Official Introductions Thread. New Members, Post your introduction here...

Welcome, Professor! As I'm sure you've discovered, this site is an excellent resource for diving deep into the guts of tiki, both classic and modern. If you're particularly interested in the drinks side of things, Grogalizer is an excellent resource as well.

On 2018-06-20 07:28, Bam Bam wrote:
Welcome, Professor! As I'm sure you've discovered, this site is an excellent resource for diving deep into the guts of tiki, both classic and modern. If you're particularly interested in the drinks side of things, Grogalizer is an excellent resource as well.

Yowzers! I was not aware of the Grogalizer. I just got a box of ingredients in the post today and was wondering a moment ago "what can I make with these now..." Perfect timing. Cheers!

Reading through the posts in the forum, I see that this place operates much differently than other forums I've seen previously. Here, threads from the past are not forgotten, but are continued for years - especially helps in the Tiki Locator area.

Greetings to all from a Canadian Tiki fan. I've been a fan since way back when dad had his very own tiki bar set up in the house I grew up in. Now, some 40 plus years later I find myself wielding a chainsaw most days, carving up a frenzy. The tiki carvings continue to be among my favourites to create and as such I've lurked on this site for ages admiring and being inspired by the members works I see here from time to time. I figured it was about time I introduced myself.

I'm slowly figuring out how Instagram works and have found the #tiki hashtag so will post photos of any future tiki carvings there. I don't have a lot of photos of them because they are typically carved during demonstration carving engagements and are generally sold before I pack up for the day. I've started a series of large fish hook carvings, woven in Polynesian/Maori fashion and love the process of creating those as well so there will be many of them carved for the rest of this lifetime of mine.

I'll be sure to share some of my work here with all of you.

Now if I could only find a cheaper supply of thatch roofing I could get to work on my own "just like dad's" tiki bar......

Aloha everybody, I’m Ross The Booze Hounder, Roscoe, or just Ross. Reporting live from Sparks, Nevada (former home of the now defunct Trader Dicks). I grew up in the East Bay Area, California (birthplace of the Tiki Bar?) and enjoyed libations at fine Tiki establishments such as; Trader Vic’s, Smugglers Cove, Tonga Room, and Forbidden Island, amongst others. Unfortunately, at that time I was young(er) and although infatuated, I was not fully vested into the Tiki lifestyle.

Fast forward to modern times... I have been fortunate enough to travel fairly regularly and have mostly found peace off the coast of the Pacific. Although, I love all bodies of water and seaside destinations. Recent trips have included; New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Mexico, a road trip up the coast to Vancouver, B.C., and numerous trips to Hawaii... where I married my beautiful wife on a secluded local black sand beach in Hana.

My wife and I have collected (accumulated/hoarded?) various artifacts along our travels and from thrift stores/estate sales/flea markets. Our interests on artifacts, art and collectibles range from Native American, Mesoamerican, religious, sign painting, typography, graffiti art, graphic design, vinyl records and cassette tapes, classic Schwinn bicycles, mid century, amongst a host of other occult and esoteric items. And, as of recently, Tiki ephemera (mainly me, but eventually , she will hopefully share in my latest passion).

As it has always been a dream/vision of mine to have my own Tiki Bar, we finally bought a house (before the market rises even higher). Currently, I am working on an outdoor Tiki Bar and am slowly building my collection (sure wish I would’ve started collecting years ago). I will post photos of my progress and temporary/possibly permanent bar (until I can convince my wife to move it indoors, due to weather and whatnot).

I am looking forward to learning and interacting with everyone on this site. As I started my internet search, I fell down the Tiki Central rabbit hole and am grateful to have stumbled upon such an amazing place to learn and connect with like minded connoisseurs. Cheers to racing the moon and chasing the sun. Mahalo and much Aloha!

[ Edited by: TheBoozehounder 2018-07-17 20:50 ]

[ Edited by: TheBoozehounder 2018-08-26 15:36 ]

Welcome, Ross! Glad to have you aboard.

