Official Introductions Thread. New Members, Post your introduction here...

Thanks, everybody, for all the kind words about SDTs B-Day cake! If anyone wants any how-to info, I'm happy to share.

Welcome welcome to all the newest members!

And hodad, as Mach said, good to see another SanDiegan about!

See you!

Hi Tiki Kids!

Though my handle is Kimo, my name is Timothy F. I am a "recent" transplant from sunny Long Beach, CA to Pittsburgh, PA (moved here late in 2003). A few days ago, my wife and I decided to celebrate my 47th birthday by visiting the Tiki Lounge here in Pittsburgh for a couple of fun Tiki cocktails. The Tiki Lounge is only 3 years old but has the look of a salty and venerated tiki joint. I'll think we'll be back. I only wish they served a "rum barrel" like I remember drinking at a really stellar tiki bar, the Tiki Ti in Hollywood, CA.

I googled rum barrel recipe and found a thread on this forum. Since I enjoy most, if not all things tiki, I decided to join and while away some hours reading about the tiki life and reading what you folks have to say.

That's all for now.

Cheers,
Tim (aka Kimo)

[ Edited by: KIMO 2006-01-10 11:53 ]

Welcome to TC.
Now get busy buying us all a drink.

:wink:

Aloha E Komo Mai to my post.

My name is Sergio, i am from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but i spent 3 years in San Clemente, California, i work with publicity and in a near future i will open a tropical bar in my city.

I wish to meet good people on Tiki Central.

A Good Mana to everybody

Mahalo Nui Loa

Hey there,

Robert Volz from Portland

I own a small wine bar and am thinking of opening a mid-cent themed tiki bar.

Porland has a great tiki bar with the Alibi, but it is a karaoke bar. Harrumph.

Well, I guess it's time to come out of the tiki closet. I've been secretly reading the posts on TC for a couple of years and figure it's time to make myself known! I'm Laura, AKA tiki carver extraordinaire (at least in my mind). I'm a housewife turned carver going on 3 years. I've sold my pieces to garden shops, at craft shows, on Ebay and recently attended Hukilau in Ft. Lauderdale. While I've scaled back the amount of chainsaw carving I'm doing (I'm getting a little to old to be throwing those 200 lb. logs around!), I'm looking forward to the carving seminar this spring in Tennessee. Any other girly carvers going?? Any other girly carvers out there????????

Welcome to all the newbies!! Girly Carver - post some pictures of your stuff. I'm sure we'd all like to see them.

Aloha!!!

On 2006-01-09 21:36, LavaCakes wrote:
Thanks, everybody, for all the kind words about SDTs B-Day cake! If anyone wants any how-to info, I'm happy to share.

What flavor was the lava? I't looks like caramel...I'd also like to know the "backstories" of Lavacake Island's tasty inhabitants.

On 2006-01-09 23:51, TikiTikiBoom wrote:...And Hodad, as Mach said, good to see another SanDiegan about!

Mahalo TikiTikiBoom! Aloha!

On 2006-01-12 18:53, girly carver wrote:...I'm a housewife turned carver going on 3 years. I've sold my pieces to garden shops, at craft shows, on Ebay...

Aloha GirlyCarver! I'd love to see some pix of your work also.

Welcome GirlyCarver, My wahine is a girly carver and we are trying to make it to the carving seminar too. Lets see those tiki's.

Hello! Just discovered the group. Our collection of tiki mugs began when I inherited my grandparents bamboo bar. SInce it has moved into our home, the tiki collection has expanded. We collect mugs as well as Hawaiian albums.

Welcome Pyro, any Rev Horton Heat fan is cool by me....

hi, i'm new. been meaning to start my tiki collection for many moons, finally did. 2 weeks in and i'm up about 25 mugs. old and new. any advice is welcome. i'm in vegas.

thanks

Welcome drake and you have a really good start with 25.

thanks! here's what i've received/picked up around town:

aloha to all the newcomers! I noticed one from LB.... Go Beach! Or something like that.
pdrake, nice finds. You got a good start going. The mug there on the far left, the one that everyone 'round here calls a "peanut" mug, sorta has a maori thing goin' on, does it have anything on the back, any indication what bar he came from? Just curious. You can find these things from all over.
pyro, nice setup. I'm too lazy to look closer. What picture is that on your wall above the bar?

yes, it's from trader dick's. it has the original omc sticker on the bottom. i paid $6.

