Tiki God Collection, from the collection of the jab

One thing I love about la vida tiki is that the men have as much, if not more, jewelry than the girls do — it’s very gender neutral that way. Between us, Hanford & probably have a couple dozen tiki necklaces strewn about the house and in various boxes. These fab trinkets pepper my house in the same way that stray legos did when I was a kid. On our way out the door on a typical evening: Wallet? Check. Lipstick? Check. Tiki ’round the neck? Check.

In a thread on Tiki Central, lots of people have shared their collections of pendants, and you get an idea the great scope of variety out there: many different traditional designs from moai to Hawaiian carvings to Maori ones; fantastical modern designs; different materials like wood, bone, plastic and metal; modern designs and vintage designs. They’re really fun to have, and because of the small size and low cost, it’s the sort of collection that sneaks up on you.

The picture to the left comes courtesy of The Jab’s blog. It’s from the August 1963 issue of the (ahem) mens’s magazine, Escapade, and illustrates that tiki necklaces for men are a time-honored tradition.

• Your Tiki Pendent collection… [Tiki Central]
• Tiki God Collection [The Jab]

Conga Lounge website

Oakland’s Conga Lounge has a new website… by me! In updating the Conga Lounge website, I aimed to give it the same feel that the bar does — tropical, warm and friendly. I also helped the Conga Lounge get set up on Flickr… if you have pictures of good times spent at the Conga Lounge, add them to Flickr with the tag “congalounge” to share them!

Website design and database programming are how I eat, and luckily I love to do it. I’m available to do websites of about any scale — database-driven websites like Critiki are my speciality, but I do smaller, static websites like this one, too. I also can create and host a blog for you. I’ve got 12+ years of database design and application design experience, and six years of Perl/CGI programming experience.

I have a handful of great projects on my plate at the moment, and I’m looking to line up more. Whether your needs are business- or leisure-oriented, I love doing great work for people. Check out my services & portfolio, and I’m always happy to help you figure out how to best achieve what you desire.

• Conga Lounge
• Humuhumu – Database, Website and Application Design and Programming

The Best of Martin Denny’s Exotica

On March 6, Capitol is releasing a new compliation of Martin Denny’s Exotica classics, apty named “The Best of Martin Denny’s Exotica.” Here’s a track listing:

1. Exotica
2. Coronation
3. Quiet Village
4. Forbidden Island
5. Oro (God Of Vengeance)
6. La Pampa Y La Puna
7. Flamingo
8. Hypnotique
9. Misirlou
10. Caravan
11. Escales
12. My Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua, Hawaii
13. Jungle Drums
14. Taboo
15. The Enchanted Isle
16. Similau
17. Ringo Oiwake
18. Stardust
19. Martin Denny on Martin Denny (bonus interview)

Martin Denny’s excellent back catalog is relatively easy to find (thankfully!), but any collection that serves as a handy introduction to the exotic works of Martin Denny is okay by me. I don’t know what the bonus interview is like, but I’ve seen interviews with him before, and he was an engaging fellow. Amazon is accepting pre-orders now.

• The Best Of Martin Denny’s Exotica [Amazon.com]

I already mentioned tonight’s Tiki Taix 2nd Anniversary, but Sunday’s going to be a good day to be a So Cal tikiphile, too. Otto von Stroheim is in town to turn the atrium of VacationFest into a Tikifest. VacationFest takes place at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and is filled with travel vendors’ booths with information on tour packages, destinations, hotels, boat packages, you name it. Trips will be given away in drawings by several vendors. As at last year’s Vacationfest, the atrium of the building will be a tiki marketplace, with vendors of carvings, apparel and more. Otto will be selling copies of his Tiki Art Two book. Doug Nason will have a presentation on Tikis of the South Pacific at 2 p.m. A coupon for free admission can be found at Otto’s website. Later that evening, Otto will be DJing at the new Puka Bar in Long Beach, from 9 – 11 p.m.

• VacationFest [TravelStore]
• VacationFest Coupon (PDF) [Tiki News]
• Tiki Taix Tonight: Two Years of King Kukulele & Escargot [Humu Kon Tiki]

Inside Bargoyle’s tiki

Bargoyle had a resin tiki outdoors in the biting cold Connecticut weather; it took a topple when a wind gust came along, and snapped into two. Upon inspection, Bargoyle found that the otherwise hollow tiki had this strange, not-creamy, pink filling… inspiring the mind to race with wonderment. Was the tiki was part of a vast underground doll boot smuggling network? Does the tiki have an appetite for Strawberry Shortcake dolls clad in difficult-to-digest galoshes? Perhaps Bargoyle was really purchasing small pink footwear, and it comes in natty tiki packaging?