On 2018-07-17 20:39, Hamo wrote:
Welcome, Ross! Glad to have you aboard.

Mahalo Hamo! And, thank you for sharing your story on your blog, of San Francisco. It brought back an abundance of memories for me. I went to art school in “the city” and was able to put myself in the footsteps of the paths you traveled. I do hope that you’ve returned since your posting, and have had the opportunity to visit some of the Tiki Bars and other points if interest that you may have missed.

Cheers to your dreams and drink always being full - Roscoe

[ Edited by: TheBoozehounder 2018-07-17 20:49 ]

[ Edited by: TheBoozehounder 2018-07-17 21:06 ]

On 2018-07-17 20:21, TheBoozehounder wrote:
Aloha everybody, I’m Ross The Booze Hounder, Roscoe, or just Ross. Reporting live from Sparks, Nevada (former home of the now defunct Trader Dicks). I grew up in the East Bay Area, California (birthplace of the Tiki Bar?) and enjoyed libations at fine Tiki establishments such as; Trader Vic’s, Smugglers Cove, Tonga Room, and Forbidden Island, amongst others. Unfortunately, at that time I was young(er) and although infatuated, I was not fully vested into the Tiki lifestyle.

Fast forward to modern times... I have been fortunate enough to travel fairly regularly and have mostly found peace off the coast of the Pacific. Although, I love all bodies of water and seaside destinations. Recent trips have included; New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Mexico, a road trip up the coast to Vancouver, B.C., and numerous trips to Hawaii... where I married my beautiful wife on a secluded local black sand beach in Hana.

My wife and I have collected (accumulated/hoarded?) various artifacts along our travels and from thrift stores/estate sales/flea markets. Our interests on artifacts, art and collectibles range from Native American, Mesoamerican, religious, sign painting, typography, graffiti, graphic design, vinyl records and cassette tapes, classic Schwinn bicycles, mid century, amongst a host of other occult and esoteric items. And, as of recently, Tiki ephemera (mainly me, but eventually , she will hopefully share in my latest passion).

As it has always been a dream/vision of mine to have my own Tiki Bar, we finally bought a house (before the market rises even higher). Currently, I am working on an outdoor Tiki Bar and am slowly building my collection (sure wish I would’ve started collecting years ago). I will post photos of my progress and temporary/possibly permanent bar (until I can convince my wife to move it indoors, due to weather and whatnot).

I am looking forward to learning and interacting with everyone on this site. As I started my internet search, I fell down the Tiki Central rabbit hole and am grateful to have stumbled upon such an amazing place to learn and connect with like minded connoisseurs. Cheers to racing the moon and chasing the sun. Mahalo and much Aloha!

[ Edited by: TheBoozehounder 2018-07-17 20:50 ]

Welcome Ross, and Aloha from Reno!

On 2018-07-17 20:49, TheBoozehounder wrote:

Mahalo Hamo! And, thank you for sharing your story on your blog, of San Francisco. It brought back an abundance of memories for me. I went to art school in “the city” and was able to put myself in the footsteps of the paths you traveled. I do hope that you’ve returned since your posting, and have had the opportunity to visit some of the Tiki Bars and other points if interest that you may have missed.

I made it back to SF for a day and a half last August (I also went through Sparks), and I’m planning a return visit this December to check out the Dickens Fair and more tiki places.

Greetings all!

I'm TikiTikiTommy, and I'm new to Tiki culture and the site. I recently realized that for years I was into tiki culture and didn't know it. I play the ukulele, love tropical cocktails, have a fondness for the tiki aesthetic and lifestyle, and I'm a huge proponent of the need for escapism in our day-to-day lives.

I live in Indianapolis, where we just got an awesome new tiki bar called The Inferno Room. The company I work for is moving this week and our new space is right next to the Inferno Room, and I imagine I will be spending a lot of time there. My wife and I are excited to start experimenting with cocktail recipes and are even thinking about building a (small) tiki bar into our basement finishing project in the next year. I look forward to learning more here and being a part of the community!

