Author Archives: The Tiki Chick

Tiki Spotting at Mardi Gras World – New Orleans

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with , , , , ,

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Before concluding our visit to New Orleans this summer, we had some time to kill before our flight left. We’d just had our fill at the fabulous jazz brunch at Commander’s Palace, so more eating and drinking was out of the question. Since we still had the use of a rental car we headed over to Mardi Gras World in the lower Garden District.

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This tourist attraction is housed in a big warehouse on the riverfront, and it’s a bit inconvenient unless you have your own transportation. (Mardi Gras World offers a free shuttle to and from the French Quarter, though some Yelpers have found it to be not all that punctual.) It wouldn’t be correct to call this a museum because it’s very much a functioning workshop for those famous Fat Tuesday floats.

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The price is $20 per person, which sounds steep except you’re allowed to wander around the props and floats as much as you want afterwards. (I’m sure you can find discount coupons at some hotels.) They also throw in a slice of king cake from their on-site cafe, though we were too stuffed to take advantage.

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The one-hour guided tours leave every half hour from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. While you wait there’s a big gift shop full of New Orleans souvenirs, plus a few displays of intricate, beautiful costumes worn by the royal court members.

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It started off kind of lame, with us encouraged to try on cheap-looking, gaudy Mardi Gras costumes and pose for pictures. After a short video about the history of Mardi Gras (with cameos by Better Than Ezra, randomly), we were escorted around the workshop by a little old Southern lady.

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She related a wealth of information about how the company Blaine Kern Studios produces these big props, which are then rented out to various “krewes” (the organizations that put on the dozens of parades). Some of the figures are made from styrofoam that’s sculpted then covered in paper mache and painted. They can even be re-used on occasion with some alterations, like this Cinderella being transformed into an opera singer.

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I loved the eclectic casts of characters they had assembled, from Mrs. Kong (Queen Kong?) to Winston Churchill to Samantha from “Bewitched.” There were dozens and dozens more where this came from.

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Even more randomly, they had a Batboat movie prop from “Batman Returns” just lying around. (It sounded like one of the owners bought it on a whim.)

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The official tour ended in a giant space that was storing the fully decorated floats from the Orpheus krewe, the group founded in part by Harry Connick Jr. (Appropriately, they named it after the legendary musician from Greek mythology.)

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2013 marked the 20th anniversary of the Orpheus krewe and they celebrated that milestone by decorating each of the floats with themes from all the parades they’d put on over the years.

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As I walked around the float that I can only guess was a tribute to 2008’s theme, Cocktail Concoctions, I noticed a few tikis and palm trees amongst the humongous flowers and bottles of bubbly. Granted, the tikis had the cartoonish look and neon colors of Party City tikis, but they were tikis nonetheless!

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Mardi Gras World
1380 Port of New Orleans Place
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-361-7821

Related Posts:
Reviews of Tiki Bars in New Orleans
Party City-Style Tikis on “American Dad”

Aunt Tiki’s – New Orleans, LA

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

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A few months ago when we visited New Orleans, Chad and I were walking along Decatur Street in the French Quarter on our way to Cafe du Monde when I stopped in my tracks, pointed up and shouted: “Tiki!” We’d serendipitously stumbled on Aunt Tiki’s, which had tiki not just in the name but also on the logo (along with a lady pirate and crossed flaming toilet plungers…).

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I snapped a quick photo of the sign and we continued on our pursuit of beignets. By the next day I’d mustered up enough courage to go back and trespass on what seemed to be a locals’ dive. The “Star Wars” cantina song was playing on the juke box when we walked in, which seemed sort of appropriate.

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As you might guess, I try to do my research on tiki bars before visiting a city so I was a little surprised that I’d never heard of this place before. (Even on Tiki Central it hasn’t been mentioned in nearly 10 years.)

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We sat at the bar and inspected all the little oddities tacked up on the wall, like weird newspaper articles and a bumper sticker that proclaimed: “This is LA, not L.A.” I asked the beautiful tattooed bartender if it was considered a tiki bar. She said, “No, not really. It’s more of a Halloween-themed bar.” I love Halloween — and tikis, of course — so I wasn’t put off by this mash-up. (In fact, I’ve written about it before.)

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The decor is definitely more on the spooky side with all the plastic gravestones and skeletons around. Nonetheless, there are still a fair amount of tiki-related things, including at least one carved tiki.

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On the right just as you walk in is an awesome mural (made by a local artist) with a winsome wahine on a beach by a tiki shack with a smoldering volcano in the background.

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A small glass fish float hangs above the gargoyles perched on the video poker machines, and in the light of the neon beer sign I noticed a faded Party City tiki banner along the doorframe in the back of the bar.

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It was sweltering outside that day and not much cooler inside. However if you went through that doorway you’d find this secluded little space where you could actually feel the air conditioning. I was intrigued by its exposed brick walls, fairy lights and tropical touches like shell lamps and paper palm trees.

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Rum and pineapple juice is the closest thing to a tiki drink served here. The other patrons seemed to prefer PBR and shots of Fireball cinnamon whisky. There are no beers on draft, so your best bet is probably a bottle of Abita. Aunt Tiki’s keeps the doors open and liquor flowin’ 24 hours a day, so it’s sort of like Frankie’s (except it’s nothing at all like Frankie’s…).

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Aunt Tiki’s would be a perfect place to start your Halloween revelry — and there’s a small vintage shop next door — but if you’re looking for a tiki bar in New Orleans, you’d be better off visiting Tiki Tolteca at Felipe’s Taqueria (or Latitude 29 when it opens!).

Aunt Tiki’s
1207 Decatur St.
New Orleans, LA 70116
504-680-8454

Related Posts:
Big Burgers & Super Strong Drinks at Port of Call
Tiki Tolteca – A Latin-infused Tiki Bar in New Orleans
Reviews of New Orleans Tiki Bars

GIVEAWAY – Enchanted Tiki Room Tiki Sipper Cup

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with , , , , ,

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It’s time for another GIVEAWAY! In my post about the recreations of the original 1963 souvenir brochure for Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, I mentioned how the Dole Whip stand recently got another shipment of tiki sippers to sell. They’re made out of resin and the design is based on Marc Davis’s chanting tikis inside the attraction. I picked one up on my last trip to Disneyland and I’ll be sending it to one of you!

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The rules are a bit different for this giveaway. There are three ways to enter (and you can increase your chances by doing all three).

1. Leave a comment on this post telling us your favorite part of the Enchanted Tiki Room. (Mine are the tikis outside and the singing birds of paradise inside…and Mr. Baseball’s favorite part is getting to take a nap!)

2. Follow The Tiki Chick on Twitter and retweet this Tweet:

3. Like The Tiki Chick on Facebook and share this photo

Entries must be completed by 8 p.m. PST Monday, September 23, 2013, so you have more than a week! I’ll choose from the submissions at random and contact the winner via e-mail/Facebook message/Twitter.

 

*UPDATE* Congratulations to Rhonda on winning the tiki sipper!