• Ever wonder what’s INSIDE those resin tikis? (pics) [Tiki Central]

King Kukulele

Tonight is a celebration of two years of King Kukulele’s monthly Tiki Taix cabaret night, at Taix French Restaurant in Los Angeles. King Kukulele is a comedian, singer, songwriter, adorable nutjob, emcee… but most of all, he’s a ukulele player. On the last Friday of every month, he transforms the intimate bar area of this ’60s French restaurant into a showcase of tiki. Visiting musicians, dancers, collectors, historians, vintage film clips… with King Kukulele’s rotating cast of supporting players, you never quite know what’s in store at Tiki Taix, but it’s always a blast. Taix is a neat old restaurant worth paying a visit to in its own right, and the clam chowder available on Fridays is very tasty. This month, everyone is receiving a reproduction of the Hawaiian Village Hotel’s “Coconut Bulletin” of October 20th, 1957. The evening’s entertainment program includes a hula dancer, music from the Friki Tikis, a slide show from the recent party at the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach, and a look at vintage ad art from the Hawaiian tourism industry. The evening kicks off at 10pm-ish, but it’s nice to get there a bit early to enjoy dinner in the bar and secure a table near the stage. Taix Restaurant is at 1911 Sunset Blvd. in Echo Park.

• King Kukulele Presents: Tiki Taix 2nd Anniversary on February 24th, 2006 [Tiki Central]
• King Kukulele

New Bar at Kon Tiki Lounge in Tucson

One of my favorite tiki spots, the Kon Tiki Lounge in Tucson, Arizona, has got some great things going on. The Kon Tiki Lounge has been going strong since 1961, kept busy and profitable by their enduring popularity with the local college set. Miraculously, almost all of the original decor is still intact, though sometimes in need of repair. In recent years, a new manager named Louie has been leading the charge in restoring the Kon Tiki’s glory. Kon Tiki Lounge tiki mugs by Tiki Farm are now available, with the design taken from the excellent Milan Guanko tiki outside. The place has been nicely maintained, and Bamboo Ben has been hired to do some fixing here and there. Above is the gorgeous new bar that Bamboo Ben has created — the old bar was perfectly serviceable and classic, but didn’t have much character, and the new bar looks like it was always there. Hey guys — can you ditch the bright lights in the aviary-turned-lizard cage behind the bar next?

With all this good stuff happening, a celebration is in order, so Louie is planning a big bash, likely for April 22. No details yet on the party, but whether you go then or during a quieter time, it’s definitely worth the trip.

• Kon Tiki for Spring Time Fun In The AZ Sun [Tiki Central]
• Kon Tiki Lounge, Tucson [Critiki]
• Kon Tiki Tucson Milan Guanko [Ooga-Mooga]
• Kon Tiki Tucson Milan Guanko Shot [Ooga-Mooga]

Big Benzart #5

There are plenty of horror stories out there about all of the shipping companies, so a lot of folks tend to think of FedEx, UPS, DHL and all the others as being generally equal in reliability. And truly, it’s possible that any one of the shipping companies could have been the player in this crappy tale, but it happens to be FedEx this time. This doesn’t excuse the extraordinary awfulness of what happened to Benzart.

Ben “Benzart” Davis is not only a fantastic tiki carver, he’s a bit of a legend — he’s been carving for decades now and was responsible for the fantastic tikis that used to populate the Tropicana in Vegas. Benzart now lives in Florida and after working on heavily detailed small pieces, has returned to creating large masterpieces. Benzart pieces are highly coveted, and widely revered.

The tiki to the left is Big Benzart #5, and was shipped via FedEx to its new owner in Maryland. It disappeared from the FedEx system on February 16, when it “Departed the FedEx location” and never appeared anywhere else. Calls to FedEx were uncooperative, initially telling Ben “don’t call us, we’ll call you,” and ultimately telling him that the tiki had been completely “destroyed,” had been discarded and it was now a claims issue.

Okay, now look at this thing. It’s a big ol’ solid piece of wood. Really big, like man-size. What, short of a raging inferno of a fire, could damage it so badly that it would justify completely tossing it? FedEx refused to give Ben any confirmation of what had occured, no details, no pictures of the damaged goods, only telling him it had been discarded. The whole thing smelled rather fishy.

