Beside Tiki....................

What do you do?

(could be helpfull for a "bartering system")
I'm a starving artist.

Mahalo,
Bamboo Ben
Bamboo Ben (custom tropical decor)
712 Yorktown Ave. #20
Huntington Beach, Ca. 92648
Store Hours- Sat. 10-5ish
Sun. 11-4ish (summer only)
Other Hours by appointment 714 960-1860

[Moved to Beyond Tiki from the Main discussion area by Hanford]

[ Edited by: hanford_lemoore on 2002-09-02 14:46 ]

I'm a PC technician with Gateway Country.
I worked as an optician for almost 7 years before getting burned out, then I decided to do something I enjoy :)
My wife and I are big Disney fans; we have annual passports and try to go to Disneyland at least once a month.
I also collect Micronauts toys from the 70s.

I manage a Day Spa in Knoxville, Tennessee and deal with constant ego. Has it's good points and bad.

Other than tiki I collect vinyl, kitsch of sorts, vintage postcards (with a fetish for 50's, hotel/motel and airline ones), vintage party invitations, and my latest obsession old carnival poodles with the felt eyes and mouth.

Yee-Haw & Aloha,
Tiki Kiliki
http://www.tikiliki.com

Country Fried Hot Rod

[ Edited by: tiki_kiliki on 2002-08-13 10:00 ]

I am the Manager of a large Water Well drilling firm. We cover an area from Louisiana to Florida. I make Vintage Tiki Mugs from old molds and sell them on Ebay in my spare time.

I write TV, radio and print ads for an agency here in Toronto called Taxi.

I also collect:

-Felt souvenir pennants from the 50's and 60s (those "Greetings from Rochester" sort of things with the indian chiefs and moose on them.... maybe just an east coast thing?)

-Moroccan Amethyst Glassware (purple '60s glass pattern)

-Mid-century modern furniture (real or fake)

I also paint in my spare time, collect old 50's records at thrift stores - mostly for their covers, and work on my website far too infrequently. My current obsession is getting the ultimate streetmattress photo. Check out my showcase gallery on streetmattress.com!

Im a respiratory therapist...doing it for 9 yrs now .(ug Im getting old, the BIG 30 is coming up)

The last job I held was at a firm in Nevada that made carbon fiber parts for racing yachts. I ran some custom software that generated cut paterns for masts. We bought a house in Oceanside and lately I'm finishing up the remodel; it looks great. I'm currently seeking employment. Although I am a hetrosexual, I'm into refinishing and reupolstering furniture, sewing, interior design, Elizabethian costumes & weapons, Home Depot, cooking, mixology and I'm a total hack mechanic. I collect tiki mugs, Hawaiian albums, island artifacts and old adventure books. Shelley works as a R.S.P. teacher for Oceanside Unified S.D. Shelley is an anal retentive, organized-packrat who enjoys collecting all sorts of crap ie: aloha wear, glassware, books, jewlery, clothing, poynesian pop, barware and fabrics. She likes to sew just about anything using aloha fabric. She sews clothing and makes curtains, pillows, lamps, etc. for our home. She also enjoys costume design and computer graphics. Her gumbo is out of this world, though she rarely cooks. We like to go to thrift stores and the swap meet in search of things that become "projects" that we fix, improve or display in creative ways. We love to travel and are going to Kauai in April.
Al
(Edited by Shelley, Little Miss Know It All)

[ Edited by: Alnshely on 2002-08-13 11:57 ]

Marian and I both work for AAA's national office (the auto club) in Heathrow, Florida (a suburb of Orlando). I do national public relations for the automotive division and she manages the emergency road service database. Please don't write us about tow trucks that didn't show up on time. Also, we do not get great discounts on travel, as one might reasonably expect. Please do write us about Polynesian Pop culture, especially as it relates to Florida.

I am a Business Systems Analyst for a software company in Irvine, California. Been doing this for 6 yrs now. Previously was an Architectural Drafting consultant for 13 years (left that and went to tech school for a career change).

I obviously like to collect tiki however, am also into Hawaiiana, old vinyl (records, that is) and old Kung Fu Theatre.

