Exotica 2003: pictures!

Here's the first batch, kids.

Trader Vics last night was a blast, the place was packed, and the weekend is off to a grand start!

[ Edited by: tikibars on 2003-08-22 12:15 ]

I am sad I am unable to be there after all my big talk of going... post more pictures!

It's the lovely Louise Brooks sisters :)

Hi Naomi, Sven, James, Dean and Robin!!!

Argh. I wish I were there...

thanks so much for the pictures, JT!!!

Lisa and Jane!

We are SO missing you guys!

Toasts were made in your honor - not to mention EVERYONE else on TC wh couldn't make the trek -

Here's more of what you're missing...

[ Edited by: tikibars 2016-08-26 11:55 ]

I see Miss Formika made it. And she's squeazing on one of my favorite tikis!

We miss you tikifish, vixen, and the rest who couldn't make it!

Friday at Trader Vic's was a great start of the weekend. I loved the atmosphere and it's only a couple blocks from my hotel (the Burnham). Last night was a blast! Rum tasting at Delilah's, the lovely Kona Kai, and finally the Rock-a-tiki. I have pics coming soon.

More from Kona Kai and Rock-A-Tiki on Friday night.

Yes, we are all extremely hung over today.

Thank you my lovely Naomi for the surprise birthday Tiki cake! And thanks to the whole Chicago gang for Exotica 2003, I feel whole again after missing the Oasis and the Hukilau.
Trader Vic's was beautiful, the Kona Kai a privilege, the rum tasting at Delilah's a joy, the Bob Chin Luau a blast AND it was grand to hold my Witco slide show in the hallowed halls of the Hala Kahiki.
Inspired by the Witco imagery, James Teitelbaum announced that his next book project would be: "CONQUISTADOR ROAD TRIP!

Here are some pics from Saturday.

That's Captain Dan on stage at the Fires of Polynesia show at the luau, and the other pics are from Hala Kahiki and the surf festival at Phyllis's.

Those who skipped the luau in order to head over to Tiki Bowling report that it was packed full, and out of control. A great time.

As I type this, Big Bro Sven, Naomi, and Bruce (Mr Smiley) have just left my house to head over Chef Shangri-La for brunch; I am unfortunately going to have to skip that one since I got called in to do an audio job for a Mars Williams gig tonight. So someone else is going to have to post some pics of the final event of Exotica 2003.

Thanks again to everyone who attended, in particular those TC members who came in from out of town - Jeff, Alice, Michelle, Kristi, Bruce, Sven and Naomi, Randy and Naomi, Dean, Robin, Tristan, Bree, Brian... that's just off of the top of my head, I know there were more of you. It meant the world to us that you made the trip.

[ Edited by: tikibars on 2003-08-24 11:46 ]

Dave x 4, James, Dan, Amy, Cindy, Coalbe
and Scott & crew, thanks for having us. You all did a wonderful job. I enjoyed meeting all the Chicago Tiki crowd as well as the West Coasters. Alice, as always, a pleasure to see you. Cpt. Dan, Mai Tai and Ambrosia & the rest of the Kon Tiki crew, the bus ride was perfect. If only I had a little more punch @ contest time..those mugs would've been mine. Randy great talkin' to you, get that big Tiki Bob home. Sven, the slide presentation was enlightening. It was great to see the staff of the Hala Kahiki take the time to watch your show. I couldn't have had a better time. I will be back. I'll post my pics soon.

Thanks,
Chris

Just got back from Chicago. Wow! What a blast. Who'd a thunk that Illinois was housing so much rich, chocolately, Tiki goodness????

Trader Vics was a great way to kick things off. I discovered a Peach/Rum concoction yummed me but good! The surroundings were solidly tikified and the company was outstanding!

If you missed Delilah's on Friday you missed some fantastic rums (the mango flavored one kinda stole Tristan's heart and the South African liquour put a smile on my face - especially after the third sample!) It was a really neat kickoff to one of our favorite memories of the weekend: THE PARTY BUS. Captain Dan, you are our new best friend! From preflight instructions to endless rum punch/beer/snacks....boy, it's the only to fly!!!!!

The Kona Kai was cool (I've got the mug, poster and Dave's book as souvenirs) and the Rock-aTiki was VERY IMPRESSIVE!!! Man, high marks for doing it right. We saw so many great tiki details including a couple of Mai Tiki tikis (reminded us of home here in Fla.).

