Another So Cal Tiki Trek

Smogbreather wrote:
Here's a thought - it's up to you & the So Cal locals. This might be kind of fun if you or anybody in the group is interested. I've got Peter Seely (T. Vic's grandson) coming by the office on Tuesday the 17th - we're going out for lunch. Perhaps we could surprise him and all of you could meet us down at the San Clemente pier for lunch. I'll give a free tour o' the farm afterwards. Peter's a pretty conservative guy, kind of perceived as a "hard ass" but is in all sincerity one of the nicest people that I know. He won't be wearing Aloha, he's not Tiki but he is slowly getting into "the vibe" and despite all of the business that goes along with running a grandiose business such as Trader Vic's - Peter is funny and is very entertaining to hang out with!

Holden Westland
Tiki Farm
"Purveyors of Polynesian Pop Culture"
http://www.tikifarm.com
800.357.3360

An excellent invitation. Polynesian Pop, Hula Hula and myself are mounting an expedition. Our objective is Tiki. our Itinerary is:

Tuesday the 17th

9:00 Oceanic Arts
10:30 Aloha Joe's (if they're still open) or
House of Tiki
12:00 Lunch on the pier in San Clemente with Holden and Peter Seely from Trader Vic's
1:00 Tour of Tiki Farm.
2:00 Cocktails in the Lagoon Room

Who's in? Bong? Baxter? TraderPup?. You guys can miss a day at work. Tell your kids to choose between college or braces. Anyone else?.

Al,

It sure sounds tempting. Note that Aloha Joe's isn't open on Tuesdays. Quite a stretch of asphalt - OA to San Clemente!

Let me see if I can develop a cold between now and then - cough, cough.

Oh, alright then! Twist my arm, why don't you! count me in! Although Oceanic Arts is gonna ruin me! (I bought another lamp this week... been there 3 times in past 2 weeks.... I think I have a problem.....)

:tiki:

Dangit! I may just have to meet up for all of this. Darn you all and all of these tiki distractions! How's a guy supposed to get any work done!!?!?!?

-Weird Unc

You call that work - going all over the world selling wine?! :wink:

Yeah, I guess you're right, The Jab. I don't feel so bad now. Thanks. But really even my last trip to Hawaii was four islands in four days comprising 8 flights and not even a swim. Certainly no vacation (Thanks to the Geckos, I did manage to have some fun my last night there).

-W.U.T.

W.U.T -

I personally don't enjoy flying so I don't envy you. It sounds pretty hectic. You probably just want to stay home when you take your vacation!

You're killing me, Al!

Aloha,

Arty

You're killing me, Al!

Aloha,

Arty

Yes, I spoke with Al and Hula Hula about "Tiki Tuesday" and you know what? I have a strange suspicion that I'm gonna be really sick when I get up that morning - sick enough that I won't be able to go to work. The remedy? Tiki Tuesday! Oceanic Arts, Aloha Joe's/House of Tiki, Lunch with Holden and TV, Tiki Farm and the Lagoon Room...hmmm, that just might make me feel much better....

Hey you Tiki Freaks!
Stop by Bamboo Ben on Tiki Tuesday (between Joe's and House of Wes,) park at Wallgreens, get me out of my work shop #7 and I'll kick down 50% off all Bamboo Ben stuff to you's!!! A little Mele Kalikimaka to you all!!!!! And one FREE hand made Bamboo Ben tree ornament! So, there!

Ben, sounds good to me! Al/Hula, let's stop by Ben's after OA. Sound ok?

Im gonna be soooo poor after this trip! Bamboobens shop sounds like a great idea.

But after you visit me, you'll be 50% richer!!

Well, I've got to take my sister to LAX at like 7:30 so I'm going to hit O.A. on the way back to O.C. I'd love to tag along and can't wait to see Tiki Farm as I couldn't make the Bash. So count me in! Yea!

Hi,
Tuesday Tiki Trekkers...
Call me around 10am or so (949) 940-1006 so that I can give you folks a heads up as to what exact time Peter Seely and I will be down at the San Clemente Pier. Should be very close to 12:00 noon but it could be +/- as it depends upon Peter's schedule. Hopin' for a little flexibility but I'll talk to Peter and try to nail noon on the head.
Holden

Loose itinerary for Tiki Tuesday with changes to include a visit to Bamboo Ben's:

9:00am - Meet at Oceanic Arts
10:00am - Depart for Bamboo Bens
10:30am - Visit w/ Bamboo Ben
11:30am - Depart for San Clemente Pier
12:00pm - Lunch w/ Holden of Tiki Farm and Peter Seeley of Trader Vic's
1:30pm - Depart for Tiki Farm
2:00pm - Tour of Tiki Farm facility
3:00pm - Depart for Al's Lagoon Room

Of course, everyone is invited to tag along. Hope to see you all there!

