Royal Hawaiian, Laguna Beach, CA (restaurant) - Locating Tiki

B bigbrotiki Tiki Socialite Tiki Island, above the Silverlake Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 11621	B bigbrotiki Posted posted on Fri, Sep 9, 2016 10:44 AM Sorry folks, but those Tikis are nowhere near being the originals. They are recent additions from when the original, vintage Royal Hawaiian was wrecked by being renovated in the "new look" by the new owners years ago. These Tikis are unfortunate misunderstandings of what makes a carving a "Tiki". There is too much "Lord of the Rings" in them. American, mid-century Tiki takes its inspiration from Polynesian carvings, and then stylizes them with cubist and modernist angularity. It stays away from organic, humanlike portrayal. The ORIGINAL Tiki poles in front of the R.H. were very cool modernist poles carved by Andres Bumatay. They were stolen and rotted away over the years:

Sorry folks, but those Tikis are nowhere near being the originals. They are recent additions from when the original, vintage Royal Hawaiian was wrecked by being renovated in the "new look" by the new owners years ago.

These Tikis are unfortunate misunderstandings of what makes a carving a "Tiki". There is too much "Lord of the Rings" in them. American, mid-century Tiki takes its inspiration from Polynesian carvings, and then stylizes them with cubist and modernist angularity. It stays away from organic, humanlike portrayal.

The ORIGINAL Tiki poles in front of the R.H. were very cool modernist poles carved by Andres Bumatay. They were stolen and rotted away over the years:

Post #768380 by bigbrotiki on Fri, Sep 9, 2016 10:44 AM