The Book of Tiki

I was reading the May issue of Travel + Leisure magazine the other day and spotted "The Book of Tiki" in it!

It lists the book as a milestone in Americas tiki history time-line.

That's pretty cool!

:)

Thanks for the heads-up, AbstractT! It would have been even cooler if they would have researched Amazon one step further than the soft cover edition. Then they would have seen that the REAL Book of Tiki, in its padded hard cover edition, was published in September 2000, not in 2003:

"Sven Kirsten’s loving look at the post-war craze for all things Polynesian is filled with photos ... -- Travel Etc. Magazine, December 2000

The amazing world of Tiki has never been more lovingly and thoroughly documented. -- Paper Magazine, December 2000 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition."

...then they maybe could have had an inkling that the 2002 "wave of Tiki-themed bars and restaurants" milestone they set before it was indeed inspired by the book. By 2003 the Tiki Revival was already in full swing. What is the complete text of the 2002 blurp, could you scan it zoomed in, like the BOT one? Thanks!

Oh. PS: Again the media could not refrain from bringing up the terms "kitschy" and "tacky" right from the start. "Good Taste" jounalists still feel like they have to apologize for writing about Polynesian pop. Sigh.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-05-12 20:52 ]

Ab,

what is the 2010 pic?

Probably something you built, Ben. :)

The 2010 spot looks to be a Trader Vic 75th Anniversary tribute referring to the Caribbean Outposts I believe.

Would be a cool magazine to look through. Probably isn't on the stands anymore though. Most mags are usually months ahead.

TabooDan

On 2010-05-12 20:54, RevBambooBen wrote:
Ab,

what is the 2010 pic?

Parrot Heads!

Bamboo Ben, the 2010 line is about the TV 75th anniversary and opening new restaurants in the Caribbean, and Big bro the 2002 is about the new tiki restaurants and bars opening up in NY.

I hear ya Big bro, these media writers spend a few days researching a story and they think they know what they are talking about. They always screw something up. It was a nice idea but fell short in some respects. They should have got a real tiki person to write the article or had it approved by an authority on the subject.

I still think its cool thow that your book was mentioned.

Here is the full text of the time line. I got it from he magazines website.

Note: The Main article was written by a different writer named Peter Jon Lindberg.

Passing the (Tiki) Torch: A Time Line
May 2010
—Catesby Holmes

1934
After visiting the tiki-themed Don the Beachcomber bar (a favorite of Charlie Chaplin), in Los Angeles, Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron revamps his Oakland sailors’ pub Hinky Dink’s. The new restaurant, Trader Vic’s, which is decked out in carved wooden masks and palms, is soon declared the “best in the Bay Area” by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Herb Caen, in the San Francisco Chronicle.

1944
Trader Vic’s introduces the mai tai (Tahitian for “very best”), a rum-based ######## made with lime, orange curaçao, and sundry sweet syrups. Though when the founder of Don the Beachcomber dies years later, the New York Times obituary mistakenly credits him—not Vic—with the mai tai’s invention.

1945
U.S. soldiers stationed in the South Pacific return home from World War II with tales of white-sand volcanic islands, women in grass skirts, wild dance and drum festivals, and tropical trees dripping with exotic fruits. America’s tiki trend officially takes off.

1951
In a seven-page spread, Life magazine declares Vic Bergeron the “Aristotle of Alcohols” and “the undisputed monarch of South Seas fixings.” A San Francisco outpost opens, beginning the company’s 25-year run of rapid U.S. expansion. Next targets: Beverly Hills (1955) and Chicago (1957).

1964
A three-hour tour turns into a three-season tiki adventure as the seven castaways on Gilligan’s Island try to escape from their desert isle, an uncharted tropical paradise located either 300 or 1,200 miles from Hawaii (depending on the episode).

1969
With “flower power” on the rise and 1950’s values in question, the countercultural movement begins. Along with society staples like starched white shirts and ties, Trader Vic’s and tiki hit hard times.

1974
Yul Brynner sues the New York City Trader Vic’s at the Plaza Hotel for $3 million, claiming food poisoning from undercooked ribs. He wins, and from then on all meat is prepared well done.

1993
Nineteen years later Donald Trump closes the now famed Trader Vic’s downstairs at his (newly acquired) Plaza Hotel, in New York City, declaring that the bar had “gotten tacky.” Coming from The Donald, that means something.

2002
After 10 years as a virtually tiki-free zone, New York City welcomes a wave of tiki-themed bars and restaurants, such as Manhattan’s Waikiki Wally. The New York Times attributes the return of tiki to “the stress brought on by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001…fear of travel and need for emotional escape.”

2003
Taschen publishes Sven Kirsten’s Book of Tiki, putting tiki back on the map.

2006
United Airlines begins offering Trader Vic’s “award-winning cuisine and world-famous #########” in flight, just as it did in 1975. It is one of the first partnerships between an airline and a restaurant.

2010
Trader Vic’s celebrates its 75th anniversary with new restaurant openings around the world, including 11 Caribbean outposts planned for the next five years. Trader Vic’s is back, baby, and it’s sandier than ever. —Catesby Holmes

I know, nice try. :)

There wasn't exactly "a wave" of Tiki restaurants in N.Y. in 2003. Wally's was BOT inspired, though.

I never knew about the Yul Brynner case, 3 Mill., really? That was a lot of dough back then...

...and then that tired old cliche:

"1945
U.S. soldiers stationed in the South Pacific return home from World War II with tales of white-sand volcanic islands, women in grass skirts, wild dance and drum festivals, and tropical trees dripping with exotic fruits. America’s tiki trend officially takes off."

As it is repeated again and again, it becomes true in peoples' minds. "tropical trees dripping with fruits..."? Oh my lord. We know better.

Thanks for finding and posting this, A.T.!

*On 2010-05-12 21:58, abstractiki wrote:*1993
Nineteen years later Donald Trump closes the now famed Trader Vic’s downstairs at his (newly acquired) Plaza Hotel, in New York City, declaring that the bar had “gotten tacky.” Coming from The Donald, that means something.

Please, magazine writer, tell us what this means. I mean, "The Donald" wears a dead lemur on his head and he thinks Tiki is tacky ?

-The Baron
[[[((8-0))]]]
The Super Secret Sigil of The Electric Tiki Society(tm)

[ Edited by: Baron von Tiki 2010-05-13 19:42 ]