Saludos from Mexico City

Hi everyone!

This is my first post here. I used to stop by here from time to time before the site went down, but now it's back, I decided to finally make an account. Some of you may know me from the various tiki Facebook groups.

I'm originally from SE England; born and raised in the South London/Surrey suburbs, then lived in Brighton for a few years before moving to Mexico City in July 2014, where I've been based ever since. Started a Spanish-language tiki facebook group (La Cultura Tiki) in 2020 which has been steadily growing, and last year that led to me starting a DIY punk-style tiki fanzine (La Cultura Tiki Fanzine... original right?) which is now on its third issue and features contributions from people across Mexico and the wider Spanish-speaking world. My background is in History and I'm particularly focused on digging up and documenting 20th-century Mexican tiki/Polynesian pop, which remains relatively mysterious compared to its counterparts in many other countries.

Looking forward to sharing some stuff with you guys and learning plenty too. ¡Saludos!

fanzine mug

Aloha and welcome, ManuKai66. Your story helps illustrate the worldwide appeal of tiki.

Oh hey, I just realized Ray interviewed you back in January:

http://www.tikiwithray.com/la-cultura-tiki-fanzine-tiki-fanzine-mexico/

Yeah, that's right! Really grateful to Ray for helping get the word out about our zine. Thanks for the welcome message, by the way!

HI! Im from Peru, and we are teaching here about the tiki culture outside Lima. Send me a PM so I can share the information here!

Aloha ManuKai66 !! Welcome and wishing you all the best !! Cheers !!

Welcome aboard ! I have long thought that Aztec items should be part of Tiki. Pacific Rim right? I have certainly seen Incan masks and figures in some bars, and Yma Sumac (Peruvian) sang on many Les Baxter tracks. Why not Mexican?

TIKIGIKI my father-in-law created a Tiki themed Mexican restaurant called El Tiki that operated from the early 60s to the last 70s.

Wonderful! I have very fond memories of an archaeological tour I did of Mexico. I already have a chacmool in my bar. Many of us have those bottles of Inca Pisco How about a giant sculpture of say Coatlicue? Just a thought.

[ Edited by TIKIGIKI on 2022-11-18 21:42:41 ]

Don't forget "Trader" Vic Bergeron's Señor Pico Mexican restaurant chain. Not really Tiki, although they did feature a Mai Tai with Tequila called the Pinky Gonzalez. Looks like the one in Dubai is still open.