Tiki ephemera sharing thread!

I recently picked up an old Don The Beachcomber menu on eBay. It's the oldest one I've seen from DTB, probably dating to around 1945 or so. It has some great copy on it, including talk about how Don went through three cases of rum developing the Zombie, plus a full list of all of the rums in his infamous cellar.

I've been cleaning the menu up in Photoshop. No small feat, because the original had water stains, fading, tears, and a big crease down the middle where it was folded. Still, it's giving me a chance to break out Photoshop, which I always enjoy.

I have a few menus that I've acquired, including a Trader Vic's menu that I've previously posted about that no one had ever seen before, and as much as I enjoy having them I'd much rather share them. It seems to me that Tiki Central is a community that thrives on sharing. That's why I'm proposing a friendly challenge.

Once I have it cleaned up, I'm going to post a print-ready high res PDF of this menu for everyone to download and enjoy for free. If other people are willing to post some high-res (300 dpi or greater) printable files of items they have, then I'll share more of mine. I've got oodles of awesome matchbooks, plus a few vintage labels and such which I'm willing to share.

I'll also be happy to help people clean up their images for posting, including piecing together images from items that are too large to fit on a scanner. Just let me know.

What do you say, fellas? Anyone else want to get a little sharing party going?

Edit: Here's a preview of the menu, showing the original version and the one I'm cleaning up:

T-shirts based on vintage tiki matchbooks: TikiTees

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-02-08 13:35 ]

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-02-11 11:57 ]

A very generous offer/challenge! And a very good idea, as well.

TT,
I dont’t have the skills to participate but that is very generous of you-you got the kine!
Mahlalo

OK, I've got the menu all set. It's a very high-res file (600 dpi), which is more than you need for print but just right to zoom in and see the detail. It's a 57 MB file. Unfortunately, our home internet has been pretty much unusable for a few days so I may not be able to get it up for a day or two. Once I do, I'll post a link here and everyone is welcome to download it. All I ask is that you don't sell it, either in digital or printed form, since it defeats the whole purpose of trying to get this sharing thing going!

It's too big to print on a standard printer, but places like OfficeMax should be able to print it out for you. The final size is 11.623 inches high by 20 inches wide (10 when folded). Print it on matt cover stock. If you want to give it a vintage feel, print it on ivory stock.

Link coming as soon as they refill my internets...

OK just my opinion here, but doesn't this go against the whole idea of
having the vintage real deal in your hands?

I am not saying you shouldn't do it, But it's just not the same thing, is it?
I may be too old school for my own good.....but I can still play Devil's advocate.

ATP, good question. And no, it isn't the same as having the real deal in your hands. But these items often fetch a pretty penny, and not everyone has the funds to buy the originals. Of course the originals will still be a true piece of history and will have that value to collectors, but think of this as the next best thing. Also, for the more "academic" minded tikiphiles such as Sven, these items can help nail down details on the history that would be harder to answer otherwise.

Do you have some concern about making the reproductions available?

Its a great alternative for projects and ideas where you wouldn't wanna mess up the real thing. People in the Home bar building section are often incorporating postcards and pictures in the bar tops and this would fit right in. I used old hawaiian record albums covers to cover the ceiling of my closet and could have just as easily used menu prints.. I can envision people using them creatively for lamp shades, getting it printed out on fabric for pillows or clothes...

Cool idea for those with creative minds........

On 2014-02-08 22:36, TikiTacky wrote:
ATP, good question. And no, it isn't the same as having the real deal in your hands. But these items often fetch a pretty penny, and not everyone has the funds to buy the originals. Of course the originals will still be a true piece of history and will have that value to collectors, but think of this as the next best thing. Also, for the more "academic" minded tikiphiles such as Sven, these items can help nail down details on the history that would be harder to answer otherwise.

Do you have some concern about making the reproductions available?

The thought has occurred to me, that a shady type of person might capitalize
on access to these type of files, but at the same time making them available
to everyone does offer the history of such ephemera to people who might appreciate it for what it is?

It is a conundrum....

Thanks for sharing. I have a large archive of images. I used to share a lot more, but my images began showing up on other people's site without crediting the source. Bugs me. I have watermarked all my images, and tried to do it in an unobtrusive way. Then the offender took the time to cover my watermark in Photoshop and use my image anyway! That bites! Just put "Image courtesy of Swank Pad."

Grumble.

I'll share if you do.

This particular menu is pretty common I'd say. A staple of the collections, though this example is a bit unique. I don't own it.

I've seen the later version of this menu often. It lacks the border, as well as the text on the back and the list of rums from the cellar. I did an image search and a search here on TC, as well as Critiki and Arkiva Tropika, but could find this version.

OK, here's the link: [link removed]

As promised, if other people share high-res print quality files I'll share more as well.

