Detail of program from 1962 Seattle World’s Fair,
from the collection of Sabu the Coconut Boy

Sabu the Coconut Boy, freddiefreelance and puamana have all posted some amazing images and info about the Hawaii Pavilions at both the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. Sabu’s Seattle collection includes several artists’ renderings of the pavilion, like the one above on the official program, and also photographs of its construction. The building was near where the Experience Music Project building is today, and in its final days housed a video game arcade. The New York World’s Fair collections include items from the 5 Volcanos restaurant, Moultray’s Polynesian restaurant, and promotional brochures for the “Road ot Polynesia,” complete with “Pearl Lagoon” where real pearls could be purchased.

• Tiki Archeology – The Hawaii Pavillion – 1962 Seattle World’s Fair (Image Heavy) [Tiki Central]
• Tiki Archeology – The Hawaii Pavillion – ’64/’65 New York World’s Fair [Tiki Central]

Hollywood Health Foods booklet

I’ve scanned in an entire booklet from October 1963, titled “Gourmet Recipes of Hawaii.” It was put out by Hollywood Health Foods, to promote their line of safflower oil products. It includes 55 “exotic” recipes, like Cheese ‘N Pineapple Pupus, which are chunks of pineapple, dipped in “luau mayonnaise” (which is safflower oil-mayonnaise, mixed with pineapple juice and marachino cherry syrup), then rolled in cheddar cheese and shredded coconut. Delicious! Exotic! Best of all, the pamphlet has a bunch of full-color photos of food spreads, complete with prominent placement of bottles of oil and boxes of margarine. Aside from the recipes, it also includes the “Story of Hawaiian Foods & Polyunsaturates,” “How to Give a Luau,” “Background of Hawaiian Fresh Fruits,” and “Gourmet Tour to Hawaii.” From “Background of Hawaiian Fresh Fruits”:

With this new enthusiasm for fresh Hawaiian fruits, Island growers and shippers are working around the clock to open new volcanic jungle lands to production. New packing and shipping facilities are appearing and with expansion of jet transportation to additional islands, the mainland housewife can look forward to a most rewarding and flavorful future in the Hawaiian fresh fruit industry — as exotic as the Polynesians themselves.

I’ve posted every page in a thread in Tiki Central, and also in a photo gallery on Humuhumu’s Life in Photos. I posted it as my contribution to this week’s Savage Renewal project on Tiki Central.

• Savage Renewal: Hollywood Health Foods Gourmet Recipes of Hawaii [Tiki Central]
• Hollywood Health Foods Gourmet Recipes of Hawaii [Humuhumu's Life in Photos]
• Another Round of Savage Renewal! [Tiki Central]

Tiki Central ‘Ohana Hut prototype

At the special Tiki Central preview night at Forbidden Island, Stuckie from Munktiki brought along his first prototype of Chongolio’s ‘Ohana Hut, which won the official Tiki Central Mug Design Contest a short while back. The design has been a tall challenge for Stuckie, but he’s more than proven himself up to it: the prototype is gorgeous and detailed, right down to the wooden slats on the bottom of the hut. Stuckie wants to make a few more small adjustments to the design — a slightly different clay, a few more details in the mold, and a slight change to the glaze — but it’s already fantastic. Stuckie shared a Mystery Bowl with us that was served in it; the placement of the straw holes creates an optimal StMJ (Straw-to-Mouth Trajectory). There was lots of drooling over this new mug — congrats again to Chongolio for his splendid design! Production, pricing and purchasing details will likely be announced in the coming weeks on Tiki Central.

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

There have been rumblings about true ‘okolehao becoming available again for the past couple of years, but I don’t think anyone was holding their breath for it to actually come to fruition. Now comes word that it’s getting much closer to being a reality.

‘Okolehao is an old-fashioned, moonshine sort of a liquor, made by Hawaii locals using the root of the ti plant. In recent years, a liqueur labelled “Okolehao” had been available, but it was almost cordial-like, and bore little resemblance to the real deal. There are a few old cocktail recipes that call for ‘okolehao, and some also like sipping it straight — it has a taste a bit like a sweet tequila.

The new production is being done by Sandwich Islands Distilling Company, on Maui. An article nearly three years ago in the Honolulu Advertiser laid out the company’s plans to produce a true ‘okolehao, and today a representative from the company announced on Tiki Central that they are planning to start selling under the “Nine Islands Okolehao” label this summer. No word yet on how we will be able to get our grubby little hands on the stuff.

