Tiki Caliente May 9th-May 11th 2008 in Palm Springs

We will be having a great tiki event at the world famous Caliente Tropics called TIKI CALIENTE!!
The weekend will start with a Friday night kickoff at Hawaiian Bills were Doug Horne will
be selling his new Caliente Tropic's art and Wildsville Man will be spinning some bottles behind the bar.

More info to come!!!!!!!!

Tickets will be available at M Modern starting 2/10 and information is available at Wildsville-man.com

http://www.tiki-caliente.com/

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=50216247

Let that Freaky Tiki Flag Fly,

wildsville man

[ Edited by: Wildsville man 2008-02-03 11:31 ]

[ Edited by: Wildsville man 2008-02-21 11:08 ]

[ Edited by: wildsville man 2009-12-11 23:51 ]

Beautiful card art there, boys!

Will there be Bacardi?

We will be offering some high-end Rum's but I can"t stop the flow of B-Rum!!!!! Much like I can't
stop Walmart from coming to a town near you!!!!!!!!!! DIG?

I GOT WOOD!!!!!!!!

WoooHoooo! SoccerTiki and I can't wait :) Sounds like a Tiki-rrific Weekend.

I look forward to bending some elbow with you both!!!
You guy's were the first on the list so we will give you
first shot at Number #2 of Dougs Art If you wan't!!!!!!!

Guess who wan't number #1? DIG?

Agreed, that poster is in-friggin-credible! Doug is a genius!
Good luck with the event - I don't think I'm gonna make it this time!

Paipo,
You need to quite your job,leave your family,turn off the phone and get down to the Springs if you know whats good for you!!!! We are having this weekend for you!!!!!! Now stop all that negativity and make the trip. DIG?

This is the coolest thing since sliced bread!!!!!!!!!

http://www.tiki-caliente.com/

On 2008-02-03 13:13, Wildsville man wrote:
You guy's were the first on the list so we will give you
first shot at Number #2 of Dougs Art If you wan't!!!!!!

WooHooo! Count us in on #2 :)

Your in like flint!!!!!!! DIG? SEE YOU SOON!!!!!

P.S. Hawiian Bills is a bar only now!!!! Drinks only!! You can order Mexican from next door and they will bring it right to your bar stool!!!!!!!

BILL LOVES GROG!!!!!!!! BUT SAFETY FIRST

GROG say NO GLOVE, NO LOVE.

Very wise my friend,Very wise!!!!!!!

If you don't use the glove sometimes there is burning

please tell bill to make a big batch of his famous poke for me. i'll be there. maybe i'll bring some jewelry.

Bill has skill's!!!!!! Maybe I can get him to make some for the Group..........

I will see ya on the Springs-side,DIG?

The superbowl has nothing on TIKI-CALIETE!!!!!!

Nice Poster Dougie. I see that new computer is treating you well.

Hope to be there with some new glassy bits and look forward to seeing you and everyone else.....

M&M

Wow! Ever since the drama behind the re-location of Tiki Oasis, I was afraid that the good ol' C.T. was going to go the way of so many other corperately raided joints and become a lame-o Holiday Inn express or something like that. Whatta a great event to bring us all back! Will there be vendors and entertainment, or is it just a laid back relax and chill time? I'll definately be there if I can swing it and get time off work.

Caliente Tropics Forever!

Tiki Lee,
We are going to have fun in the sun and make some scratch if I have anything to say about it!!!!!
We are keeping the overhead for the guest and vendors down but we will keep the entertaining up.
We will have vendor's,bands,pool party's,special guest and just good old tiki freaks having a good old time. Think of this as lowbrow tiki!!!!!
We will be open to the public for sales from dusk to dawn but after hours the hotel grounds are for
cocktails and networking

so all ego's to the side........we are all superstars at TIKI CALIENTE!!!!!!!!!

http://www.tiki-caliente.com/

Doug's wonderful rendering of Ed Crissman's Tropics Tongue Tiki inspired me to post a little history of this iconic carving:

The tastefully refurbished Tiki in 2002, with torches blazing again

The Tiki in 1992, as seen in the BOT. It used to have a torch on top of his head, once

The original full size Tiki in 1963, in its original location by the right driveway, as a sign post for passersby, before the tooth of time cut him and his hairdo a bit shorter.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-02-04 12:03 ]

Awesome info!!!! I have been schooled,DIG?

I've found another old picture before the haircut,I hope you like it!!!!!!!!!

The original full size Tiki in 1963, in its original location by the right driveway, as a sign post for passersby, before the tooth of time cut him and his hairdo a bit shorter.

Thanks for posting that bigbro. I love the 1963 picture, I've never seen that before.

I've been looking for some old pics of the Tropics from the 1960's.
This one (sorry for the size) the tiki, bigbro is refering to, is off to the left of the building out front.

Curious if anyone has any more to share since we're on the subject?

Sure...another excuse to procrastinate with the stuff I SHOULD do...:)

I have a bigger version of that snapshot, problem is it that the Tiki on the left is cut off!

