Post #416528 by bigbrotiki on Fri, Oct 31, 2008 8:13 AM

"Like its namesake, the new Luau is full of tiki gods, island themed drinks and décor. The new restaurant is more of a tribute to the old, with a chic new style and reminders of the old. (The original Luau restaurant was a kitschy tiki room.)"

But the new one is full of Tiki gods...? Obviously, they know what they are talking about. :D

But this is a good example. My stance on this issue is largely motivated by the prevailing cliche, perpetuated here and in the media, that mid-century Tiki bar decor was "kitschy" and "tacky", and therefore cannot be resurrected in a meaningful way in this day and age. I disagree. One, that it was kitschy and tacky, and Two, that it has to be watered down nowadays to be palatable.

Here is a good example of a new, stylish well thought out Tiki Bar that uses the classic Tiki bar concepts (Tikis, a logo Tiki mask on the menu, as mug and around the interior/exterior, AND thunder storm effects for the signature drink):

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=30316&forum=2&10

In closing, I repeat IN CLOSING, a few points made in a simple, abbreviated form so ALL (or some more) understand:

I have never, I repeat never, said the new Luau should have been a carbon copy of the old.

I have never attacked the work of the artisans and craftsman that supplied parts of the decor, rather, I commended them on their work.

If this place would have been a new translation of classic Polynesian dining style in general, I would have had much less of a problem with it. But it took the name of an influential Tiki power place and did not live up to THAT.

I agree that, in general, one should visit a location before one can form an opinion. I, however, am in the unique position of having formulated and defined the stylistic language of Tiki style in my books, which had never been made conscious before. And I did so not by blabbering on on endless pages of theoretical text, but by showing hundreds and hundreds of VISUAL examples of it. These examples in turn inspired many new Tiki bars to be opened in the new millennium. I have applauded most of them. But I will exercise my critical faculties where I see it fit. The Tiki revival was not inspired by customers going to Tiki bars and saying "I like this, let's build one", but by the imagery that and I and others put out there in the recent 8 years.

I wish the Luau much success, and I am sure I will enjoy an evening out in its halls sometime, and beg forgiveness for the fact that I am so sensitive and opinionated on my ideas of what was and IS great about Polynesian pop/panache/pastiche (whatever you wanna call it).

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-10-31 08:18 ]