Post #696074 by bigbrotiki on Fri, Oct 11, 2013 2:50 PM

No: "Is that a Tiki in your lap or do you just like me?" :)

That's one of his Cannibal carvings. They MUST have been sort of "Lucky Tikis" for Don: He had them in his house in Encino..

in his Hollywood bar...

and in his place in Waikiki:

The funny thing is that Don was really Pre-Tiki: He did not use these Tikis or any others as his logo, as mugs, menus, matchbooks, etc

• BUT his imitators that decidedly drew on his concepts, the Mai Kai and Steve Crane did:

Here is more clear proof of the shift from the Pre-Tiki South Seas joint generation (Don and various "Beachcomber" joints, Skipper Kent, various "Tropics" joints, and the like) to the "Tiki" generation: Don had those Tikis with him, but did not use them: The time was not ripe for Tiki to become the figurehead of Polynesian pop. Then, in the mid-50s, a new generation of restaurateurs tapped into the iconic properties of the Tiki.