T-shirts based on vintage tiki matchbooks: TikiTees

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-02-10 09:35 ]

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-02-15 12:40 ]

Preserve history first, worry about the consequences later!

My Skipper Kent's (monotone) menu high-res scans previously posted:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6321&forum=2&vpost=525166

Excellent! OK, here's a postcard from the Outrigger in Denver's Cosmopolitan hotel: [link removed]

And because that menu was so awesome, here's a bonus link to a scan of a Don The Beachcomber match cover scanned at a luxurious 600 DPI: [link removed]

T-shirts based on vintage tiki matchbooks: TikiTees

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-02-09 11:01 ]

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-02-09 11:29 ]

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-02-15 12:41 ]

On 2014-02-09 10:42, TikiTacky wrote:
OK! As promised, here's the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/honu0vmaj4vi2ci/OldDTBMenu.pdf

As promised, if other people share high-res print quality files I'll share more as well.

This is fantastic! Answers some questions I've had, and conjures up others. Thanks for sharing. I wish I had something to contribute, but I will if and when I do.

I'm not a menu collector, but I love this idea!!

Thank you all for being so generous. I wish I had something to contribute, but at the very least, I really appreciate these awesome resources and the work invested in sharing them.

Anyone else want to contribute? I'll post something soon, and if two more people post things after that I'll share a beautiful vintage Trader Vic's menu. Eight pages, plus a special menu insert. The originals are rare and expensive (here's one on eBay now for $495: http://bit.ly/1aIhJlO ).

Let's get some more stuff up!

A double-whammy:

A Trader Vic's Honolulu placemat from 1944 (when Edward Schultz bought himself a Zombie): [link removed]

And a Trader Vic's Pomegranate Grenadine Syrup label: [link removed]

Now, I'm waiting for two other items to get posted and then I'll post an awesome TV menu...

T-shirts based on vintage tiki matchbooks: TikiTees

Immortalize your name for eternity by contributing to The Tikipedia!

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-02-15 12:42 ]

Anyone? Bueller?

Have you tried looking at Arkiva Tropika?

Its a website put together by a couple of TC folk years ago. Its a digital version of a great ephermera collection from Mimi Payne.

Not sure if they are all print quality but its a fantastic resource for imagery.

http://www.arkivatropika.com/cgi-bin/

Arkiva Tropika is a great resource, but the images are generally far from print quality.

I really thought more people would be willing to share, and to be honest it's a bit disheartening. Tiki Central used to be such a vibrant community (looking at the old threads), with lots of discussion and a great spirit of aloha with people contributing and sharing questions, things, and knowledge. It seems like these days the only thing people care about is buying/selling their tiki wares or partying it up at tiki-themed events. Threads that ask questions are often ignored or, worse, dismissed because someone talked about something loosely related eight years ago.

There's far more backstabbing and name calling than lively discussion. Apparently the events are now cliques, with outsiders ignored and unwelcomed—I see this mentioned repeatedly from those who attend. The websites that were built to support the tiki revival are all but abandoned. Ooga-Mooga was promised an update a couple years ago, but Humuhumu had a baby and that was the end of her involvement in the online tiki community. The Critiki website has been broken for years and is slowly becoming irrelavent. I've emailed the owner of Ariiva Tropika on a couple occasions and never gotten a response. And then there's The Tikipedia—as far as I can tell it's the first serious non-profit driven tiki endeavor in a long time, and the interest level has been effectively nothing. A few people have registered but only one user has contributed anything, and I don't believe he's even a TC member. Almost every article on there is one I've researched and written myself.

It's no secret I've been working on a book about tiki mugs. It is set to be the most heavily researched book of its kind, and has tons of information that exists nowhere else. Aside from Wendy Cevola's generous contributions with information about creating mugs, the vast majority of my contacts go unanswered or people make promises and never deliver. It's disheartening, and frankly I'm ready to throw in the towel. If no one is excited about this stuff anymore, what's the point of writing a book about it?

Granted, you've caught me on a bad day. I have chronic back problems that have resurfaced and I'm in a fair amount of pain despite the painkillers, but these certainly aren't things that I haven't felt before, and I'm also not the first to voice them.

I'm still willing to share what I've got, but I'm not sure why I'm even bothering. :(

I don't see how this is possible:

"It is set to be the most heavily researched book of its kind, and has tons of information that exists nowhere else"

if this is what is happening:

"The vast majority of my contacts go unanswered or people make promises and never deliver"

but hey...whatever

[ Edited by: SandraDee 2014-02-14 17:43 ]

On 2014-02-14 17:37, SandraDee wrote:
I don't see how this is possible:

"It is set to be the most heavily researched book of its kind, and has tons of information that exists nowhere else"

if this is what is happening:

"The vast majority of my contacts go unanswered or people make promises and never deliver"

but hey...good luck to ya!

