I see some hipsterism in the scene, but not enough to worry me.
What I see that gladdens me is artists, artists and more artists.
The place is crawling with them. Craftsmen, musicians, cocktalians, story-tellers and the like.
Artists, man.

I am thankful that there are very few tiki poets, however.
We have to draw the line somewhere.

On 2012-05-25 10:21, lucas vigor wrote:
"Hipsters" is exactly what modern tiki afficionados are.

Lucas, is that you finally coming out of the closet ?? !! :)

The term "hipster" has come to be like the term "Yuppie". At first it's kind of cool there's a specific label for the social demographic you might fall into but after a while it accumulates negative baggage. Then everyone talks about them but NO ONE will admit to being one.

Maybe "Tikiphile" will come to mean former "Punker" who is now a "Yuppie" but who really wants to be a "Hipster" (but who has grown too old to be labeled as such). And like these labels, if you're really defensive that's not you, THEN IT REALLY IS YOU. :D

Edit - And Lucas please don't read into that last paragraph as being directed toward you. It's more of a rhetorical question. Actually I think of you more as the grumpy old man at the dive bar but in your case 20 years ahead of the curve. :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2012-05-26 00:17 ]

With the Lakers, Clippers and Kings all in the playoffs last couple of weeks, possibly a hundred thousand people passed in front of LA Live Trader Vics. Each of those persons were exposed to Tiki. Therefore, Tiki is not just tangible, but has a presence on a very big mainstream stage.

Well. continuing to watch this thread I say John-O put it well. Without others supporting our tiki scene, the tiki bars we love will go out of buisness. like the Tiki-Ti as John-O pointed out. I have too admit. I got a little selfish with this when the Ti got voted best bar in LA. I thought to myself, "man now its going to be much harder to get in", which is true. The patrons for the Tiki-Ti skyrocketed. Us tikiphiles want to call these places our own. But if it was just us the Tiki-Ti would have a difficult time staying in buisness. I want the Ti be here for years to come. So I had to put that selfishness aside and know there are others who enjoy our tiki establishments. Aloha shirt or not. :)

I thank the hard core tikiphiles who embrace the "original" look, feel, style, and definition of a true tiki bar/lounge. I may be a newbie in this wonderful world, but because of the kind folks here, I am learning at a break neck pace of what it "was" all about and what it's becoming today. It should enjoyed by all who want a taste of it, but the bearers of the tiki torches should be venerated for what they have done (both old & young!) I was born in '65 and I vaguely remember when I was a youngster in L.A. what was still in existence back then that I was exposed to. It's a joy that tiki is definitely seeing a renaissance. I will be visiting several "temples" soon (as funds allow) and live and breathe the old school way that it was. LONG LIVE TIKI!!!

Mainstream would be nice, for me, being that this is what I do for a living!!! If I had a 9-5 and did this on the side Underground would be nice. But, I got kids to feed so BUY BAMBOO BEN STUFF!!!
MAhalo!

On 2012-05-25 23:36, JOHN-O wrote:

On 2012-05-25 10:21, lucas vigor wrote:
"Hipsters" is exactly what modern tiki afficionados are.

Lucas, is that you finally coming out of the closet ?? !! :)

The term "hipster" has come to be like the term "Yuppie". At first it's kind of cool there's a specific label for the social demographic you might fall into but after a while it accumulates negative baggage. Then everyone talks about them but NO ONE will admit to being one.

Maybe "Tikiphile" will come to mean former "Punker" who is now a "Yuppie" but who really wants to be a "Hipster" (but who has grown too old to be labeled as such). And like these labels, if you're really defensive that's not you, THEN IT REALLY IS YOU. :D

Edit - And Lucas please don't read into that last paragraph as being directed toward you. It's more of a rhetorical question. Actually I think of you more as the grumpy old man at the dive bar but in your case 20 years ahead of the curve. :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2012-05-26 00:17 ]

I would say I personally fall in the "Yuppie" camp. But, I also don't get the whole "ironic hipster" thing...because for me, I like the original tiki scene much more then the current scene, cool as it may be. Given a choice, I would rather have lived during the original time period. The original tiki crowd were that era's equivelent of Yuppies. They liked a safe, sanitized version of the exotic culture...which was the original poly-pop...basically, several photos of crowds enjoying luaus in Sven's book is where I want to be. For me, Hawaiian music in a polynesian restaurant (with the floor show and fake cantonese cuisine) is what it is all about.
But, I can adapt to modern things. For example, PF Chang is to me the logical extension of the 1950's polynesian restaurant.