If you only had $100 dollars

If you only had $100 dollars (or maybe a higher price point) and didn't have anything tiki yet. What would be the best way to spend your money to get the most tiki vibes. Which objects or experiences would you go with on such a limited budget?

$100.00 of the best rum i could find....then just dream away.......

Don the Beachcomber (Sunset Beach, CA) at Happy Hour. This is the best Tiki value in the world !!

If was new, I had 100 bucks to spend and I wanted the best vibe for my buck I would probably buy a hand-carved wall piece from Lakesurfer. Better and more true-to-tiki work for less money I couldn't imagine.

Purchase a nice piece of art from one of TC's many poly-pop artists.

A carving, a CD, a painting. $100 could buy you a few things!

Its a good thing, supporting the artist community :wink:

I would buy some paint and hit the thrift stores for materials. Then start creating an environment.

On 2010-01-05 06:19, JOHN-O wrote:
Don the Beachcomber (Sunset Beach, CA) at Happy Hour. This is the best Tiki value in the world !!

Actually if you don't already own it, "The Book of Tiki" should be your first investment. The problem is that it's out-of-print and even used copies are going for over $100 (including shipping). I guess you could always stare at the bathroom walls at Forbidden Island or Frankie's for free. They're using it for wallpaper. I'm sure BigBro shudders at the thought of someone cutting up his work with a pair of scissors. I was taught to respect books !!

On 2010-01-05 08:35, JOHN-O wrote:

I'm sure BigBro shudders at the thought of someone cutting up his work with a pair of scissors.

Not to worry, FI's images are color copies.

With my C-note, I'd buy a day pass for Tiki Oasis and book a room at a nearby cheap hotel for the overnight stay. Can't wait for the 10th anniversary this year! http://tikioasis.com/

I agree with some of the prior posts.

One of my first "tiki" purchases was the Book of Tiki. With a guidebook in hand like that it gives you kind of a wish list or handbook to the genre that I referred to often when building out my home environment.

With $100 in hand you dont get much artwork.... or mugs for that matter.

Better to start with a visual set of guidelines that will offer direction and focus when assembling the genre at home.

$100 would afford a great trip to the Mai-Kai including the gift shop.ANd that inspriation would carry you for along time.

Beachbum Berry Remixed: $16.50
Appleton Estate VX: $20
5 Limes: $1
Orgeat: $6
Orange Curacao: $13
Simple syrup: $5.50
Shaker: $16
Ice: $3
Very Best of Arthur Lyman (download): $9
Tiki torch: $10
= $100

I'd also go the same route as Sophista-tiki, but that's just cuz I can make stuff and I'm monumentally cheap.

But even without the awesome DIY skills of someone like Sophista-tiki one can get a good Tiki vibe going for a hundred bucks.

Colored light bulbs (in one or two colors), a few small votive candle holders and candles, some decent looking exotic fake flowers, a good smelling exotic air freshener of some sort, several yards of burlap, a couple of hours worth of good exotica music, and whatever Tiki mugs could be bought with the rest.

Throw some burlap over your coffee table and end tables then put the votives on the tables with a fake flower or two next to them. Put the colored bulbs in all the lamps, get the air scented, switch on the Exotica, and fill the Tiki mugs with something good.

I'd put that $100 into a Savings Account for 200 years
Then,after that time is passed
and they awaken me from my cryogenic sleep
I'll take the interest and
buy a classic old Tiki Bar
and fill it full of LLT paintings
which will be worth KAZILLIONS by then...
and then i'd probably take a laxative
or somethin....

cause you shouldn't go 200 years
without a dookie...

Last I checked a 6' x 8' piece of lauhala matting was about $39.00 at Oceanic Arts. They also have a cheap thatch for about $10. Frame that baby with a couple of bamboo poles (approx $10.00 each), hang the thatch above it. You should have about $20 left after taxes - you can get a bottle of Appleton V/X (sorry, no mixers, you're broke dude) and sip while you stare at your artless tiki wall while you wait for another $100 to roll in.

On 2010-01-05 08:55, Haole'akamai wrote:

On 2010-01-05 08:35, JOHN-O wrote:

I'm sure BigBro shudders at the thought of someone cutting up his work with a pair of scissors.

Not to worry, FI's images are color copies.

With my C-note, I'd buy a day pass for Tiki Oasis and book a room at a nearby cheap hotel for the overnight stay. Can't wait for the 10th anniversary this year! http://tikioasis.com/

I agree - this is what I would do. Only I would want MORE money just to buy shit and drink my brains out!

I agree - this is what I would do. Only I would want MORE money just to buy shit and drink my brains out!

Actually , it would be better to get MORE money just to buy drinks and shit my brains out!
:lol:

or not....

