Tiki Bummed

I think it's important to note, that it's not our parents' generation that was into Tiki, but our grand-parents (for the most part-depending on how old you are etc)
Although Tiki was everywhere in the 60's and 70's, the generation growing up then (our parents) were against it and this ultimately led to it's demise!! It's from then that drinks with umbrellas became associated with "sissies" or "old geezers in Aloha shirts". We have to understand this generational gap. If our children suddenly get into all things '80's and start wearing stone-washed Jeans and leg-warmers and drinking Sex on the Beach, I think we'd have the same reaction as Lava Lounger's parent's friends...we'd think it lame!!
The hippie generation abhorred Tiki and everything it stood for. They're not going to change now, just cause it's back in vogue.

*stone-washed Jeans and leg-warmers *

Uh oh, better figure out another outfit for the Forbidden Island Grand Opening. I could always go with the big "Frankie Says..." t-shirt, or my aqua green linen sport coat and matching espadrilles.

Wake me up before ya go,
Sonny midnite Crockett

ps I actually had the coat, but never wore espadrilles. Huaraches for me!

As far as the sissy drink comments, Ernest Heminginway's favorite drink when he lived in cuba was a strawberry daquiri (his version being straight rum mixed with pureed strawberrys). If a MaiTais not macho enough for em, just serve up straight pirate water (Meyers rum) on ice. Tell em beer is for sissys.

*On 2006-02-08 17:41, jimbo wrote:*As far as the sissy drink comments, Ernest Heminginway's favorite drink when he lived in cuba was a strawberry daquiri (his version being straight rum mixed with pureed strawberrys)
Ha Ha! :lol: It's hard to get more non-sissy, manly man's man than Papa Hemingway! And I don't know with what/whom he slept and I couldn't care less.

Regarding Conga Mike's comment:

"I think it's important to note, that it's not our parents' generation that was into Tiki, but our grand-parents (for the most part-depending on how old you are etc)
Although Tiki was everywhere in the 60's and 70's, the generation growing up then (our parents) were against it and this ultimately led to its demise!!... We have to understand this generational gap. The hippie generation abhorred Tiki and everything it stood for."

Good Lord, CM! How old ARE you, darlin'?! 22?!

Speaking as one who grew up in the '60's and '70's (ahem), not many of us were hippies (despite what the media adores portraying)! :) Lotsa pillbox hats and hairspray hairdo's, then long hair and sideburns. But bad coiffures do not a hippie make!

But you're right, there's probably a generational gap thing going on there. It's always popular hating the stuff your parents were into...for a while. Then you discover that Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash are the coolest of the cool, desPITE the fact that your mom and dad liked them!!

(Just teasing you about the age thing, BTW. But I'm betting your family reproduced much more quickly each generation than mine did!)

Feeling very very old now, thankyouverymuch,
F

Good Lord, CM! How old ARE you, darlin'?! 22?!

Speaking as one who grew up in the '60's and '70's (ahem), not many of us were hippies (despite what the media adores portraying)! :) Lotsa pillbox hats and hairspray hairdo's, then long hair and sideburns. But bad coiffures do not a hippie make!

Actually, I wasn't talking from experience - my parents partied up in the '50's and thankfully passed on an endearing nostalgia for those times. Regarding "hippie generation", I should have said "Boomer Gen" who for the most part, turned their back on this escapist cocktail culture, in favor of "keeping it real" Unfortunately, this led to the demise of the splendor that was Tiki...and sports bars flourished!!!!

[ Edited by: Conga Mike 2006-02-09 09:58 ]

Wow, sorry to hear this. I guess we were lucky to have the exact opposite experience at our first Tiki party. We had made a small Tiki bar in our basement after we moved into our current house. In the fall when it was decided that it was our turn to host our family Christmas Eve party, I casually mentioned that it would be fun to make it a theme party like 'Christmas in the Islands'. I though it would be a fun way to help us through our long Canadian winter. There we some groans and jokes from my family, and I thought no one would take my suggestion seriously.

So when the Christmas holidays arrived, we decorated the bar, bought extra leis, loaded the stereo with calypso and exotica cds and stocked up on both beer and liquors for the big party. On Christmas Eve, I was behind the bar in my best Hawaiian shirt and my wife was wearing her island dress and her new leis.