*** * * The Polynesian Popster * * ***

[ Edited by: polynesianpop on 2002-12-16 08:30 ]

I'm looking forward to breaking away from the insanity for lunch tomorrow (it is tiki, but it's still insanity - but the good type... know what I mean!?) We'll have a fair amount of our new mugs/shots on display as well as a major pack-out going on out back of the first large run of both the Shag Moatu & Akuku sets at the Farm.

Hope someone sees this in time...

Welp, I'm trying to fight off a cold here, so I don't think I'll be participating in Tiki Tuesday. A little too cool and damp out....

:tiki:

Aloha Tiki Trec'r's,
Mucho Mahalos for stoppin buy on your Trek. It was bitchen (cool) that you's were the first to sign the "Big Bamboo" and to meet Hula and his Mrs. and Laney and her friend. Mahalos for enjoying my art.
The Rev. Bamboo Ben
p.s. Judd, Poly and big Al, you's too's!!
How was the lunch???????

Thanks for stoppin' "By the Farm"... ye faithful few, ye trekkers o' tiki! Hope you enjoyed the tour!
Holden

Well, Thanks everyone, I had fun. It was nice to finally put some faces to names. Cory thought you guys were really friendly. He kind of insisted on going when I told him I was going to meet up with a bunch of people I met on-line. He seemed pleasantly surprised, as the whole meeting people on-line is a bit scary. But we're all perfectly normal because were into tiki!
Holden, thanks again for my warty mug. I'm going to list it right now on ebay...starting bid $130.00. No, It is right at home with my T.V. bottle on my shelf. Mugs with memories are the best! I will cherish the mugs I got from my parents more than the rarest ones I could ever find on ebay. Peter seemed pleased to know that people covet the old barware and the new as well. Thanks for letting us be there and show that there is a growing interest in tiki! It was great for everyone's business, hobby, and passion.
P.S. Please don't kill all the warty mugs. I thought about our conversation and there must be something you could do with the defects as I know you don't like trashing them also. Maybe mark them with DEFECTIVE NOT FOR SALE and give them to us.(I like this one best) Or throw a Defective party and we'll all drink from them until the end of the night when we all smash the "bad" mugs in a huge Greek-like dance. What do you think? At least they'll go out with glory.

Tiki Tuesday - How cool was that?!

As usual, another TC outing that was a total blast! Although it was wet outside, the tiki gods smiled at us and gave us sunshine at every one of our destinations. Here's some highlights from our 3-hour tour:

Oceanic Arts - Spent some time talking with Bob Van Oosting and "The Great One" Leroy Schmaltz. We even got to see an inside peek at an 8 foot Ku he custom carved for The Rock. Picked up some cool tikis too. Big Al even bought 4 - count 'em - 4 masks for display in the Lagoon Room!

Bamboo Ben's - Very cool to see some old photos of Eli Hedley at work on the Aku Aku Moai and pics of Tiki Temples long gone along with Chiki's World's largest tiki mug! Special thanks to Ben for his gracious discounts to our group. I scored a Bamboo Ben original Tiki for a great price (less than half!) - and he even threw in some bamboo ornaments! Very Cool.

Lunch w/ Peter Seeley - Lunch at the pier was great. Was nice to sit down and talk to Holden about the Tiki biz. Looks like Weird Unc and Mr. Seeley started the beginnings of a business venture we can look forward to attending next year - Weird Uncle Vic's! :wink:

Tiki Farm Tour - Now what can I say about this one?! Holden is definitely living the dream. The Tiki Farm digs look straight out of an episode of MTV's Real World but with Tikis! We got a sneak peek of the mugs and cool packaging coming in 2003. Special thanks to Holden for handing out a Suffering Bastard mug for all TC'ers in attendance! Very Cool.

The Fabulous Lagoon Room - Al's mixology is second to none. From Mai Tai's to Blue Hawaiian's, we had them all!

Dinner at Kealani's - What a great way to end Tiki Tuesday - Island style food in Oceanside! Where else can you have a Loco Moco plate lunch for dinner? It's Da Kine!

It was great to take a break from the weekday grind and sneak out for a day of tiki. Special thanks to Bamboo Ben, Holden and Al for their generosity in hosting our little group. Can't wait for the next one!

BTW Shely, the 76 is not a f--'ing freeway!

*** * * The Polynesian Popster * * ***

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2002-12-18 08:02 ]

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2002-12-18 08:05 ]

Well what can I say that has'nt been said.