Thanks for including the BOT, I indeed tried to make it so opening the pages would be like walking into a Tiki bar, with all its layers and textures. Books ARE a good low budget way of "acquiring" a rare art form: One can not have it all, but with a book you can behold it and enjoy it as if. Or, as in the case of Witco, when you are too bad taste-fearful to put it in your living room, you can enjoy it vicariously in Tiki Modern :)

I am shocked that even used BOTs hover around 100 bucks now, there must have been a Christmas rush, before X-mas I saw them as low as 50. Take note that Tiki Modern will soon meet the same fate, Taschen has only a couple of hundreds left, and they will not be reprinted.

I always loved the idea to use the BOT as wallpaper, old bars traditionally had themed restrooms. Purple Orchid did that when the book was still under 20.-bucks at Amazon, and the 254 color pages in it were a good deal in terms of covering square footage. I think Holden used original pages too for his Tiki Farm bar, and then there is that nouveaux Tiki Bar in....Dallas? (forgot name and place) that used color copies. I had no idea Frankie's did, cool!

On 2010-01-05 10:54, bigbrotiki wrote:

I always loved the idea to use the BOT as wallpaper, old bars traditionally had themed restrooms.....

Actually as I recall, I think Lakanuki in Mammoth Lakes did as well. I'll be there this weekend to confirm. I'll take pics for my upcoming BOT restroom thread. :) I hope BigBro's getting paid royalties on this !!

Remember printed toilet paper? Now there would be a good use of Tiki Modern for all those Witco-haters! :D

I am shocked that even used BOTs hover around 100 bucks now, there must have been a Christmas rush, before X-mas I saw them as low as 50. Take note that Tiki Modern will soon meet the same fate, Taschen has only a couple of hundreds left, and they will not be reprinted.

Instead of reprinting it they could print it on wallpaper material and make everyone happy.

Let's not forget the famous $100 mai tai Beachbum Berry had a while back, it wouldn't be a bad stepping stone. A good mai tai is like crack to he'll be back and it will mushroom from there.

On 2010-01-05 10:54, bigbrotiki wrote:
Thanks for including the BOT, I indeed tried to make it so opening the pages would be like walking into a Tiki bar, with all its layers and textures. Books ARE a good low budget way of "acquiring" a rare art form: One can not have it all, but with a book you can behold it and enjoy it as if. Or, as in the case of Witco, when you are too bad taste-fearful to put it in your living room, you can enjoy it vicariously in Tiki Modern :)

I am shocked that even used BOTs hover around 100 bucks now, there must have been a Christmas rush, before X-mas I saw them as low as 50. Take note that Tiki Modern will soon meet the same fate, Taschen has only a couple of hundreds left, and they will not be reprinted.

I always loved the idea to use the BOT as wallpaper, old bars traditionally had themed restrooms. Purple Orchid did that when the book was still under 20.-bucks at Amazon, and the 254 color pages in it were a good deal in terms of covering square footage. I think Holden used original pages too for his Tiki Farm bar, and then there is that nouveaux Tiki Bar in....Dallas? (forgot name and place) that used color copies. I had no idea Frankie's did, cool!

So can we take this as permission to reproduce the BOT and Tiki Modern for these purposes? A lot of places won't make color copies from books without the author's consent.

/thread derail

On 2010-01-05 11:26, Jason Wickedly wrote:

/thread derail

The American dollar SUCKS!

sorry bout that Teakey......:wink:

If a verbal consent is enough, sure. I made hundreds and hundreds of color copies in the course of making my books, and always thought it was so silly of them to baulk at that, as if anybody could do much with one color copy. Images from the BOT have been copied so much, in so many ways, anyway, it's just more power to Tiki!

Sorry, this IS becoming a full-fledged thread derail, back to the philosophical question of a 100.- Dollar Tiki re-creation/ symbol/ concept, please.

On 2010-01-05 11:03, JOHN-O wrote:

On 2010-01-05 10:54, bigbrotiki wrote:

I always loved the idea to use the BOT as wallpaper, old bars traditionally had themed restrooms.....

Actually as I recall, I think Lakanuki in Mammoth Lakes did as well. I'll be there this weekend to confirm. I'll take pics for my upcoming BOT restroom thread. :) I hope BigBro's getting paid royalties on this !!

And add Hunny Lu Lu in Hastings, England :)

On 2010-01-05 10:16, little lost tiki wrote:

I agree - this is what I would do. Only I would want MORE money just to buy shit and drink my brains out!

Actually , it would be better to get MORE money just to buy drinks and shit my brains out!
:lol:

or not....

My dear LLT - it appears you have bowel issues these days! You seem to be a bit obsessed with doo doo.