I was pleasantly shocked to see that all of our family and friends had taken the suggestion to heart. Everyone came to the party in their best island outfits under their heavy winter coats and boots. Some even brought their own leis, and all the kids had plastic grass skirts. One couple even brought fresh cut pineapple cups for their island drinks. I could not make the drinks fast enough and everyone had a great time.

On 2006-02-08 14:16, Conga Mike wrote:
I think it's important to note, that it's not our parents' generation that was into Tiki, but our grand-parents (for the most part-depending on how old you are etc)
Although Tiki was everywhere in the 60's and 70's, the generation growing up then (our parents) were against it and this ultimately led to it's demise!!

Not for nuttin' but on page 2 Lava Lounger said her kids "are in their 30s."

I don't think there's ever been a census but I'd guess the vast majority of TCers are in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Just a feeling though, I have no hard data.

Wow....I can't stop saying "wow".....but that's how overwhelmed I am that my tiki party bummed experience wasn't unique and yet you all took it in stride. At least I no longer view my dud party as a personal slap. C'est la vie....ya know, so I'm blowing off this experience.

I guess the midwest is a tough nut to crack when it comes to certain things like the warm melting feeling of relaxing in a tiki bar sipping fruities. I asked my kids about tiki bars in the area and all I got was blank stares, but they all WISH there was a place they could go with that kind of atmostphere becuase even they get tired of the hammering loud music of the bars they hang in. My nephew is a student at KU (20 min west) and said he'd KILL to have a bar like that around the campus. So there must be some of us here that appreciate the fun.

re: LastMango - An Island Christmas party is a great idea! I had a hint of one with my first tiki bar at the old house. I made a bunch of fake palm trees and decorated them with twinkle lights and hung ornaments where the coconuts should be. My family thought I was off my rocker, but they loved it and got into it. Especially my mom who enjoys "theme" anything (she's nearing 80 but still loves a tropical drink). I even found a Christmas music CD of holiday/island music. My folks love my tiki bar so much that when their Canadian friends came through on their way to Florida, they dragged them to my house for a tiki evening! The Canadians tipped me a gooney, or something like that and loved it too.

re: CongaMike - I grew up in the 50's and 60's. I hung out with engineers, computer programmers (worked on IBM 360's), and accounting people when I got my first job and we loved going to the Mainlander for lunch in St. Louis and dinner at Trader Vic's at the Belaire East Hotel. I recall having a maitai too many at the Mainlander and fell out of the place on the sidewalk. I had to go back and "work" the rest of the day. Ahh, the good old days. I never dreamed the tiki bars would all disappear. I think, once you allow yourself to "feel" the tiki spirit, you never let it go.

re: Wenikitiki - great idea having a "special for the night"....I think I'll make that part of my future event plans. I've never been to Hawaii.....maybe someday when we retire.

re: formikahini and hodadhank - oh man, why did I NOT think of a shirt rack!!! We have a LOT of hawaiian shirts so why not, and yes, yes, in fact, when we went to Trader Vic's a jillion years ago, jackets were mandatory in the dining room and they'd give you a loaner if you didn't have one! So why not a loaner hawaiian shirt! TOO FUNNY!!! I can build it just like the lei rack which took a whole 10 minutes.

re: dieseltiki - LMAO ie: Brokeback.

re: scottmcgerik - I don't know where Atwood is, but I'm in the western burbs of Kansas City....I usually don't say I'm from Kansas City as most people around here think I live in Missouri. I'm on the Kansas side of Kansas City. You can live in Missouri in Kansas City and you can live in Kansas in Kansas City. I used to live in Missouri, but that was in St. Louis, so now I live in Kansas. got that??

re: Silverline - LMAO, good call....yes, I live SMACK in the middle of "beigeville" and it really makes me nuts. We started painting our house a deep black cherry color, but the Homeowners Assn called an injunction and stopped us. Long story, but we ended up with battleship gray.....even had to fight for gray with white trim as they said it was too high contrast. But they finally said okay. Must look nice becuase the past dozen houses they've built have "highly contrasting" white trim.

re: 8fttiki - yes, it strikes me that the local tikiphiles need to band together and start something. If it wasn't for this forum, I'd probably be boxing up my tiki stuff which would have been a terrible kine to waste. (ha ha)

LavaLounger....appreciates EVERYONE here!!

