Post #287165 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Feb 21, 2007 11:29 AM

Yes, a really spectacular mural find! Even if this place might be from the 70s, its murals have a timeless vintage quality.
While artifacts like carvings, mugs, menus and sometimes lamps might survive the abolition of a Tiki temple, murals and dioramas are usually irrevocably destroyed, and the cost of them today is often prohibitive for new Tiki Bar owners.

And since it is difficult to reproduce that vintage style, the only other way would be to go for NEW Tiki art, done by contemporary Tiki revival artists. That can work out, ....or not. And even then: My friend Moritz R (BOT cover artist) did some wonderful wall art in the hallway and stage room of the Tabou Tiki in Berlin (for free), and now that that is closed and will be dismantled, it will all disappear.

My new book will have a full double page dedicated to the history of fake Polynesian scenery. Enjoy the existing ones that are still there, where ever you can find them. Fine murals still in situ that come to mind are at the Waldorf in Vancouver, and Damon's in Glendale.

For the "Polynesian murals in odd places" thread I would like to submit this example:

I had to leave straight from the Hukilau this year to a job in Germany, which made for quite a culture shock-
This is what I came from:

Rum tasting with Swanky, Al, the King, and Otto in the back office of the Mai Kai

...and the Mai Kai dancers, so we are talking Polynesian Pop immersion! Then...

..I get off the plane and am being driven straight to a location scout in some Hotel at some lake in deep Southern Bavaria, so THIS was the change of scenery for me from one day to another:

But then, at that hotel's interior swimming pool, I come upon....THIS !:

I swear that stuff just follows me around! This huge tile mural was done in the 70s by a female artist, and is an indication of how, up until then, the Polynesian motif stood for fun and leisure in the hotel industry worlwide.