WOW! Welcome all newbies. Come on in, have a drink, stay a while. Show us your stuff.
Unprecedented numbers, unprecedented. (Ilearn ed a new word)

Hello to all! This is my first day here and I am excited to share information with you all. I do have a quick question for anyone that could help. I am new to the tiki carving business/hobby. I bought a few palms but I have noticed that some seem noticably wet. Will they dry out, and if not, could this present a problem for my carving? Thank you!

On 2006-01-14 00:16, pdrake wrote:
yes, it's from trader dick's. it has the original omc sticker on the bottom. i paid $6.

ah, trader dick's. $6, pretty good, especially with a sticker on. Good job! I can't find anything around here. I hit the jackpot at a garage sale a few months ago, but none of my thrift shops ever carry anything.

Hey everyone,

I learned about this place from the link on Lotta Livin and have lurked for around a year.

I love Tiki, but reside in that near-Tikiless place known as the Nation's Capital. But my sister lives in LA, so I am frequently able to indulge my interests in Tiki, Googie, MCM, etc.

Glad to be here,

JL

Man I hear ya. I'm from the DC area too - pretty dry here Tiki wise, especially after the Honolulu restaurant closed in Alexandria last year. I heard a rumor - Trader Vics in Shirlington? I think they really meant Trader Joe's. If anyone can verify this - I'd like to know.

I'm a newbie here (as of today, thanks!), and I'm carving tiki's and making pretty good mai tai's. Where do Tiki-philes (?HUH!?) congregate in this boring town? (I've consulted Tiki rroad trip already - not much in there about Washington).

I've been thinking of putting together a junket to Atlanta for about 5-6 couples to head down to TV's for a weekend... but it's still too expensive. Any ideas would be appreciated.

GAP

On 2006-01-18 18:11, JackLord wrote:
Hey everyone,

I learned about this place from the link on Lotta Livin and have lurked for around a year.

I love Tiki, but reside in that near-Tikiless place known as the Nation's Capital. But my sister lives in LA, so I am frequently able to indulge my interests in Tiki, Googie, MCM, etc.

Glad to be here,

JL

Welcome all!!

Tikigap & JackLord: I feel your pain. There's pretty much nowhere here in CT either, but you never stop looking. Hit every chinese resteraunt you can find...keep your eyes out. You might discover something no-one on here knows about!! It the thrill of the hunt! Also, you might want to goto the EVENTS section, and see if you can get some more DC TC'ers to meet & make some tiki trips. Thats what we've done up here in New England, and its gaining some momentum!

SandSea05: Check out the creating tiki threads. More stuff about carving than you can shake a stick at, but it seems that the general consensus is that carving palm sucks. It cracks when dry and is very pulpy to carve. SOme guys have moved to white pine and countless other woods. Just goto a Benzart thread and revel in what a master can do with the right tools. Live, learn, enjoy, and be sure to post your work!! We love seeing new carvers "come of age"!

On 2006-01-18 18:11, JackLord wrote:
I love Tiki, but reside in that near-Tikiless place known as the Nation's Capital.

You live in Ottawa, Ontario?
Just kidding!

Welcome JackLord & tikigap!

I'm up in Canada, where we have more beaver than tiki. I mean beavers. Well, that too.

I hope you enjoy Tiki Central as much as I do.
If you see me chatting on Shout!, stop by and say hi!

Cheers!

Thanks for the welcomes.

Tikigap- You can travel an hour or so south to Lusby, MD and visit Vera's White Sands. The food should be approached cautiously but the drinks and decor are fantastic. There are trip reports and photos in another section.

In the alternate, both the Yenching Palace (Cleveland Park) and the Shanghai Garden (Van Ness) have Polynesian drink menus which will "get you there". The Yenching is fantastic; genuine art deco like a gangster movie. And some of the negotiations over the Cuban Missile Crisis were done there secretly.

But...it has been many years since the heyday of Trader Vics and the Diamond Head.

Thanks for the warm welcomes and the tips from JackLord for the DC Area. I do know of a Chinese Restaurant in McLean Virginia that makes a great Zombie. It's called 'Forbidden City', run by Henry Wu. I've been going there for way too many years now. When in the Northern Virginia/DC area, a trip to "FC" is highly recommended. Let me know when you go and I'll meet you there and introduce you!

GAP

Howdy!

Just back home to Sweden from former home Hawaii. Time zone & climate changes are tough.