We met up with the gang at the Hala Kahiki on Saturday....a moment of reverent silence please.... we were delighted, surprised and went into sensory overload (ok, maybe the overload part was triggered by the Volcano - a tasty steal at only $10.50!) but suffice it to say that, save for the Mai Kai, it is the coolest, most totally tiki place we've ever seen! A definite high point was seeing a Witco piece on the screen during Sven's excellent slide presentation and being able to turn our heads a few degrees and see that same piece on a wall, or table or in a corner or know that you'd just seen it in the next room. The Hala Kahiki is truly a Witco shrine. What a rush!

And speaking of rush... IT WAS BACK TO THE PARTY BUS for the trek to the luau. Once again, the alcohol, exotica tunes and good times rolled into the Chicago sunset.

The luau was fun, the weather was great and the ride to Phylis' was filled with games, rum, tunes (ok, you get the idea - if you go next year you have to leave the driving to Captain Dan).

Regretably we had to fly back on Sunday (those pesky jobs keep getting in the way) and so we missed the Sunday festivities.

Still, we had a ball and are SO glad we made the trek! Kudos and sincere thanks to the crew in Chicago for staging such a great event. Ya done good!

PS: We've got lotsa pics but haven't figured out how to post them on TC so... we'll email them to James - he of superior technological ablilities - and ask that he do the honors. Thanks!

Okay, here are the best of Bree and Tristan's pics...

Tristan, I was wondering what all of those white spots are on the pic of the Maori meeting house at the Field Museum (glad you made it over there - what a GREAT collection of Oceanic art!), and I finally realized that they are the mother of pearl eyes in all of the Tiki carvings all over the walls. They all caught the light of your flash, and reflected back brightly - what a great effect!

[ Edited by: tikibars on 2003-08-25 11:13 ]

Thank you so much James, for your hospitality!
I had a great time meeting new people and seeing old friends. I didn't know you Chicago folk new how to party--I thought us Californians were the only ones!!
So many tiki temples, so little time!

Wow, fast with the pics! Thanks for posting them already. I see the Thing from Addams Family made an unexpected appearance at the Kona Kai too (see the disembodied hand on Naomi's shoulder in the second to last pic in JT's post starting with Sven's cake).

Whatta weekend - fun to meet lotsa people and see new sights! I'll post later with photos and more.

-Randy

Bree & Tristan,
Looks like you guys had a great time. Sorry we couldn't join you. I really regret not being able to go to the Kona Kai, but am really glad you did. JT rocks for setting this up.
Cheers,
KG

On 2003-08-25 19:35, Kailuageoff wrote:
Bree & Tristan,
Looks like you guys had a great time. Sorry we couldn't join you. I really regret not being able to go to the Kona Kai, but am really glad you did. JT rocks for setting this up.

Oh Geoff, we truly wish you and wahine Marian were there......you would have LOVED the Hala Kahiki. We had the best time on the party bus with the most fun people!!!!!
I'll send more photos.
Call me, I want to talk to you about new years....
much love
Tiki Bree

Bree,
Will do. On Sven's advice I went to the Hala Kahiki last Fall and was completely knocked out. I'm going to be in Massachusetts the next few weeks, but let's get together when I get back.

Here are some of my pics, just from the Kona Kai nite for this first batch. Unfortunately these are mostly scenery and not people, so be warned, I took a boatload of pics...

Giant mug giveaway at the entrance (with Naomi and me)

Naomi, Robin, and Dean (thejab) just inside the entrance.

Moving through the place.

Some people I don't know.

The main "dancefloor" in the middle.

More people I don't know.

More scenery, and the bar in a quiet moment.

Also, here are a couple related pics from the Marriott itself, which houses the Kona Kai.

Here's the look at the building exterior through the ceiling of the covered indoor pool.

The exterior theme on the building. Like wow!

-Randy

[ Edited by: aquarj on 2003-08-26 01:22 ]

Great job on the photos Randy! You really captured the majesty of the old Kona Kai. I enjoyed meeting you and so many of the other Tiki Central folks whos acquaintance I had yet to make. Bruce, Robin & Dean, Alice (so cool to meet up again through Tiki, and we can't thank you enough for the kick-ass mug—you're the best!), Bree and Tristan, Primo James, Jeff (sorry we did not have more time, lets talk soon), it's always a pleasure visiting with Sven and so nice to get to know Naomi. I'm just sad that we had so much going on all weekend that we did not have more time to meet and talk at length with more people. Thanks Dave Lawrence for making Exotica what it was, it would never have happened if not for you! One of the nicest things about Exotica for us was that in addition to the Tiki Central gang who came from so many far off ports, we got to meet other Chicago Tiki fanatics who we had not known previously. So here's to renewing old friendships and making new ones!
Aloha!
-Duke

[ Edited by: boutiki on 2003-08-26 08:39 ]

On 2003-08-25 20:07, Kailuageoff wrote:
Bree,
Will do. I'm going to be in Massachusetts the next few weeks, but let's get together when I get back.