• Tommy

Welcome, TikiTikiTommy! You're lucky to soon be working next to a tiki bar. I'm happy to hear that Indianapolis is getting more tiki because I have friends there whom I'll have to call and make sure they check it out.

Have fun with your tiki plans, have fun here on TC, and join us in the discussions. Cheers to you!

On 2018-09-18 08:15, TikiTikiTommy wrote:
The company I work for is moving this week and our new space is right next to the Inferno Room [...]

I'm jealous. And I'm grateful I don't work next door to a Tiki bar because I'm sure my work productivity would go down...way down!

Welcome TikiTikiTommy and good luck staying productive while working next door to the Inferno Room!

Welcome, TikiTikiTommy! Glad to have you!

We've had a few new members over the past couple of months. Come on, everybody; introduce yourselves!

Aloha friends!

This is Damon from The Pupu Platters! We are an exotica three piece from my living room in Tustin, California, coming soon to a tiki bar near you.

I have been lurking on Tiki Central for about 10 years, until yesterday. I think part of the reason I kept to the shadows was I felt like I did not have much to contribute to the community. Now that I have a band, that's changed.

I was born in the 70s and grew up on reruns of Brady Bunch, Gilligan, Scooby Doo, and The Disney Channel. I turned a blind ear to the lounge revival in the 90s, but after some friends turned me on to drum & bass music (aka JUNGLE) I began digging through thrift store record bins looking for records to sample for my own sonic experiments. I would buy any record that alluded to jungle, percussion, or just looked cool! I was listening to exotica unaware it was a genre.

It wasn't until I heard Hawaiian War Chant in the Enchanted Tiki Room 10 years ago, that these seemingly disparate sights and sounds came together as "tiki" for me. Tiki Central was a fantastic resource for helping me catch up for lost time pretty quickly. All you artists and collectors have been so inspiring! Needless to say, by the time Trader Sam's opened, I was hooked!

Since then however, I have completely given up alcohol! Part of the motivation to start a tiki band was to find my way back into the tiki bar.

See you there!

Welcome Damon!

Welcome aboard, Damon!

Does your band have a bandcamp or soundcloud link? I'm always on the hunt for new tunes for my bar (Y'ha-Nthlei Bay).

Helllooo. I'ma lurker for quite a while. Went to Tiki Oasis in AZ and now I'm hooked! I'm an artist and love the tiki vibe. See ya at the pool.

Welcome DtroitDinosaur!

Welcome, Damon!

Welcome, Dtroit! You should consider joining in on the Art Swap.

On 2019-05-27 07:44, Sandbartender wrote:
Welcome aboard, Damon!

Does your band have a bandcamp or soundcloud link? I'm always on the hunt for new tunes for my bar (Y'ha-Nthlei Bay).

Sandbartender,

Yes we do have bandcamp and soundcloud! There is no music posted yet...

Bump, since a few new names have appeared on the Member List. Welcome; it's great to have you here on Tiki Central. Please introduce yourselves!

Aloha everyone!

UhaneRob here. Been lurking for about a year after discovering Tiki and being hooked.
I been reading everything I can find online ... bought some books, visited some bars and jumped in trying to re-create some drinks at home.

Glad to finally be here.

Nice to meet you all.

Welcome Uhanerob!

uhaneRob wrote:
UhaneRob here. Been lurking for about a year after discovering Tiki and being hooked.
I been reading everything I can find online ... bought some books, visited some bars and jumped in trying to re-create some drinks at home.

Welcome! Where are you at? Which bars have you visited?

On 2019-08-28 18:35, Scott McGerik wrote:

uhaneRob wrote:
UhaneRob here. Been lurking for about a year after discovering Tiki and being hooked.
I been reading everything I can find online ... bought some books, visited some bars and jumped in trying to re-create some drinks at home.