**Poly-Pop ***

He who dies with the most broken mugs WINS!

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2005-05-22 08:00 ]

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop 2013-02-04 20:26 ]

I am a professional geotechnical engineer here in Denver, CO. I work for consulting firm and lately I have been working on a lot of highway design projects (our new project is SH 130 outside of Austin, TX - what a bugga of a job - 93 miles long). My wife and I love to travel and decorate our house for Halloween. We just had a daughter (Kailea - 4 mos. old) and she is the center of our attention.

I am a professional Magician/Illusionist and live in So California. I travel all around the world performing and consulting on Magic shows. My wife works in the cable television industry. When not collecting tiki or working on the Tiki Hut in my backyard, I collect albums (for the covers mostly), 50's hot rod cars and stuff, and enjoy Simpsons, wrestling, and gardening.

Erich Troudt

Wow, this is a great thread. I love hearing what others do for work & fun. Tikifish: Streetmattress.com rules! My girlfriend needs to get rid of an old mattress set, but I don't think we'll resort to "road-siding" it, but you never know.

I'm a senior artist at a video game company called Totally Games. Been here for 4 years, been in games for 10 years. I made a bunch of Star Wars games while at Lucasarts for 5 years back in the early 90s (see http://www.artbot.com). Now I'm on a WW2 flight combat game we're doing for Lucasarts. It's a pretty sweet job. Nobody even blinks when they walk into my office and I'm doing "research" on the PS2! I also have a tiki grotto here in my office.

In the past I have been an illustrator, draftsman, graphic designer, set builder, museum exhibit fabricator (my degree is in industrial design from ACCD in Pasadena).

I like to cycle on the weekends and try to travel to Hawaii every year (just a month away now!). I collect vintage Hawaiian music (from the teens to the 50s). Am currently trying to buy a house here in the Bay Area, which is the most exciting and depressing thing ever (exciting cuz it's MINE! and depressing cuz the down-payment alone would buy me a house in most other cities.)

My master plan is to create my own animated short movie, which I will sell to Nickelodian and serve as executive producer from my mansion in the hills.

I own/run a small family child care home. I am also a child care advocate. I distribute pertinent legislation information and I occasionally do a little lobbying in Sacramento. Sometimes things get too crazy with the kids and a little too real when I have to deal with darker child related issues from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children and so forth. It's then that I take comfort in the silliness of American Tiki.

I have way too many obsessions to list here. I collect vintage Melamine dishware and fondue sets. I love silly out of date items and clothes. I enjoy rockabilly and I'm also into Irish Ceili dancing and traditional music (and not so traditional too. The POGUES are my long time favorite band!)

I am a packrat. Because of this I'm always broke... more's the pity. But these things are my current highlights.

I'm a freelance medium density solar particulate shadow realignment specialist (like the cover story on last month's issue of The American Journal Of Bizzarology). When I'm not on some roof top tweaking an interflack generator or recrystalizing the warrenization core of a spacilia rod I write papers on comparitive weight studies of lentils for the Dry Pea and Lentil Commission. Besides Tiki stuffs I collect strings from cat food bags, garage door opener remote controls, crow feathers, denture plates, shift lock keys from old manual typewriters, Beanie Babies, and foreign light bulbs I find washed up on the Washington coast.

I am an artist, designer & historian! I used to do Amusement & Theme Park design for Disney, Universal, etc.... Working on Tokyo DisneySea (a new park in Tokyo) was one of my highlights.... Currently I work for an internet company that handles advertising materials for some of the bigger studios here in town.
I collect (and am a big fan of) theme park history. Old Disneyland, Knott's & Pacific Ocean Park are big ones for me. I collect old park props, signage, figures - that sorta stuff. Obviously, I love the (original) Tiki Room! I am also a constant contributer to The "E" Ticket magazine (currently working on redesign of their website - hope to have it up by Fall) & am also working on a book dealing with the history of Knott's Berry Farm....
Whew!

