What was the first Tiki mug? - Collecting Tiki

T Tattoo Tiki Socialite Los Angeles Joined: Sep 24, 2005 Posts: 321	T Tattoo Posted posted on Sun, Oct 26, 2014 6:11 PM Interesting addition of the Kalua Room Tiki mug and a good contender indeed. It is such a rare mug that it didn't cross my mind. I usually associate the Kalua Room with the PNG Bird Drum mug. Anyhow, it would make good sense for them to have made such an early Tiki mug. Seattle was fortunate to have one of the first, if not the first, Trader Vic spinoff with the Outrigger restaurant at the Benjamin Hotel circa 1948. And there is plenty of documentation that the Outrigger used Ceramic Coconut mugs, Tiki Bowls, Scorpion Bowls and Fogcutter mugs for their drinks. The Kalua room opened in 1953-1954 and was undoubtedly inspired by the Outrigger. And so it made its own mugs and invariably a Tiki mug. Maybe the first indeed. Looking at the Outrigger menu's dated 7/5/52 http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=34159&forum=2&vpost=660942, we can compare some prices: $1.25 Buccaneer - Kalua $1.25 Mai Tai - Outrigger 1952 $1.25 Virgin Island Sling - Kalua $1.00 Fog Cutter - Outrigger 1952 Bowl for 2 $2.25 Kalua $1.75 Outrigger 1952 In general I would have to say the prices are close enough that the one Kalua Room menu is probably from when it opened circa 1954. Which would date the Kalua Tiki mug in the ballpark of 1954-1955. So, is the Kalua Room Tiki mug the first? Hard to say for sure with Tiki Bob opening in 1955... On 2012-12-01 01:33, bigbrotiki wrote: I clearly show the genesis of the Tiki Bob mug as stemming from the 1955 menu cover that Alec Yuil-Thornton designed for Bob Bryant, whom he must have known from both of the gentlemen working for Trader Vic. That Thornton based his modernist cartoonish Tiki design on an African Ngil mask is another story (which I related in Tiki Modern) The Tiki Bob mug is a good guess as the first, not only because it is likely to have been there early after the opening of the place in 1955, but Tiki Bob's was the first place to use the TIKI moniker in its name, and the Tiki figure as a logo, for the entrance Tiki, the menu, matchbooks, mugs and S&P shakers. Which marks the emergence of TIKI STYLE, being born OUT OF Polynesian pop. (I credit Don The Beachcomber in the 1930s as the great originator of Polynesian Pop) Interestingly both contenders for the first mug were clearly influenced by Trader Vic. [ Edited by: tattoo 2014-10-27 06:41 ] [ Edited by: tattoo 2014-10-29 16:15 ]

Interesting addition of the Kalua Room Tiki mug and a good contender indeed. It is such a rare mug that it didn't cross my mind. I usually associate the Kalua Room with the PNG Bird Drum mug. Anyhow, it would make good sense for them to have made such an early Tiki mug. Seattle was fortunate to have one of the first, if not the first, Trader Vic spinoff with the Outrigger restaurant at the Benjamin Hotel circa 1948. And there is plenty of documentation that the Outrigger used Ceramic Coconut mugs, Tiki Bowls, Scorpion Bowls and Fogcutter mugs for their drinks. The Kalua room opened in 1953-1954 and was undoubtedly inspired by the Outrigger. And so it made its own mugs and invariably a Tiki mug. Maybe the first indeed.

Looking at the Outrigger menu's dated 7/5/52 http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=34159&forum=2&vpost=660942, we can compare some prices:

$1.25 Buccaneer - Kalua
$1.25 Mai Tai - Outrigger 1952

$1.25 Virgin Island Sling - Kalua
$1.00 Fog Cutter - Outrigger 1952

Bowl for 2
$2.25 Kalua
$1.75 Outrigger 1952

In general I would have to say the prices are close enough that the one Kalua Room menu is probably from when it opened circa 1954. Which would date the Kalua Tiki mug in the ballpark of 1954-1955. So, is the Kalua Room Tiki mug the first? Hard to say for sure with Tiki Bob opening in 1955...

On 2012-12-01 01:33, bigbrotiki wrote:
I clearly show the genesis of the Tiki Bob mug as stemming from the 1955 menu cover that Alec Yuil-Thornton designed for Bob Bryant, whom he must have known from both of the gentlemen working for Trader Vic. That Thornton based his modernist cartoonish Tiki design on an African Ngil mask is another story (which I related in Tiki Modern)

The Tiki Bob mug is a good guess as the first, not only because it is likely to have been there early after the opening of the place in 1955, but Tiki Bob's was the first place to use the TIKI moniker in its name, and the Tiki figure as a logo, for the entrance Tiki, the menu, matchbooks, mugs and S&P shakers. Which marks the emergence of TIKI STYLE, being born OUT OF Polynesian pop. (I credit Don The Beachcomber in the 1930s as the great originator of Polynesian Pop)

Interestingly both contenders for the first mug were clearly influenced by Trader Vic.

[ Edited by: tattoo 2014-10-27 06:41 ]

[ Edited by: tattoo 2014-10-29 16:15 ]

Post #730355 by Tattoo on Sun, Oct 26, 2014 6:11 PM