Welcome! Where are you at? Which bars have you visited?

I'm in West Houston. I've been to Trader Sam's Grog Grotto, Waterworks in Tallahassee, Lattitude 29 and Tiki Tolteca in Nola and my wife visited Frankie's in Vegas(picked up a couple of mugs for me).

I started with Home Tiki Bar 101 from Modern Tiki Lounge, moved onto the Smuggler's Cove book and then bought Beachbum Berry Remixed. I've been able to successfully mix up a few drinks from each of those. My garnish skills need work, however...

I am really considering the new CocktailWonk book because I want to learn more about rum. I get confused if I don't have a list when I am at the store... Would definitely like to learn more.

I'm in West Houston.

As in Texas? Goodness man, get yourself over to Lei Low on the north side, post haste. At some point you'll want to visit Kanaloa off the Theatre District, but Lei Low has a more authentic tiki vibe. Also keep an eye out for Bamboo on the Bayou.

Welcome to Tiki Central!

Hello, Tiki Central,

I am a long-time tiki enthusiast and recently got hooked on collecting. This site has been a fantastic source of tiki knowledge for me so far, and I am looking forward to joining the community.

On 2019-12-22 02:56, The Professor wrote:
Hello, Tiki Central,

I am a long-time tiki enthusiast and recently got hooked on collecting. This site has been a fantastic source of tiki knowledge for me so far, and I am looking forward to joining the community.

Welcome The Professor.
I´m new here too but i have been learning a lot of tiki.
I hope to see you around

Welcome, Prof!

Great bump Hamo!!

Welcome to Tiki Central bot to uhaneRob, and The Professor!!

I am relatively new to TC as well....but, I too have enjoyed the vast info in the threads. There are definitely TC’s that know a lot of the info you seek uhaneRob. Enjoy and Welcome to you both!!

Welcome all
Cheers

It looks like quite a few new members have joined since TC came back online. If you've new here, please introduce yourselves to everyone.

Aloha,

I am a Houston Tikiphile who has lurked for many years on here but for some reason never formally logged in. Over COVID we converted our dining room into the South Seas Saloon. I was definitely missing all of the helpful hints and forums while working on our bar. It’s good to be back and this time as a formal member finally!

Okole Maluna and let’s keep the tiki torches burning!

Irie, Mon! My name is Jake and I am from the tropical paradise of Chicago. I am new to this website, but I have been a long time fan of both Polynesian and Caribbean culture. As long as it is warm and tropical and full of rum, I'm there, dude. Looking forward to learning a lot here. Mahalo.

Edit: Do I really have to select every picture with a bicycle to prove I am not a robot every single time I log in or submit a post? That seems a bit extreme. Am I missing something somewhere to bypass that?

[ Edited by Chicago Jake on 2022-03-21 22:53:32 ]

Aloha--I'm a longtime fan of tiki and all things exotic and adventurous. I live in not-so-exotic Glendale, CA, but have been using the increased time at home the past two years to create my home tiki bar and expand my knowledge of the history of Polynesia and Tiki Pop. It's a fun rabbit hole, and I look forward to learning from everyone here. - Ken

aloha everybody, firstly i would like to thank hanford lemoore and leevi graham for getting the site back up and running! i tried to join in 2018 when i was overseas and never successfully registered. new members werent being accepted, the website went down, and i thought it was gone forever. i'm a vintage tiki, nautical, mcm guy.

Thank you again! -hulachaser

p.s. thank you wendy cevola

*former 5th grade class president, former social chairman. currently ambassador of fun

[ Edited by hulachaser on 2022-03-26 23:24:59 ]

Welcome all. Glad to have you here for TC's revivification.

Aloha everybody!

I was a lurker for a couple of years before the site went down, and now I'm over the moon that it's back! I live in the not-so-tikified city of Minneapolis, where believe it or not there is an amazing group of tikiphiles.

