Post #325051 by tiki mick on Sun, Aug 12, 2007 12:25 PM

Yeah, but these are positive suggestions, and don't require much effort to implement. The TV, for example: We used to play at the Catalina fish kitchen, and the guy was running surf movies and videos on all the TV screens. I thought that was cool, and extremely appropriate, and really was not that cost prohibitive.

It's the Jimmy Buffetization of america that really bothers me, I guess. The need to pasteurize, distill and modernize everything. During the 50/s/60/s, when Tiki was at it's most popular, Americans really dug "themed" parties and themed restaraunts. it was a fantasy, a form of escapism, and while never culturally or historically accurate, it still served the purpose of transporting people to another time and place.

What is more fun the sipping a mai tai, enjoying a whole mess of bamboo and tapa cloth, and listening to exotica, lounge or even surf??

I just feel there are enough TGI Fridays and sports bars to cater to those people who don't care about ambience.

Because if that's the way things are, why are they not playing Gustav Mahler at the Viper room? Fair is fair!