• okolehao, anyone got a lead,1/5/05- article on new production of the spirit pg 2 [Tiki Central]
• Will new ‘okolehao be your cup of ti? [Honolulu Advertiser]

Inside Forbidden Island

This weekend was the grand opening of Forbidden Island, and it appears to be a massive success. There was a line out the door Saturday from before 6 p.m. to the end of the night; the line stretched to the end of the block, with people willing to wait as long as an hour to get in. Once inside, there was a lot of enthusiastic raving about the drinks and the decor to be heard. I’ve now had a chance to sample at least half of the menu, which has 38(!) drinks. My favorite right now is the Krakatoa, which is from Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s Grog Log, and is a take on the Mai-Kai’s Black Magic. I also really love the Hawaii Kai Treasure, from the Hawaii Kai in New York. Everyone’s having a lot of fun working their way through the menu. There is also an extensive menu of fine rums available. It’s truly thrilling to see Forbidden Island off to such a great start, and getting such a positive response — and not just from tikiphiles, the crowd this weekend was a broad cross-section of people. Just goes to show that anyone can appreciate quality.

Now that Forbidden Island is open, the local tiki crowd is planning on gathering there every Wednesday, in the years-long tradition of the Wednesday meetups at Tiki-Ti in Los Angeles. Everybody is welcome, feel free to go up to the group wearing the aloha shirts and introduce yourself. Forbidden Island co-owner Martin says:

Come one, come all, to Wednesdays at FI!

Help make this inaugural Wednesday one to remember- there’s a surprise in store, so be there by 7pm and wear your finest aloha- you’ll want to look your best!

Don’t forget your VIP cards, or pick one up if you don’t have one yet

Mahalo, and see everyone on Wednesday!

I’ve updated Critiki with a ton more information about Forbidden Island, and many photos of the beautiful interiors.

• Forbidden Island
• Forbidden Island, Alameda [Critiki]
• Wednesdays at Forbidden Island [Tiki Central]

The What In Polynesian Pop game comes to its exciting conclusion, as diablo successfully identifies Item 7. That leaves only Item 4, which is a rather slippery fish, so I’m going ahead and revealing it. You can click each item below to see the answers.

Item 1

Item 2

Item 3

Item 4

Item 5

Item 6

Item 7

Item 8

Item 9

The last two items, Item 4 and Item 7, are revealed after the jump:

(more…)

Congratulations to cleen, who correctly identified Items 5 and 6 from the What In Polynesian Pop guessing game. That leaves just two items left. The answers to Items 5 & 6 are revealed after the jump:

(more…)

Volcano Goddess, by Nicole Steen

Xeni at Boing Boing linked to these swell tarted-up dishwashing gloves, by Nicole Steen. There are a few tikified gloves, the ones pictured here are “Volcano Goddess,” others include “Blue Hawaii,” “Tiki Nights” and “Ukulele Lady.” These are all sold out, but Steen will create a custom pair for you for $75. These gloves aren’t suitable for use, and are meant only to be framed and hung — these are for the girl with the ultimate lovely hula hands, who has someone else to do the dishes for her.

• Dirty Dishes [The Tart Gallery]

Item 4

Item 5

Item 6

Item 7

Five out of the nine items have been successfully guessed in the What in Polynesian Pop game, and these are the last four items. You’ll notice they’ve been zoomed out slightly. Take yer best shot!

• What In Polynesian Pop? [Humu Kon Tiki]
• WIPP: Three Items Revealed [Humu Kon Tiki]
• WIPP: Item 8 Revealed [Humu Kon Tiki]
• WIPP: Item 1 Revealed [Humu Kon Tiki]

Forbidden Island Flyer

The much-anticipated opening of Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge in Alameda is just around the corner — doors open to the public on Saturday, April 22. That’s next weekend! The opening event is going to be, as I described to my mother, “batshit insane, but in a good way.” The best thing about this event is that it’s not really a one-day deal… Forbidden Island will still be there in the days, weeks, months and hopefully years to come.

I’ve gotten a sneak peek at the menu, and it alone is exciting. There are a few new creations I’m dying to try, and there are a lot of old traditional cocktails that are delicious yet hard to come by in today’s bars. And knowing Martin, you can bet that he will make absolutely sure each and every drink on the menu is served right — I’ve listened (kind of) to him jabber on for seemingly hours about which Falernum is the best. “Passion” does not describe Martin’s feelings on the subject of tropical drink making — “obsession” comes a lot closer. The drinks are all going to be made with only fresh-squeezed juices, premium spirits and natural ingredients. Even their maraschino cherries are made with natural colors and flavors, and no preservatives.

But even if all they served was beer (perish the thought), it still would be the coolest tiki bar in the area, thanks to the thorough decking-out the space has received from Bamboo Ben and Martin. Martin has been shooing away any looky-loos over the past couple weeks, but when even in its half-done state it was breathtaking.

It all starts next Saturday, April 22 — if you can’t make it on opening day, be sure to visit it soon! And if you know someone who has serving experience and some cool aloha shirts, let ‘em know that paradise is hiring.

• Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge
• Forbidden Island is Hiring [Humu Kon Tiki]