I got interested in tiki through exotica music about 10-12 years ago, and since then I've really gotten into the drinks and the aesthetic in a big way. It was Tiki Central that led me to discovering the only VINTAGE tiki bar I've ever been to, the Mai Tai Lounge in Omaha, Nebraska.

I recently purchased rum bottle number 50 for my ever-increasing collection, and I really enjoy making tiki cocktails at home using great rums, homemade syrups, etc.

I'm working my way through the Grog Log list to simulate joining the Loyal Order of the Drooling Bastard at the Tonga Hut, and have about 25 drinks out of 78 left to make.

Someday I hope to build a home bar but I haven't gotten that far yet, nor do I really have the room haha. I love collecting rums, mugs, exotica records, and anything else tiki I can get my hands on (which isn't easy up here in the great frozen north).

It's SO awesome to have Tiki Central back, and I look forward with chatting with everyone!

Hello all, We're fairly new to the tiki community. And although we have been involved for maybe 4-5 years we had never visited Tiki Central until it's recent rebirth. We've heard a lot about it on Facebook over the years, mostly a sadness from those who missed it. With all the excitement of it's return we decided to join and hopefully learn, engage and befriend those whose expertise we have heard about through the years. Aloha and mahalo from our bar, Pa'u Hana Cove, to yours!

Greetings, My name is Marcus and I'm pretty new to all this only having gotten into this in 2019 and then the world shut down. If there is a positive to the pandemic, it was that it gave me a lot of time to sit at home and think on things. While sitting on my patio with a tasty Trader Vic or Don The Beachcomber classic in hand, I decided to trick out my back patio. Now, while this site seems to be dedicated to most things traditional tiki, we did go with a a bit of a mix of things you'd see in Adventureland, so Lost Delta Landing was born. We had been Annual Passholders for years before the Park shut down, so we brought it home to us.

I started following Trader Brandon early on when I learned he was a Disney Imagineer we ran into "Re-opening Day of Buena Vista Street at Disney California. I saw his passion for TIki stuff and it hooked me. Over the last couple years I learned alot about tiki from guys like Adrian Eustaquio at Desert Oasis Room and Spike Marble of The Hula Girls with their YouTube channels. I'm a history nerd so I really dig this not just because of the drinks and decor, but all the rich history Tiki/Polynesian Pop has. The sub-culture has introduced me and my wife and I to all sorts of great music, food, drinks, clothing and a pretty rad community here in Southern California. We're in North San Diego county, so maybe we'll see some of you at Tiki Oasis!

I'd love to do a strictly traditional style space if I had a spot indoors, so for now I just keep adding things to "LDL" as we call it for short and it's been great since it has been an outdoor setting where friends could hangout going as far back as around September 2020. Much needed escapism!

Aloha! Marcus Proprietor @lost_delta_landing

Aloha everyone,I am Giltron,Grand Poobah of the DC chapter of the Order of the Golden Fez(that almost sounds impressive,doesn't it?). I used to think anything Hawaiian was cool ever since the Bradys and Fonzie went there,but didn't seriously get into Tiki until the fun that was 2020. I had picked up Tikiyaki Orchestra's "Aloha Baby!" from Double Crown,and found it relaxing,so I started playing it at work to keep things chilled. I also found an issue of Exotica Moderne there,and that lit the fire to get me into all things Tiki. Now I have too many mugs for my apt,I go out in public wearing ugly shirts and silly hats,and I end every work week with dinner and cocktails at my local Tiki bar.

Some of my friends have decided to do a century of Tiki bars,but I have neither the time or money for this. So instead I've decided to do a century+ of Tiki recipes. I'm currently at 97 recipes mixed,including some of my own,and one that was even published in Exotica Moderne. I've decided to document my mixings by starting my own blog:

https://www.tumblr.com/mixergiltron

Mahalo and I hope you all enjoy it.

Welcome Giltron, enjoy your stay!

