Intro and Question: "what is Tiki to you?"

Hi all! My name is Rob and this would be my first post. I found this site while stumbling around the net searching for a tiki mug and a hula girl for my wife who is pining for Hawaii while it pours outside her office window.

I'm a video game artist in the Bay Area of CA and we took our honeymoon in Kauai and absolutely fell in love with all things Polynesian.

I'm wrestling with the desire to go nuts on collecting tiki stuff but I have so many hobbies already. :wink: Ah, who am I kidding? It's just a matter of time.

Anyway, I'm fascinated by this culture and plan to read up on it by getting Tiki Quest and Book of Tiki (which one is better in your opinion?) and that leads me to my main question: What is tiki to you?

From what I know, the culture was borne out of an homage or capitilzation (or both)on Polynesian culture and history. And from what I can tell, they never drank out of Tiki mugs. So where did all this come from? And how do you think it has evolved into what it is today?

I look forward to chatting with you all!
Oh, and your advice on the best place to start with this love affair, besides this site of course, are much appreciated.

Rob

I'll just touch on your book question.

I have both Book of Tiki and Tiki Quest. You really should have both; they are both excellent. The Book of Tiki is THE tiki/Polynesian Pop Culture "bible", if you will. Read it and you will start to understand what this whole tiki thing is all about and why we all love it so. Tiki Quest is chock full of pictures of damn well nearly every tiki mug, ashtray, restaurant menu, swizzle stick, you name it and it all belongs to one couple - Duke and Amy Carter (very nice people, might I add). It's more pictures than words.

So, you will definitely need both!

When you are ready to move on, there are a bunch more books you'll need to own. Check out Amazon.com and type in "Shag" or "tiki". People have posted their favorite book lists there...

Just my two bits. And, Welcome!

Deery Luau

When I was a new member here, I started a similar post and, since it's hard to locate such a general subject using the search function, I thought I'd post a link to it: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=10802&forum=1

Also, I'm too lazy to type my view of tiki all over again. :wink:

I would have to agree with Deery Luau's book advice. Welcome to TC, and let the addiction begin!

Welcome, dread, and if you're just getting started with tiki, you're in for a very fun ride.

"Book of Tiki" -- called "BOT" here, and considered to be tantamount to the Burning Bush -- is about Tiki, its history, manisfestations. "Tiki Road Trip" is a nuts and bolts guide to where to find tiki spots (bars, restaurants, motels) throughout the country. Both are a MUST.

By far the most cogent explanation of This Thing Called Tiki is right here:

http://64.81.235.211/cgi-bin/tiki.cgi

"A song of yearning for the exotic. Love of the weird." - from the liner notes of The Scientists' Weird Love

I like the dark side of tiki best. Volcanos, dark forboding jungle, headhunters, fierce angry gods, human sacrifice, menacing savages. I also like Hawaii and the South Seas and all the lore and history. I don't consider them the same but they co-exist in my world quite nicely.

I think my fascination with tiki would start with my love of National Geographic as a kid. I had a huge collection and the pastor of my church had an entire library full of NG and he'd let me take home stacks at a time to read cover to cover and dream of these exotic foreign places. And what could more exotic and sensual than the South Seas? As a young teen I got into the pulp novels like Doc Savage, Tarzan, Conan and similar, with the pulp hero fighting monsters and demons and evil despicable geniuses to save one lusty barely dressed wench after another. Then as a young man I started drinking, a lot, and at some point got fascinated with the old Bachelor Lifestyle from the 60s. Whether it was from movies, TV shows, old Argosy and True magazines, old Playboys, I don't know where I started getting into it. Maybe I was just amazed that not so long ago (this was in the 80s) it was cool to have martinis at lunch, smoke at work, and pretty much drink all the time.

Somehow all that probably led me to tiki. Plus I was a big record collector and went through the Incredibly Strange Music and then the Lounge thing. That contributed as well. Love of strange dark exotic places, fascination with Polynesia/the South Seas, the idea of the late 50s/early 60s carefee bachelor lifestyle (with all the cool furniture and decor) I guess all adds up to tiki for me.

Plus, as a lifelong collector of things, what am I gonna collect if I don't collect tiki? Owls?

Hey guys! Thanks for all the replies and great info!

Kono, I love your description of where your fascination came from. I've been trying to put mine into words since I came back from Kauai a few months ago and that pretty much sums it up. I mean, none of that stuff is ACTUALLY there...no savages or idols or voodoo or anything like that, but you can "feel" it, you know? The place is so mysterious and rich with color and my vivid imagination makes it feel like its always there, even though I couldnt see it.

As for collecting owls, no man, no! I collect skateboards from the 80's and thats a pretty big vice. I think tiki mugs are next on the agenda. :wink:

Well, I'm off to the book store to read up on Tiki!

Welcome Rob!

What does tiki mean to me? I'm going to have to go with kono on the whole "dark side" thing. Its hard to put to words, but
I guess it sort of symbolizes for me a whole exotic world beyond the bland greyness of secular western culture--not a real world--but a sort of nostalgic, romanticized world of adventure, magic mystery... am I babbling? :)

A few thoughts on this at my website (read "about this painting"):

http://www.theartdeck.com/tikiprints-hi.htm

And here might also be relevant, scroll down to the "Tiki Art Now" section:

http://www.theartdeck.com/secret-newsletter.htm

Welcome to TC & welcome to tiki!

Yeah, my idealized tiki island doesn't come close to existing in the real world.

I love the dichotomy Michener created with the mythical islands of Bali-ha'i and Vanicoro. All the attention was given to the paradise of Bali-ha'i but I got a soft spot for dark Vanicoro myself.

Michener on Bali-ha'i: "Bali-ha'i was an island of the sea, a jewel of the vast ocean. It was small. Like a jewel, it could be perceived in one loving glance. It was neat. It had majestic cliffs facing the open sea. It had a jagged hill to give it character. It was green like something ever youthful, and it seemed to curve itself like a woman into the rough shadows formed by the greater island of Vanicoro."

On Vanicoro: "It was a large and brooding island, miasmic with malaria, old fetishes, sickness and deep shadows. It was called Vanicoro, and in the old times was known as a magic place. Four peaks lined the center of the island. Two of them were active volcanoes. Only the bravest natives dared live on Vanicoro, and they were the last to give up cannibalism."

I've only just read Michener's "Tales of the South Pacific" (from which the above is leeched) and "Hawaii" in the last three or four months but his writing does an unbelievable job in capturing the allure that Tiki and Polynesia has for me.

If you could somehow combine Bali-ha'i, Vanicoro, Black Lagoon (as in Creature from...) and Kong Island, and then put there on the beach, an open-air Trader Vic's (with all the requisite tiki decor) that was staffed by Hawaiians, Tahitians and Samoans in traditional dress (esp the vahines, yowza!), I'd pretty much be in tiki heaven. :tiki:

Aloha,

As a fellow artist, I suppose I'm drawn to Tiki for it's bold iconography. The cultural offerings of the South Pacific (not to mention those of Africa, Carribean, and the Americas) are a testament to the inspirational power of art. I also love the Lounge, and Traditional Hawaiian music.

I may add that I've long been facinated with Mid-century pop culture in many forms.

There are many facets to Tiki and there's always something new. Keep in mind, Tiki isn't limited to Polynesia. Your quest is bound to turn up idols from throughout the South Pacific. For example, New Guinea (Melanesia) artifacts are some of my favorite and have greatly contributed to Tiki Pop-culture.

-FB

[ Edited by: FREAKBEAR on 2004-11-10 22:24 ]