Post #395772 by Swanky on Tue, Jul 22, 2008 8:57 AM

That's a nice theory you got going there, but I think a revisionist history muddies the waters a bit. The Tiki bar defines what is a Tiki mug and and by that definition we can call them all Tiki mugs, even without an actual Tiki.

By your definition, Don the Beachcombers may have never been a Tiki bar and Trader Vic's didn't become one until that Moai bowl showed up or something. The Mai Tai and Zombie were not created in Tiki bars... Most of those drinks weren't.

The only definite I have is via the Mai Kai, which is late to the scene, but does have the coffee grog with whatever that character is on the 1957 menu and the Mystery Drink bowl I have on a 1958 dated menu. They have Rum Barrels, but that goes with the coconut and bamboo as a sort of tropical depiction that is not exactly a "tiki" image. It's a sort of image of the decor and could be pre-Tiki.

So, maybe it's when was the first Tiki in a tropical bar? Surely there are post marked postcards out there to define that in a dated image. That tells us when we had a "Tiki" bar at least. Then, all mugs in that bar can be called Tiki mugs, or, at least we get an inference. Or, maybe a postcard with a mug in it will set a date.

So when was the first Tiki bar?