Post #388216 by tikiyaki on Thu, Jun 19, 2008 4:53 PM

Part of the appeal for the Tiki events for me is that alot of the people are around my age...i'm 45, and, honestly, it's really difficult for me to have a conversation with someone in their 20's.
Most people in their 20's don't seem to have any reverence for anything from 50 years ago. Their idea of retro is the Talking Heads and Television in the CBGB's days....

That was high school for me ! So, I'm OLD...that much I know.

SO....as for me...I like hanging with people my own age who have "been there and done that" because I can relate. I don't expect the younger folks to relate.

I just feel sorry for them because they'll never know what it was like see any of these amazing places like The Mai Kai or a Googie Style coffee shop, or be in a bowling league when they are like 10 years old.

I do think that if younger people, and I'm talking pre-teens, were exposed to a place like the Mai Kai, they would flip out. Every little kid likes fantasy oriented places with waterfalls, tikis, and other Dinseyland-like features....it's just too bad that no one builds places like that anymore.

I think teenagers and twenty-somethings are "too cool" to wear an aloha shirt and a lei around their neck...especially now with this current trend of insipid, Paris Hilton fueled, empty headed fashion mongering. So I think that the 20-35 year olds will be a black hole in the tiki demographic. But once those people grow up, take a Hawaiian vacation, and catch the bug, they will learn to appreciate the "Island lifestyle" we all love so much.

As for the future of Tiki, well, I think what people on TC, Sven, Otto, the carvers and artists and everyone else doing something tiki related, this stuff will be important down the line. The work these people have done to revive tiki will not go in vain, in my opinion. It may take a while to see the reverberations of it all make an impact, but I think we will.

Eventually everything great sees a resurgence, and now with some restaurateurs taking a chance and creating Tiki Themed restaurants, there IS hope. I just hope that people let go of any preconceived notions of "Cheezy Hawaiian Themed" stuff and just enjoy it, because it really IS fun.

Besides, once those teens start drinking and get the taste of some REAL Tiki drinks, that will be all they need to start embracing tiki.

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2008-06-19 16:57 ]