Exotikon 3: L.A. June 7&8 (feat…The Residents?!)

https://www.exotikon.com/

Pretty crazy. apart from Sven, burlesque, rum tastings, symposiums, etc there will be a performance by the eyeballed ones themselves, revisiting their “Eskimo” album. Which is I guess a form of exotica, just set in the Arctic and not the south seas. Was NOT expecting that, but very intriguing.

The entire event seem to be split between the Mayan theater, and Clifton’s, instead of everything being set in one location. Not sure how walkable it is, but both locations are in downtown LA. And very cool spots.

[ Edited by MrFab on 2025-04-05 09:57:25 ]

Is anyone going? Day 2 looks interesting. The Mayan is a great venue, I first saw it in Billy Idol's "LA Woman" video.

Nobody, huh? I wonder if any exhibitors will be there or if they're all at Hukilau? I'm excited about the venue and the Saturday night Clifton's pass but we'll see if the event itself delivers.

I’d like to hit at least day two, just not sure if my schedule and financial situation will be in order…

I went both days. Summary: the event needs better organization and probably wouldn't go back again.

Day 1 was entirely about performances, and was the most crowded. I got there late to catch the second half of the Residents performance, which was avant-garde but interesting. Great stage show, the music wasn't my favorite but entertaining overall. There were no vendors set up on day 1 except T-shirts for the performers and the Peekaboo booth selling some mugs and books.

I bought my Day 1 ticket because it was offered at a discount once I bought day 2 and because there was a free pass to Cliftons Pacifica Seas, which I'd never seen. It was a little under a mile walk through sketchy downtown. Someone let me in but the club was dark and didn't look open. A few of us wandered around until someone knew the secret mirrored door to get to the tiki bar. (I'm getting tired of the speakeasy thing.) They asked if I had a reservation, I said no then they said you can sit at the bar. Then we found out they weren't serving drinks from the bar, only a table. I grabbed a table and ordered a drink. and got it about an hour later because there was only one bartender for ~500 guests. Cliftons looked cool, and the servers were great, but I guess no one told the bar that 500 tiki people would be showing up at 4:30.

I got there on day 2 right at opening, hoping there wouldn't be tear gas from the ICE protests 1.5 miles away. It was concerning that the "national" exhibitors weren't listed anywhere, and thought they might all be at Hukilau. I was correct, the people that showed up were a dozen or so mug collectors/resellers and craft makers. Similar to what I'd find at the Bamboo Club Long Beach monthly lot sale, for example, but they don't charge $45 to get in. Nothing against the people who showed up, and I bought a few things, but it was underwhelming for an event like this. Seminars were mostly Powerpoint, though Sven's presentation on Spanish tiki was cool. Drinks were two bars: Tonga Hut had a drink for sale (nice) and Cabali* had a drink downstairs (grape punch with light rum, not so nice.) There were two food vendors, lumpia and vegetarian Mexican food. Were there any tikis at this tiki event? Tonga Hut brought a few, and someone was selling cement tikis, but otherwise no. The Mayan Theater venue itself is cool though.

So yeah, mixed review at best. Maybe they could have done better if it wasn't at the same time as Hukilau, it felt a bit thin. There were two event presentation areas, but not enough material to have them both going simultaneously.

• Cabali is apparently a documentary about mug collecting. They had a looping video but no actual mugs. I think people come to these events to see STUFF. I can watch videos on my phone next to my cat.

My wife felt terrible Sunday morning, ended up taking care of her all day, so missed it. But...oi. Sounds like only a slight improvement over the last couple years. "I guess no one told the bar that 500 tiki people would be showing up" made me LOL.

Did you catch any of the live bands Sunday? (Or the burlesque?)

[ Edited by MrFab on 2025-06-09 09:40:19 ]

There was a cool exotica vibraphone band around noon, but we left around 4 after Doug’s swag lamp talk. Which had a lot of info, and he brought two actual lamps! But maybe a but too much detail for people who aren’t obsessed about swag lamps.

I wrote this up for r/tiki, figured I'd register an account and share my experience here as I have been lurking for a minute! I only attended day 1.

I attended primarily to see The Residents perform (one of my favorite bands), and they were excellent. I highly recommend a listen if any of you enjoy the avant garde. When it comes to the "con" part of things however, there was absolutely nothing. No vendors, no special tiki drinks or bartenders, no nothing! I guess Saturday was performers only and all the vendors/tiki drinks are occuring on day 2. It is puzzling to me though, I would think that vendors would prefer to be there for both days! There were drinks served at the venue's bar but it was just a regular overpriced bar. The bartenders were cool though, they did a great job. The acts other than the Residents were Creepxotica, who were very good, but way too loud! For exotica style rock, I felt like it should have been more of a lounge atmosphere, not ear piercing! I didn't think I would need earplugs! Bozo the clown was next, which was pretty terrible! But I did enjoy it, it did that thing where it is so bad it comes back around to being good. What do clowns have to do with exotica and tiki? Beats me! Some of the crowd was loudly complaining during the act, which was also hilarious.

There was an "after party" down the street at Clifton's Republic. They have a very cool tiki bar call The Pacific Seas on the top floor. After the music ended at the Mayan, we all hoofed it over there. The interior was pretty dark, they hadn't turned the lights on yet. Everyone headed upstairs and packs into this tiki bar. VIP people were already at tables they had reserved, and getting served by one single bartender. Who was only doing vip table service. The rest of the bar? Unstaffed, no bartenders. Meanwhile people continued to file in. We were getting sardined, and no drinks in sight! People were vocally questioning what is going on. Me and my friend decided to leave and come back later on, when hopefully the bar would get their act together. We got a couple drinks at the Wolves down the street, a very cool atmospheric bar by the way. They made a tequila drink smoked in a decanter that was incredible.

After enjoying The Wolves, we head back to Clifton's. We are let in, but told that there is a wait list for the tiki bar (Cliftons is huge and has multiple bars). We put our names on the list and hit the first floor bar. Which has only one bartender and a huge line. Also, they are not offering the tiki drink menu at this bar, which I think was a mistake considering the theme of the event. Eventually, 2 more bartenders hopped in and I ordered a Mariposa. I forget what was in it but it was very good. When I used the restroom I overheard a couple ladies talking about how the staff had given up on the wait list and you can just walk up to the Pacific Seas bar. So we did just that. No one stopped us from entering and the bar had cleared out quite a bit from the last time we were up there. This is a beautiful tiki bar by the way and I do recommend checking it out if you get the chance. It was really fun to just look around at all the decor. I had plenty of time to look around because, following the trend, there was only one bartender and a huge line! I eventually ordered a vesuvius negroni, a rum and coffee/banana liquor based drink, and I have to say it did not taste good at all. It was extremely bitter and unbalanced. Maybe I should have gone for something fruitier but I wanted a caffeine pick me up. The music being dj'd in the tiki bar by Ego Plum was very fun, a mix of exotica and old obscure weird disney tunes. However, the rest of the venue had typical chill club music playing. A side note, it was mentioned on the Exotikon instagram that there would be meet and greets, with whom I do not know but I was hoping for the Residents! There were zero official meet and greets. Maybe some of the performers were hanging out casually but I didn't encounter anyone.

All in all the event felt very messy. There was not much offered in the way of tiki goodness at the actual event, and Clifton's was woefully unprepared for the after party. We still had a great time, but it was really in spite of all the poor management on the part of Exotikon. Sound guy was excellent for The Residents, The Residents were excellent, and all the bartenders were absolute troopers through what must have been a nightmare! I think anyone going for the tiki element only would have been disappointed, and I think many people were.