On 2006-02-09 07:34, Kono wrote:

Not for nuttin' but on page 2 Lava Lounger said her kids "are in their 30s."

I don't think there's ever been a census but I'd guess the vast majority of TCers are in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Just a feeling though, I have no hard data.

Interesting statistic it would be. I'm sitting at 55. My folks really love my bar and they are both 78. My kids and kids-in-law love it and they are in their 30's. So for us, it's across the board tiki enjoyment. Just have to wear down the other locals.

LavaLounger-double-nickle

*On 2006-02-09 07:49, LavaLounger wrote:*I got my first job and we loved going to the Mainlander for lunch in St. Louis and dinner at Trader Vic's at the Belaire East Hotel.

lavalonger... you wouldn't happen to have any PHOTOS of the mainlander would you? i've been searching for them for years. my family is from st. louie and i asked my uncles who went to the mainlander, but no dice...

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9485&forum=1

On 2006-02-09 08:00, Johnny Dollar wrote:

*On 2006-02-09 07:49, LavaLounger wrote:*I got my first job and we loved going to the Mainlander for lunch in St. Louis and dinner at Trader Vic's at the Belaire East Hotel.

lavalonger... you wouldn't happen to have any PHOTOS of the mainlander would you? i've been searching for them for years. my family is from st. louie and i asked my uncles who went to the mainlander, but no dice...

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9485&forum=1

Ohhhhhhh boy, I wish I could help. But we were young and into drinking fast and never had a clue just how fragile the whole tiki business was back then. We went often with a group of EA's from Western Electric that were working across the street in the Hanley Bldg (I believe it was the Hanley Bldg - don't have "total recall" anymore). We didn't take the mugs and stuff very often because the guys walked to lunch and they didn't want to get busted holding tiki mugs for drinking at lunch. This was 1968-1969. Toward the end of 1969 they started moving the engineers to the new WE facility in Ballwin, MO, and that ended the tiki lunches. I know we had a lot of stuff from both TC and the Mainlander when we got married in 1970, but over the years we deemed it "junk" (ohh the sacrilige!) and it's all gone now. I could just CLOBBER myself! I'll ask around to our old friends as I see them and see if anyone saved any of that stuff or has photos.

I remember falling over the doorway though...it was a few steps DOWN into the place and it was so dark it would take 10 min for your eyeballs to adjust. Boy, I'd give anything to go back and do one more lunch there. It's all like a dream now.

LavaLounger-nostaglic

LavaLounger,
Don't give up!!
My parents thought I was nuts when I really started getting tikified - and they're in their early 80's. This is what converted them. When my sister turned 50 a couple of years ago, I threw her a Hawaiian themed party. I sent out custom designed Hawaiian postcard invitations that looked like something out of the 50's with instructions on the back of what to wear and what to expect at the party (tiki drinks, pu-pu's, etc). Our yard already had a couple concrete Maori heads and we decorated our trellis covered deck with tons of Chinese paper lantern string lights. Of course - the tiki bar with ALL the trimmings and piped-in lounge/Hawaiian music. About fifty people showed up (more than I expected) and they were all into it with the aloha shirts and Hawaiian dresses. We gave the guests leis when they entered the yard. Everyone had a blast! I still hear from people at the party telling me how much fun it was. My parents were converted that night.

See! There's hope!

On 2006-02-09 09:43, quickiki wrote:
LavaLounger,
Don't give up!!
My parents thought I was nuts when I really started getting tikified - and they're in their early 80's. This is what converted them. When my sister turned 50 a couple of years ago, I threw her a Hawaiian themed party. I sent out custom designed Hawaiian postcard invitations that looked like something out of the 50's with instructions on the back of what to wear and what to expect at the party (tiki drinks, pu-pu's, etc). Our yard already had a couple concrete Maori heads and we decorated our trellis covered deck with tons of Chinese paper lantern string lights. Of course - the tiki bar with ALL the trimmings and piped-in lounge/Hawaiian music. About fifty people showed up (more than I expected) and they were all into it with the aloha shirts and Hawaiian dresses. We gave the guests leis when they entered the yard. Everyone had a blast! I still hear from people at the party telling me how much fun it was. My parents were converted that night.

See! There's hope!

