Post #47043 by floratina on Fri, Aug 8, 2003 11:45 PM

Many of us here on TC - perhaps most of us - can trace our love of tiki to our childhoods. I have noticed that there is a preponderance of us who fall within a demographic group called, "Brady Boomers". This group actually experienced the great mid-century Polynesian Pop era; we were little kids, but we remember the wonderment through the eyes of a kid. When we grew up, there were still a lot of tiki restaurants.

They were mysterious places. Restaurants so dark that it took a while for your eyes to adjust after arriving there from the outside world. Bamboo, thatch, dioramas, colored lights nestled deeply in the foliage and the sound of trickling water. Did I mention the tikis? Mommy and Daddy drank pretty drinks and they were happy. You could get your own Shirley Temple with an orchid and an umbrella in it, just like the grown-ups! What's not to love?

About that time (as also outlined in the Book of Tiki) tiki became a pop item with the surf crowd. The pendants and tiki shirts found their way to the suburbs and were the definition of cool. My brother was in elementary school when he cast tiki pendants out of translucent resin and (ever the capitalist) sold them to classmates at school.

Many a TCer can trace their love of tiki to their childhood. Get 'em while their young.