"Oh mystic powers - hear my call...
From my limbs, let new life fall..."
http://home.earthlink.net/~cdylanm/

[ Edited by: Tangaroa on 2002-08-13 13:48 ]

Work:
I'm another computer geek. After college, (by the way me and Johhny Velour went to school together we were both in the Comunnication Arts Dept, he was a designer I was an illustrator),after college I became a computer animator for broadcast TV at a company called Rezn8 Productions. I was there for over 4 years, but after 9/11 there were a whole bunch of lay offs because the company came really close to going under. I've been freelancing since then to pay the bills and promoting rockabilly shows on the side for fun. I may actually give up freelancing and go ahead and go in house again soon. I'm looking to get into video games as an environment artist cause I'm really fed up with spinning logos for braodcast TV. Here's a site where I show some of my work, I use this site for getting freelance work - http://www.tufftimes.com/

obsessions:
Vintage Pin Up Art - I collect vintage pin up art. The main artist I collect are Gil Elvgren, George Petty, and Alberto Vargas. I've been doing this long enough that I have some really cool stuff.

Tiki - Always liked Hawaiian shirts and generally all types of Hawaiiana but then one day I bought a Kanaloa by Coco Joe on ebay and have been hooked on all things Tiki since then. I'm finally about to build my own home Tiki bar and would like to eventualy get into doing a little carving. Like many others in Tiki Central I fantasize about someday opening my own Tiki establishment. I'm one year into a 7 year plan that will end up with me opening my own place. Like I said it's a 7 year plan and I'm only one year in right now so it's a long way off, but for now I can just keep dreaming about it.

Classic Cars - The most amount of classic cars I've had at one time is three. I'm down to one car right now, a 1964 Ford Fairlane, I'm going to completley finish this one before I start another. For my next car I'm thinking maybe an old Cadillac Hearse.

Head fry cook at the Weenie Barn

I'm an urban archeologist, night creature, and bon vivant.

Wow! There are some interesting Individuals here, to be sure.

I wrote a small book on income tax avoidance, which I no longer sell. I am currently developing a course to help Individuals to determine and fulfill their basic goal or deep desire in life. I am also a Libertarian candidate for State Representative here in Florida.

If my course brings in the money, I want to get into functional art and jewelry and furniture making. I also want to get about 20 acres of land to build my own home and set up a place for writers, artists and musicians to stay while working on projects.

Im in a Surf / Punk Band

I build Hot Rods

and I'm a vide editor for commercial / music videos to pay the bills:D

Wow, what a great cross-section of people here! I have the same occupation as one Milburn Drysdale, so I'm not too sure I could work anything out as far as bartering goes!?! Other things that occupy my time: music (collecting, listening, banging on my orga_..,oops, better use "keyboard"), painting, amusement parks/roller coasters, and searching for the elusive Ms. Right. Kind of a thin resume, but hey, it'll look great after I win the lottery!

I am a Video News Editor at Baltimore's ABC affiliate. It wasn't exactly what I went to college for but it pays the bills...

When not indulging in tiki I mess around with my 1951 Ford Custom and my three dogs - Comet, Ajax and Brillo (2 Boston Terriers and a wire-haired Fox Terrier)

My wife and I also have a thing for Heywood Wakefield modern furniture and Fiestaware. But I am the one that is out of control and going to drive my wife to insanity - I collect reggae records (which I never listen to in my tiki bar), Empire State Building memorabilia (brochures, souvenirs, etc.), lead soldiers, cocktail shakers, old-time radio shows, yo-yo's, 80's era skateboard decks and some other things I'm sure I forgot.

That's me!
:drink:

Not as glamorous or cool as some of the other jobs mentioned, but I'm a high school English teacher (11th and 12th grades)...

My husband has his obsession -- Triumph cars (driving, restoring, racing, collecting) -- and I have mine!

Public Relations :wink:

I am a computer/phone technician for a Large company. Went to school for video production. Married and have Daughters. When not out on the tiki hunt I like to write music.

:sheckymug:

[ Edited by: turbogod 2005-07-20 16:08 ]

I make stuff and do graphic design.
Holden

Is it just me or does this feel like filling out a personals ad? I am the director of marketing and research at a commercial real estate firm. In addition to a tiki obsession, I collect Rat Pack memorabilia and old Vegas stuff (from the Sands, etc). Other obsessions include anything mafia, Cary Grant, Snoopy, Italy, and elves, although because I'm not much of a pack rat I don't keep a lot of it around.

