Post #792236 by Mariner Mike on Thu, Jan 3, 2019 7:35 AM

Thank you all so much! I think I'm blushing (if that's not last night's Mai Tai still talking).

If you’ll pardon the excess, I’d like to give a little speech.

From the balcony: And I’d like to take a little nap!

Being thankful I can finally use the bar while still being excited for down the road additions pretty much sums up how I feel about it right now. I love the part of the hobby that is thrift store beachcombing and keeping a level eye out, and still having a horizon out there, but knowing that I can use it now and not having it sit there unfinished is such a great feeling.

Does anyone else anthropomorphize their tikis in their head? The whole time I was working on the space I was envisioning Toy Story style scenes of the mugs and masks and skulls sneaking out from their boxes to see the progress on their new home.

From the first time I had the idea in my head of putting the bar down there I had a really specific vision of bridging nautical, pirate, and tiki proper in a dark space. The nautical came from childhood summers spent fishing on boats, hanging out around all kinds of marinas from the Yucatan to St Johns NL, and getting into trouble in little inflatables and Boston Whalers on the Barnegat Bay (including one time I had to row a mile and then walk through quicksand, but that’s another story). The pirate definitely came from youthful adventure books, movies, and cartoons. Muppet Treasure Island in particular was an obvious influence, so was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (well what I remember of it from when I was in the third grade and last at Disney World), and Donkey Kong Country 2, weirdly enough. Tiki was partly Disney again, the Polynesian Hotel still sticks in my memory from that third grade trip, and the song from the enchanted Tiki Room can be recalled at a moment’s notice.

That’s a lot of childhood there, and one could easily come to the conclusion that this is just a way to add drinking to childhood fantasy, like making Butterbeer for Harry Potter fans. And I’m sure there’s a bit of that. But I think there’s something else there too, a sort of retreat into an ideal of a less cynical time where there are still islands to explore and mysteries within reach.

All of that to say, I’m thankful to have found this particular escape from reality, and to have such a warm welcome from a great community. I’ve really felt like I’ve put my heart and soul into this, and I’ve had such great help from family and friends along the way, not to mention my right hand lady Luau Laura and her continued support throughout and hands on work during the decorating phase. It’s been extremely rewarding to get such a fantastic response both from friends visiting in person and all of you here in the Tiki Ohana.

[ Edited by: Mariner Mike 2019-01-03 16:36 ]