Post #420763 by THOR's on Tue, Nov 25, 2008 4:17 AM

Aloha!

I appreciate your feed back Bora Boris....and believe me, I am one to NEVER like old stuff to change in the least. But I have to disagree and hope we can find a balance on all this. I am fully aware of the Tonga Hut Grog will tell you I have participated many times in events there..and the owners have always supported it and the possibilities of more things too. But let me focus on Tangaroa-Ru's excitement and Damon's for a second. Damon's has , in fact changed twice at least in the 70 some years since it's birth.

Here is the history for those interested. I used to eat lunch and or dinner there at least once a week for longer than I want to admit when I worked Imagineering in Glendale. I saw the transition in the 80's and then a few years ago again when the new owner's took rein and cleaned up the place a bit. Though I miss the dusty, cob web clad stuffed monkeys that used to be in the Outrigger! Here's the history for anyone interested: http://www.damonsglendale.com/history.html

No one's being insensitive to an icon like Damon's by suggesting what we are here. Aside from the mural in the back wall..and the thatched overhangs..most all that shell and net stuff on the booth walls is not very old in the banquet room...and my focus is exclusively on this room only. There is nothing but advantage to allowing the excitement and energy of us present artists and craftsmen that want to preserve and rekindle the poly pop movement to be part of Damon's. This is what starts others (like the other majority in the place that night oblivious to the show) to get pulled into the magic of Tiki and what we all are entranced by already. I met several people that night who wandered in accidentally and were really excited to be introduced to all this. Taking an icon like Damon's as a "stage" to further the resurgence of Tiki is a natural and reverent way to keep all this going into the future. It's what keeps people refreshed and keeps places like this from being bought out and turned into a Denny's one day.

No one wants to mess with the key areas of Damon's here. However, as a very loyal Damon's patron for decades..I want to just do what I can to generate a little bit of new celebration to this place. I think this could become infectious...and that, with people like us being the ones bringing the new enthusiasm gingerly into these places, creates a movement that preserves them!...not messes with them. We excite and expose more of the public into this enchantment and that, again..is no greater a way to insure these places live on as long as all of us who care, do.

Kari..let us know what the owners are down for. I don't want to belabor this issue or create an endless debate thread on this..it is a positively driven concept that has nothing but positive intent to inject the inertia of what we all love further into the tissues and soul of the past, present and future of Tiki.

Speaking of "injections"..I'll take a Damon's Mai Tai straight in the arm and am seriously craving their beef Strogenof now..though I can't spell it.

~T

[ Edited by: thor's 2008-11-25 08:08 ]