For the Little Zombie In Your Life

See "Child's Tiki," lower right.

From the truly delicious Arkiva Tropika.

Central Indiana's Premier Tiki Room

There's really not a whole heck of a lot of charm about Greenwood Indiana, but it DOES have the spiffy Lotus Garden Chinese restaurant/Tiki bar. The postcard above is probably from the Eisenhower administration (late 1950s to you non-US-ers), but as you can see by the photo below that I took this afternoon, there hasn't been a lot of redecoration since then. Which of course is the only reason to visit. See more photos here.

Thanksgiving on the Islands.

Thanksgiving Day is coming up here in the States, which means gluttony in all its highest forms. Will any of you be cooking this year? If you are and you need something to spice up your usual turkey day spread, then Los Angeles-area "histo-tainer" Charles Phoenix has just the ticket for you: His own retro-tastic Tiki Turkey Dinner. He created it for NPR's "Day to Day," but here's a behind-the-scenes look at the preparation:


Recipes and the original story audio are available here.

The Restoration of Me

Disney artist, Kevin Kidney, has posted an excellent collection of photos showing the restoration process of my namesake, the Mr. Bali Hai carving outside the Bali Hai Restaurant in Whale's Vagina, California.

[Link: Mr. Bali Hai's Restoration]

Tiki Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

My recently resuscitated blogging buddette, Humuhumu, points us to the Wolf's Lair, a Hollywood mansion once occupied by Debbie Reynolds, Efram Zimbalist Jr., Marlon Brando, and The Beatles. It costs a measly 7.5 million US$ and comes complete with a Medieval turret for your pet monkey, and a gorgeous bamboo Tiki bar!

Sebastian, I think we've finally found the new PCL HQ.

Inside Hollywood's "Wolf's Lair"

Drink Girls - back when service meant something

" ... a postcard series showing waitresses serving tropical drinks from vintage tiki bars and restaurants back when service meant something."

Tiki Restaurants - Vintage Drink Girls at the Tiki Central Forums (via Eye of the Goof)

Tails of the Merman - Episode 3

"The party guests arrive. How do they react to the merman? And, what about the henchmen?"
Episode 3 of Experiment 33s fun merman film project.
See earlier post here at PCL.

Added by exp33

Tiki Daze

Urban archaeologist and Poly-pop historian, Swanky, has just announced the imminent release of Tiki Daze, a 2008 calendar of retro-imagery enhanced by a host of fine contemporary artists: Mookie Sato, Frostiki, Jonathan Chaffin, and DigiTiki. Pre-order yours today, or just sign-up for a free monthly newsletter and wallpaper image.

Tiki Daze 2008 Calendar

Tails of the Merman

Experiment33 is in the midst of his cool "Tails of the Merman"-project (see MySpace page here).
It's a series of silent videos backed by surf rock music. See the trailer here.

Tails of the Merman-Episode 1: LuRu Prepares for a Party:
("As LuRu prepares for a party, she realizes she is missing one very important ingredient. She's Out of Rum! She prays to her backyard Tiki for help.")

Tails of the Merman-Episode 2: Special Delivery - With Contest:
("The merman makes a special delivery in time to save the party, but who are the mysterious men in fezes and their boss, and what are they up to? ")

To be continued...

Note: Experiment 33 says:
"There's a contest for the funniest (or most accurate) guesses about what the merman is reading at the start of Episode 2. Winners will get higher res dvds when the series is complete. Leave your guesses via comment at either myspace, or youtube."

Dr. Bamboo

Dr. Bamboo is an artist who works in two mediums: paint and liquor. Each post on his weblog consists of a fine original illustration like the one pictured above, and an equally fine recipe for a top-shelf cocktail, like Colonel Beach's Plantation Punch and Satan's Whiskers, so now you can get your art appreciation and your drink on at the same time!

The Feztive Cat

While Mr. Bali Hai is away on "work" travels around the globe his new cat learns the new environment. And - by the grace of the Tiki gods - this cat is a fast learner!

Tiki Modern

If Beachbum Berry is the Messiah of Tropical Mixology, then Sven Kirsten is his Moses, leading the lost children of the Trader and the Beachcomber out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land flowing with Mai Tais and Puu-puu Platters. Kirsten's first tome was the Book of Tiki: the Ark of the Covenant, Ten (or more) Commandments, and veritable Pentateuch of Polynesian Pop. An essential, if not the essential, addition to the library of any Tikiphile, it almost singlehandedly rescued Tiki from near-total oblivion, and transformed a kitsch pastime for parental squares into, dare-we-say-it, highbrow lowbrow art for the most discerning of tastes.

After an interminable interval, Kirsten has announced the imminent arrival of his second work, Tiki Modern, a look at the artistic connections between PolyPop and mid-century Modernism of the 1950s and '60s. Slated to ship next month, Sven has graciously provided a sneak preview of his new masterpiece in this Tiki Central thread. I've got my copy pre-ordered!

