Pass the mai tais, don the leis; the tiki bar is open!
Don't fret if you chucked your tiki mugs in 1964, the mass market is suddenly swamped with these ersatz totems, along with swaying hula girls, aloha shirts, tropical briefs, bedding, lighting and other "Polynesian pop" paraphernalia.
The tiki lifestyle trend of the 1950s and early 1960s left a garish imprint on the American landscape. Wanton strains of architecture, art, music, fashion and mixology reflected tiki's blissfully inauthentic take on South-Seas culture.
At its height, the tiki craze created a loophole for the buttoned-down, who allowed themselves to let loose after an exotic potion or two.
In The Book of Tiki, (Taschen, $30) Sven A. Kirsten explains: "Tiki temples were erected, and for awhile the people believed. They came to worship the cult of modern primitivism, naively engaging in such (now taboo) practices as alcoholism, racism, chauvinism, and pig-eating. ... Soon every major city in America was home to at least one Polynesian palace."
Then, amid the sound and fury of the mid-1960s, tiki's influence faded, its remnants left to molder in old bars, motels and thrift shops.
Its rediscovery by Kirsten, and others such as Otto von Stroheim, publisher of the online Tiki News, has rekindled admiration for tiki pioneers. Leroy Schmaltz, for example, continues to carve elaborate tiki figures for Oceanic Arts, a major supplier of tropical and Polynesian decor since 1956.
Other rehabilitated avatars of tiki include Ernest Beaumont-Gantt who in 1934 opened the proto-tiki bar, Don the Beachcomber, in Hollywood. Pianist Martin Denny, considered the "king of Exotica," a tropical jazz genre mandatory for the total tiki environment, has been resurrected as well.
Original tiki treasures have also been reclaimed. When Casey Jones and his partner bought the Caliente Tropics resort in Palm Springs, they didn't realize they were perched on an important tiki ruin. "We had no clue about the historical significance and the significance of this whole sub-pop culture thing," Jones says. "It thrust us right into the middle."
The hoteliers shelved plans to remodel the resort, where Elvis and the Rat Pack once frolicked, instead restoring it to its former tiki glory. This year's tiki weekend at the hotel, featuring lectures, performances and exhibitions, sold out immediately. Jones had to buy blocks of rooms from two other hotels to accommodate 300 tiki enthusiasts, some from overseas.
In its latest incarnation, tiki has been reinterpreted by a new generation of artists, including a Southern California painter known simply as Shag, whose ultra-cool illustrations create a "future as envisioned circa 1960." Imagine the Jetsons as beatniks, living in a tiki love shack and entertaining any number of curious creatures, under the protection of benevolent South Seas icons.
Tiki tchotchkes can been found in funky gift and home furnishing shops as well as in mainstream retail outlets, from J. Crew to Lands' End to Pottery Barn.
Tiki today is less politically incorrect than when it first emerged decades ago. The "happy native" stereotype has been voted off the island. The contemporary tiki tone is a little more ironic and self conscious, but that's the way it is in this post-modern world. Most important, tiki style is still about fun and escape, and that, at the start of summer, is what matters.
How to light up the torch
Want to add a little tiki to your life?
The research: First, read up on tiki. Sven A. Kirsten's The Book of Tiki is definitive. Other works of note include Night of the Tiki: The Art of Shag, Schmaltz and Selected Primi-tive Oceanic Carvings, (Last Gasp, $24.95), by Douglas A. Nason and Taboo: The Art of Tiki, (Outre, $24.95), edited by Martin McIntosh.
The decor: "Try to designate a little area in your house to create a little tropic island or a tiki altar, whichever way you want to go. Basically, it has to be a world of its own," Kirsten advises.
Short of thatching your club room, though, there are other ways to celebrate.
The drinks: To imbibe the tiki way, consult Tiki Drinks: Relax with a Tropical Beverage and Bury Your Toes in the Sand, (Surrey, $12.95), by Adam Rocke. This primer features recipes for old standards, including the Singapore Sling, and new concoctions, such as the Big Bamboo Love Song.
The music: The tiki mood music known as exotica is essential. Several seminal albums from the 1950s and '60s have been reissued on CD. Look for works by Martin Denny and the band Don Tiki. One online critic says that Mondo Exotica, a Capitol compilation of artists, "is the must-have first CD for anyone who is new to this genre."
The accessories: If you don't do anything else, invest in a set of tiki mugs, the universal emblem of abandon. Both Atomic Books and In Watermelon Sugar in Hampden sell mug sets, as well as Nouveau Contemporary Goods in Mount Vernon and Canton. The Hagerstown-based online store www.offthedeepend.com offers an array of tiki things, from hula dolls and tiki figures to raffia table skirts and inflatable palm trees. Phone orders: 800-248-0645.
The approach: Remember, a little tiki goes a long way. And authenticity is to be avoided at all costs. The tackier the tikier. Entertaining tiki style can be as easy as spiking the Hawaiian Punch, adding little umbrellas and playing that new CD from surf guitar legend Dick Dale. Chop up a ripe pineapple for an appetizer, order carryout spare ribs from the nearest Chinese restaurant, throw a colorful beach towel on a picnic table. Put on your loudest aloha shirt or bathing suit. As fast as you can say "Greetings from Honolulu," you've met the tiki challenge. -- Stephanie Shapiro