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Tiki Central / General Tiki / The Home Bar: Resurrection Of A Mid-20th Century Domestic Icon

Post #454812 by DJ Terence Gunn on 05/19/2009

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DTG
DJ Terence Gunn posted on 05/19/2009

On 2009-05-18 17:07, bigbrotiki wrote:
Nice piece of work. The rumpus room resurgence is really one of the strongest branches of the Tiki revival. Nice pics. Who is that lucky person in THE third B&W photo, not only possessing that amazing motor yacht bar, but also a Space Needle lamp! Must have been found in the 80s!

That's Ruby Montana! Seattle's Queen Of Kitsch! Or was. She certainly was a Seattle Icon, herself as an individual and the store she owned, The Pinto Pony. She now resides in Palm Springs and lives at and runs the Coral Sands Inn:

http://www.coralsandspalmsprings.com/

The bar is a manufactured nautical-themed bar of the bow of a boat. I would have to find my article I wrote about her during this photo session (from an old 'Organ & Bongos' issue -- The Home Bar Issue, Number ?), but I recall that the bar was said to have been made in the late 1940s or sometime during the 1950s. And yes, that Space Needle lamp is absolutely brilliant: brilliant and rare.

Here's an old pic from her store, The Pinto Pony, when it was located in Seattle on 2nd Avenue near Pioneer Square. (It later moved to downtown Seattle, not far from the Pike Place Market.)

http://palmspringscoralsands.blogspot.com/2007/09/ruby-montanas-pinto-ponymany-of-you.html

Here's an excellent interview with Ruby from 1998:

http://www.monk.com/display.php?p=People&id=28

Seattle -- like many cities -- no longer has the wonderful second-hand vintage shops it used to in the 1980s and early 1990s. There are some but...well, I won't comment.

The Pinto Pony has Seattle's gal-about-town, Sweetpea, written all over it. Perhaps one day 'Pea' (as I affectionately call her) may open up a similar place. Until then I'll keep my spurs crossed. I'm still waiting for Pea to establish her own home bar and lounge (hopefully a mixture of vintage Western and Tiki), so that I can feature her it on a future Seattle Area Home Bar Tour.