Post #305898 by bigbrotiki on Sat, May 12, 2007 12:50 PM

After just recently bemoaning not having come across the original artefact that was the basis of Trader Vic's (and the Kona Kai, and Sam's Seafood) Maori logo Tiki so far...

On 2007-04-18 13:07, bigbrotiki wrote:
The Tiki design used for this mug has a rather compelling Polynesian pop history, too. It was used by several important Tiki Temples, who either based it on a original Maori Tiki from an Oceanic Art book (which I have not found yet !), or, as it was common in Poly pop, swiped it from each other.

I venture to say that Trader Vic used it first, on this menu:

..and it became the un-official Trader Vic logo Tiki, as they did not use any other Tiki design (and its variations) as much as him:
As table lamps (BOT p.6), On other menus (p.89), as swizzle stick, as cuff links (p.93), and most notably on their entrance doors and for the famous Tiki stem glass (p.95) (...did I leave any out?)

Then, also, the venerable Kona Kai chain used a variation of this guy, based on an Armet & Davis rendering, as can be seen on BOT page 143

So he carries a lot of Poly pop history mana. :)

... it just came to me (thanks to Swanky) in the form of 1958 LA Home Magazine, where it is attributed to the De Young Museum in San Francisco:

...which off course makes total sense, being the home town of Trader Vic (well, Oakland really). This fact makes me lean more towards the theory that the OTHER Tiki temples "borrowed" the Tiki from the Trader menu. Now we just have to find a photo of it in the exact angle as on the menu above, probably in a DeYoung exhibit catalogue, or a similar SF newspaper Sunday magazine published in the 50s.

...I wonder what the flower pot on his head was all about.. :wink:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2007-05-12 15:03 ]