Your place or mine???????

Aquarj: Thanks for the excellent shots of the Kona Kai! They make me want to cry -- or at least bite my lower lip -- for missing this...
One question though, is that an aquarium or a fish pond, or something else in one of the photos? It looks like an aquarium, but appears to be in the floor.

Bree: They are putting new siding our condo right now, but it sould be done about the time I get back (poor Marian will be suffering through it all). We'll have you guys over as soon as it is done.
Mahalo.
KG

[ Edited by: Kailuageoff on 2003-08-26 08:36 ]

Geoff,
Great!!! I'll get to meet that fabulous new/old tiki you adopted.........

One question though, is that an aquarium or a fish pond, or something else in one of the photos? It looks like an aquarium, but appears to be in the floor.

Geoff,
What you see in Randy's photos is the lagoon/koi pond below the dance floor (the octagon on stilts). It is fed by the stream which runs from the rock wall/fountain under the bamboo bridge to the lagoon. It used to be stocked with Koi until the Kona Kai closed. Unfortunately the fish are gone but the beautiful lagoon remains.

Does anyone here have a close-up front view of the poles in the Kona Kai?

On 2003-08-26 10:42, Basement Kahuna wrote:
Does anyone here have a close-up front view of the poles in the Kona Kai?

Darling, send me your email and I'll send you one. Check your private messages for mine......

Yet another fabulous tiki event! Mahalo nui loa to all the organizers: Dave & Cindy Lawrence, Dave Krys, Duke & Amy Carter, Dave & Coalbe Vasta, our own darling James Teitelbaum, and last but certainly not least, Captain Dan. What a monster event to pull together, it's amazing that it came together so well. Can't wait until next year. It was great to see the Chicago Trader Vic's (much smaller than I thought it would be, but beautiful of course). Big thanks to Mike at Delilah's for serving up such primo tropical drinks, AND offering up such a nice tasting selection of rums, what a great way to start the day. The Kona Kai was sooooo cool (loved shakin' it on the dancefloor with Purple Jade & Formikahini!), and the Rock-A-Tiki surpassed my expectations! (Biggest. Fork & Spoon. Ever.) JTD, how did you end up, buddy? Hala Kahiki was divine, I could have spent a whole evening there. With all of that, I still feel like we only scratched the surface of tiki. What fun it was to see old friends, and make new ones! James, doing business with you is always a pleasure, lets be sure to do more. Formikahini & Christopher, you were great roomies! (Hey, our keycards worked through the whole weekend!) I got my picture taken with the Famous Mr. Smiley! I slow danced with a big guy from Milwaukee & a super-hot blonde (the one in the white dress w/cherries, right above the pic of Naomi & Sven)! I got to meet Sven!!! But, I have one suggestion for next year, this will improve things a lot: MORE TIKIFISH!! Tikifish, what happened? My Year of Tiki will not be complete if I don't get to meet you!!

Jesus, look at all those exclamation points. That's not like me. I'm sorry, I'll try to tone it down a little. To summarize: I had a very nice time at your tiki party, thank you for inviting me.

Aloha all!

WOW, what a great weekend. I'm so glad to have met so many great new people, and to now be able to put faces to the names. Thanks to all who came to chi-town, and a special thanks to those of you that rode the tiki bus! I hope everyone had a fantastic time, I know I did. Here are some of my pix. I'll collect pix from my fellow Chicagoans and post those too when i can. again, mahalo.
aloha, -cap'n Dan

(hope my pix embedding works...)

Friday's Stewardess, Kitty!

The Kona Kai smoking lounge

The Rock-a-Tiki mischeif begins

Hala Kahiki!

Sven's presentation

Kon Tiki transPorts rides again!

Tropical Nights Luau. . .

Bree & Purple Jade gettin down

600+ tiki lovers!