In my spare time I like hiking, yoga, movies and travel. I believe the best times are spent with friends and good food, and good drinks with little paper umbrellas. I'm a 5'6 Pisces who needs a man in her life that isn't afraid to come 'second' to Dino.

As a sideline I design toys-mainly 12" action figures but my fulltime occupation is as a Dr. of Ne'er-do-well. Before that I work as a film/theatrical costume designer. And before that I was a garbageman.

This is a great thread! I'm always interested in what people do for a living, since I'm always on the lookout for new ideas. Great mix of people here.

I'm (prepare to be dazzled!) an "account executive" aka sales rep. for an ocean cargo transportation company. Yow.

In my spare time, I spend too much money and time on tiki (and ebay), hike, travel when possible, dine out, drink, see live music, and am an amateur graphic designer & actor. There's probably a few other hobbies I'm forgetting, but I won't bore you with them here.

TikiKini: My father has a TR4. Email me privately- my father would love to meet another nut who would have some good ideas about repairs and servicing.

Keep adding to this one everyone!

-martin

I work in a gentlemen's club. Who wants to barter with that?

I am Director of Admission for a highly selective liberal arts college in Southern California. Hawaii was my primary recruitment territory for 10 years until I changed institutions. Now I travel frequently to Boston, Connecticut, and New York to recruit students. I've made found some great friends from TC while traveling and hope to continue to make new friends along the way.

In my spare time I like to travel to exotic places with my wife Tina, spend time on our boat named Kon-Tiki, and collect Hawaiiana & Tiki artifacts.

Aloha,

Arty

[ Edited by: stentiki on 2005-05-23 13:42 ]

My friend used to deliver pizza to a club and got lap dances as tips.

I am a Network/Security Engineer for the County of Orange. I live in Laguna Hills and was raised in Whittier, CA. I work on a lot of projects with my Dad who is an emmy award winning camera man and engineer at KOCE Channel 50 Huntington Beach (OC PBS). Anywho...I started collecting tiki mugs about 5 years ago and was able to collect over 120 mugs to date along with some unusual bits of Hawaiian 50s and 60s collectables. I have started carving my first tiki palm. I was fortunate to be Crazy Al's neighbor when I lived in Huntington Beach.

So the topic has moved to gentleman's clubs? My home away from home is a little place by LAX called The Wild Goose. I've been going there since I was old enough to get in, I know all the securties, some of the strippers, and a couple of the waitresses. Actually met an ex girlfrien dancing there. I got the Wild Goose's logo tattooed on the back of my hand so I get in for free for the rest of my life.

Nice to read about the different backgrounds. I do artificial intelligence research for a little consulting/research company in the bay area.

(biz plug here)
One project we did is a tool to make it easier to put "smart" behaviors in computer games, like the opponents in the shoot-em-ups, or even like the ghosts in pacman. It was funded with gov't dough, so we're trying to find users or companies interested in using it (for free). Tiki-Bot or anyone else at a games co, let me know if you know someone who'd like to try it.
(end of biz plug)

I'm also a college-radio kuk since high school (surf, twist, garage, trash, WWII music, and of course exotica), a duffer longboarder, and nuts about googie, MAD mag, Samurai Jack, kaiju, and some midcentury modern stuff.

Hoping to put together a website pictorial of googie bowling alleys, and also to gather data and artifacts on the San Mateo Lanai. Mike tikihula had some great stuff from there. If anyone has any stories or artifacts, I'd love to hear about it, and maybe assemble a webpage this fall.

-Randy

I am a gift/toy buyer for an independant retail store.I like it cuz I get to see all the new toys and tiki items coming out.We try to stay on the funkier side so I have a good time looking for weird stuff...I personally collect tiki's, old Hawaiian LP's,some Hawaiiana,mermaids,Creature from the Black Lagoon,vintage kids halloween masks,cheshire cat and PEZ!!!I also am an artist and I paint mermaids, cats and dogs,I make 'em all glittery and colorful...one day I will have a website..I'll let ya'll know
XXOO,... tikiluvgirl

Aloha!

