Tell us a story about the good ole' tiki days. - General Tiki

B bigbrotiki Tiki Socialite Tiki Island, above the Silverlake Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 11621	B bigbrotiki Posted posted on Thu, Aug 5, 2004 4:11 PM I do not want to blow anyone's bubble, but the so called "Good Old Tiki Days" are as thin a construct as the idea of the Polynesian Islands being Paradise On Earth was. I am not saying that I made it all up and the Book Of Tiki is a another version of the "Cruise of the Kawa", but what one can easily forget is that the complete macro-cosm of Tiki that the BOT delivers in your lap was NOT in everyone's awareness at the time of Tiki's heyday. Very few people, (like the good folks at OA for example), had a grasp of the pervasiveness of the style in it's completeness, (and even they did not know it all), or actually really lived it, like Eli Hedley. Most folks knew and adhered to certain aspects, like doing backyard Luaus, or going to their local Tiki Supper Club on special occasions, but did they know of places in other states, the Motels, the apartments? I do not think so. They drank the cocktails, but I have yet to find one oldtimer that (back in the 50s or 60s) collected the mugs. It took the distance of time, (and in my case place of origin), and years of persistent urban archeology to put the pieces of the puzzle together to make the glorious image of Tiki style appear in front of your eyes in the way the BOT did. Artist/writer Bruce McCall once said something about the 50s akin to "Don't ever tell me the 50s were such a wonderfully perfect time..." and I agree. But yet that does not deny me this great form of ancestor worship, which as religions go is based to a large percentage on mythology. I LOVE mythology, and we all need it.

I do not want to blow anyone's bubble, but the so called "Good Old Tiki Days" are as thin a construct as the idea of the Polynesian Islands being Paradise On Earth was.

I am not saying that I made it all up and the Book Of Tiki is a another version of the "Cruise of the Kawa", but what one can easily forget is that the complete macro-cosm of Tiki that the BOT delivers in your lap was NOT in everyone's awareness at the time of Tiki's heyday.

Very few people, (like the good folks at OA for example), had a grasp of the pervasiveness of the style in it's completeness, (and even they did not know it all), or actually really lived it, like Eli Hedley.

Most folks knew and adhered to certain aspects, like doing backyard Luaus, or going to their local Tiki Supper Club on special occasions, but did they know of places in other states, the Motels, the apartments? I do not think so. They drank the cocktails, but I have yet to find one oldtimer that (back in the 50s or 60s) collected the mugs.

It took the distance of time, (and in my case place of origin), and years of persistent urban archeology to put the pieces of the puzzle together to make the glorious image of Tiki style appear in front of your eyes in the way the BOT did.

Artist/writer Bruce McCall once said something about the 50s akin to "Don't ever tell me the 50s were such a wonderfully perfect time..." and I agree. But yet that does not deny me this great form of ancestor worship, which as religions go is based to a large percentage on mythology.

I LOVE mythology, and we all need it.

Post #106543 by bigbrotiki on Thu, Aug 5, 2004 4:11 PM