What it means us that I'm having to spend longer researching things. But yes, thanks for showing exactly what I was complaining about. That's the kind of petty behavior that drives people away.

Yea that petty behavior of mine..tsk, tsk...its really going to get me into trouble one of these days!

On a side note hope your back feels better! Chronic pain of any kind is never good.

Also good luck with all your tiki endeavors!

Got a few supportive and informative PMs from people that didn't want to post publicly, apparently out of fear it would awaken the hornets' nest. Enlightening stuff, but a bit depressing. I used to be a SysOp back in the old days of BBS, and I'm well aware how a few trolls can ruin it for everyone, particularly without good moderators. Sounds like that's a bit of what's going on here.

T-shirts based on vintage tiki matchbooks: TikiTees

Immortalize your name for eternity by contributing to The Tikipedia!

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-02-15 12:32 ]

Sorry, folks. Links have been removed.

OK, some time has passed and I've given this quite a bit of thought. First, I appreciate all the PMs from people letting me know they appreciated the sharing even though they had nothing to share themselves. I also got an earful from more than a few of you about how TC has suffered over the years due to some unfortunate users and the drama they created. I was sad to see that what I hoped would be a positive thing turned into a part of that.

I'm tired of letting the jerks win. I've decided to share everything I have. Once I get it all together I'm going to post a link my entire collection: menus, postcards, ads, matchbooks, etc. It isn't the best collection and it isn't the biggest, but it'll be free for everyone to use however they wish.

Link to be posted soon.

Alright, have fun: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iklq0j8ruxn5w86/CXj-B0cPO3

Let me know if you have questions about anything in there. I'll continue to add items as I get them, so check back periodically.

T-shirts based on vintage tiki matchbooks: TikiTees

Immortalize your name for eternity by contributing to The Tikipedia!

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-02-20 16:08 ]

I'm writing a book too. Its working title is "Tiki Matchbooks."

Here's the text I have so far for it: "This is my tiki matchbook collection. A lot of them are old ones. I really only have ones with tikis on them, or ones from tiki bars. Caution should be used when handling matchbooks or any other flammable material." I'm kinda stuck after that. Not really much to say about matchbooks.

Anyway, it's my first book, so if you have any advice, let me know.

It's only about 46 pages so far. Here are the pages I have finshed and sent of to the publisher/printer. Took me forever to get the layout and background perfect for each page, but I'm super happy(and proud) with the final result:

It's going to be folio sized.

Buzzy Out!

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2014-02-24 23:05 ]

[ Edited by: Bay Park Buzzy 2014-02-24 23:13 ]

Whoa Buzzy I didn't realize you had that many (so far)--great stuff! I bet you and DustyCajun are neck and neck for who has the most matchbooks.

I bet if you scanned each one individually you could upload them into Cafe Press and make tshirts out of them all. I bet you could make a good living off of selling another person's artwork. Can't wait to see your book--the text alone is riveting!

That's a fantastic collection, Buzzy! All joking aside, I'd buy that book. But I don't recommend making shirts out of them, there's no money in it. :wink:

Just added a cleaned up copy of the Kon Tiki menu to the Dropbox link.

TikiT- good stuff
Buzzy- that's a lot of fire power

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2014-02-25 20:45 ]

Added a few new things to the folder. Some new matchbooks, and a Kahiki drinks postcard. I picked up a Trader Vic's Habana menu and I'm working on cleaning it up now. It's a bit of an ordeal because it was printed on very textured paper. Not sure how I'm going to clean that up yet—but I will!

I need to clear up space in my Dropbox, so if you want any items grab them soon.

Edit: I'll try and find somewhere else to put everything so it doesn't permanently disappear. I'd move it to Tikipedia but I'm concerned about bandwidth.

Immortalize your name for eternity by contributing to The Tikipedia!

T-shirts based on vintage tiki matchbooks: TikiTees

[ Edited by: TikiTacky 2014-03-21 12:57 ]

Good thread. I need to get a scanner, so I can post some stuff.

On 2014-02-09 10:55, TikiTacky wrote:
Excellent! OK, here's a postcard from the Outrigger in Denver's Cosmopolitan hotel: [link removed]

And because that menu was so awesome, here's a bonus link to a scan of a Don The Beachcomber match cover scanned at a luxurious 600 DPI: [link removed]

Hey, what happened to the linked menus?

On 2014-02-20 16:05, TikiTacky wrote:
Alright, have fun: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iklq0j8ruxn5w86/CXj-B0cPO3

Here's the link. It's still active for the time being.

On 2014-04-02 18:26, TikiTacky wrote:

On 2014-02-20 16:05, TikiTacky wrote:
Alright, have fun: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iklq0j8ruxn5w86/CXj-B0cPO3

Here's the link. It's still active for the time being.

Cool, thanks