Post #557618 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Oct 3, 2010 3:41 PM

One of the unique qualities of mid-century Tiki culture is indeed that a lot of people experienced it in the guise of a special event, either a birthday, or graduation, or somethig like that, so most often it is associated with a pleasurable memory.

I chose the quote using the "feverish dream" metaphor not only because it well describes the obesession that Tiki collectors like us feel today when on a hunt, but also because at the time of my BOT research in the 1990s, the term "Tiki" had completely dissappeared from public consciousness (in fact it had never been used to describe above experiences). Even worse, Tiki restaurants themselves had become so extinct for so many years that indeed, for many people the memory of above mentioned experiences had become so pale that they were unsure if they had really happened, or, if they just had been a FEVERISH DREAM.

Once I shared my materials with them, memories started flooding back and they were happy to be confirmed in the fact that these events had actually happened.