Artists’ rendering of the Aku Aku in Las Vegas,
from the collection of Sabu the Coconut Boy
Much of the appeal in Polynesian Pop is the creation of an idealized, unreal version of Polynesia. So, what could be more appealing than idealized, unreal portrayals of these idealized, unreal locations? Some of my favorite pieces of tiki ephemera are items with artists’ renderings of Polynesian restaurants and tiki bars. The above piece comes from the collection of Sabu the Coconut Boy, and is a rendering of the Aku Aku, which used to be in the Stardust casino in Las Vegas. There’s a great thread on Tiki Central where a whole mess of fantastic renderings have been posted.
- Vintage Tiki Artwork - Favorite Artist’s Renderings [Tiki Central]
November 5th, 2005 at 4:09 pm
How could I have missed this entire thread before on Tiki Central? Thank you for bringing this one to my attention HH.
This gives me an idea for Tiki Central. How about a page with links to some of the best threads in TC history? Perhaps they could be threads that are visually rich like this one, or very informative like some of the drink recipe threads, or just real interesting threads where someone did a lot of research on some tiki history. The moderators could choose the best, or perhaps there could be a voting or rating system set up (like in U-Mod) for members to pick the best ones.
November 5th, 2005 at 8:59 pm
That’s a fantastic idea! As a matter of fact, it’s so fantastic, we did it months ago!
You can vote for the best threads on Tiki Central by clicking on the Cool & Current icon, the yellow asterisk right next to U-Mod (as a matter of fact, it uses the U-Mod architecture). The best current threads, as rated by Tiki Central members, are listed on Cool & Current, which can be found on the Bar at the left of the homepage. What it lacks right now is permanence, but once more people start using it, we’ll have enough voting information to create a more permanent “Best of Tiki Central” page.