First and foremost Al my head is still ringing, there isnt enough asprine in this town to fix this, I was sooo the SUFFERING BASTARD last night, had the pose down and all. UGH!!!! you are so the drink master.

A special thanks to holden for the gracious invitation to hang with him and peter and for giving us the tour, then he goes beyond that by sending us home with a awesome gift. *sniff * feel the love.

Bambooben thanks for taking some time out for us and the great deals you gave us,mahalo.

To sum it up ,much fun was had by all . I really enjoyed meeting alnshely, laney, weirduncle tiki (see you tonight), and my old bro polynesianpop,untill next tuesday, cheer!

I am glad you guys had a blast. I wanted to go, but had to get an order out. I kept trying to rationalize atleast going to OA, but it is never just a quick stop there. Then I said I'll go pick up my "mug" at Ben's cause it's getting a tiki makeover. I can't really complain though, cause I saw tikis all day.

Chiki,
We saw you work in all our visits. First, the two you had in the case at Oceanic Arts. Second, the World's Largest Tiki Mug at Bamboo Bens. Third, your mug & matching shotmug in the matte glaze - as well as the packaging it will be sold in at Tiki Farm.

You may not have been there physically, but you where there in spirit - or at least your tikis were!

Chiki's Tikis are his spirit!

Weird Uncle Vics! I love it! Alas, no... we weren't scheming new business ventures, just talking story. We're both involved in family business so it was just your usual everyday businessman's lunch conversation, you know: booze, safari travel, rum, liquor distributors, fine wine, menehunes, etc. You know. Tiki Tuesday was a grand time, indeed. More please.

-Weird Uncle Tiki

So to quote a recent post "feel so left out!"

Sounds like a total blast and I am Shecky Green with envy!

I recently saw a sign somewhere that read

"Working is the curse of the drinking class"

How true!

Aloha,

Arty

Tiki Tuesday really turned out to be a such a great day. I want to thank Leroy and Bob, Bamboo Ben, Peter Seely, Holden and all the Centralites that made the Trek. We all met at Oceanic Arts.





They have the best lamps at OA. I think this is Laney's favorite.



Examples of the excellent carvings. After Oa we headed for Bamboo Ben's

Thanks Ben, for everything. Ben tells me he's doing some work for Heather Locklear and Ritchie Sambora. His place is full of cool stuff and he's having a sale this weekend
Bamboo Ben
Bamboo Ben (custom tropical decor)
712 Yorktown Ave. #20
Huntington Beach, Ca. 92648
Store Hours- Sat. 10-Sunset(ish)
Sun. 11-4ish
Other Hours by appointment 714 960-1860

After Ben's we headed south to the pier in San Clemente for lunch with Holden and Peter Seely. After lunch we drove up to Tiki Farm.

Here's Adrian (Poly Pop) with Holden's new line of great mugs. The grey mugs on the far right were designed by Danny Gallardo (Chiki Tiki). Good job, great mugs.

I really liked the new TV mug and the 40th anniversary Disney's Tiki Room Mug. Way cool.

Tiki Farm Presents,The Kava Bowl. Awesome!!!. Iuka Grog Laney and Cory had to split, but, the rest of us headed to my place for cocktails and then to Kealani's for some dinner.

Adrian, Lazara, David, Shell in the Pacific


Mahalo, Aloha,
Al

Once again, great pictures Al. I'd love to see Hula Hula's pics too because he lurks around for the candid shots.
Yep, that's my lamp. I wish they'd dust it. That's probably the #1 problem with tiki stuff. I don't think it was lack of interest that shut down all those tiki joints in the past, it was that they got buried in dust and spiders! My tiki bar was voted best home bar by arachnids in 2002. They rent out room on the puffer lamps. I'm far from a clean freak so I'll live with them for now, who wants to move all those mugs and chance a break to dust?

Yeah, I'd like to see Hula Hula's pics too. When I asked if he would post them, he replied with "probably not." Here's hoping he gets off his lazy ass and puts them up. I think he took some great pics!

BTW Laney - We were hoping you and Cory would stop by for a drink at the Lagoon Room. Since you didn't, I took the liberty of consuming your drink for you so I wouldn't get wasted. ---No need to thank me...:)

Oh yeah, I drank Cory's too...

Geez, laney you make me feel like some kinda creepy freak :wink:I like the true to life shots, most when ppl are stuffing there face or drunk off there ass.

I'll post all the pics when I get back to vegas, got some really nice pics last night of tiki-ti's too.

On 2002-12-19 10:50, hula hula wrote:
I like the true to life shots, most when ppl are stuffing there face or drunk off there ass.

You didn't get me did you? :o