A very brief history - Tiki Farm

I thought it was important to share some history. Although the website has been down for some time, back in 1998, me & my friend Charlie Rubel started eBachelorpad. We went live in Jan 1999 and had a good interactive flash website. Our web traffic became serious - bordering crazy large. What you'll find here is the interactive elements but not the actual ecommerce site (we've still got it saved and may put it up someday again). Here's the link...

http://studio531.com/html/flashShowcase.asp

Sammy Swank was our spokesman - the quintessential bachelor. That was then... I am now happily married. Anyways, when the internet was the rage, we were in coversations with 2 large companies to possibly sell our biz... and we walked away. Unbelievable - it's mind boggling to think how things worked back then.

Our e-commerce was dedicated to the following items...

Aloha Shirts: We made our own here in So Cal and the brand was "Swank Island"; 6 designs in total.
Vintage Burlesque Videos
Vintage Drag Racing Videos
Swank Barwares
Vintage Barwares
Tiki Wares...

I rep'd Dynasty, Munktiki, Bosko plus other mfr's of assorted miscellaneous wares. Munktiki had only 1 item (bug - eyed tiki) and I bugged Paul about 10x before they set me up. I bought 2-3 ltd designs from Bosko at bulk discounts and marked those up. Dynasty's mugs sucked and as a rep, could only sell about 1/2 because the rest were defects. I got tired of either high priced mugs or cheap mugs...
Tiki Farm was the result.

Shag and I met during eBachelorpad - he liked our stuff and he was just prior to getting famous. My first request to him... "Hey, let's dow a throw pillow"... wtf!!!??? Our first mug (Moai) actually turned into the lamps that we did. I have a fun/sorted history with Tiki and I'm happy that I can work 9-9 about 6.5 days per week and pay the bills and be content. Man, I dig it all.

Night & mahalo,
Holden

I was under the impression Squid had some part in Tiki Farm early on. Is that correct or foggy cross country daydreaming?

What a great history lesson Holden! I remember ebachelor pad, one of the coolest sites ever.

Scotty

Definately a geat history lesson. I just spent an hour on the Island and didn't find every thing yet. I'm glad you can earn it in tiki.
HappyHappyHappy

That was educational. I always enjoy a good story. I think everyone's walk is interesting if you take the time to learn about them.

Squid is an important part of the story. I literally flew & hired Squid to come out here from Kansas after offering him a job on the phone. We found him a pad with a studio out back and now, years later, he's happily married living in Tarzana and does a lot of work for us still. Squid is one of my best friends - he's a special "Tiki" bro for sure.
Alohaz,
H

More SQUID please!

Thanks for the success story, Holden. It's always so interesting to hear how an "institution" is born... Keep up the great work!