Introducing.... Arkiva Tropika

Aloha all !

I am so happy to introduce my new website, Arkiva Tropika :

http://www.arkivatropika.com

An online archive of my paper ephemera collection, Arkiva Tropika celebrates not just Polynesian Pop, but also the classic heyday of all tropical (& tropical themed) restaurants, hotels, bars, etc. From Florida to Fiji, from Haiti to Hawaii, from Seattle to Samoa, Arkiva Tropika was created as a way to both share and organize my collection.

It consists of largely of mostly pre-1970 menus, yet also includes postcards, photos, brochures, matchbooks, napkins, and other paper ephemera from tropical/exotic themed environments. Arkiva Tropika is about the classic island imagery, especially in regards to tourism of yesteryear.

So please check out the site and let me know what you think. I will try to add images and info there on a regular basis ( if not daily ).

This website wouldn't be possible without the creative and computer-savvy genius of my good friend Humuhumu, who was enthusiastic about the project from the very start of our early conversations about it last year. She created a website for me that not only showcases the collection with ease, but its simply gorgeous to look at....MANY MANY thanks, Humuhumu !

Also, many thanks to Hanford & Tiki Central for providing the inspiration to contribute something where I can share all the random finds & great eye candy that I find, with everyone who has an interest. I have learned so much from this forum, and have met so many wonderful folks... its been a treat to have such an outlet, to share common interests with so many diverse people from all over...

I hope that you enjoy Arkiva Tropika, and please check there often, for constant additions & updates from my collection.

Mahalo !

This is amazing!

I can't wait to give it a good and thorough exploration.

What a remarkable website. Great design! Awesome content! Truly a tiki treasure.

I'm so very, very honored that puamana asked me to develop this site for her. For those of you out there who have been lucky enough to see her collection (or, attempt to -- it's simply massive), you know how overwhelming and beautiful it is, and it was a fun challenge to try to create a site that would do it justice visually, and also make it accessible.

I'm seriously looking forward to getting lost in Arkiva Tropika on a regular basis, daydreaming about what it would have been like to be at those places back then....

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-17 17:36 ]

I can see that this will be hours of fun...great collection and great site too!

WAO!!! It´s just like looking inside a whole new BOT!
Superb site!!

[ Edited by: makutiki 2006-09-29 04:25 ]

Sweet! I recognized Humuhumu's work right away.

TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!!! :)

Puamana and Humuhumu desrve the Tiki Eye Candy Award!!!!! Simply stunning!!!!

Lots of menu's I have never seen before like..."Johnny's Tiki Hut" or "Trader Ku's" or "Trader Engs." Amazing!!!!

Congratulations on a job well done!!!!

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

Wow! Who needs a BoT 2 when we now have this site! It is a great refreshing reminder of just what I love about Poly Pop. I have had it mind to do just this sort of site for a while.

Wow, that is something else. Thanks for sharing that amazing history with us. Thats a definite bookmark for me.

This is great! Very well done. Congrats to you both on an excellent job and thanks for making all these terrific images available for all of us to see. I'll be looking forward to your updates!

Congratulations Puamana! Thanks for sharing your amazing collection with us!!

what a treat!

That's quite a collection...so many images I've never seen before. You should publish a book! Thanks for sharing...I'm already addicted.

And as usual, beautiful website design.

[ Edited by: Kenike 2006-09-29 08:49 ]

fan freakin tastic !!!!!

Beautiful Site.

Say, are you going to have a section of matchbooks?
Robert

Very nice job puamana and humuhumu! Superior work, and an astonishing collection! Better than a museum.

Ask, and ye shall receive:

Arkiva Tropika's Matchbooks

"Matchbook" is one of the tags puamana has created, so if you want to see all of them, just use the matchbook tag. You can do this by selecting "Matchbook" from the list of tags. The most popular tags are on the left-hand side of the screen, and there is a link to "All Tags" at the bottom of that list. Or, you can search using tags; enter the tags you want to see in the search box, set the search to "Tags" (it defaults to "Text"), and hit "Go".

Tag search is pretty powerful, you can combine tags, and you can use tags for exclusion. For instance, you can choose to look at only hotel postcards, or only hotel postcards that aren't pictures of a hotel room. Here are the instructions for using Arkiva Tropika's search function.

Wow!

That's a great collection, thanks for finding a way to share it.

This should get me through a few slow afternoons...who needs productivity anyway?

amazing collection. Now, we only need sabu's postcard collection to do the same (humu ?)

Mimi this is really fantastic. I've added the RSS to my blog reader. Thanks so much for sharing your collection with everyone. It's incredible.

~Hanford

Absolutely incredible! After seeing bits and pieces of your collection on Critiki, it's really great to be able to view so much of it in one place.

Another classic Humu website too. Her style is immediately recognizable.

thank you thank you thank you thank you mimi and humu!

what a fantastic glimpse into polynesian pop history completely at your fingertips. thank you so much for taking the money, time, and incredible effort to put this site together and sharing it with the world. and on behalf of the crazy mug collectors, you are incredibly gracious to share all of your wonderful menus. i eagerly anticipate seeing them in the weeks/months/years to come.

simply awesome.

Superb! When I return from Hukilau I'll get you some scans of a bunch of my postcards. I haven't seen a lot of those on your site...you have some rare views! Aloha!

Awesome site - thank you for sharing! I always enjoyed the posts when questions were defered to your collection for clarification. Eye candy for sure!

This is phenom... Its like having a 3rd book to Tiki Archeology.. Thanx for this.

hokey smokes! amazing eyeboggling content! thanks for sharing your collection..i can thumb through it without leaving fingerprints!

Thankyou so much for this, Puamana!

I know this took a ton of work. Thankyou for being so gracious in sharing your collection with us.

Sabu

Just saw this now, congrats, Mimi! To share your visual jewels with others who appreciate it is the best reward for the collector. Can't wait to see what's new.

Beautiful site! I could get lost for hours! Your site and collection are Amazing! Thank you for bringing this to the web!

Fantastic collection Mimi and Humu did a fantastic job as usual.

Zulu

WOW!

Great site,I remember a few of the hotels on Waikiki back in the 60's on trips with my parents.Thanks again.

This is a really beautiful site. I've been enjoying your collection for a long time; often through Sabu's posts. Wonderful to see so much nicely displayed in one place.
Mahalo,
KG

Wonderful!!!

[ Edited by: bifcozz 2007-02-09 21:46 ]

Awesome collection and nice simple presentation, that makes you just HAVE to press the 'next' button. Thanks for sharing.

Great collection and great use of technology to enable the joy of these images to keep on giving. Thanks Mimi and Humu for your efforts involved and for sharing.

I love this site! Thank-you so much for sharing it with us.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I sent my brother links to the Hawaiian Village in the 50's since he just stayed there on his honeymoon and he was blown away.

Oooooohhh. Amazing, amazing collection! And the site-design is just perfect! (Makes me wish I had more time to hunker down with my Dreamweaver...)

I think I will mix a cocktail, sit down & read & learn. FUN site! Great work as always Humu........... :D

What a great and generous thing you have done to share your treasures. I feel inspired by the beautiful vintage artwork and will reference your site often.
dawn

Thank you so much everyone, for your kind words !! Its been alot of fun to get going on adding
new items to the site, and I got a good jump start on it last weekend. I'll continue adding images
on a daily basis, so please check back often. Many many thanks again for your great feedback, this
has been awesome !

very cool!

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What an awesome site! I just loved going from page to page, dreaming of being in some of these restaurants and lounges in the 50's & 60's in their heydays...