic franchises, the T.V.'s management compared prices between the classic Oceanic Arts Tikis and the cheaper imports from Asia and saw no big difference in the quality, after all, the Poly-Asian ones ARE carved from fine tropical woods. And so the new franchises like the one in the Berlin Hilton, and even the OLD places like Emeryville, were infiltrated by these non-American made Tikis (what an outrage! :))

My guess is that these specific ones were prematurely bought/shipped to New York when T.V.'s was in negotiations for opening a new place there, but then these talks broke down, and these babies were stranded.

All this is shear deduction, based on my keen Tiki eye, and putting two and two together: When I wrote the Book of Tiki, nobody told me if a Tiki was done by Barney West or Milan Guanko (Correction!: Leroy surely put me on the path for that), but I developed an eye for individual carving styles purely base on the volume of Tikis seen in the years of my research. And this Tiki eye tells me these are the nouveaux Poly-Asian kind, (just like some at the SF airport exhibit are!).

I am not saying that that is a horrible thing...it simply is a part of the history of the Tiki revival now, if you/I like it or not. And it's here to stay, because it is an affordable alternative for some. I think for a new Tiki Bar, they are a good asset, and 99.9 % of the customers won't be able to tell the difference.

Post #264827 by bigbrotiki on Mon, Nov 6, 2006 11:43 AM