1935 Ballyhoo Magazine South Seas Edition (image heavy) - General Tiki

B bigbrotiki Tiki Socialite Tiki Island, above the Silverlake Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 11621	B bigbrotiki Posted posted on Mon, Apr 9, 2007 2:23 PM Hmmm...yes, that goes along with the generally raised awareness for primitive art, which also included pre-Columbian art. There actually is one hilarious example of the intermingling of Totem pole and Tiki, committed by a confused (or lazy) architect in England: Butlin's Holiday Camp in Clacton had this decor to offer in their "South Seas Bar": Also interesting is that William Westenhaver at one point taught North Pacific Coast Indians how to chainsaw-carve totem poles. He also decorated a "kachina" doll style bar up North in the 60s. Thanks for those added photos, James! One more delineation to my Tiki-period theory is that Tiki style was predominantly a MAINLAND phenomenon. In Hawaii, the cultural sensitivity was too great to mess with the ancestor images, and in the rare cases that they were employed for commercial reasons, they were kept painfully close to the originals. All evidence of Tiki style IN the islands was actually re-imported from the mainland (Don/Vic/Kon-Tiki, Barney West and O.A. Tikis). So even in the 50s and 60s, any Hawaiian based Polynesian icon production concentrated on the early Pre-Tiki Polynesian pop catalogue mentioned above (...except Coco Joe's and Hip), and cranked out what is known as Hawaiiana, which I find lacking the edge that Tiki style has.

Hmmm...yes, that goes along with the generally raised awareness for primitive art, which also included pre-Columbian art. There actually is one hilarious example of the intermingling of Totem pole and Tiki, committed by a confused (or lazy) architect in England: Butlin's Holiday Camp in Clacton had this decor to offer in their "South Seas Bar":

Also interesting is that William Westenhaver at one point taught North Pacific Coast Indians how to chainsaw-carve totem poles. He also decorated a "kachina" doll style bar up North in the 60s.

Thanks for those added photos, James!

One more delineation to my Tiki-period theory is that Tiki style was predominantly a MAINLAND phenomenon. In Hawaii, the cultural sensitivity was too great to mess with the ancestor images, and in the rare cases that they were employed for commercial reasons, they were kept painfully close to the originals. All evidence of Tiki style IN the islands was actually re-imported from the mainland (Don/Vic/Kon-Tiki, Barney West and O.A. Tikis). So even in the 50s and 60s, any Hawaiian based Polynesian icon production concentrated on the early Pre-Tiki Polynesian pop catalogue mentioned above (...except Coco Joe's and Hip), and cranked out what is known as Hawaiiana, which I find lacking the edge that Tiki style has.

Post #297891 by bigbrotiki on Mon, Apr 9, 2007 2:23 PM