I always believed that photo of the tall guy being at the RIGHT driveway because of the wall and the two-story Motel behind it...and because that little stone Moai is still in that spot. I could be wrong, but here is my theory: Maybe there were TWO tall Tikis, one at the right and one at the left. The one in your small photo is in silhouette, so we cannot positively ID as the Tongue Tiki. It possibly was THIS Tiki:

...which in 1992 was standing on the lawn in front of the office, in the position the one not cut off in your small photo is in. He obviously had the same problem with wood-rot that the Tongue Tiki had. (The reason so many Tikis at the Tropics lasted so much longer than in other locales is the dry desert climate. My theory is that these two front Tikis, as opposed to some of the parking lot Tikis, were water-doused more intensely because they were on green lawn parcels which had to be sprinkler irrigated more often.) Maybe he was tall Tiki number two. The problem in proving this is that all old brochures just show photos of the A-frame entrance, and of the Motel interior like the pool area, never a complete wide shot of the exterior.

The rendering does not prove much, because it is a fanciful version of what the Tropics became. I do not own the postcard, this is just a slide, otherwise I could zoom into the Tikis on it: There ARE a couple of big ones at the right entrance, one biggy in front of the Coffee shop, and one in front of the office left of the sign (it's almost all cut off in the slide scan here). If anybody has that postcard, how about a nicer scan here?

The rendering of the ROSEMEAD Tropics on page 208 really shows a Tiki of the size of the original Tongue Tiki. (This one though is a fountain Tiki holding a bowl, from which the Tropics Modesto matchbook on the same page took ITS rendering). To this day I have never come upon any photos or brochures of that Tropics location. Being in faster turn-over LA, it disappeared completely in the 80s

But what the snapshot above DOES show, even if partially blocked by the car, is another great concept that did not survive: The original Outrigger Sail sign, documented here in a nice B&W Polaroid from the O.A. archives:

This is a very cool Polynesian pop sign that I have not seen done like this anywhere else. Here it is behind the '55 Ford again:

I have photographed all the surviving Tikis at the Palm Springs, Indio and Modesto locations, but regrettably never made it to Blythe to see if that great, memorable palmroot-ball hair Tiki from BOT page 38 still stands.

The 1972 movie "Teenage Sex Kittens" has a drive-by shot of the Tropics in Palm Springs, as well as several other buildings on the same street. The panning shot starts with the other sail sign before the Sambos, and I think ends before the second sail sign or the root-ball tiki. So I don't know whether the tiki still existed in 1972.

Sabu

Great stuff Bigbrotiki, I love the outrigger signage out front.

I always assumed that tiki in Blythe was long gone. Now I have an excuse to snoop around a bit next time I drive thru. Maybe it still stands, how cool would that be?

On 2008-02-04 16:05, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
The 1972 movie "Teenage Sex Kittens" has a drive-by shot of the Tropics in Palm Springs, as well as several other buildings on the same street. The panning shot starts with the other sail sign before the Sambos, and I think ends before the second sail sign or the root-ball tiki. So I don't know whether the tiki still existed in 1972.

Sabu

Great stuff Sabu, I've heard of the movie, have not seen it yet. I'll check it out.

Great stuff!!!!!! Now I dig that place even more.

Maybe we can play the movie at the Tiki Caliente pool party?

Good luck at the tropics guys, we have had a lot of fun there!

Thanks Otto,
Come on down and have a Cocktail or Two. If not I will be sure to see you at Number 8!!!!! Great Art by Derek!!!!

On 2008-02-05 07:28, Wildsville man wrote:
Thanks Otto,
Come on down and have a Cocktail or Two. If not I will be sure to see you at Number 8!!!!! Great Art by Derek!!!!

You forgot to add ...DIG!!!

sorry to poopoo on your post Sven, but that's a 55 Chevy.
My dad was a president of a 55 to 57 Chevy club. ao I know those lie the
back of my hand.

cool historical shots though, thanks,
Jeff(bigtikidude)

On 2008-02-05 08:46, Swamp Fire wrote:

On 2008-02-05 07:28, Wildsville man wrote:
Thanks Otto,
Come on down and have a Cocktail or Two. If not I will be sure to see you at Number 8!!!!! Great Art by Derek!!!!

You forgot to add ...DIG!!!

sorry,DIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WVM,
Looks like you caught one of the Tiki Gods on film.
Or there was a satanic convention there when you took this.

Do you have your TIKIYAKI ORCHESTRA CD YET ?
http://www.tikiyakiorchestra.com

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2008-02-05 14:02 ]

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2008-02-05 14:03 ]

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2008-02-05 14:03 ]

No not yet!!!!!!!! It looks like ozzy needs some sleep!!!! Look at the circles around his eye's

http://www.tiki-caliente.com/

This was the updated posted from last week!!! The new vendors will be added when they setup payment
with the event after the 10th of this month....keep an eye open on the webpage, the package will be availible through M Modern or Wildsville Man.com

http://www.tiki-caliente.com/

http://www.better-online-business-opportunity.com/wildsville-man.html

become a friend!!!!!!
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=50216247

Art by.Doug Horne!!!!!!!!

http://www.swampfirelounge.com/

Exactly.

