Post #645694 by bigbrotiki on Thu, Jul 26, 2012 10:53 AM

Great imagery to let you imagine the neighborhood this apartment building was once in, Kelly!

It took me a while to decide where to post this, my 10 000 st Tiki Central post. I didn't want to do it with its own thread, remembering the b.s. the mention of my 5000th post had generated. This might not be the case nowadays, because TC is much less active, but I just don't want to be accused of boasting with numbers - as if I myself would not know that it is not about the quantity, but the quality of posts. Well, I believe that most of the time, I have delivered both.

With appreciation I look back at the golden days of TC, when active Tiki archeologists like puamana, Sabu and Tiki Kate posted great finds and images here. As this generation has faded into the background, many of the newer members have no reference other than what Tiki is most prominently featured as on the internet today: To many, TIKI is now represented by mermaids, mixology, fezzes, burlesque, and assorted other retro genres, all thrown into the mix and shaken up make up a colorful party culture. As discussed many times here before, these are all wonderful worthy subjects on their own, and they indubitably are now part of the Tiki REVIVAL. Which is a "retro lifestyle", similar but different than its mid-century inspiration. And which I, like many here, enjoy greatly. :) I am merely differentiating here.

I had no inkling that any of it would evolve to the degree it has when I was cruising the San Fernando Valley in 1993, looking for tall palm trees in hopes of finding an intact Tiki village at the end of the rainbow. When I came upon the Kona Pali, I knew I had struck gold. I had found the Kona Kai apts on Rosemead Blvd 6 months before, and was amazed that a sister apartment existed, one that was even bigger and quite a bit more elaborate.

One reason I decided to set my big numba post here is that many folks might not realize that it was the proliferation of Tiki APARTMENT BUILDINGS that made Tiki Style graduate from a mere restaurant genre to its own art form. There are numerous other theme restaurant concepts that proliferated in the mid-century, but none other had its concepts applied to residential architecture to such a degree.

So I returned to the Kona Pali last weekend and was happy to find it had survived the tides of time splendidly, with its palm trees that much taller:

Granted, the new green paint job applied after the '94 Northridge Earthquake is not my favorite, but it could have been worse:

Also gone are the long outrigger beams and the resin flower lamp...

1993

...and nothing remains of the faint traces of stencilled Tiki masks on the cork "shields" that I was lucky to capture at the Kona Kai before they disappeared forever:

But what is still there is the other reason to post the big 10 here: The stylization and creativity which the Tikis of the Kona Pali (and the Kona Kai) exhibit, to me perfectly embodies what makes mid-century Tiki style so cool: The perfect balance of authentic Polynesian, midcentury modern, and cartoonish elements, creating a new art form.

The entrance boasts FIVE Tikis instead of the four at the Kona Kai apts, here are the four that are similar to the ones there:

They to some degree are examples of the various Tiki forms found in the Polynesian Triangle: Hawaiian, Marquesan, Maori. The fifth one is as fine an example of American Tiki style as one can imagine:

So are the Tikis on the pool hut:

The door of which still has its name sign !:

And then there is this strange never before and since seen Tiki !:

...and this classy Moai:

Plus, seen for the first time this visit, this great rock carving:

For further details of the Kona Pali and Kona Kai, please see the Book of Tiki pages 222-223
Maybe this is as good a time as any to pre-announce that Taschen is planning to reprint the Book of Tiki in their 25 Year anniversary series in 2013 :)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2012-07-26 17:05 ]