On 2010-01-05 11:03, JOHN-O wrote:

On 2010-01-05 10:54, bigbrotiki wrote:

I always loved the idea to use the BOT as wallpaper, old bars traditionally had themed restrooms.....

Actually as I recall, I think Lakanuki in Mammoth Lakes did as well. I'll be there this weekend to confirm. I'll take pics for my upcoming BOT restroom thread. :) I hope BigBro's getting paid royalties on this !!

I just put this up last week... Inside the Lakanuki bathroom

A few more pics in this Locating Tiki Section as well..

With a $100 duckets I think I would have to purchase 2 bottles of rum, all the mai tai ingredients and some carving chisels to make my own backyard hideway.. oh ya, and a cool vintage tiki from the thrift shop and a copy of Tikiyaki's newest cd :wink: Isn't that all we need in life?

Well for $100, I'd fill up my tank and start cruising around So-cal.
-Stop by Tiki Farm and check out Mugoomba, which in turn provides years of inspiration.
-Maybe pick up a few mugs, and see if Holden will sell you any cool shit he has laying around in the rafters...That's pretty much how I started my bar!
-Hit local thrift stores and hopefully stumble upon some Hawaiian/Exotica records, float-like globes or old rattan. If you find any decent wicker baskets, you can easily make a cool lamp with some swag and a candelabra kit. Go on a Saturday when most thrift stores are half off.
-Go up to Oceanic Arts for more inspiration. Check the matting area and see if there's any deals on building supplies. Pick up a few pieces of bamboo and split it yourself. Also, get some net, and old foam buoys.
-Lowe's or Home Depot. Get a roll of the standard reed fencing. Also get some Sisal/Manila rope. It's a good cheap start.
-Stop by Bamboo Ben's. Probably won't be open, but you'll know where you need to go when you get some cash and summer comes around.
-Make sure you have at least $30 left and go to Don's for happy hour.
-If you can still stand, go home and start throwing a bar together. Learn how to tie fish floats with your new rope and globes. Don't forget to torch the bamboo.
That's pretty much what I do on any given weekend...and I rarely even have $100!

Well since the Book of Tiki is impossible to find, I would get a cool print from Brad Parker or Doug Horne to start my decor & build from there, maybe a Tiki mug at your local thrift store or Tiki farm.

BambooBen can make a little Tiki Bar for around $100 when he has a sale at his place, talk to him right here on TC.

Find a recipe online for your favorite cocktail, have a drink & enjoy!

Now you have the beginnings of what could be the obsession that it is for the rest of us.

If I had a hundred dollars...

...I'd be rich.

Everyone has expressed good ideas... For me, developing the habit, (or disease), has come from scouring the antique and thrift shops and becoming a regular poster on Tiki Central, (free). One fuels the other. And most tiki-philes that first get this disease start with cheap stuff and work their way up to the terrific art others have mentioned. $100 went a long way when I first started finding lelani mugs.

So I was thinking a few days ago how tiki has all these facets to it. I find that since I like tiki, that I pretty much like all the different parts that build the tiki passion. But I would think that some (or most)people focus on a particular area. For me it would probably be the mugs. But over the time I really want it all. To give the mugs their proper setting lighting needs to be introduced. And what is a mug without the recommended booze that fills them up. And while the sights of the mugs and lights and the taste and smell of the drinks play out why not fill all the senses with the sounds of some records.

So I have spent thousands on tiki and wanted to see on a limited budget what is the most important to you. At the heart of it all. And which concise item or items help to define tiki for you.

When I went to my first tiki event (local) I bought a lot of great items that was like a starter kit of tiki for me.

I bought a couple inexpensive mugs $10 X 2
they are like small tiki carvings to bring
hand held tikiness with you to gathering.

a $10 Shag calender for instant wall artwork

a $7 drink to enjoy the event more and taste the
tastes.

And at the time, I got a $20 soft cover BOT to
learn the history and see the distance sights.

2010

[ Edited by: teaKEY 2010-01-06 14:41 ]

"So I was thinking a few days ago how tiki (and Tiki Central) has all these faucets to it."

That explains all the drips.

Oh, and since I tossed in a one liner based on a simple and easily overlooked malapropism (Curs ewe spill Czech!)...

I think this was a great thread for the raisins Mr teaKEY cited* above. I'm someone who always looks for the lowest cost that has the biggest impact that doesn't look like crap. And that isn't a compromise. (A hundred bucks spent on something you don't really want makes the thing you actually want cost a hundred bucks more.)

For the open minded having a tight budget can lead to creating a Tiki environ or collection that is truly unique and not just an inventory of Tiki Must Haves.

*I originally wrote sited. See?