I see that we've had several people join in the last week. Did you find out about TC at Oasis? (PineappleWhip had some 20th anniversary cards at the TC meetup that I then put out on the conference center foyer table Saturday afternoon; when I checked back a few hours later, they were all gone.) Please introduce yourself!

Or if you've been around before but just rediscovered that TC is back, you could check in over here.

[ Edited by Hamo on 2023-08-12 15:10:40 ]

Hey I'm Mike and I'm totally new to the tiki scene. A few months ago I stumbled onto the documentary Plastic Paradise on youtube. I found the subculture to be really interesting, especially the desire by some to tap into the burlesque/vaudeville side of it. I've always wanted to go to a burlesque show of some kind and I have a feeling the tiki style could be a fun way to experience it. I live in New York so I feel like there really isn't anything tiki going on here. If there is I'd love to hear about it. I've got quite a few Hawaiian shirts in my closet begging for night out on the town. If you know of anything I should check out let me know! Also I'm curious are there any discord communities for tiki?

Welcome ArtistInTheCorner! I'm a long way from NYC so I can't help you much there. Enjoy!

Welcome buddy. you could chevk out my thread. I'm a Tiki carver.

https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic_id=39705&start=1584

Hi, from the "Fourth Wave" deep in side the UK , from one of the Home Towns of the Pilgrim Fathers. I got the name from discussions by Tiki with Ray on his Youtube channel.
I'm in the UK the scene here is pretty quiet, if there are serious Tikiphiles out there they tend to keep a low profile. There are a couple of Facebook Groups which cater for all tastes so quite a lot of Clown Tiki, but that's ok folk have to start somewhere. I know I did. Got into Tiki as a kid finding a Porcelain Tiki Idol at what we used to call Jumble Sales (Big Yard Sales) in about 82. my niave mind collated all Jungle and desert Island references to Tiki, be it Tin Tin and the Broken Ear. Films like Savage Islands/ Nate and Hayes, Mutiny on the Bounty and King Kong all helped keep the fantasy going. Then the 80s Skate boom inspired me to get in to surfing and the interest in the Pacific. Much later the VW scene and finally my first Tiki Bar in 2019. Of course it was initially a load of signs and some clown Tiki from Amazon and Ebay. With the signs came books, with the books came a more discerning eye and an improving knowledge. With that has come lots of Ebay and FB finds.

I'm onto my second bar due to the expansion of my collection and also the want/need of a lounge area. The collection is evolving and many iterations of the bar. Most of the Clown stuff has been sold if not being sold as we speak. The signs are still in the bar but used as a backdrop to all my PNG Masks and wall hangings.

As I said the scene is tiny and spread out, so any guests I have in the bar have no understanding or preconception of what the scene is or why there isnt any bitter on tap. So trying to educate without boring folk especially the wife who like to chill in the bar and have cocktails but doesn't understand why its never finished or why I am so enamoured about French Polynesia or Rapa Nui.

My Interest or collection is a mixture of the Pacific Islands, a lot of mid century briefcase Tiki's and the odd authentic gem or 2. Trying to source them is the fun, the hunt as I call it. I have a few different ways of searching on line which I am willing to share, as we never had a Tiki Scene big enough to even register in the UK so Thrift stores dont have any other than items other than big band or Dutch house band versions of Hawaiian LPs. For even the most open minded listener these are a stretch too far. I hope to make some new acquaintances with like minded folk, so Maloha folks.

Aloha, y'all. I'm going broke because of Tiki!

Aloha ohana! I am fairly recent Tikifile from Finland. I got bitten by the Tiki fly slightly over a year ago. Since then I have hosted Tiki cocktail parties and attended two Tiki bars (Ritas Tiki Room in Milan and Trader Vic's in Tokyo). I enjoy crafting Tiki cocktails, syrups and Tiki mugs. My favorite Tiki drink is perhaps the cobras fang I enjoyed at the Ritas Tiki room, or the Mutiny I made myself.