Post #484390 by Sabu The Coconut Boy on Mon, Sep 21, 2009 1:16 AM

On 2009-09-20 19:03, Tiki-Kate wrote:

This post card is from the 1951 California Spring Garden Show. Pretty early for tikis to be showing up in the garden.

I was pretty floored by that early date for those tikis as well. Then I did a little research and found out that the California Spring Garden Show was held in Oakland, CA each year, and that seems to fit nicely. Oakland was under the influence of the some of the earliest places to first use tikis as decor - Trader Vic's of course, and then Skipper Kent's up in San Francisco too.

In fact, when I look at your postcard, Kate, I suspect a connection with Skipper Kent's. That Moai looks suspiciously like the signature Moai used for the Skipper Kent's mugs and salt shakers. And that other tiki makes an appearance in this early Skipper Kent's postcard:

My Skipper Kent's postcard with the tiki above is postmarked 1953, so the photo was probably taken earlier than that. I'm wondering if Skipper Kent purchased or copied the tikis from the Garden Show, or perhaps he did the decorating for that exhibit at the Garden Show, using his own tikis and plants? After all, Skipper Kent was a horticulturist himself. The rare tropical plants and flowers in his restaurants were "imported from the four corners of the earth and are now grown by the Skipper in his hot houses in Walnut Creek, Ca", according to the back of one of his drink menus. He also collected native carvings and weapons during his travels around the world, which he then used in his restaurant. So the tikis might be his? just conjecture.

Anyway, that's a damn impressive haul of tiki paper for one weekend!

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy 2009-09-21 01:47 ]