Post #704440 by AceExplorer on Sun, Jan 12, 2014 9:38 PM

Got it, very good. Book Of Tiki is a great start. Jeff Berry's cocktail-centric books discuss a number of things as well. But the history of tiki is not simple and not single-dimensional. It is multi-faceted in that there were several major "vibes" which contributed to the development of tiki. These vibes intersected, overlapped, and synergized together. For example:

• Post-prohibition euphoria
• The fortuitous availability of rum (and pricing situations) after prohibition
• World wars with military personnel having traveled to many tropical locales
• Increased post-war access to more-easily affordable air travel to tropical destinations
• Entrepreneurial activities which capitalized on the above
  ...and more.

Tiki evolved. It is a hybridized blend of things which came together at a very unique series of points in American history. It was shepherded by a handful of very talented people (several luminaries were, as you pointed out, from California) who were creative visionaries and very good at advancing their concepts. Their concepts later developed even further beyond just tropical and into full-blown poly-pop. These are things which various books, in addition to the content of various threads in Tiki Central, help illustrate. It's good stuff.