Post #805860 by stolenidol on Tue, Oct 4, 2022 4:47 PM

From the home bar perspective, I think that people start out wanting (what they think is) a tiki bar, but they don't really know where to start other than with the readily available mass produced junk. So they do their best (or half-assed best) to make something, only to have people tell them it isn't what they think it is. Their first reaction is, screw you, it's my tiki bar, who are you to tell me it isn't! I don't think the average person is looking at tiki as something with a historic lineage and a defined aesthetic. And they definitely aren't going to spend $200 on The Book of Tiki to find out, and probably don't even know it exists. That said, those who care enough, and listen, start looking deeper. They make some changes, find some estate sale items, spend more time and money, and eventually get hooked. And minds change. It took me two years to have a home bar that I'm proud enough of to consider it an actual tiki bar.

From the commercial bar perspective--these half-assed attempts and making some watered down version of a "tiki" bar is just some combination of greed, laziness and ignorance. They're in it for a quick buck and have no regard for what is or isn't tiki. And they won't be around long.