Excuses to throw a Tiki Party??

I have this old cocktail recipe book. "The Art Of Mixing Drinks" based on the Esquire Drink Book. Paperback. Copyright 1956. 25th printing in August 1976.

In the very back, it has a chapter called "365 Excuses to Throw a Party". Has an excuse for each day of the year. To give you an idea of what it has, for today (October 22) it says "Anniversary of the Barbers' Association of America"

Boring...

So, I started thinking...maybe we could start a thread similar to this. "Excuses to Throw a Tiki Party" (noticed I left out the "365"). List dates of anniversarys and birthdays of people, events and restaurants that were part of the tiki culture. Instrumental or not so. If two items occured on the same date, we could list them both. I'm not sure we could come up with at least one for each day of the year (now you know why I left out the "365") but maybe it's worth a try.

I'll go first. Shooting the biggest fish in the bucket....

February 22 - Birthday of Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, AKA Don the Beachcomber, AKA Donn Beach. The Grand Poobah...Grandfather of the Tiki movement. Originator of Don the Beachcomber restaurants.

I'll leave the other big fish for someone else...

How about one more??

August 12 - Birthday of Wallace E. Turnbow. Manager of "The Islands" in Phoenix, AZ. Co-authored the book "Introducing original Polynesian tropical bar recipes" with Dick Moano. Creator of the cocktail "Wally's Kanaka Punch", recipe listed in book above.

"The Islands" link: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=34343&forum=2&hilite=wally%20turnbow

Recipe booklet link: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=44519&forum=10&hilite=wally%20turnbow

I looked up Wally Turnbow on google. Findagrave listed a gravesite in Spokane WA. Wally's son lives in Spokane.

Anybody else want to play??

howlinowl

Only excuse you need, Let's Get Drunk and Eat Chicken Fingers

Chickens don't have fingers. I know, I heard it from a chicken's very own lips.

Yeah....guess this wasn't a good idea. Thought it'd be fun and we'd compile a calendar of important dates in Tiki. But...it appears to have flown about as well as an "Osmium Chinese Lantern".

howlinowl

it's a good idea but I'd need to take the time to look up dates.
Thor Heyerdahl launch and arrival dates for example- something every schoolchild should know is something I'd need to look up now.

European discovery dates of various islands should certainly fill up a year.

major bar open close dates, notable birthdays, cultural holidays finding 365 should be doable.

Trader Vic's Atlanta Celebrates 70th Anniversary of the Mai Tai

Friday, September 26, 2014 - 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Enough said.

DC

Sounds like a fun idea to me, howlinowl; it'll just take time to look up all the important dates!

April 28 (1961) - Tiki-Ti opened

December 28 (1956) - Mai Kai, Ft Lauderdale opened

July 31 (1970) - Black Tot Day

Jan 12 (2000) - Tiki Central was founded

...

I stubbed my toe today. Let's have a TIKI PARTY!!! :wink:

Thanks, all.....especially you bama.

Let's see if we can push this stalled thread a bit farther down the road before we leave it completely abandoned on the side of the road....

Another bit obscure reference (still leaving the other Big Fish....hint....TV....hint,hint.... in the barrel):

2-5 (1908): Birthday of Moon Lueg. Founder of the tiki restaurant "Moon Islander" in Titusville, Florida and the chinese restaurant "Moon Garden" in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Link to TC thread: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=26860&forum=1

So, here's what we've got so far:

1-12 (2000): Founding Day of Tiki Central
2-5 (1908): Moon Lueg's Birthday
2-22 (1907): Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt aka "Don the Beachcomber" Birthday
4-28 (1961): Opening Day of Tiki Ti
7-31 (1970): Black Tot Day
8-12 (1921): Wally Turnbow's Birthday
12-28 (1956): Opening Day of Mai-Kai

Anybody else??

howlinowl

P.S. by the way, the book I referenced above, "The Art Of Mixing Drinks", lists today (10-27) as "First mink bottle opener appears". Do you really want to celebrate that? Cmon! We can do better.

[ Edited by: howlinowl 2014-10-27 13:54 ]

November 17 (1934) Hinky Dinks opened

December 4 (2008) Frankie's Tiki Room opened

December 5 (1933) Repeal Day (Huzzah!)

Here's a pretty big fish:

December 10 (1902) Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. born

There's another big fish I'd toast, but I don't know what day Rufus was born.

On 2014-10-27 20:37, bamalamalu wrote:

There's another big fish I'd toast, but I don't know what day Rufus was born.

Do you know if he is still alive? :D

On 2014-10-27 21:56, swizzle wrote:

On 2014-10-27 20:37, bamalamalu wrote:

There's another big fish I'd toast, but I don't know what day Rufus was born.

Do you know if he is still alive? :D

Oh, crap....guess we better lock this thread.

howlinowl

Swizzle! Ixnay on the ishfay!

On 2014-10-27 21:56, swizzle wrote:

On 2014-10-27 20:37, bamalamalu wrote:

There's another big fish I'd toast, but I don't know what day Rufus was born.

Do you know if he is still alive? :D

Wonder what became of the $2,747 dollars that was raised for said fish.

Augh. That was in no way intended to still anything up. But I should have known better. Sorry, howlinowl & Tiki Central.

Celebrate a day that ends in a "y." Those are the only days you should drink tiki drinks: MondaY, TuesdaY....