What I did on my Tiki Vacation (with pics)

I thought I'd share the incredible adventures I had during my visit to SoCal last week. My wife Kathleen and I give many thanks to our super hosts, Stentiki and Tina! They definitely have the Aloha Spirit, and Tiki Central wouldnt be the same without these great folks! Here's a pic of them at the Royal Hawaiian as we had lapus on Thursday evening:

On Wednesday, they took us out on their boat the Kon-Tiki, cruising us around Huntington Harbor, viewing the sea lions, harbor seals, and the Queen Mary. All very cool! Then it was lunch at the YardHouse in Long Beach, and finally back to HB.

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit that afternoon to Sven's digs, high atop the hills overlooking Silver Lake. What a great place, and Sven is an even greater guy to open his pad to us! Mahalo Nui to you Sven, for entertaining 4 relative strangers. Here's a pic of Arty, Tina, Kathleen, and Sven hoisting a Mai Tai in honor of the tiki gods!:

And here's a pic of Arty, Sven, and myself pondering the origins of one of Sven's many tiki carvings:

No trip to Sven's would be complete without paying tribute to Big Daddy Tiki:

After Sven's, we all headed to Damon's for more Mai Tai's, and hooked up with a few other folks. Here's Sven with his lovely Naomi, along with Jody, Kevin, and Beachbum Jeff:

And a pic of Sven and Kathleen recreating the mural in the background:

Thursday was also a great day, with trips to House of Tiki and Bamboo Ben's. Thanks Ben for the sweet hookups on the drink coolers, and the Aloha sign! There was so much stuff at his store that I wanted to buy, but I don't think it would fit in my carry-on! Good luck with your journey to becoming smoke-free, Ben!

Thursday afternoon, after lunch at Sam's Seafood, we had a "nice" visit at TikiBong's. He put us to work vacuuming his garage as he sat drinking Mai Tais and giving us orders. See what happens when you give someone Moderator status on TC?! That guy is on one big power trip! Seriously, Bong was swell to have us over to his hut and show us all the sweet mugs and what-nots in his collection, as well as mix up some Mai Tais that were dee-licious! He even let me traumatize his family with my rendition of Napoleon Dynamite!

Friday was another high point of our trip, as we cruised over to Oceanic Arts. For those of you that haven't been there in a while, this is what greets you at the door when you arrive:

Very Cool! We wandered around for a while, drooling over all the amazing tikis. Leroy finally made an appearance from out back, and he was very gracious to let me take a pic of him with Kathleen:

He and Bob were also great to sign my Book of Tiki! Arty and I needed to buy something, so I looked for and found masks I could fit into my luggage. Arty had the luxury of getting something larger, and was about to get a tiki pole when he spied the coolest thing! A footstool that was hand-carved and signed by none other than Leroy himself! What a find! Here's Leroy and Arty with the treasure found:

From what Leroy told us, it was something he whipped together to use up a palm stump, and probably will be the only one he does for awhile, if ever again.
Thanks Leroy and Bob for keeping the tiki vibe going with your great company!

That night, after pupus at the Royal Hawaiian, we headed back to the Stentiki Hut, for one last mai tai before motoring to Malibu. Here's MixMaster Arty hard at work fixing us up with the libations:

Salud, Stentiki!

Finally, although it wasn't part of the TikiTour 2005, we caught the show with Dave Wakeling at the Malibu Inn. We got there way too early, but at least I was able to get this pic of Kathleen with Dave:

We got there around 6:00 to have dinner, but General Public didn't go on til 11:00! Dave must have felt sorry for us having to wait so long, as we came over and talked with us a few times before he went on.

It was a great trip, and I look forward to coming back next year and perhaps meeting more of the TC Ohana!

When life hands you limes... make Mai Tais!

[ Edited by: tikigreg on 2005-04-17 13:52 ]

Mahalo for the log and the pics.
Glad you had fun and received warm welcomes.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing the pics. It looks like a great time.

What was the General Public show like? Is Ranking Roger still with 'em? They play any English Beat stuff? Are they tight or are they getting loungey? Man are we getting old.

Boy what a fantastic trip.You saw everyone that is everyone starting with mr Bong. Great pix, thanks for sharing.

Wow! Dave looks great. He lost all of that post rock-star weight he put on after the Special Beat stopped touring. Sounded like an awesome trip.

Wow Greg!

Was that your vacation or mine? Mahalos for the shoutouts and wonderful pix! You and K.O. are the best! T and I are still talking and laughing about all the good times and 'sweet hookups' we had. Sweet! Awesome! Incredible! (We finally saw the movie last night). And again, many mahalos to Sven & Co., Ben, Bong, Wes, Leroy & Bob.

Also, many mahalos for all the gifts, especially that black skull mug! I didn't think I would ever get my hands on one of those (I want that!). A very nice surprise indeed. You guys are amazing! We'll see you this fall on the other coast.

Hugs to K.0.

Aloha,

Arty

[ Edited by: stentiki on 2005-04-17 16:56 ]

RightOn, Arty! Right On!

Kono, the General Public show was good, but the glory days are over. Dave is the only original member left, and there isn't any tightness at all in the band. But Dave's voice is still as amazing as ever. They did a fair amount of English Beat, notably "I Confess" and "Mirror in the Bathroom." And, yes, we are getting old!

Pegs, shocks, lucky...

TikiGreg and his gal are great folks (and they're great vacuum'ers).

Dave Wakeling is a great guy, he lives in San Diego & probably plays around here too much for me to go out of my way to see him, but he usually plays material from all stages of his career & some tasty covers, too.

alittle????