I work for a hotel developer as a in-house architect & interior designer.

If only I could convince my boss to build a dream "TikiParadise"!

Suzanne

I have knowledge of everything... but I'm an expert of nothing.

OK currently I'm performing as a bartender at a hotel in New Jersey. Planning to be Head Bartender in about five years, that's my plan... :wink:

I find that I really enjoy finding and collecting things that only I think are cool. :P

And, oh yeah I think Mean People Suck!

[ Edited by: tikimug on 2002-08-14 20:34 ]

I'm a graphic designer by day, and when the kids aren't driving me crazy I paint and sculpt in the evenings. I've been getting into this whole Easter Island thing in the past year and tikis in general lately. I've loaded some of my pieces here
http://www.denariusdesign.com/html/tiki.html

I'm working on a realy cool piece now that I'm painting on some used drumheads. It should be done in a couple'a weeks.

Warm Regards,
John

I am the mother of one neurotic cat and many tropical fish. in addition to tiki, I collect vintage bowling shirts, rotary phones, offbeat jewelry and unusual handbags. I am a perpetual student of California history.

I work for a company that makes library automation software, where I implement and support a product I like to call "Interlibrary Loan on Steroids." Fortunately, the Emeryville Trader Vic's is within walking distance. :wink:

--cindy

I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you.

Trader Woody

I am a third owner in a custom home building company called Montana Construction Inc. or Prestige Builders. I self titled my position as Director of Field Operations (That's stupidintendant to you and me) I have been lucky enough to see the ocean from every job I have worked on for the past 15 years. The people we build for never run out of money.
Some of the more famous houses have been.
2 houses for the owners of OP (ocean pacific) 1 for the owner of Redsand clothing,several projects (7 years worth) for the owners of Saint John Knits, atleast 3 projects with Mossimo Gianulli.
Right now we have 5 projects going, all over 6,000 sqare feet and we have 3 more projects on the boards. My wife (KukuiNut) is a full time property manager for Equity Office. She runs a building over by Mainplace mall in Santa Ana. In our spare time we work on our house, dabble in some tiki stuff ($$$$ oh my god my wife wants to kill me)and thanks to Tiki Central, we need to look for a baby sitter. We have stuff to do almost every weekend. We love to play with our 2 kids (girl 9/boy 11) dog, 2 cats, and an iguana (free to a loving home) That's all for now?

Well, I'm impressed! I'm sure the Gods are pleased with this fine group of creative individuals dancing at their heiaus and temples! I am a chef, sometime pastry chef, specializing in Pacific Rim and opening new restaurants. I have worked all over the world, (Asia, Europe, Hawaii and 9 other states,). I have worked with some stellar names in the biz, even garnering an appearance for myself on Great Chefs of Hawaii! I'm a hopeless tikiphile, and once when I was doing bodypainting on the side in Manhattan, I painted three girls entirely in tikis, torches, and foliage. I am currently trying to find investors for a tiki bar...kinda like the Hala Kahiki, but serving appetizers and desserts...no entrees. Grey

For work, I am in support for a company that makes emmisions monitoring software and hardware for power plants and other people worried about the air. With the EPA involved, we'll always have lots of work and it continues to be more and more complex. Been in computer science since Radio Shack made computers and the Net was BBS's.

I am a long time student of Ceremonial Magic. Was in the Golden Dawn for about 8 years (Cicero affiliation) and am now about to become a Priest of the Order of Melchitzedek. Along with that I am a big student of Qabalah and Jewish Mysticism and Christian Mysticism and other Western Mystical traditions.

Been collecting swank clothes, furnishings (lamps, clocks and radios especially) for decades. Always looking for new lounge and oddball 50-60s musics. My lounge station on Live 365 has been going strong for a year or two. Working on DJing more live. Tiki has been more Kiliki's bag. I collect tiki for her. For me, if it's aqua, I love it.

I have a 10 year old daughter who is awesome. She's has a great musical ear and loves Dean and Sammy and the Ramones and B-52s, etc. Great taste for any age.

I have a 1961 Chevy Corvair Monza 900 original old lady car with 40k miles on it.