I'm new to Tiki Central. One of the few Polynesians in Stockholm (wonder why...) I've lived in Sweden for more than ten years, and in the UK for four years. It is survivable because I travel a lot.

aloha to all!

BIG Aloha from the far-off frozen and completely tiki-less nordic wonderland of Norway!

I miss all things tiki and tropical and am glad and thankful to have this opportunity to connect with all the other fellow Polynesiacs out there.

I'm a Hawaiian who's been living and working up here in the Norwegian and European music business for the past 10 years now.

Pretty improbable I know but I work with a great collective of ace musicians in Hawaii known as Don Tiki. Together with these kings of EXOTICA I have also made my own CD which is called the Hawaii Project which even more improbably is about to receive a major release here in Norway and Europe respectively this summer or autumn.

I am therefore VERY curious to know how the current feeling is: What is everyone out there feeling with regard to the tiki scene. Does anyone else out there feel that it is in fact slowly growing and gaining ground and momentum?!

My friend Otto of the Tiki News tells me that there are steadily more and more tiki bars popping up all over. This can only be a good thing.
In these turbulent and overly hateful times we could sure use a great tropicalian escape to warmer, friendlier, Polynesian climes.

Well, I just wanted to get the impressions, insights and viewpoints of the vast Tiki Community.

So here's Tikis to ya!!!

TikiMon

Aloha folks!

Stu from Leeds in Yorkshire UK here... been a reader of this forum for a wee while and thought it was time to take the plunge. I suppose I am a Tiki newbie but I'm starting to make moves into the Mug market and the wife loves the idea of a Tiki bar in our living room, so yay! Been drawing Tiki's for about a year now and will stick some of my artwork up when I can get it scanned in... can't afford a scanner need to buy mucho bamboo.

Take care all.

Tikimon, you know the Kon-Tiki Museum's in Oslo, right? And you can legally buy Havana Club Rum & Absinthe, too! I'd say there's as much Tiki in Norway as there is in Indiana, so buck up and enjoy a real Dr. Funk with all the ingredients that're illegal in the US.

On 2006-01-25 17:47, StuTikiUK wrote:
Aloha folks!

Stu from Leeds in Yorkshire UK here...

Hi Stu, welcome to the tiki ohana. Hopefully we'll get to see ya at some of the UK tiki events/bars.

.

On 2006-01-26 06:04, Kon-Hemsby wrote:

Hi Stu, welcome to the tiki ohana. Hopefully we'll get to see ya at some of the UK tiki events/bars.

.

Mahalo nui loa! I look forward to it... where are they held usually?

GeeWizz!

[ Edited by: StuTikiUK 2006-01-26 06:13 ]

Just sent you a PM Stu.

'Events' are generally ad hoc, but there looks like there might be another London Luau planned for this year. Keep watching on TC.

On 2006-01-26 06:36, Kon-Hemsby wrote:
Just sent you a PM Stu.

'Events' are generally ad hoc, but there looks like there might be another London Luau planned for this year. Keep watching on TC.

Cheers fella! PM replied to.

I always hate posting on a message board for the first time...guess it's a necessary evil.

So I'm a recent college grad living in Madison, WI and I very well may be the only tiki-ite (tiki-an? tiki-en? nevermind...) in this humble berg. My tiki experience began long ago when a certain family member took me to Trader Vic's in Chicago (I'm gonna miss that place!) and I had my first tiki drink - a Soft Bahia.

I've since been to the Emeryville and SF Vic's and the Tonga Room in SF, with plans to visit the Kowloon in Saugus, MA later this year (with a trip to one of the newer Vic's possibly in the cards). If it weren't for the dang TVs and the occasional drunks filling up the place ordering Old Styles after the Cubs lose, I'd say the Chicago Vic's was my favorite, so instead it'd be Emeryville.

I only own 1 tiki mug that I use as a pen holder because I was told that the lead paint used to design it could kill me (some gift). AAAAAAnd my favorite drink is unequivocally and irrevocably the Sidewinder's Fang, which you won't find on the menu at too many bars (or anywhere?) :)

madtown

Ah yes, freddiefreelance....

