Post #372291 by tikiyaki on Mon, Apr 7, 2008 7:27 PM

So,

I'm here at my dad's house in Texas takin' care of Pop while he recovers from a pretty big surgery. I start going through all the old family photos...stuff from the 50's (before me) the 60's (including me) and up. I didn't see any tiki ANYTHING in there...ok, no big deal, I grew up on Long Island, and there wasn't a whole lot of Tiki there, even though there were alot of nautical themed restaurants, and few Chinese places with waterfalls and bamboo bridges, but not much else.

So, I finally just come out and ask my pop...."Dad, did you ever go to Trader Vics or Don the beachcomber back in the day ?"

He tells me no...I prod further...."why not? " he says, "I don't know, I don't think we had one near us"...."but there was one in NY City"....he says that they never went to the city that much.

"So..." I ask...."We never went to any of those great tiki places back inn the day?"

"No, not that I can remember"

"Backyard Luaus?" I asked

"Well, Uncle Freddy roasted a pig in the backyard once"

So, we never went to any tiki restaurants or places.

It's baffling....How the hell did I become so obsessed with tiki ? I remember it from my childhood, but could it be that my only exposure to tiki was Hawaii Five-O and The Brady Bunch Hawaii episodes?

Also, the closest thing to Exotica music in the house was "Whipped Cream and other Delights" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass....

So, where am I channeling these exotica tunes from ? It was never playing around the house, we never went to ANYPLACE that was tiki, we never vacationed in Hawaii, and I don't recall any backyard Luaus....

Maybe I need to go to therapy to find this stuff out, cos, my family is so NON TIKI, it's not funny. No one in my family except for me lives anywhere near a palm tree, or obsesses about tropical climates, palm trees, tikis, or anything else even remotely Tiki or Hawaiian...

So, what's up with my tiki obsession ?

This is freaking me out :o

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2008-04-07 19:29 ]