Researching tiki history and revival — seeking participants and oral histories - General Tiki

J jeffyork Member Boulder, CO Joined: Aug 27, 2026 Posts: 1	J jeffyork Posted posted on Fri, Aug 28, 2026 8:15 AM Aloha, I’m Jeff York, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado Boulder and host of Tiki Time with Jeff, a recurring part of the Creative Distillation podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creative-distillation/id1499885201 We’re conducting an academic research project examining the emergence, decline, revival, and continued development of tiki culture. The goal is to publish peer-reviewed papers in academic journals; we're not journalists, influencers, promoting anything, or looking to profit in any way from this project. Our recent interview with Martin and Rebecca Cate at Smuggler’s Cove reinforced something particularly important for the project: the revival was not simply the reappearance of tiki bars. It involved a community reconstructing a nearly lost history. Martin and Rebecca discussed the importance of the late-1990s community, Tiki News, Tiki Central, collectors sharing menus and ephemera, urban archaeology, early revival events, and people gradually discovering that others shared an interest they had previously pursued largely alone. We would therefore especially like to speak with others from the community. We’re interested in: early Tiki Central participants collectors and preservationists artists, carvers and designers bartenders and bar owners builders of home tiki bars event and convention organizers people involved in the 1990s/2000s revival people with connections to earlier tiki establishments or their employees newer community members who can help us understand how tiki continues to evolve anyone with a passion for tiki! You can take our survey or volunteer for an interview at: https://www.tikitimewithjeff.com/tikipreneur/ Our interview with Martin and Rebecca is here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creative-distillation/id1499885201?i=1000786282020 We have multiple tiki interviews and episodes; look for the palm trees in the logo. We hope you enjoy the interview and join the project! Hauʻoli maoli ʻoe, Jeff

Aloha,

I’m Jeff York, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado Boulder and host of Tiki Time with Jeff, a recurring part of the Creative Distillation podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creative-distillation/id1499885201

We’re conducting an academic research project examining the emergence, decline, revival, and continued development of tiki culture. The goal is to publish peer-reviewed papers in academic journals; we're not journalists, influencers, promoting anything, or looking to profit in any way from this project.

Our recent interview with Martin and Rebecca Cate at Smuggler’s Cove reinforced something particularly important for the project: the revival was not simply the reappearance of tiki bars. It involved a community reconstructing a nearly lost history.

Martin and Rebecca discussed the importance of the late-1990s community, Tiki News, Tiki Central, collectors sharing menus and ephemera, urban archaeology, early revival events, and people gradually discovering that others shared an interest they had previously pursued largely alone.

We would therefore especially like to speak with others from the community.

We’re interested in:

early Tiki Central participants
collectors and preservationists
artists, carvers and designers
bartenders and bar owners
builders of home tiki bars
event and convention organizers
people involved in the 1990s/2000s revival
people with connections to earlier tiki establishments or their employees
newer community members who can help us understand how tiki continues to evolve
anyone with a passion for tiki!

You can take our survey or volunteer for an interview at: https://www.tikitimewithjeff.com/tikipreneur/

Our interview with Martin and Rebecca is here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creative-distillation/id1499885201?i=1000786282020

We have multiple tiki interviews and episodes; look for the palm trees in the logo. We hope you enjoy the interview and join the project!

Hauʻoli maoli ʻoe,

Jeff