Hmmmmmm......that gives me an idea......my folks 60th wedding anniversary is in September. Since they both like my tiki bar, maybe I'll throw them a tiki anniversary party. I know their crazy Canadian friends would love it, and the family does too....the few that don't like it, baloney with them. But the whole written, drawn, explanitory, invitation idea would at least prep the non-believers for what to expect. Good idea!!

LavaLounger-making plans

Several people have posted about wanting a sign that would prevent improperly attired guests from ruining the tiki mood at their bars.

Download and print this sign Proper Attire Sign

While I had the sign maker fired up I created these too:
Hurricane Warning Be Careful You May Loose

[ Edited by: captnkirk 2006-02-09 13:31 ]

On 2006-02-09 13:29, captnkirk wrote:
Several people have posted about wanting a sign that would prevent improperly attired guests from ruining the tiki mood at their bars.

Download and print this sign Proper Attire Sign

While I had the sign maker fired up I created these too:
Hurricane Warning Be Careful You May Loose

[ Edited by: captnkirk 2006-02-09 13:31 ]

Hysterical!! I need that out on the front door to the house!

I do have some stickers on my appliances that say "Warning-protected by a tiki god." but didn't seem to help my blender when she busted a gasket.

LavaLounger

Hey Lava Lounger,
dare them on how many tropical drinks they can drink , and not get hammered. The illusion on most of these is because they are fruity they aren't powerful.
As for the Beer at a tiki bar, well that's just bad juju in my book. I've been talking to people at party's lately about that.
Most don't seem to care or get it. But I think it's a tiki feau paux(sp?) I mean when in Roam do as the Roamans, when in a tiki bar, sip or down(depending on your rum needs) a tropical drink.
As for your bar, and your parents friends. Dont let it get you down. Besides they aren't your friends, you'll probably not have to see them that much. Find other tiki freaks and invite them over.
Happy hunting,
Jeff(bigtikidude)

On 2006-02-09 18:44, bigtikidude wrote:
Hey Lava Lounger,
dare them on how many tropical drinks they can drink , and not get hammered. The illusion on most of these is because they are fruity they aren't powerful.
As for the Beer at a tiki bar, well that's just bad juju in my book. I've been talking to people at party's lately about that.
Most don't seem to care or get it. But I think it's a tiki feau paux(sp?) I mean when in Roam do as the Roamans, when in a tiki bar, sip or down(depending on your rum needs) a tropical drink.
As for your bar, and your parents friends. Dont let it get you down. Besides they aren't your friends, you'll probably not have to see them that much. Find other tiki freaks and invite them over.
Happy hunting,
Jeff(bigtikidude)

I hate guys like me...

it's "faux pas" ... eg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faux_pas

The reference to roamans is cool too. I'm one of those, and I know a lot of them.

Sorry :wink:

gap

[ Edited by: tikigap 2006-02-09 19:41 ]

I agree that serving a punch is the best way to go with a larger group; especially those not accustomed to tiki drinks. Why knock yourself out hand-mixing drinks for a dozen or more people when your efforts may not be fully-appreciated. Or, if they are appreciated you may quickly find yourself overwhelmed by thirsty guests. We had an office party at our house before Christmas and the punch was almost entirely consumed, yet we had beer and wine left-over. Most of these people knew almost nothing about tiki or tiki drinks.

Actually, I usually refuse to hand-mix tropical drinks for more than about six people. I find I can't really enjoy myself - that is imbibe my own drinks - and be precise in my measurements, if I have to mix too many drinks for other people. I also usually limit the menu to a few of my personal favorites. We might start with a Mai-Tai, do a Kava bowl, switch to a Shrunken Skull and finish off with a Sweet Leilani Kahlua drink, for example. I find four rum cocktails are plenty for most guests.

As for the tiki drinks are for chicks attitude.... Well, duh!
Don't tell your clueless male friends, but most of time it seems like we end up with a one guy to three girls ratio around our tiki bar.

Whenever I look across the bar and see my wife and her girlfriends enoying themselves, I always think how I wish had been on top of this Polynesian cocktail thing when I was in college.

The haole on the old Trader Vics menu had this all figured out. He definitely wasn't drinking rum with his backyard, basketball-watching buddies! :wink:

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff 2006-02-12 14:10 ]

[ Edited by: Chip and Andy 2009-06-05 17:33 ]