I'll show you a group that really rock's!!!!!!!!!!!

These guy's kick it old school!!!!!!!! DIG?

http://www.tiki-caliente.com/

http://www.better-online-business-opportunity.com/wildsville-man.html

be a friend!!!!!!!!!
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=50216247

I'd go if you'd stop using "Dig" so much.. :)

[ Edited by: ted tiki 2008-02-07 20:02 ]

Dig? Did you say dig? Well, that reminds me of yet another facet unique in Tiki archeology regarding the Palm Springs Tropics:
It used to have the (most likely only) basement bar in Palm Springs, THE CELLAR.

After it flooded, the whole place was filled in with dirt. Now THAT would be an archeological dig. The stairs down to it are behind the wall on the right, in the hallway between what used to be Sambo's (now the Mexican Restaurant) and the Reef Bar. It's a closet now, go and look in it, you see the access.

Now Doug, I am really curious if there is anything left of the Blythe Tropics, you might just encounter tropic blight. It used to be pretty nice, also had an A-frame porte cochere and a Sambo's:

It seems like the had a tall Tiki too, you can make it out on the right of the A-frame, it looks like the one on page 115 of Tiki Modern, with the stick thru the nose.

Here's a map of the Tiki Tropics locations, (plus the Mecca Motel in Anaheim which seemed to have been owned by Ken Kimes also):

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-02-08 19:31 ]

I saw the closet inbetween Hawaiianbills and the mexican resterant. The rumor is that private parties were held with celeberties including members of the Rat Pack!!!!!I also heard it was filled with cement
because the motel was slipping!!!!!!!! I love the photo's and history you are adding to this post.

Come on down to the Springs and we will have a cocktail or two and do some digging,DIG?

p.s. The Palm Coloney hotel just reopenned and the art on the wall's in the basement is still their
from the 1930'S when it was a speakeasy and brothel during prohabition!!!!!!!!

http://www.tiki-caliente.com/

instant karma, DIG?!

Does anybody know the address of the Blythe one?

WM. exactly where is the Palm Colony located. Was the name changed previously?

Sorry I can't help with the Blythe address. It seems almost certain that the Tropics is not standing anymore, however, it would be of interest to find out what is there now.

The Indio Tropics was still there in '92 (in Indian hands), but it never had an A-frame or much other features. However, several Tikis were still standing, albeit painted, which made the nicest one, a Marquesan, look like he was wearing Blue Jeans. What was remarkable was the fact that the original sign was still in existence:

My ex and my son Diego posing to demonstrate the Jeans look

These babies must have looked wild in the their days of full rootball hairdos!

The Modesto Tropics looks pretty cool in the rendering

but in 1994, the coolest part of it was that it still had (and still has?) its "Tiki" Lounge:

Photographically, all I got out of the Motel were its Tikis, which were kept somewhat simpler than the Palm Springs carvings:

They had been secured with metal bands tied to the building, to keep them from falling over or because of fear of theft.

All in all, Ed Crissman's Tikis showed a really nice style, elegant, modern, and different every time.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-02-08 23:28 ]

On 2008-02-08 16:13, hiltiki wrote:
WM. exactly where is the Palm Colony located. Was the name changed previously?

It's on indian and alejo and I believe that was the original name. If you come down to the springs I will have Jason the manager show us the mural in the basement. Sadley only part of it was left. When they restored it they were forced to cut and reinforce the walls in the basement..........The city would not give the building
historical significants.

After it flooded, the whole place was filled in with dirt. Now THAT would be an archeological dig. The stairs down to it are behind the wall on the right, in the hallway between what used to be Sambo's (now the Mexican Restaurant) and the Reef Bar. It's a closet now, go and look in it, you see the access.

Now Doug, I am really curious if there is anything left of the Blythe Tropics, you might just encounter tropic blight. It used to be pretty nice, also had an A-frame porte cochere and a Sambo's:

Some great info Sven, I'll definitely check it out next time I'm at the Tropics. It'll be tough to resist the urge to start digging.

If anyone is going thru Blythe below is the address for the Tropics.
I'll be going thru town on the 21st to check it out.
Why do I get the feeling we will find a Walgreens in it's place.

TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Just put the packages up on Wildsville-man's website and on Tiki-Caliente's website.
We wanted to get the packages up earley because of the amout of questions and demand we are seeing.
I hope you will come join us in the Springs. Our only goal is to have a great time,enjoy each others
company with some good entertainment and some great tiki art. You get here and let us entertain you!!

Thanks,
Rory Snyder (a.k.a. wildsville man)

http://www.tiki-caliente.com/

http://www.better-online-business-opportunity.com/wildsville-reservations.html

Let that Freaky Tiki Flag Fly,

wildsville man

Rory Snyder (A.K.A. Wildsville Man) Palm Springs Bartender Services

[ Edited by: Wildsville man 2008-02-09 14:01 ]