Tiki Modern Sneak Preview

Finally, the Comic Book That Has It All!

"Untamed Highway is THE underground, self published Comic Book that scratches the Underbelly of Vanished American Pop Culture. It is a Road Trip Freak Show Slapstick Mystery Cartoon Noir with Tiki Bars; Kreeps; Kustom Kulture; Cool Cars; a poisonous Drinking Bird and an uptight Sock Puppet; Freaks; Exotica; Film Noir; a secret Shriner like Society; Mini-Shriner Cars; Hypnotism; a guy in a Gorilla Mask; Tikis; Monsters; Roadside Attractions; Pin-Up Babes; Beatniks; Horror Show and Kiddie Show Hosts; Googie Architecture; Silent Movies; Coffee Shops and Drive-In Diners; and Tor!"

Untamed Highway

All Hail the Bum!

Back in the Golden Age of Polynesian Pop, vast Temples of Tiki sprang up all around the U.S. and slaked the thirst of their neo-primitive acolytes with mysterious and potent palliatives made from fresh fruit juices, exotic spice syrups, and expert blends of top-shelf rums. The recipes themselves were guarded more closely than nuclear secrets by their creators; the ingredients precisely dispensed in unlabeled, numbered bottles by the Chinese and Phillipino bartenders who labored ceaselessly behind bars of teak and bamboo to create classic cocktails like the Zombie, Mai Tai, Scorpion Bowl, Astro Aku Aku, and many others.

But in the dark ages of the 1970s and 80s, when the temples fell into ruin and their followers scattered, these pinnacles of the mixologist's art fell into disrepute and became the object of scorn, derided as too-sweet "girly" drinks. Ironically, the very secrecy that protected the original recipes from falling into the hands of their competitors had opened the door for vastly inferior imitations that diluted the potency and provenance of their namesakes.

In 1998, Jeff "Beachbum" Berry first hiked up his surf jammies and stood practically alone against this fetid tide of rancid rotgut with his quintessential volume of resurrected tropical tipples, Beachbum Berry's Grog Log. Filled with authentic recipes, often cadged directly from the cribbed notes of retired barhands, the Grog Log was an instant underground hit that introduced a new generation to the forgotten joys of authentic vintage tropical-cocktail mixology. Berry soon followed it with two more bibles of cocktailiana, Intoxica! and Taboo Table, the latter an attempt at preserving the classic restaurant recipes of the PolyPop Era.

The Bum's latest masterwork was released back in June. In addition to another motherlode of fabulous cocktail recipes, Sippin' Safari parts the curtain on the misty faux-Polynesian past and casts a spotlight on the personalities who made it happen; larger-than-life characters like the grandaddy of the tropical cocktail, Donn Beach (AKA Don the Beachcomber), along with Ray Buhen, Bob Esmino, and Mariano Lucidine who started out as employees in his Beachcomber restaurants, then struck out to find success with their own legendary watering holes, the Tiki Ti, Mai Kai, and Kon Tiki (defunct).

So to all who love a good drink made well, I say, hoist your glasses high and raise a toast to the Messiah of Tropical Mixology...All Hail the Bum!

Beachbum Berry's Grog Blog

More Posts About Tiki and Punk

Aloha, Linkdumpees. Mr. Bali Hai from Eye of the Goof here. Your heroic commanDante has graciously invited me to join the PCL team, and I'll endeavor to settle into a unique niche here that complements the already formidable talents of the other contributors.

My tastes in art, design, and drink run toward the exotic Polynesian Pop era of the 1950s and 60s, more commonly known as Tiki. Since that area's a bit under-represented here at PCL, I'll be making a few posts on the topic over the course of the week.

Musically, I like things a little rawer. Punk is my bag, and has been since 1977, when one of my best friends from high school and former bandmate, X-8, helped found one of the first xeroxed punk fanzines, fLiPSiDE. The magazine is sadly no more, a victim of record company legal shenanigans, but its memory lives on at the various websites collected on this 30-year anniversary tribute page:

X-8's 30-Years of fLiPSiDE

Arkiva Tropika

La Conga - New York City - 1940's dinner & drink menu, front cover - inside pages - back cover.
Click image for far better view at source.


"The Hurricane was located at 95 Cambridge St. in Boston. This dinner & cocktail menu from the 1940's features imagery from the John Hall/Dorothy Lamour South Seas adventure movie, "The Hurricane" [IMDb]. Artwork by Vannicola."
Hurricane - Boston, MA - 1940's dinner & cocktail menu, front cover

Arkiva Tropika - "... From Florida to Fiji, from Haiti to Hawaii, from Seattle to Samoa, Arkiva Tropika is about the classic island imagery of tourism. Created as a way to both share and organize my collection, it consists largely of menus, yet also includes postcards, photos, brochures, matchbooks, and other paper ephemera from tropical themed environments, which are mostly pre-1970. ..." (via del.icio.us/ggth)