The infamous Thor Heyerdahl museum where it is VERY museum and NO bar:-) Alas there's nary a decent tropical libation in sight:-(

Oh sure, one can get hold of Havana Club but NOT Ronrico 151, as an alcoholic content of more than 60% in rums is illegal here in Norway.
Besides, there's plenty of Havana Club Rum in Hawaii (rum is NOT on the embargo list!) - as well as Cohiba Esplendidos. But it's near impossible to find ANY club that's even aware of exotica music let alone a tiki-themed one that actually plays the stuff!

Anyway I just create my own tiki space and live vicariously thanks to and through this site. I may simply have to open my own tiki bar and instigate a TikiTribe of my very own. Northern branch:-)

Thanx freddiefreelance for seeing and pointing out the positives in my snowbound tropicalian's odyssey! Anywhere one can get hold of some Havana Club and absinthe can't be all that bad after all:-)

Tikimon,
Hawaii being the 50th United State, I would be stunned to find Havana Club available there. But I would be happy to be proved wrong!

Can any of the Ohana in Hawaii confirm or deny?

Aloha Everyone, What a pleasant surprise to stumble across Tiki central, I guess I've been a Tikiphile since my first visit to the Bahooka rest. in Rosemead Ca. in the late sixties, I was 6 and from that point on my parents couldn't keep me out of the place. The bahooka was on my way home from elementary school, most days I would stop and talk to the employees as they prepare that nights meals,and get handouts (me & the local alley cat). They would let me roam the restaurant and explore the wonderful Tikis and decor that could only been reviled by a 1950s Hollywood set designer.
Sad to say I have strayed from the Tiki culture over the years, the discovery of TC has been great and helpful with all the expert advise( and great Tiki work). I have carved stone and making my first attempts at working with palm trees. I'm looking forward to talking with all of you and will post pic of my work. My wife and I plan on attending most of the upcoming events in the SW, hope to see you all there, Lets Talk Tiki!!
Thank you, from an honored and loyal new member,
Bahooka Bob
P.S. When do I get my fuzzy hat like Fred Flintstone and Barney Ruble, but tikis in place of horns
Tiki Tiki

Welcome BahookaBob, TikiMon, and MadtownTiki. We are happy you have stumbled into our Tiki World.Come on in and sit down, Get comfortable and stay awhile. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask, thats why we're here.
HappyHappyHappy

Hello Everybody!!

After a couple of years of looking into the site, I thought it was about time I Joined.

I live in London, UK, and helped to open South London Pacific over here nearly 4 years ago. We love the reviews you guys have given our place, and no doubt I probably met a few of you when you came over.

About to launch a Tiki Bar School over here, as the interest in Tiki seems to be growing.

Now that im registered, I wont be a stranger...

Aloha

Senor Pedro

Hey Pedro, good to see you here

Aloha Senor Pedro. We were just talking about the South London Pacific last night at Trader Vic's Emeryville with Roberto, the bartender there, and Charles, a friend of Reboerto's visiting from France.

I have fond memories of drinking at South London Pacific, but I can't remember much else that happened after. :wink:

On 2006-02-02 11:33, thejab wrote:
I have fond memories of drinking at South London Pacific, but I can't remember much else that happened after. :wink:

Those "Suffering Bastards" must have got you in the end!!!

I am new to tiki. Just saying hello. Also wanted to see if there were any great tiki's out there. I'm on the prowl for someonw who has made the greatest tiki ever. Real people only. No restaurants or anything.

pirooz

Welcome LWID, If it's tiki you're looking for, you came to the right place, if it's tiki you love, you'll fit right in. Pull up a chair and come on in and sit awhile.

On 2006-02-02 11:33, thejab wrote:

... I have fond memories of drinking at South London Pacific, but I can't remember much else that happened after...

... so much for the fond memories...

... bubbles, you need a drink...

Greetings fellow Lounge lizards..
I have been collecting Exotica Vinyl for some time now and have an affinity for all things Tiki, I was casting about on the web for Seattle Tiki stuff when I came across this site. I am converting my basement into my own Tiki Lounge, so I am on the prowl for good Tiki decor. Anyhow, greets out to Selector Lopaka
Cheers....

Oh, It looks like I should have posted here first.

Hello, my name is jeff, I am currently curating a tiki show for the San Francisco airport museum. I have been collecting tiki mugs etc for about 10-15 yrs. Most of the show has been put together. We have some objects from Disney, Trader Vic's, Otto Von Stroheim and Sven Kirsten. At this point, I am trying to make sure all of my information is correct as I put together the text for the show. Any help would be great.

Thanks, Jeff