Post #702220 by bigbrotiki on Mon, Dec 16, 2013 6:56 AM

Yeah, the ownership of the Tropics is a very sad story. The attitude of its current major shareholder has driven away several interested parties of Tiki Revival community. All these were good people, highly motivated to revive the place in its authentic Tiki beauty, and all had to give up because the owner had a distorted sense of give and take. A real shame, I have loved that place since the late 80s, and lead my first architectural tour there in 1994:

I am proud to say that as the first measurable impact of my "Book of Tiki" published in September of 2000, the interim owners of the Tropics were swayed to not renovate the complex in Mediterranean style (as in "Caliente" Tropics), but to keep the Tiki theme intact when preservationist Pete Moruzzi introduced them to my book. In 2001, the Tropics became the location for the original Tiki Oasis Festival.

But by then the Reef doors were long gone. Luckily, I had the good sense to document them while still in situ, and in the last 20 years have wondered many times what had happened to them. I loved the combination of American saloon and Tiki style. My photos were the only proof of their existence for all this time:

It is wonderful that they have surfaced again after such a long period, and from such a sympathetic source. I have big plans for them:

They should be exhibited in my museum show about American Tiki culture that I am curating in Paris this summer, and be pictured in the catalog/ TASCHEN book accompanying it. After that, they should find a permanent place of residence at the new temple of Palm Springs Tiki, the Tonga Hut, scheduled to open in the new year, where they can be admired by many local and visiting Tiki lovers:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2013-12-16 07:02 ]