We go to a lot of rockabilly events and classic country shows. We are always antiquing where ever we go and looking for googie and trying to photograph and document it while it's still here. That's yet another web site project.

Hukilau has become a year round enterprise.

Into photography, power lifting style weight training, writing, humor, Mannix, lounge, wood working, more.

Web sites:
The Swank Pad
My more personal pages off AOL. Sorry, the photogrphy page is a bit absent
Hukilau

The Swank Pad Broadcast - If it's Swank...

[ Edited by: Swanky on 2002-08-15 09:38 ]

I am a painter of tropical/tiki/Hawaiiana on black velvet or canvas.
http://www.tikiroom.net/tikisbycc/paintings.html
I have been getting into architecture in my paintings.Currently I am doing a painting of Rock Hudson's home in Bermuda Dunes(Palm Springs,CA area) for a couple who just bought the house.Also,I am starting a series of ghost town paintings for my very small town of Pioneertown.It is a permanant Western movie set built by Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.Now residents live there,have an untouched '50's bowling alley and a real biker/desert rat/tourist biker bar called,'Pappy and Harriet's,'also the original,'OK Corral.'
My husband,daughter and I live on the outskirts on a couple of acres.You probably are familiar with my husband,CC's work as a tiki carver: http://www.tikiroom.net/tikisbycc/tikisbycc.html
I collect '70's and older Fisher Price toys, fruits & veggies salt-n-pepper shakers and condiment jars with faces on them,smiley face,cookie jars,old Twilight Zone&Horror&Christian comic books,Tiki huts,kitschy asian & native figurines,cruise menus,'50's Christmas,chefs,Catalina Island items,Hawaiiana,tablecloths and vintage fabric,lucite&box purses,vintage Playskool toys,books,charms&charm bracelets,and rpg's for the PSOne!(also want to get the PS2!)For music I like,Exotica,Hawaiian(new and old),some ska,some big band,Dick Dale & some surf,some Western,Billy Holiday,Beatles,Herb Alpert,and Lounge music.
This is only what I collect!CC can rattle off a list as long or longer than mine.
We also just got a DVD player,so are switching to those.I like Marx Bros.,Shirley Temple,'50's "B" beach and horror movies,and Twilight Zone episodes.(We like to sail,surf and go camping and traveling.If anyone finds a Snark sailboat fully equipped for less than $100 let us know!We had one before and loved it for small lakes).
I would be willing to "barter"with any of these possible trades if you find a painting of mine you like.Partial trade of course,I like to get $$ too!
As Steve Martin says in,'The Jerk,'..."I could use money!"
Aloha,Anne
P.S.-Loved reading all of these.Someone mentioned Knotts Berry Farm.I used to work there!CC used to work at Disneyland!

I'm an attorney by trade. Besides tiki, I enjoy a lot of other 50's-focused pop culture pursuits. I collect books, CDs, and DVDs related to 50's pulp art, film noir, science fiction, pinups, and the lounge scene. My wife and I also enjoy backpacking.

A few more tiki-related factoids about me:
I grew up in Torrance CA, halfway between Latitude 20 and Hale Hawaii.

One of the places I went for piano lessons was next to Hale Hawaii! (The bar's still there, but the music school is long-gone.)

There used to be tons of Googie in that area; nearly all of it has been demolished. A few Tiki-themed apartments are still around, but they've gradually toned down the tikiness over the last 20 years.

artbyanne wrote:
"Also,I am starting a series of ghost town paintings for my very small town of Pioneertown.It is a permanant Western movie set built by Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.Now residents live there,have an untouched '50's bowling alley and a real biker/desert rat/tourist biker bar called,'Pappy and Harriet's,'also the original,'OK Corral.' My husband,daughter and I live on the outskirts on a couple of acres.You probably are familiar with my husband,CC's work as a tiki carver: http://www.tikiroom.net/tikisbycc/tikisbycc.html"

Last time I was in Palm Springs we drove out to Pioneertown for a couple beers and some bowling. It was my second visit there. I love it! Anyway, on the way we spotted a large tiki near a house along the road. Is that where you and C.C. live? I promise I won't tell exactly where (I can't remember anyway).