Posted by Paul Clarke, October 8, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Photograph from Tubes. on Flickr
It may be premature to invest in Hawaiian-shirt futures just yet, but if it’s in the Wall Street Journal, chances are it’s official: the once (and still sometimes) kitschy topic of tiki is on the resurgence.
Last week, in a piece called "Tiki Doesn’t Have to Be Tacky," Eric Felten tackles what I acknowledged a while back: “The time seems ripe for a Polynesian Pop revival—and, in fact, it's already under way.”
But if the tiki renaissance was already in progress, now it has even more reason to blossom. As Felten notes, the original era of tiki style began in 1934, during the Great Depression, and tiki’s heyday was in the 1950s and early ‘60s, during the post-war and Cold War era.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, March 26, 2008 at 3:15 PM
In Sunday’s New York Times, drinks writer Jonathan Miles pulls up a chair at Elettaria and gets friendly with that timeless tiki tipple, the Navy Grog.
He’s hardly alone. As has recently been noted by writers ranging from New York to San Francisco, tiki is on the upswing. Earlier this month, the soft opening of the nautical-themed Rusty Knot—like Elettaria, staffed at least in part by bartenders seasoned at some of New York’s most renowned cocktail establishments—was apparently so popular that owners remained closed the following days to let the hype cool down.
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Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 4, 2007 at 11:02 AM
Tina Danze visits the newly-reopened Trader Vic's in Dallas for the Morning News: "Sealed like a tomb for nearly 20 years after its closing in 1987, the lounge has been restored to its old Polynesian-pop glory. Mismatched lanterns and fishing floats hover over the dimly lit room; tiki heads and accessories salvaged from other closed locations abound; and the festive cocktails are back, along with vintage barware and over-the-top garnishes."
Trader Vic's is so deliciously retro and camp in Dallas that even Tom Selleck, himself a legend of much the same stature, has visited in the last month! If like me you've never been to one, or you're yearning to relive an experience of old, their website lists all thirty of their restaurants—there are three in Germany and four in the United Arab Emirates!
