Post #808498 by mike and marie on Thu, Mar 23, 2023 7:06 PM

Monsters, burlesque, hot rods, rockabilly etc are not necessarily tiki, but since fans of one Lowbrow aspect are often fans of the other, it’s bound to get mixed up. A more positive variant of “that’s not tiki” might be “that is Lowbrow,” hence allowing tiki to be “authentic” within this larger cultural umbrella. Then distinctions can be made - call it a Lowbrow festival/bar/etc and not tiki, with the understanding that of course tiki will be a part of it.

Really excellent idea & observation, MrFab.

Pure tiki (and MCM culture) is very dead these days. Most tiki-related endeavors now are part of the lowbrow scene, be it a festival or publication or product. The tiki purists and cultists sort of died out or were buried away at the same time all these various elements of the lowbrow movement converged together.

That said, we absolutely despise lowbrow anything. And we've always maintained that for a man, the best attire for the best tiki joint is and always will be a jacket and tie. Today, there aren't that many around where a discerning gent can pull that off. There also aren't that many gents who can pull it off, either. But, ironically, we did spot one today -- crawling around at the records in a suburban Goodwill!