Category Archives: Events

Tiki Night at the Egyptian Theatre: Bird of Paradise

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Even with the dreaded “Carmageddon” happening over the weekend, there was no way I was going to miss the annual Tiki Night at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. We were prepared to take the subway (free that weekend!), but the gridlock warning turned out to be a bust so we did the typical Angeleno thing and drove instead.

Ukulele Dave kicked things off with some lovely Hawaiian melodies and there were tempting things to buy from tiki vendors like Eric October.

King Kukulele and the Friki Tikis even had a special song written for Carmageddon, to the tune of “Viva Las Vegas.” Their little band of hecklers really adds to the show, kind of like Martin and Lewis.

This year’s format was different than previous events. The catered picnic-style dinner was out and guests were encouraged to order from Maui and Sons, a surfwear-inspired restaurant that opened in the courtyard earlier this year.

I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they ran out of proper glassware and don’t normally serve non-beer beverages in Dos Equis glasses.

Also new for this year was a “tiki fashion show” featuring the costumes of the Polynesian Paradise Dancers.

Richard Sherman, the composer of The Enchanted Tiki Room theme song, was supposed to be at the event but apparently there was a scheduling conflict. Instead, the show started with a tribute to Wally Boag, who provided the voice for Jose and wrote most of the script for the attraction.

He also performed as Pecos Bill in literally thousands of shows with Betty Taylor at Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe stage, and Steve Martin credits him as an early comedic inspiration. We watched part of this very entertaining clip from a 1962 episode of “The Wonderful World of Disney.”

The main event was a screening of “Bird of Paradise” from 1951, a South Seas drama filmed in Hawaii several years before the islands were even a state. Debra Paget is captivating as the Princess Kalua, although she barely says a word, mostly batting her technicolor blue eyes. (Oh, and there were some tikis in the movie, too.)

Tiki Bob Art Show at the Tonga Hut

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Last Sunday, the Tonga Hut in North Hollywood hosted an art show that paid tribute to Tiki Bob, which is considered to be the first mass-produced tiki mug. It was the signature logo for Tiki Bob’s in San Francisco, which was infamous for boosting lunchtime business with lingerie fashion shows. (Photo by third-i-photo)

Kelly Reilly created three special cocktails for the occasion. Pictured is the Tiki Bob, which seemed to be quite popular, especially when people started noticing that it was finished off with a rum float…

Tiki Bob’s smiley visage inspired a slew of new ceramics, including OceaOtica‘s Zombie Bobs (upper left) and Ernie’s Blue Bob and Cutesy Bob (middle) and my personal favorite, Minimalist Bob (upper right).

Eric October made this diorama of the exterior of the restaurant, with a detachable mug serving as the Tiki Bob column that still stands at that location today. (It’s less than a mile away from the Tonga Room.)

I’d been impressed by MP‘s pirate-themed art at the Halloween Tonga Hut show, and he did it again with this “Suffering Bob” painted clay clasting in an awesome vintage frame.

This time the skull and crossbones — which is sort of a second cousin to tiki style, what with all the rum and tropical environs associated with it — was represented in this piece from Jake.

And Taboo Island was offering these vintage-style Tiki Bob signs. Most of the art sold very quickly, but there are still some pieces available for purchase in this Tiki Central thread.

Book of Tiki Art Exhibition at M Modern Gallery

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Back in October, the M Modern gallery in Palm Springs hosted an exhibition of art inspired by Sven Kirsten’s “The Book of Tiki” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the tome’s release.

If there were a textbook for Tiki 101, this would be it. It’s a serious (though still tongue-in-cheek) look at the history of the “tiki” phenomenon and how it permeated American culture in the 20th century. It’s now out of print, but Taschen also published a condensed version called “Tiki Style” that’s still available, though with fewer glorious vintage photos. Pictured is Moritz R.’s original artwork for the cover.

One of the most interesting parts of the exhibit was this diagram showing how images from the book made their way onto fabrics and Aloha shirts as the recent “tiki revival” grew in popularity.

It’s fitting that Shag (Josh Agle) would show a painting, considering it was his art that got many of us interested in tiki in the first place. We were some of the first folks to walk through, and we saw that the $6,500 piece had already been marked “sold” with a red dot.

It was basically a round-up of all my favorite tiki artists, including Heather Watts with one of her fabulous black velvet paintings.

This Witco-esque work from Bosko depicted the Royal Hawaiian Estates, a Polynesian-themed condominium community built in Palm Springs in the early 1960s. The buildings are still there and being restored. See more information about them here.

Hepcat artist extraordinaire Derek Yaniger‘s plywood piece drew inspiration from the very content castaway on page 75 of “The Book of Tiki.”

Dale Sizer‘s sparkly “The Heartbreak of Cricket Blake” paid tribute to “Hawaiian Eye,” a 1960s television show guest-starring Connie Stevens. It was about a Honolulu-based detective agency with a tiki as its logo.

There were many more amazing art pieces besides the ones pictured—these were just a few. I’ll leave with you with this other-worldly drawing from Doug Horne.