I wasn't sure if I should post this under "Collecting Tiki" but let me try here first...

I found one of the early issues of Tiki News in a used bookstore and I want more !! Not so much as collectibles but to read the content. It's fascinating to see what was going on in the Tiki community before things "blew up" post-BOT. It's almost like they're Tiki Revival historical documents.

As far as I can tell, there is no way to purchase back issues from http://www.tikinews.com.

If anyone in So CA has most, if not all, of Tiki News #1-#17. I'd pay to borrow your collection for a month. I want to scan it into PDF format for my own reading. Based on its size and the way it was laid out, this should be a straight-forward task.

If Otto never intends to republish the back issues in any format, I'd be willing to share my efforts with anyone that can make it out to Tonga Hut or Don's some time.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2010-11-22 11:28 ]

Aaaw, that ol' rag, who cares!

:D Actually, I am glad some folks do, I personally know a few who are seeking early issues. And you should ask Mo-Eye, he came over and bought my whole stack I had for sale at the Tikiyaki show!

Since I was with the rag since it's inception, I do own the whole run of it, x-ept numba 2, no idea where it is. Here is the cover of #1, it had a whopping 12 (!) pages:

I always like to point out the irony that back in 1994 (or was it '95?) the cover of the first issue was BLACK, simply because back then there were no artists known to us who worked in the Tiki vein!

I will gladly lend you my issues, not for money ...maybe for Mai Tais? But for the duplication, I think you should ask Otto if its OK. I know years ago he said he would re-publish a compilation and never did, but since he is easy to contact, it would be the correct way to go.

Here is my first article (5 pages of the 12) which many years later became the opening chapter of the Book of Tiki:

Thanks Bigbro !! I appreciate your offer.

I will follow-up and reach out to Otto. :)

I've always wondered what the first issue looked like, I jumped aboard on issue #2. It's funny looking back just before the internet took off and these "zines' became obsolete. I use to have a weekly ritual stopping at Tower Records every Thursday after work to see the newest crop of these publication and if someone told me in less than 10 years I'd be reading about tikis on a state of the art computer instead of one xeroxed on some office copy machine I'd laugh in their face. Progress can be good.

So is that address in Venice the "Birthplace of the Tiki Revival" ?? :)

It's not far from me, maybe I'll knock on the door and demand the issues I paid a subscription on. :D

On 2010-11-22 15:01, naugatiki wrote:
I've always wondered what the first issue looked like, I jumped aboard on issue #2.

Oh, could you please post that #2 cover, I don't even remember what it looks like anymore...was it a very early Shag?

On 2010-11-22 15:11, JOHN-O wrote:
So is that address in Venice the "Birthplace of the Tiki Revival" ?? :)

Otto had his first Tiki Mug Parties there in his backyard, beginning in 1994. That's where I met Josh Agle for the first time.

But I had known Jeff Berry since the early 90s, and in 1992 I started holding Tiki Symposiums/ slide shows with the other Tiki colllectors I knew at each others houses. By the end of '92 I had enough material together to hold my first slide lecture about Tiki Style at an architectural forum:

There were a few others in the Cacaphony Society that did the occasional Tiki event, but nothing on a scholarly level:

I met Mark Ryden and Bosko in '93 and In '94 I had my first full color article on Polynesian Pop published in an art director's yearly mag:

But book publishers kept turning my proposal down. So I was glad that Otto approached me with the idea for Tiki News. The first issue came out in 1995, and Otto began to organize Tiki gatherings at public venues, culminating in his legendary EXOTICON '95 festival at the Park Plaza lodge. He also curated his first Tiki Art show at Cacao:

Until Otto moved to San Francisco, we worked really well together as a team, on a string of his Tiki events, he being the party organizer and me being the professor providing the cultural context. But things stayed on a certain subculture level for the next 5 years. In my estimate, Tiki News could not take the hurdle of its limited format: The no color/ xerox machine quality was unfortunately incapable of conveying THE main quality of Tiki Style: That of an intriguing VISUAL art form, of EYE CANDY. It took the BOT to do that. And then Josh Agle. And then Tiki Farm, AND Tiki Oasis. AND Tiki Central. And more artists and books and events. And on it went....

Here is a 1995 article excerpt with a funny prediction by Josh:

Well, that happened kinda, but what he could not predict was his OWN stellar success, and his role in propelling the revival...and the role of e-bay and the internet. WHO would have thunk!!? :D

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-11-22 20:40 ]

...and while we're reminiscing about the early days of the tiki revival, let us not forget that it wasn't limited to California.

I published the first Tiki FAQ on the UseNet (early internet bulletin board system) in early 1994, and launched The Tiki Bar Review Pages (the first tiki web site, period) in 1995.

By 1998, Duke Carter and I were rendezvousing at Kahiki in Columbus, and getting to know Jeff Chenault. We soon met Dave Krys and others. Mug swapping parties and meetups at Hala Kahiki or Chef Shangri-la were becoming quite common among a short-lived circle who called ourselves "The Bamboo Crew".

In 2000, a coalition of Chicago tikiphiles put on the first Exotica event, which took the form of an art show (and an afterparty) in a warehouse behind a futon shop!

Not to hijack this TN thread, but I'd like to hear 1990s-era stories of what was going on, tiki-wise, in other towns.

Thank you James for filling in that part of the (hi)story, I felt not fully qualified to do so! Yes, there were Tiki rumblings in all parts of the country by the 2nd half of the 90s, and in the larger metropolises like Chicago enough enthusiasts came to together to form their own little Tiki hubs!