The Tiki Chick

On the heels of summer’s Enchanted Tiki Room 50th Anniversary product release, Disneyland has come out with even more tiki art in the past few months. The following items were all still available in the WonderGround Gallery at Downtown Disney as of this past weekend when we visited.

In my previous post about the gallery, I highlighted Jerrod Maruyama and his “Hipster Mickey” art. He’s since followed up with a few companion pieces to it, including “Hanging at Sam’s” featuring Hipster Mickey and the logo for Trader Sam’s Tiki Bar and the Disneyland Hotel. (I wish he was sipping from one of their signature tiki mugs!) This made its debut in October and there are poster prints for sale plus postcards, magnets and canvas prints.

Highlighted as part of July’s Pop Fusion exhibit, “Mickey’s Enchanted Tiki Island” by Daniel Samakow features a vibrant sunset beach scene with Mickey Mouse, The Enchanted Tiki Room, Tangaroa tree and several Moai. According to the Disney Parks Blog, there are 50 tikis total in the image. I’ll take their word for it.

El Gato Gomez was recently profiled in Tiki magazine and I was pleased to see that her art has also been showcased here. I couldn’t help but pick up a print of her Enchanted Tiki Room painting (also available as a postcard), though it was difficult to decide considering she had also created beautiful depictions of the Haunted Mansion, Mad Tea Party and Space Mountain. (She has ordering information on her web site, if you’re interested.)

While it’s not tiki-related, “Mr. Toad’s New Mania” from September’s Pop Fusion exhibit also caught my eye with its steampunk sensibility. I’ve been a fan of Chris Reccardi since discovering his work in Palm Springs at M Modern Gallery and The Riviera hotel.

Maybe you’ve already started taking down the holiday decorations, but I just have to sneak one more festive post in. (I guess my new year’s resolution should be to be more timely with my blogging…)

Last month, the Tonga Hut in North Hollywood hosted their annual Tiki Wonderland event with tiki vendors, art, tunes and tacos.

Mr. Hockey was a good sport and accompanied me, and I think he’s glad he did because the art show introduced him to Krampus. He loves the idea of this scary beast that kidnaps the naughty children at Christmas.

Tonga Hut had some new merchandise available at their booth, including a T-shirt collaboration ($20) with Vintage Roadside and signature rum barrel mugs produced by Tiki Farm in two glazes ($20).

Meanwhile, Trader Pup’s Outpost had these neat tapa-style print stockings with shell necklace details ($16). I picked up the red and green ones to hang under my Bamboo Ben outrigger mug shelf in our tiki room.

Polynesiac Jim makes awesome tiki ornaments (featured in last year’s Tiki Holiday Gift Guide). One of this year’s new designs was based on the “tiki babies” that come down from the Tangaroa tree at Disneyland’s Enchanted Tiki Room. I also loved these Kon-Tiki pirate pendants!

When Bahooka closed last year, they sold some of the decor during their final days but there was still a lot left. A tiki fan named Steve made a deal with the new owners to purchase all the remaining barrel lamps, plastic parrots and other things. He has a thread on Tiki Central where people can contact him about buying some of these Bahooka artifacts. I talked with him quite a bit and he seems like a real stand-up dude.

I spent most of the time browsing the wares in the parking lot, but we did duck inside the bar so I could sample the Tonga Hut Rum Barrel ($12), a recent addition to the cocktail menu made with Montanya and Demerara rums, juices, homemade falernum and pimento dram. It was smooth and a little spicy and — as advertised — “everything a tiki drink should be.”

The Tiki Chick

A California girl chronicling modern tiki culture

Yearly Archives: 2014

New Tiki Art at Disneyland’s WonderGround Gallery

(Walking in a) Tiki Wonderland at the Tonga Hut