Post #808172 by Prikli Pear on Thu, Mar 2, 2023 9:02 AM

Growing up I didn't even have that exposure. I watched Gilligan's Island and the Brady Bunch go to Hawaii but tiki never registered as anything that existed in the past. There was a DtB, TV and even a Dobbs House Luau in Houston, a city we visited on occasion, but my folks were strictly meat-and-potatoes people who viewed any other type of food with suspicion as potentially lethal. I was 17 before I tasted even basic Chinese food! By this point I was vaguely aware that such things as tiki mugs and even tiki bars had existed, and recognized the names Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic, but that was about it.

Fast forward to 2014 when we ended up buying a house (quite by accident) that had a pool surrounded by palm trees and a 65' covered patio. In the summer of 2016 as we were floating in the pool, The Wife suggested we needed a "tiki bar" to complete the picture. So I built a stand-alone bar with bamboo and thatch and thought I was something special for the next six months. Then, in my arrogance, I went online to see if anyone was as cool as me with a home tiki bar and found Tiki Central. I've been falling down a very deep and twisty rabbit hole ever since, with no bottom in sight.