John A McKaig: Fireman, Barber, Mosaic Artist.... Tiki Carver!

Here's something I've been researching for quite some time. A few years ago, I saw this in a book about the history of Carlsbad.

I searched his name, and all I could find online was an obituary that mentioned that he was a volunteer fireman, barber, mosaic artist and all around jack of all trades. But the obituary mentioned nothing about tikis. I went to the Carlsbad historical society and Carlsbad's libraries. They had very little information on him and none of it mentioned tikis. I also drove around the neighborhood that includes Skyline Dr. I didn't see any sign of tikis. There could be some out there, lot's of the homes have large lots with overgrown ivy and shrubs.

Then about a year ago, I saw an ad for an estate sale in the Skyline Dr. area of Carlsbad. I noticed in the back of one of the pics that there was going to be a tiki there! My brother and I went to the sale and he purchased the tiki. (He's a bigger collector of tikis than I). I was hoping that it was going to be a tiki carved by McKaig. I was a bit disappointed when we found it because I didn't think it looked too similar to the snow tiki, but it was obviously old and worth purchasing.

(the white box on the tiki's lip is the price tag)

I thought I had pretty much exhausted all of my research options. I figured it would take a great bit of luck to find out anything else about this guy. Well, I got lucky. I was researching in the Oceanside library. I went through about 20 boxes filled with random ephemera. Literally in the last box, I found a little local entertainment/recreation magazine from April of 1967.

And in there, I found this.

It was pretty awesome to find this article. It was also neat to know that the tiki my brother purchased was by McKaig.

Here is an ad from Lanakai Lane that is mentioned in the article above. I think Bosko has a photo of the place when the tikis were still out there. Maybe he can find it and post it on here if he gets a chance.

[ Edited by: Tiki Shaker 2011-11-30 21:31 ]

Great research and nice find on that Tiki!

kool

Aloha,

That rending of the Brownlee Canlis] carving sure gets around.

Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
Available now from Bess Press Hawaii.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2011-12-01 08:04 ]

So literally a Tiki Barber :)

(sorry)

Awesome thread and what a great find. Well done and thanks for sharing.

What a wonderful discovery! Congrats to your tenacity and luck! Now who was this acquaintance, Mike Kelly?

And I went thru your coverage of the Lanikai Lane mobile home park, and considering that the text above describes the two Tikis he had standing there as EARLIER MODELS, maybe this is one of them?:

It has the age, and the naivite of a beginner piece, but also has the Milan Guanko-style forehead, and the simplicity of just being a face
Now about that Tiki Shack..... :)

I was thinking the same thing when I went thru those tikis too Sven. I'll probably drive thru there and take a closer look at that tiki.

As for the tiki shack... still haven't found anymore info.

I was thinking the same thing when I went thru those tikis too Sven. I'll probably drive thru there and take a closer look at that tiki.

As for the tiki shack... still haven't found anymore info.

Great post Shaker,

Here's the postcard images from the Lanikai, could be his probably not? I'll leave it to you guys to decide,

Bosko

Ha, so those are supposed to be Tikis in that rendering:

I am sure they're his. But where is the SIGN in the photo, and the float lamp - not that conquistador monstrosity! Is that postcard from a later date? Or right after construction?

Sven you are right they are his the mouth gives it away, but the Tiki's on postcard seemed a slightly more expressive than the B+W examples.
The signage was mounted on the low rock wall to the right of the entry driveway, it was the same Asian-ish font as the postcard, it got stolen or fell apart a few years ago and they replaced it with some white version. I always assumed the light was supposed to be Asian rather than Spanish because of the letter type. I'm pretty certain the postcard was of when it originally opened.

Bosko