Why is the Middle Eastern theme so popular (& why can't it be tiki?)

I went to Tantra in SilverLake again, I can't get enough of that place, and I was wondering about the proliferation of Middle Eastern style bars:

Tantra & Akbar, in Silver Lake, Casbah on Hilhurst and, the Grand Dame, Dar Megreb, on Sunset.

'Bout dang time, too! My whole living room is Moroccan (started with Tex/Mex, then reverse immigrated to Southern Spain, then Northern Africa. My own personal negative Moorish migration.)

There's the Fez Bar in Austin. Beautiful. And I'm dying to stay in that mega-lux hotel in Las Vegas, where they filmed that Julia Roberts movie (she played the frumpy asiistant?)

Is the trend kinda more Northern African than Middle Eastern, would you say? Or maybe the Cali bars are truly Middle Eastern.

Now where are those soon-to-be-damned Hale Tiki light fixtures?! I should grab me one!

[ Edited by: formikahini on 2004-03-23 00:34 ]

It's Exotica, just not Tiki. "Caravan" is considered to be 1 of the holy trinity of Lounge Exotica, Hale Tiki was originally a Middle Eastern/North Africa/Moorish themed bar, Witco made a bunch of Moorish/Spanish pieces...

I think the reason the 'Middle Eastern' theme is so popular is because you will be a target of a suicide bomber if you do not subscribe.

(Which I believe would instantly create the middle-east theme...)

I noticed arabian themed motels on beach blvd...one is called "sahara"!! I regard the style as exotica....not tiki, but in the same vein!

On 2004-03-24 09:43, tiki mick wrote:
I noticed arabian themed motels on beach blvd...one is called "sahara

Mick, I drive past the Sahara every day. It's a hole that caters to homeless, prostitutes, drug dealers and everyone else that makes Beach Blvd so special.

Yeah, but in it's time I bet it was really cool!

I dig the fonts on the sign out front!!!

Most of Beach blvd is disgusting...what sacrilege to allow those motels to turn into crack houses and meth labs!!!!

It's a shame!!!

Mike Brady, the architect for most of those beach blvd motels would be rolling in his astroturf-covered grave!!!

But seriously, I wonder if the original architects ever drive past there and think "what the f*&k happened here?"

Just goes to show, as was pointed out above, that Exotica comes in many flavors: Polynesian, North African or Middle Eastern, owls, Asian...

Tikifish, you might be able to help me dredge this memory up:

I visited Toronto when I was very young, perhaps in the early 1970s.
After going to the Science center, we ate at a Central African-themed place. It was very dark inside, african masks on the walls, everything just like we like it in a TIki palace, but this was like a veldt-Zulu theme or something.
I remember getting a huge burger, and as a 6 or 7 year old, it seemed like the biggest piece of meat I'd ever seen (no wisecracks, people). There was a big plastic spear stuck in it that my parent's didn't let me keep (too sharp or greasy or something I guess).

I wish I could remember this place. For all of the Tiki fans, Asian-kitsch fanatics, and people eagerly awaiting Conquistador Road Trip, I am certain there must also be a tribe of Zulu Exotica freaks out there too, listening to Chaino and eating big water buffalo steaks.

On 2004-03-24 11:47, tiki mick wrote:

I dig the fonts on the sign out front!!!

How did I know that?? :)

Hey Tiki Bars!

I am one of those people!! I have always been into the "safari" style....but I came to it in a roundabout way....

In 1980 a new King Crimson album came out, in the african style, and it blew me away..from then on, I was totally and completly into world music and style!!!

I loved lion country safari, and adventureland at Disneyland is of course, my favorite...

Not to piss off you tiki purists, but I consider all the different types of exotica to be from the same "family"...and back then, I doubt anyone really differentiated much anyway! it was all "moderne" and "exotica" and "tiki"...the styles seemed to flow together and influence each other....one common thing was the diamond shaped sign with "exotic fonts" out front of the liquor stores and motels of the day!!

Seems like no matter what genre, they all have THAT in common!

Hey Poly pop! you remembered the font wars! Good man!!!

On 2004-03-24 13:38, tiki mick wrote:
I consider all the different types of exotica to be from the same "family.....all"moderne" and "exotica" and "tiki"...the styles seemed to flow together and influence each other

I couldn't agree more. I do love the many flavors of the exotica theme.

Doesn't ring a bell - was it NEAR the Science Centre? Or was it downtown? This could help.
I am intrigued!

i would posit that although i have not experienced many middle eastern / african establishments, that i have seen a large amount of middle eastern / african decorative items available in the past years. the market is probably relatively flooded with such items, and aside from trendiness some shrewd businesspeople would see that it is an affordable way to create an "exotic" interior...

On 2004-03-25 08:25, tikifish wrote:
Doesn't ring a bell - was it NEAR the Science Centre? Or was it downtown? This could help.
I am intrigued!

I seem to remember it being very close to the Science Centre, but then again this was some 30 years ago...

And Mick: What Crimson elpee are you talking about...?

On 2004-03-25 12:17, tikibars wrote:

On 2004-03-25 08:25, tikifish wrote:
Doesn't ring a bell - was it NEAR the Science Centre? Or was it downtown? This could help.
I am intrigued!

I seem to remember it being very close to the Science Centre, but then again this was some 30 years ago...

And Mick: What Crimson elpee are you talking about...?

I am talking about "discipline", the red album....

Possibly the only "rock" album I ever liked..the two follow-ups, "beat" and "three of a perfect pair" were also very cool....

Although not really african, or african tinged liked Paul Simon "graceland"..these albums for me, were almost like exotica..music ABOUT africa, but not FROM africa..and I guess that's the distinction in my mind!
The duel guitars of fripp and Belew are to me, a lot like balafons (african xylophones) in thier approach, and Tony levin's stick playing brings to mind the large african bass harp, the double-bass of africa!

Of course I really like authentic african music too, like Salif Keita, for example...don't care too much for Fela, however...too hippy for me!

I'll ask my mom about the restaurant. We lived near that area when I was young.

A bizarre paralell to the old Tiki Bar Review Pages:

Muffler Men.

Hoardes of 'em, all over the US.

They're even subdivided into categories.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/muffler/list.html

Really puzzling.

Do the people who like this sort of stuff think that their proclivities are perfecty natural and that liking phony Polynesian fertility gods is indescribably bizarre?

I scratch my head in their general direction, just as they must when confronted with us... or with the Owl Centralites.

my theory is that if your interests are represented in a 'zippy' strip, you cannot consider yourself mainstream or normal :)

needless to say, there is practically a one-to-one parity between my interests and their representation in a 'zippy' strip