Well, I’d had enough of red-orange-on-black. I’ve been wanting to dress this site up, make it feel a bit more tiki, for some time now. It took me a little while to settle on what I could do that was a little different from the other tiki sites out there. I took my inspiration from a vintage Don the Beachcomber menu, which can be seen on pages 72-73 of the Book of Tiki. Some of my recent website projects have called for me to do some drawing — brushing the dust and cobwebs off of my drawing skills has been a lot of fun. Thankfully, 72 dpi is pretty forgiving, and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. Hope you all like the new look, and please let me know if anything is wonky!
Now, let’s see what I can do about the recent paucity of tiki reporting….
March 13th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Hey! I like it! The only problem is I subscribe to your RSS feed so I don’t usually see these kinda things. Is there away to spruce up RSS feeds?
March 13th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Wow, what a great design! I’m envious–
March 15th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Hi Humu,
Love this new look! It’s very bright, easier to read, and I think overall a more accurate reflection of you.
March 15th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Glad you like it! I hear ya re: the RSS feeds, I use Netvibes to keep up with all my favorite sites, and it’s a bummer to miss out on the feel sometimes.
March 22nd, 2006 at 5:15 pm
Man. I go away for 2 weeks and the whole tiki world changes. Dig the new look Humu. The other was so morbidly goth !!!
September 7th, 2006 at 10:56 pm
[...] I love the graphic look of this Don the Beachcomber menu from Las Vegas. It comes from the collection of Derrick Bostrom, whose grandparents had quite a collection of menus from their travels. Bostrom has these menus now, and has been posting them on his blog. He’s also shared a menu from the Islands in Phoenix, and he has a 1948 Don the Beachcomber menu that he hasn’t posted yet — I’m looking forward to seeing it; longtime readers may remember that the look of Humu Kon Tiki was inspired by a vintage Don the Beachcomber menu. [...]
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:16 pm
[...] This 1952 cocktail menu from the Lanai in San Mateo appeals to me for a number of reasons. First of all, I love the art style (I can’t help but wonder if the artist was inspired by an early Don the Beachcomber menu, as I was when I created the design for Humu Kon Tiki). Secondly, the Lanai was in our neck of the woods, and probably would be our watering hole of choice if it was still around today. Thirdly, the drinks on the menu are true classics, with drinks likely lifted (the names, if not the recipes) from those created by Don the Beachcomber. The Sidewinder’s Fang is served today at Forbidden Island, using the same recipe that was once served at the Lanai (I had one last night, they’re yummy). Detail from ’60s cocktail menu from Doc’s Place in Toronto, from Arkiva Tropika [...]