Benzart puts a lot of time, care and love into his tikis, and he simply would not take this as an answer. He wanted to have the remains of his tiki. He wanted to know what had become of it. You don’t just toss a tiki. Everybody knows that. It’s bad juju.

Ben insisted on speaking to a human being at the local office that last saw the tiki. He again was given the runaround, told that he couldn’t talk to the local office, told again that the package was damaged and destroyed, and upon insisting to see the remains, was transferred through three more people. Finally he was sent to a person at the local office, a woman named Peggy, who upon hearing the description of the item, said “It’s RIGHT HERE”… the tiki had not been destroyed at all. On the contrary, the FedEx label had been partially damaged.

So not only was FedEx unable to connect a package having lost its delivery information with a person trying to find out what happened to a package at that exact same day & location, they flagged Benzart’s package as having been destroyed and discarded, without actually having any idea at all what happened to it. Especially given that the FedEx system knows the dimensions, size and weight of each package, it should have been able to connect the two, given the unusual the size of this package. With Ben being told his package had been trashed, how on earth did they plan on connecting the package with its proper owner?

So Benzart and the tiki’s new owner have a happy ending, but it is absolutely ludicrous that it was incumbent on him to be so ridiculously tenacious and persistent in the face of FedEx asshattery.

• UPDATE….UntimelyDeath… BigBenZart UPDATE!!!! [Tiki Central]

Tiki at Hale Tiki in Augusta

The Hale Tiki in Augusta, Georgia has gone out of business. The bar opened to much fanfare in 2004. The bar was owned by Brad “The Beachcomber” Owens, who enlisted the help of Basement Kahuna, Bamboo Ben, Crazy Al, and many other carvers and artists, ultimately creating a tapa and bamboo encrusted bar that was unusually lovely. Initially things were promising, with raves about the uncommonly good drinks, and music only being played from vintage lps.

All was not rosy, however… Owens earned some very bad publicity when he didn’t follow through on many mug and shirt orders, and did not communicate in a timely fashion about the status of orders, leaving many tikiphiles who were trying to be supportive of the Hale Tiki feel cheated. Eventually the orders were filled, but the damage had been done to Owens’ reputation. Down the road, a business feud with Basement Kahuna also seemed to negatively impact the mana of the place — I’ve heard multiple reports about the dismal quality of the drinks there in recent months, and the declining decor.

Today on Tiki Central, Brad Owens announced that the Hale Tiki’s final day was last Friday, February 17. He says he’s considering offers to sell the bar outright, but it may not open again. No word on what will come of the many carvings and artwork, some of which were donated to Hale Tiki by Tiki Centralites.

I’m glad that I got to enjoy Hale Tiki in happier times, and I lament its loss.

• Hale Tiki now closed [Tiki Central]
• Hale Tiki, Augusta [Critiki]
• Hale Tiki Blue Mug [Ooga-Mooga]

Dumb Angel Balboa – Stuft Shirt Restaurant

Domenic Priore & Brian Chidester, the creators of Dumb Angel Magazine, have started a blog. This is a time for great rejoicing. If it’s anything like the magazine (which recently published a very book-like Issue #4 after a 16 year interlude) the posts will be sporadic, but each one will be long and jam-packed with pictures, history, and lots of references. Dumb Angel’s focus is the Southern California scene of the 1960s, the influences that went into creating that era, and the influences that came out of it. The heart of their passion is the music, but passion drives them to paint the most complete picture possible, and results in authoritative articles that launch off in the most far-flung, unexpected directions. They have a talent for pulling together threads from every which direction, and making it all make sense. My already fervent love affair with Southern California is driven to even further heights every time I read one of their pieces.

One of the first entries is an encyclopedic look at Balboa in Orange County, including the above picture of the Stuft Shirt Restaurant. Any description I would attempt would sound confusing and wouldn’t do it justice — just go check it out.

