Proof that Tiki was part of the Swinging Singles Culture in 1966, (The Tahitian Drum thread)

I found this article in a January 1966 copy of ARGOSY magazine today. The article was about the current fad of "Singles" apartment buildings and how popular they were at the time. Featured was the South Bay Club apartments in Torrance, CA, (Dr Z, do you know where these might be located?). Having grown up in the South Bay, that was interesting on its own. But among the fun photographs of the happy, horny denizens of said apartments, there were these photos of a very cool tiki conga-drum :down:

The drum can be seen again in the lower left-hand edge of this photo :down:

Does anyone know who made this tiki drum?

P.S. I had first-hand experience of this "Swinging Singles Aparment" fad. When I was a paperboy in Junior High, (around 1976), I delivered the Daily Breeze to a Spanish-style apartment complex that took up a whole block in Redondo Beach. I remember that the entire apartment complex was rented by young singles, and while walking through the jungle-like central courtyard each day, delivering my papers, it was common to see young couples practicing the complicated moves of the current disco dancing craze through their sliding glass doors. I was hypnotized by the complexity and sensuality of that dancing, and I'm sure the customers on the next block wondered why their paper took so long to be delivered some days.

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2006-08-20 23:53 ]

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2008-07-08 21:17 ]

Nice pictures Sabu, thanks for posting!

That Tiki Drum looks awesome!!

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

Ahhhhh - to invent a time machine & go back to watch a young Sabu staring intently at this scene, shaking slightly, beads of sweat popping out....

That top picture is so awesome, so swinging hip cha-cha-cha. This article is a very nice find.

Thanks Sabu! That is a sweet drum. I haven't seen that before. Dang now I want one.

Funny thing, Sabu, is that I was a Paper Boy too, And I used to deliver to the KON-TIKI apartments which burned down a few years ago.

The place had an indoor pool and sauna, plus hot tub. I once spoke to the mailman about the deliveries there. He said that over 1/2 the residences got Penthouse Forum. He assumed it was so they could read their own writings.

This was in Bremerton Wa.

Those were the days! Is it just me, or have we taken a step backwards as a society?

Sabu, another great find! I believe that drums of this type are tourist and import items possibly originating from Tahiti, done by Marquesan carvers there, and available in the US at that time thru places like Oceanic Arts. I have seen them in all sizes, the one in those pictures is especially big and nice.

OA still has a smaller one, with the Marquesan heads/skulls only as the feet, I always wanted to ask them where they got it. You can see a decrepit version of it in the Urban Archaeology chapter in the BOT, in the picture with the leaning Tiki from "The Tikis", it's lying on its side.

Oddly enough, there is no sign of any liquor in the above photos.
Real swinging swingles cannot live on maracas and stuffed dog animals alone.

Unless, of course, those suitcases unfold into portable tiki bars.

I wonder if they can play Martin Denny LPs on that Victrola horn-like device.

Vern

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2006-08-21 16:04 ]

Looks like the Jab's pad-i SEE he bought a cool chair!

On 2006-08-21 16:02, ikitnrev wrote:
Oddly enough, there is no sign of any liquor in the above photos...Unless, of course, those suitcases unfold into portable tiki bars....

On 2006-08-20 23:52, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:

You are close, Vern....

From the Top Down:

The first guy, with the plaid case, is carrying the whiskey. And, the dog is merely the 'container' for the stash. "No one would think to look in here...."

The next lady in line, the one with the bra on her head, has already 'tested' the stash to make sure it was OK during transportation.

The guy carrying the drum, his other bag is full of the rums. I know because I carry mine in a bag just like it when I go on the road.

Down a couple of people, at the next landing: The guy with the plaid bag, that is a traveling bar, I have one just like it.

The next guy in line, the one without the shirt, he is obviously carrying the bulk of the bottles. You can tell by how heavy the bags look and the fact that he is dragging.

The next guy down, he is carrying the ukulele and the Martin Denny record collection. He is also rather ingeniously carrying one of the larger servings glasses on his head.