The Fires of Polynesia

hang loose

Sassy Mai Tai and the bus crew. Notice the $17 Walgreens boom box, purchased on-the-fly. The bus cassette deck was busted. We needed our Martin Denny.

dance contest!

cocktail time... again

ALL PIX CAN BE VIEWED HERE:
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b328e827a48b

[edited by hanford to fix the last image]

[ Edited by: hanford_lemoore on 2003-08-26 17:37 ]

One Hawaiian word describes da peopo, da pics and da establishment....ONO!!!!

mahalo fo da picz!!

What happened was a rather intimidating lack of funds, and I decided instead of going further into debt to finance the trip, I would do the responsible thing and stay home. Once Mr. Tikifish gets his immigration papers and is allowed to work in Canada, things will be much different and I can jet set around again like back in the good old days. If I knew how to drive I would have drove down and crashed in someone's hotel room, but I do not have this skill, and to bicycle to Chicago, while an amusing thought, would take 2 weeks... So many forces were conspiring aginst me this year.

Waahhh. There's a big sob story from me too, involving a sudden downturn in my mum's health, but what I feel worst about is messing up Cynful's plans for a road trip by having to pull out at the last moment. Turns out I was right to stay home, but it still just basically sucks.

So, as TC is my witness, I owe her a hell of a consolation present.

James, if I can find my way to Chicago in the foreseeable future, I still want to see Hala Kahiki. I'm so sorry I couldn't make it!!!

(As for the Kona Kai...sigh...sniffle. ARGH.)

PJ, I was so happy to see you relaxing with the famous MrSmiley! :) Thank you SO MUCH for those lovely tiki pendants--my little goddaughter is raving over her purple one right this very minute!!!

Thanks, folks, for the wonderful pictures!

And, to quote my favorite moose: "next time, for sure!!!"

--tikivixen

On 2003-08-27 22:10, tikivixen wrote:
Waahhh. There's a big sob story from me too, involving a sudden downturn in my mum's health, but what I feel worst about is messing up Cynful's plans for a road trip by having to pull out at the last moment.

So, as TC is my witness, I owe her a hell of a consolation present.

Tikivixen,

Don't worry about it too much; you had to take care of your mom! I ended up taking a few shorter roadtrips instead, got a nice long massage in Calistoga (what's the deal with those mud baths, anyway?) and made some great thrift store finds in L.A.

--cyn

Friday @ the Kona Kai.

Mr and Mrs SuburbanHipster

Don't tell PoweroftheTiki you're out of Mai Tais.

Formikahini and Humuhumu dance away.

Saturday @ Hala Kahiki



The view from my seat @ Hala Kahiki

What I look like begging for a Witco fountain.

Tiki Bree @ the first ever Tiki Central/Exotica Antique Car and Hot Rod Show.

Capt. Dan get his groove on!?

Christopher, Formikahini & PoweroftheTiki pose for a Beatle-esque shot on the way back from Phyllis' Surf Rock Show.

This photo of the "mean" streets of Chicago pretty much sums up how I felt on the flight home.

Thanks again to all the hosts. It was great meeting all the nice people from TC finally. Randy nice talking to you. Alice send me a mailing address. Great show BigBro. Jab and Robin hope the ride home is a good one. Hope to see you all again someday!

[ Edited by: Turbogod on 2003-08-28 00:44 ]

On 2003-08-27 22:10, tikivixen wrote:
James, if I can find my way to Chicago in the foreseeable future, I still want to see Hala Kahiki. I'm so sorry I couldn't make it!!!

Lisa, I was so bummed that you and Cindy had to bail out of this one.

As soon as your mum is feeling better, you and Cindy can have a raincheck - I'll give you guys the private Tiki tour of all the Chicago hot spots - minus the Kona Kai, of course... not much I can do about getting in there... unless you want to bring a couple of thousand clams with you to rent the room!

Exotica 2003 and a half!

[ Edited by: tikibars 2016-08-26 11:55 ]

I want to thank everyone for a wonderful time my wife and I had at Exotica 2003. The Kona Kai was a delight, the Hala Kahiki was truly incredible and Chef Shangri-La was very cool. Thanks Sven, James, Dave and Amy, Tristan and Bree for a wonderful time. If I knew how to post pictures up I would. They came out great!

