Post #548906 by JOHN-O on Mon, Aug 16, 2010 7:53 PM

This is not Bilge...

On 2010-08-15 19:58, woofmutt wrote:

Much like monkeys, nautical decor, flamingos, and parrots the big boobed bleach blond bimbo has been a fixture of Tiki bars since Trader Vic first stuck one in a cage and hoisted her over the Seattle Outrigger bar. But are they really Tiki?….

On 2010-08-15 21:36, JOHN-O wrote:

Woofmutt brings up a very good point which also has been on my mind as of late. This is a serious topic worthy of the general forum.

I think the more compelling question is: What the heck does classic Tiki-style have to do with burlesque (or non-Exotica cheesecake) ?

Is this Tiki Revival revisionism or can someone make an articulate case for this?

On 2010-08-16 15:40, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:

I'm going to break the Bilge rules and give a John-O a serious answer. Why am I breaking the rules? Because this is Bilge dammit and I can do what I want!

In short, Classic Tiki Style has very little to with Burlesque. It is for the most part, a Tiki Revival assimilation. Same with Hot Rod Culture, Shriners, Surf Culture, Mid-Century Modernism & Rockabilly. In my opinion, I think these flavors of nostalgia taste great together which is why you find EVIDENCE that they overlapped in the past occasionally too, but they were by no means bound together to the extent they are in today's Tiki Revival movement.

For example, if you look at a 1960s guide to night-life in San Francisco, you will find a veritible City of Sin where you could indeed go see burlesque dancers at the tiki-themed Hawaiian Room. However, you could also go see burlesque dancers and strippers at about half a dozen other clubs with other themes, such as the Chinese-themed Forbidden City. Same with the lunch-time lingerie model shows at Tiki Bob's and The Hawaiian in Long Beach. They weren't confined to tiki bars.

I think a trap we can also fall into is confusing Sven's term "Classic Tiki Style" with "Classic Tiki Lifestyle" or "Classic Tiki Culture", which as far as I know from all my research, never existed. There were no clubs of people in the 60s who shared a taste for Tiki architecture. There were no pilgrimages from various cities to meet at the Mai Kai because they were all rum-cocktail afficionados. A Kiwanis Club might have their meeting at the Tahitian Inn one month, but then have it at an atomic-themed bowling alley the next month. A Hot-Rod club might meet at Kelbos for ribs one week and at Pinks for hot dogs the next. If they were living a "Tiki Lifestyle", they wouldn't have known it and there were definitely no rules about it. "Tiki" was just one more fad among many where you could invest a little esapism-time.

So when you ask if Burlesque-in-Tiki is Tiki-Revisionism, you have to ask yourself, are you talking "Tiki Style" or "Tiki Culture"? If you are talking about "Tiki Culture", well it never really existed back then, so the whole Tiki Revival movement of today is essentially revisionism - or maybe more an "inventing" of a lifestle based on a really cool "piece" of 60s culture, ie "Tiki". The same person who went to a Tiki Bar one week might well be the same type of person who went to a Burlesque club the next week and a Shriner meeting the week after that. So a case might indeed be made that Burlesque fits right in to the "Tiki Lifestyle" and there's nothing revisionist about it.

However if you're talking "Classic Tiki Style", ie the historic, cohesive architectural/musical/decorative "style" and asking if Burlesque dancers were a key component of this style, then I would say No. This is indeed revisionism. I would say that the Hawaiian Floor Show with Hula Dancers is definitely part of Tiki Style, but not Burlesque dancers. They were not that common in Tiki Restaurants & bars.

But personally, it doesn't bother me that Burlesque has become part of the current Tiki Revival. To me it's one of the cool pieces of retro-nostalgia that mix well right now. It's more or less from the same era (unlike Jimmy Buffett), and we've taken a lot of the illicit sting out of it, (in my parents' day, good Christians didn't go to tiki bars OR burlesque shows). As long as we're choosing the coolest parts of 60s culture and they ADD to the enjoyment of Tiki as opposed to watering it down, then I'm ready to embrace it.

Similar movements have happened in the past. In the 1950s there was a flowering of "Antique Car Culture". Folks nostalgic for the innocent times of the turn-of-the-century latched on to the Horseless Carriage as a touchstone of this bygone era in much the same way we latched on to Tiki as our touchstone for the 60s. Large clubs of antique car enthusiasts were founded and they would drive their vintage Model-Ts, Packards, etc. en-masse on cross-country trips, visiting historic towns, having picnics where they'd dress in vintage clothes and eat classic American food, going to 1900s-style dances, driving in Founder's Day parades. Disneyland even had a day set aside each year for the antique car clubs where they could drive down Main Street, all in full costume of course. There were magazines devoted to the movement with memberships larger than Tiki Magazine. In them you could read re-caps to events very similar to Tiki Oasis, but taking place in historic town squares where you would listen to barbershop quartets and brass bands playing Souza instead of Surf and Exotica. And this movement wasn't restricted to just the men who restored these cars - it was embraced by women and children too. Costuming, cooking, music and dancing were just as important as mechanics to the lifestyle.

The Antique Car was the touchstone that pulled these nostalgists together, but the movement wasn't restricted or solely focused on the automobile. It revived many of the best parts of turn-of-the-century culture, and the Antique Car was used to weave them together. In the same way, I see the Tiki Bar and the Tiki Restaurant as a lynchpin and a venue that brings many kinds of 50s and 60s revivalists together. I see that as a good thing.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2010-08-26 09:08 ]