For space concerns in the magazine, they decided to crop out the two guys carrying the tiki bar up the stairs. They are right behind the guy wearing the serving mug on his head.

Now, the second picture.... This one is just too scary for words....

On 2006-08-20 23:52, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:

The article is cut, but they are talking about "secluded patios for barbecues,"" which can only mean that the happy-go-lucky crowd are not really swingers, but Urban Cannibals. The weird Victrola looking device is obviously some sort of silencer to muffle the screams as the other three ladies use their meat tenderizers on the lady wearing the bra on her head. The guy with the black case in his mouth, whom we could not see on the stair shot, obviously has no arms but is still doing his bit for tonight's feast by carrying the spice rack in his teeth. I am not sure if it is a travelling spice set or one of those new-fangled Ronco-Shrink-O-Matic head shrinkers you see on late night TV. Either way, it is still very forward thinking for a group of cannibals at that time to be so accommodating of a man with no arms.

I can only image the carnage that came after this shot......

And, someone said something about a Tiki-Time-Machine..... I have the plans, but I can't find a power source capable of generating 1.21 jigawatts of power to make it go.... :wink:

Uh.... Chip? Whatever it was you drank prior to that post, please mix one for me.

Actually, couldn't that black and white photo just as easily be a snapshot from Tiki Oasis? I think that's Floratina ecstatically strumming in the chair!

Dang, this thread is too funny. The Georgia Swamps are still echoing with laughter. Its threads like this that have made me a regular Tiki Centralite.

Swamp

On 2006-08-28 18:22, vintagegirl wrote:
Actually, couldn't that black and white photo just as easily be a snapshot from Tiki Oasis? I think that's Floratina ecstatically strumming in the chair!

I'm so glad you said that. I was thinking it looked like a TC party...but I thought it was just me. :)

If someone wants that drum, Check this auction.

Sweet!

On 2006-08-20 23:52, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
I found this article in a January 1966 copy of ARGOSY magazine today. The article was about the current fad of "Singles" apartment buildings and how popular they were at the time. Featured was the South Bay Club apartments in Torrance, CA, (Dr Z, do you know where these might be located?). Having grown up in the South Bay, that was interesting on its own. But among the fun photographs of the happy, horny denizens of said apartments, there were these photos of a very cool tiki conga-drum :down:

The drum can be seen again in the lower left-hand edge of this photo :down:

Does anyone know who made this tiki drum?

P.S. I had first-hand experience of this "Swinging Singles Aparment" fad. When I was a paperboy in Junior High, (around 1976), I delivered the Daily Breeze to a Spanish-style apartment complex that took up a whole block in Redondo Beach. I remember that the entire apartment complex was rented by young singles, and while walking through the jungle-like central courtyard each day, delivering my papers, it was common to see young couples practicing the complicated moves of the current disco dancing craze through their sliding glass doors. I was hypnotized by the complexity and sensuality of that dancing, and I'm sure the customers on the next block wondered why their paper took so long to be delivered some days.

Sabu

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2006-08-20 23:53 ]

DAMN I WANT THAT DRUM !!!!!!!!!!

On 2008-07-08 11:02, Swanky wrote:
If someone wants that drum, Check this auction.

Sweet!

Damn, that thing would make a nice bowl!!! :)

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

Wow, at first I didn't realize the size of that puppy, but seeing the guy kneeling next to it, it IS hefty, and that makes it well worth it. I hope someone here gets it. These drums are from the golden age of Tahitian tourist art, they just don't make'em like that anymore!

Ms Swanky found it and we've been drooling. It was at $99 this morning. When it hit $299, well, I had to share. Maybe someone here can get it. I have too many other things to do with $400 right now. Would have loved to have this coffee table in the Hidewaway.

This is on that long list of things to carve one day...

D'oh! I've been wanting one of those drums for a while now! I drooled over the ones at Oceanic Arts. Here they are:

And here's a drum from the Mai-Kai, just to keep us all salivating. (Eyes on the drum fellas.) :):

One more... from the Trader Vic's warehouse sale:

Why doesn't someone post a tutorial on how to stretch drumheads so we can all carve our own drums?