Aloha All,
We would like to extend our warmest thanx to all that were able to make Chef
Shangri-La on the final day of Exotica 2003. It was great meeting everyone
and also grand to see some old friends! We hope everyone had fun and came
away with some great memories of the Chicago Tiki Tour. We would especially
like to thank Dave Lawrence, for all his great work in getting the message
out to the masses about our great Tiki here in Chi-Town, (and actually spear
heading the whole Exotica Event). Special thanx to new Mom & Dave's wife
Cindy as well (she has been a Saint). We would also like to thank Duke & Amy
Carter for getting the Marriott to let people in to check out a wonderful
piece of Chicago Tiki history that is "Kona Kai". Also Kudos go out to Capt.
Dan, DSK, Scott, and the rest of the Exotica Guides for all your hard effort
& support!
Mahalo,
Dave & Coalbe Vasta
PS. Thanx also to all that made it out to the All Night Flea Market!

More pics!

Going back through these some more today, it's fun to think of all the places and people, familiar (Sven, Naomi, Bruce, Dean, Robin, James, Alice, Humu) and new (Turbogod Chris, Duke and Amy, Dave Krys, Purple Jade, Suburban Hipster, and many more). Strange to go to a tiki event with SMALL attendance from CA!

These pics here are from Rockatiki. Coming up soon are my pics from Hala Kahiki and Chef Shangrila and Trader Vics!

Big moai just inside the entrance. I think that's Dave Krys dj-ing.

Mural that greets you on the way to the restroom

-Randy

Pics from Vics!

-Randy

Hey Randy,

Great pictures. Keep 'em coming! It was nice to meet you at the Hala Kahiki on Saturday. That place was the absolute highlight of the entire weekend!

On 2003-08-30 22:41, Jeff Central wrote:
...at the Hala Kahiki on Saturday. That place was the absolute highlight of the entire weekend!

The people who run HK were initially a little resistant to the idea of us invading the place with a busload of aloha-shirted freaks, and it took a bit of doing to get Sven's slide show approved as well.

But afterwards, they were delighted, and couldn't wait for us to expand HKs role in Exotica 2004... look forward to it!

...and no one broke their leg there either! :)

And that's why Hala Kahiki is my FIRST stop next year. :)

-JTD

Thanks Jeff - it was fun meeting you too. Another great example of what happens at these tiki events - strike up a conversation with a friendly person at the next table, and learn that you've actually communicated before online!

Here are my photos from Hala Kahiki...

Just inside the entrance

Main bar

Dean and Robin

Naomi consults the menu

The Green Guy

Sven with Witco lamp

Mrsmiley with purplejade, next to the colossal United Air tiki (they had 3 of em)

On the back patio

In the gift shop - see the whole cocojoe shelf

-Randy

Did anyone take a pic of the rules and regs inside the front hall of the Hala Kahiki? As I recall they were pretty elaborate and worht documenting...

On 2003-09-02 21:13, tikifish wrote:
Did anyone take a pic of the rules and regs inside the front hall of the Hala Kahiki? As I recall they were pretty elaborate and worht documenting...

This is an older pic from Tiki Bar Review Pages.

"Hala Kahiki Rules" - indeed!

It is a bit hard to read, I'll have to rescan it some day (yeah, pre-digital!).

In the past few months, they have finally caved after 35-odd years of strictly serving Tropical Drinks only; they scratched the 'not' out of 'we do not serve beer and wine'. :(

For those who've been undoubtedly holding their breath, here are my last set of pics from the exotica weekend finally. These are from Chef Shangri-La.

Dave Krys, Laura, and... (I forgot) Gary Sinise?

The Enchanted Witco Shangri-La bar

The ceiling in the bar

Mrsmiley pours a soy sauce cocktail

Formikahini and tiki!

-Randy

Damn Randy!
More outstanding photos! We should have asked you to be the official event photographer!
Thanks for taking the time and posting them.

Randy,
We must agree with Duke, you got some great photo's. Thanx for getting Chef Shangri-La in there too! Glad someone got some good shots and posted them. We know that being Sunday alot of folks couldn't make the Chef, but you got some of the finer highlights so they can see for themselves another great Chi-Town Tiki haunt!
Thanx Again,
The Vastas

Wow.
Terrific photos from everyone.
What a great time I missed.

Thank you all for taking the time to post them, even though it lights a Tiki Torch of jealous rage within my sorrowful, rum-drenched soul.

...better go put on the new Martin Denny 2CD set I just got. Ahhhh - bird sounds and vibes - that's better.

Oh well, there's always next year.
There is a next year, right?

[ Edited by: purple jade 2005-08-25 10:03 ]