Post #581302 by bigbrotiki on Tue, Mar 22, 2011 10:22 AM

Thank you, kids, good answers! John-O overshot the mark on a couple of his, getting a bit silly, but much of the question is answered.

One thing that I did not see mentioned: Tiki Bob's was the first Polynesian place to use the WORD "Tiki" in its name!

Also, to augment John-O's
"8. Tiki Bob was the first Poly-Pop icon to have a Modernist (Minimalist?) aesthetic applied to a "primitive" form.."

...that, AND Tiki Bob looked like a cartoon, thus embodying the two main style features of American Tiki style: Mid-century modernism and cartoons. YOUR profession, Grog! Tiki Bob always reminded me of George Jetson:

Not literally in a one-to-one comparison, but stylistically. If there would have been a Tiki in a Jetsons episode, this is what it could have looked like.

It might be over-interpreting things, but one could speculate that Bob Bryant chose that free form style Tiki for his logo to separate himself from his Ueber-Father Victor Bergeron, marking the changing of the guard from the old generation of Polynesian pop creators Don and Vic to the generation of modern Tiki stylists.

Or Bob Bryant just knew Alec Yuil Thornton from his Trader Vic job and liked his work. Cause the Trader DID use cartoonists for his menu designs - but that was BEFORE the Tiki period.

Ok, now I feel better about the fact that there will be some folks at the show who actually know what they are looking at. BESIDES the amazing breadth of creative ideas and variations on the concept that will be presented - which indeed ARE a form of ancestor worship put into practice. Looking forward to this show!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-03-22 10:24 ]