Martin Denny holds a similar drum on the back of The Best of Martin Denny.

I have one of those lil' ones. It's not big...but it's OLD!:

Left is the Tiki Diablo mug that was inspired by these for size reference.

Here's the Martin Denny drum. I think he might of gotten ripped off:

Yes, he definitely MIGHT'VE gotten ripped-off.

This thread was always cool, but it's even cooler now it's the unofficial Marquesan/Tahitian drum repository!
Seeing that ebay auction will soon be gone those pics should be here too, as they are a pretty good reference for us carvers:

A couple more from my collection:

Here are some good links for those wanting to build some drums and skin 'em up!

Rope tension: http://www.nfdc.net/home/cbdb/Ashiko.htm
Tacked head : http://www.tentigerskungfu.com/lion_drum_head_replacement.htm

On 2008-07-08 17:23, squid wrote:
Here are some good links for those wanting to build some drums and skin 'em up!

Rope tension: http://www.nfdc.net/home/cbdb/Ashiko.htm
Tacked head : http://www.tentigerskungfu.com/lion_drum_head_replacement.htm

Whoa boy, that's alot of math :-?

On 2008-07-08 17:10, Paipo wrote:

I really like that one Paipo. Who did it?

There was a new unfinished drum at Oceanic Arts that I was looking over when Leroy said "Eh, it's okay. Don't like the smiley faces." He was referring to this part of it:

... which had more of a smiley :) face. Don't know who carved it for them.

Cool links, I was looking at the first one earlier today. Now how about some info on the toere log drums.

Sabu, sorry we derailed your link :)

On 2008-07-08 18:21, GatorRob wrote:
I really like that one Paipo. Who did it?

On second look, nevermind. My mistake. That's a real Tahitian drum I suspect, not a tourist or decorative one. But very cool with the detailed carvings.

I don't think this thread went off-topic at all, I would be thrilled to get such an image-rich response to my posts!

How about this beauty, Miss May Mai Kai 1967:

And here, lo and behold: a nice Marquesan drum, actually IN the Marquesas...(I know because I took the photo there. :))

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-20 20:40 ]

On 2008-07-09 14:18, filslash wrote:
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/art/736060047.html

This one is on Craig's list right now somewhere in Montana...

That's the same one that already sold on eBay that started this whole thing! :)

Wait-a-minnit....what the...??? A turn-around Tiki drum? Won on e-bay for 369.-, and put on Craigslist for 495.- ?

Either that deal fell thru, and it's the original seller (the text is the same), or the auction winner got his peepee whacked when his wife found out how much (plus shipping!) he was gonna spend on that "Tiki junk". :)

is the tiki drum market big in montana?

It's dated 6-28, so they must have done Ebay with a reserve and Craigslist at the same time.

Trader Vic and his drum fetish:

In fact, I do believe that is the same drum.

On Ebay at the moment (postcard only)
here

Another classic SABU thread.

I like the direction this thread has taken. I added "Tahitian Drum" to the title so it will be easier to find in the future.

Thanks to everybody who's added to it.

Check out this link: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=29035&forum=1&start=last&1

A Hawaiian drum acquired by Captain Cook himself, valued at over 1 million bucks! (sorry, no picture)

I spotted this photo of a really cool Tahitian drum on ebay.

What a bummer all of Sabu's original photos are gone from page 1. How does that happen?? Here are a few low res images from Humuhumu's blog.

We need to get those images back and add the ones from Tikiyaki Orchestra here as well.

DC

On 2011-05-26 12:54, Dustycajun wrote:
What a bummer all of Sabu's original photos are gone from page 1. How does that happen??

It happened in this case because he uploaded the images to http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery, which doesn't exist anymore. I think that's the old photo gallery place that Hanford set up way before Tiki Central had photo upload capability, if I remember correctly. Only way to get them back is for Sabu to re-upload them to TC.

Now that's how you play a drum!

DC