• Dumb Angel Blog
• Dumb Angel Gazette: Sixties Surf Teen Culture Meets Tiki [Humu Kon Tiki]
• All Summer Long: Dumb Angel, Vol. 4 [Amazon]

Greg Jones and Theresa Dowell, photo by Greg Gilbert of the Seattle Times

The Seattle Times’ Food & Wine section has an excellent article today on the impending arrival of Trader Vic’s in Bellevue, directly across Lake Washington from Seattle. Seattle once boasted Trader Vic’s second location, which started out named The Outrigger. The location was a Seattle institution, located at the base of the Benjamin Franklin Hotel, which later became the Westin Hotel, from 1948 until its closure in 1992. The article does a great job of describing the important place that Trader Vic’s had on the Seattle culinary scene, and also gives a great view of what the hospitality was like. In particular, great tribute is paid to the restaurant’s long-time manager, Harry Wong:

“Harry Wong would do anything for his customers,” says Tom Robinson, whose wife, Barb, got him hooked on Trader Vic’s in 1959. Harry was known for his hospitality and his sense of humor. He always recognized us and saved our favorite table.” Once, when the Robinson’s were dining with Barb’s dad — “a real meat and potatoes guy” — Harry sent out a basket of warm dinner rolls, not something you’d normally find at Trader Vic’s. “Later, I asked him where he came up with the rolls,” says Robinson. “He’d sent someone up to the Golden Lion in the Olympic Hotel to get them.”

It’s five long, rainy downtown blocks from the old Trader Vic’s location to the Olympic Hotel — that’s some very dedicated and creative service. Harry Wong must have been a truly spectacular fellow.

The article talks to several local Trader Vic’s devotees (including Greg Jones and Theresa Dowell, pictured above), all folks who loved the Seattle Trader Vic’s and have lamented the loss. There is a lot of excitement about this new Bellevue location. Recapturing the magic of the old Seattle location would take a small miracle, but if nothing else the Trader Vic’s lovers in tiki-blighted Seattle should finally be able to get a fantastic Mai Tai.

The Bellevue location opens on March 6 in Lincoln Square.

• Aloha, Trader Vic’s! The venerable purveyor of tiki culture returns [Seattle Times]
• Trader Vic’s, Seattle [Critiki]
• Trader Vic’s, Bellevue [Critiki]
• Trader Vic’s Update — Lightning Round! [Humu Kon Tiki]

A representative from a production company affiliated with HGTV has been trying to enlist creators of home tiki bars for profile on a do-it-yourself program for the channel. The initial post was confusing and misleading — the representative said they were looking for “tikis” when they meant tiki rooms, a rather puzzling thing to get confused. Repeat requests don’t seem to have generated a whole lot of interest. There is no lack of these fantastic at-home getaways out there in the tiki community (I did a mental tally the other day and realized that I’ve been fortunate enough to visit literally dozens of them), so I’m not sure why they’re having trouble.

Personally, I’m a bit turned off by the pitch’s seeming attitude of “designers & contractors — who needs ‘em? We’re looking for real people!” It’s a blurry line in the tiki community, and the pros and the amateurs co-mingle so much that folks don’t really seem to make a distinction between them. The many, many DIY-type tiki folks are considered designers even if they’ve only done their own tiki room; those in our community who are able to transition to doing interior design and contracting for tiki for a living are strongly encouraged and supported, not knocked as no longer being “real people.” That, combined with the representative’s weird initial mix-up about what a tiki even is, and the many horror stories I’ve heard about how these production companies will run rough-shod through your home… I’d certainly have some reservations before signing up with them. But those are just my guesses, it’s hard to say why they don’t seem to have sparked much interest.

• Looking for Unique and Amazing tikis [Tiki Central]
• Still Looking [Tiki Central]
• Still Collecting [Tiki Central]

Tiki Oasis 6

Tickets for the sixth annual Tiki Oasis are now available for sale. This year’s event is taking place at the Hanalei Hotel in San Diego, May 4-7. Here’s the current schedule of events:
______________________________

Thursday, May 4: Tiki Oasis Pre-Party
8 pm – 10pm
Free
Thursday night will kick off with a live performance by the Maikai Gents in the bar of the Islands restaurant at the Hanalei Hotel. Meet friends, make new friends, be the first one in the jacuzzi before the weekend starts.

Friday, May 5: Bali Hai party by the Bay
Doors 6:30 pm til last call
$18 (those 17 and under are free if accompanied by an adult)
Carpool or ride the double decker bus to Shelter Island for a post-dinner party by the bay. King Kukulele, DJ Phast Phreddie (Brooklyn), The Sand Devils, Ape, and a special surprise guest.

Saturday, May 6: The Magic of Tiki
Doors 6 pm, LIVE entertainment 6:30pm – 10pm, stay for after the show movie til midnight
$25 (those 17 and under are free if accompanied by an adult)
Experience the Magic of Tiki under the big tent at the Hanalei Hotel. Expect the finest in musical sets from Maikai Gents, King Kukulele, Ape, Shag with a Twist mini show, burlesque entertianment and across the desert sands of Nevada, live from Las Vegas, the only Tiki magician – James Dimmare. Stay for the late night movie after the show.

