Post #317029 by aquarj on Fri, Jul 6, 2007 2:16 PM

Some hopefully helpful comments...

It seems like the big events have a combination of a local population of tiki enthusiasts plus local attractions that draw non-locals from far and wide. By local attractions, I mean "headliners" like the Mai Kai in Ft. Lauderdale, Hala Kahiki in Chicago, Bali Hai in San Diego, etc. Also, with each of those events the local region itself is generally an attraction too, enough to spur a trip.

I'd roughly guess that Monterey is a little short on two of those things - the local enthusiasts and the headliner destinations. There's no denying it's a nice place to visit - a lot of people go to Monterey just as tourists. And there are a lot of tiki enthusiasts just over the hill in the bay area, maybe not quite local, but 90 minutes away.

I think if you wanted to make Monterey itself into the headliner for the TikiCentral crowd, you might be able to make it interesting for non-locals to make the trip. Speaking personally, I've been to Monterey a bunch of times, but there must be a lot I don't know. If you came up with a list of 10 gems in the area, my interest would probably be sparked. Where's the bar that inherited some of the remnants from Mark Thomas' Outrigger? For that matter, where was the Outrigger, and what's there now? How about some pictures from the original place? Where's the old bowling alley that still has the great googie sign from the 60s and the Eskimo themed "Igloo Room" bar? Where's the antique store whose owner keeps two live iguanas named Shields and Yarnell by the register? Those are the kinds of things that make it interesting enough to want to come and maybe even stay a night or two. Otherwise, if it's just another aloha festival with a loosely related bunch of vendors and local bands, my guess would be that others are right that you're pretty much talking a local crowd, and therefore a smallish event. But as others said, the event doesn't have to be big - no reason not to try out a small event and see who comes.

Also, some comments about other people's comments...

The fact that Otto lives in the SF bay area and is holding the Oasis in San Diego does not indicate anything much at all. While the SF bay area has a ton of tiki destinations, my guess is that the Oasis stayed in so-cal mainly because of its "fun in the sun" pedigree. Weather-wise, SF tends to be a place that you want to find an Oasis from, rather than the other way around. Chicago's like SF in terms of bad (or worse) weather, but the tiki destinations in these cities are more oriented toward the indoor escapist experience than the outdoor Palm Springs or San Diego kind of fun.

And, ahem, to any resident of Alameda protesting about a "long" 90 min driving distance to an event, I respectfully submit that your perspective is skewed by living walking distance from one of the best contemporary tiki grottos in America!

-Randy