Post #488232 by bigbrotiki on Wed, Oct 14, 2009 3:09 PM

On 2009-10-14 13:10, JOHN-O wrote:
Bigbro, I want to create a Topic on existing LA places that celebrate Pre-Tiki style. Obviously beachcomber/Polynesian would fall into this category. Is it safe to say that nautical would fall into Pre-Tiki style? How about pre-WWII Chinese restaurants that played up the exotic Orient angle? Also when did people start wearing Aloha wear to these places? Was that in the Pre-Tiki period or afterwards?

Not really, nautical places and Chinese places were just that: Nautical and Chinese style. If you are asking if nautical and Exotic East ELEMENTS were used in Pre-Tiki style, yes. But Pre-Tiki places have to have the classic Polynesian/Hawaiiana look, basically everything that Tiki places had later - except they didn't have Tikis (in numbers worth mentioning) yet.

Just check my POLYNESIAN Pop Evolution Chart in the BOT again: First there was BEACHCOMBER style, then the TRADER (i.e. nautical) style, and out of these evolved TIKI style.

Good example:
Stephen Crane's Luau in the early 50s, right after he took it over from The Tropics (clearly Pre-Tiki):

The Luau in the late 50s, after an extensive make-over:

This was when Steve Crane introduced the Tikis in his menu opening text. (And no, wise guys, it is NOT about the green Naugahyde booths.)

The only clear Pre-Tiki places in L.A. I can think of are Daimon's, and Bahooka --Bahooka being Pre-Tiki (or "Beachcomber") in style, not in date built.

And folks did not really wear Aloha shirts to these places, since going there usually meant "an evening on the town". The staff wore that gear, and regular folks wore it at backyard Luaus more and Hawaii-themed parties, beginning in the mid-50s.

I see THIS as a good example of what folks would wear to go out to Polynesian restaurants:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2009-10-14 15:19 ]