What Tiki Lounge wouldn't dream of these dioramas:

Once a month the Los Angeles Natural History Museum features public events called "First Fridays" where, in conjunction with a lecture, two Indie Bands perform live in one of its hallowed halls, and DJs spin in another.

While its open for people of all ages, from my 15 year old son to gray gentlemen like me, the main crowd consists of indie listening youngsters.

People can roam the whole Museum, with drinks and food available, til 10:00 pm.

The coolest thing are of course the classic old dioramas:

The concept of exotic dioramas that was employed in Tiki restaurants hails from the great old Museum displays such as these:

What club can boast a more otherworldly atmosphere:

And what DJ could ask for a cooler backdrop than this:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-07-20 11:48 ]

And what better way to get kids interested in museums. I personally love going to museums.

That is a great concept. I used to love going to the Balboa Park Museums in San Deigo when I was a kid. If they would have had music/food/beverages I would have been there every weekend.

Sven...thanks for always teaching me something...I did not know the term "Indie Band"...thank you Wikipedia. :lol:

the field museum here in chicago is loaded with these dioramas.....i think they also have events like this and i know that in the summertime, the aquarium hosts monthly live jazz....

That's fabulous. I've always meant to visit the LA Natural History Museum.

Reminds me of all my childhood field trips to the San Bernardino County Museum. It's diorama-o-rama there. Plus, they have a freakishly massive collection of bird eggs. Good times.

Thanks Tipsy McStagger, I couldn't think of the museum my wife and I went to last July. The field museum in Chicago is great. We spent all day there which in my opinion wasn't enough time. Even my friends 4 year old had a great time and he's a handfull!!!

The California Academy of Sciences (the old one in Golden Gate Park) had those dioramas. I was fortunate enough to attend two private company parties there and they had that same great lounge vibe. One of the parties even included a casino in the African hall. It was pretty cool playing blackjack surrounded by lions, giraffes, and elephants! Oh my!

I hope they bring those back (and gussy them up a bit) when they reopen in the fall.

On 2008-03-08 10:38, JenTiki wrote:
The California Academy of Sciences (the old one in Golden Gate Park) had those dioramas. I was fortunate enough to attend two private company parties there and they had that same great lounge vibe. One of the parties even included a casino in the African hall. It was pretty cool playing blackjack surrounded by lions, giraffes, and elephants! Oh my!

I hope they bring those back (and gussy them up a bit) when they reopen in the fall.

When I was in elementary school we were taken there on field-trips at least once a year. We had a whole day to see the museum, the aquarium, a Planetarium show, watch the giant pendulum clock knock wooden pegs over, stare at the giant dinosaur bones... Sometimes we even got to run over to the Japanese Tea Garden and buy crappy souvenirs. It was great!

On 2008-03-08 09:01, bigbrotiki wrote:
The concept of exotic dioramas that was employed in Tiki restaurants hails from the great old Museum displays such as these:

OT - Do we still have bears in Yosemite Valley?

Here are some life-sized installations from the "Overseas Museum" in the German port town of Bremen, out of a 1956 catalog. I doubt that they still exist because they are considered too un-p.c. nowadays. They are in direct lineage to the European "Voelkerschauen" (people shows) which I mention on page 37 of the BOT and pages 17/18/19 of Tiki Modern, where live natives (including American Indians) performed daily activities in recreated villages.

The cultures shown here all were German South Sea colonies at the turn of the century, when the museum was built:

Salomon Islands

Samoa

New Ireland (used to be Neu-Mecklenburg)

...and, to bring this post full circle, (though some of these have been posted here by me before), here are some examples of mid-century Tiki Lounge dioramas, done in various media and sizes:

At Billy Butlin's Beachcomber in Britain:

At the Kalua Room in Seattle:

At the Kona Kai in Philadelphia:

At the Bora Bora Room in Encino:

...and one of my humble attempts to continue the tradition in the cluttered confines of my own Tiki shrine:

Kon Tiki Tucson???

( or does 1/2 live not count?)

p.s. Indie as in http://www.indie103.1.com Puts these on.

[ Edited by: RevBambooBen 2008-03-08 19:46 ]

The Kon Tiki Tuscon certainly counts, as do the rain forest windows of the Kahiki, and other tropical vistas. Like we can see above, dioramas came in all shapes and forms. They are distinguished from Island-life MURALS by adding the third dimension, creating environs out of plants, rocks, Tikis, animals, huts, volcanoes, outriggers, etc.
Some were small scale (think model train set, Polynesian style), others are almost life size. The full-fledged dioramas had ocean, sky and landscape murals painted in perspective as a back drop to complete the illusion, but other, smaller ones just faked a dense jungle view, like at the Kalua Room.