Saturday and Sunday, May 6 and 7: Tiki Shopping Bazaar
From 10 – 5 pm (open to the public)
Wander the Tiki bazaar in search of treasures. Kids can join King Kukulele’s Tiki tour of the Hanalei or adults can grab a drink and enjoy Otto’s “Sventiki Tour of Hanalei’s Tiki Atrium” (Times T.B.A.)

Sunday, May 7
Shop while listening to DJed tunes, check out the annual Uke Jam led by Uncle Judd of The Maikai Gents at noon and join Tiki Oasis attendees for a secret Sunday happy hour at 5:30 all FREE of charge and open to the public
_____________________________

I’m very excited about the Hanalei as the new venue — this hotel houses many tikis that came from the legendary Luau in Beverly Hills when it closed, and it has the very tiki Islands Restaurant on-site. Friday’s trip to Shelter Island and the Bali Hai is sure to be a crowd-pleasing highlight as well. This year, I’m honored to be lending a hand as the vendor coordinator — if the early vendor signups for the Tiki Shopping Bazaar are any indication, there’s going to be a knockout selection of great tiki stuff to drool over. The hotel and ticket purchases are happening all together on the Tiki Oasis website, so don’t try to book through the hotel.

Man, I’ve gotta start figuring out what I’m going to wear. See you in San Diego!

• Tiki Oasis

Chongolio’s Winning Tiki Central Mug design

The winner of Tiki Central’s mug design contest has been annouced, and the winning design is the Tiki Central ‘Ohana Hut from Santa Cruz-based artist Chongolio. The mug is actually more of a bowl, taking the shape of a hut with a roof and four straw holes. The design is a new twist on bowl design and very unique, but at the same looks like the sort of thing that a vintage mug creator would have come up with. It also is a great representation of what Tiki Central is all about — a fantastic place where lots of diverse folks with common interests can come together and share — in this case, a tasty beverage. Hanford Lemoore says it was the clear winner, despite some very stiff competition; the array of talent shown in the entries was truly impressive. The contest was judged by a panel of 26 Tiki Centralites, selected by Hanford Lemoore to be a cross-section of TCers from different areas, with different reasons for loving tiki, and both old-timers and newcomers. I was not a judge for the contest, but this was the design I was rooting for, and I’m so glad it won.

Now that the design has been selected, the hard part comes — making it a reality. Stuckie from Munktiki has been kind enough to take on the task, and he and Hanford are currently working out the details of the design and the production. Due to the large size and relative complexity of the piece (which is also exactly what makes the design so fantastic), it’s probably going to take a bit of time, but the end product is certain to be worth it.

Congratulations to Chongolio!

• The winner of the Second-Ever Tiki Central Mug Design Contest [Tiki Central]
• Lost Isle [Chongolio's website]
• Munktiki
• Tiki Central Mug Design Contest [Humu Kon Tiki]

Trader Vic’s Tiki Party

Tonight there’s gonna be a swinging time at the Emeryville Trader Vic’s — the author of Trader Vic’s Tiki Party, Steve Siegelman, will be there signing books, and there’s going to be half-price appetizers and drinks. Basically, it’s just a swell excuse for everybody to get together. Trader Vic’s says:

Trader Vic’s Emeryville, the legendary purveyor of Polynesian food, drinks and fun invite you to celebrate a new book titled Trader Vic’s Tiki Party. It has over 100 best-loved tropical cocktails like the Samoan Fog Cutter, Potted Parrot and of course The Original Mai Tai created by Trader Vic himself 62 years ago. The book also includes 35 crowd pleasing pan-Asian pu-pu’s like Crab Rangoon, Crispy Prawns and Bongo bongo Soup.

I’ve heard good things about the book, though I must admit I haven’t cracked the spine myself (we’ve probably got a copy packed in one of our still-to-be-unpacked boxes). We’ll be there from 6ish ’til probably at least 10, after that a bunch of folks are heading over to the Kona Club. If you see a crowd of people wearing aloha shirts (though I’ll be wearing my Song of the South shirt), come on over and say hi!

• Trader Vic’s Tiki Party [Amazon]
• Trader Vic’s, Emeryville [Critiki]
• Trader Vics Tiki Party signing in Emeryville [Tiki Central]