Saying Goodbye to Bahooka

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with Bahooka, Bahooka closed, Los Angeles, Restaurants, Rosemead, Tiki, Tiki Bars March 14, 2013

It’s always a bummer when tiki bars shut down, but hearing last month that Bahooka would be closing was a particularly tough blow (as you might have been able to tell from all my tweets on the subject).

It was such a unique place with its mazelike corridors and intimate booths surrounded by fish tanks. (See my previous review for more photos of their nautical style.)

The owners said they wanted to sell due to an illness in the family and wanting to retire. Word on the street is the space is going to be turned into a new restaurant, which would be better than a parking lot as was also rumored. The fish tanks are supposed to stay but the tiki stuff is going. The Bahooka owners are also keeping the rights to the name with the intent to start selling their signature salad dressing. (UPDATE: The building’s fate is apparently in limbo again…)

Bahooka had long been a special occasion spot for local families, and they turned out in full force to say farewell. The response was so great that the restaurant stopped taking reservations a few days after announcing the closing. I snagged one for Saturday, March 9th, the night before they were supposed to officially close. (Although they ended up deciding not to re-open the next day.)

These fellows donned their best “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas” attire to pay tribute to Bahooka’s cameo in the movie. Probably not a coincidence that they were standing next to the framed film stills of Johnny Depp.

As the kitchen was running through the last of the food supplies, they were serving a limited menu of sandwiches, teriyaki chicken, fried shrimp and ribs. (Glad I got my fill of crab puffs and stuffed shrimp on a previous visit.) But more importantly, all their cocktails were still available so we shared a couple of Honey Bowls.

They’ve been selling off bits and pieces of the decor for the past couple weeks, but I’ve heard the big stuff will be sold in a yard sale on March 17th. The details are supposed to be announced on Bahooka’s Facebook page. (UPDATE: Andrew Meieran purchased many of the iconic items for his upcoming relaunch of Clifton’s Cafeteria. Los Angeles magazine has more on the story.)

By the entrance they had a table where they were selling those glowing tikis in the photo above ($75 & $100), wine glasses ($2), drinking goblets ($5) and this 46-year-old paiting ($100), which Mr. Baseball saw somebody later purchase.

Behind them was a pile of plastic parrots waiting to be adopted into new homes for $20 each.

Some tiki artists were inspired to create commemorative items for Bahooka’s closing, like these tiki pendants ($40) made by Tiki Al. “Goodbye Bahooka – 2013” was written on the back.

Also on offer were postcards featuring Eric October‘s drawing “Last Bowl at Bahooka.” I love how it captures so many iconic things about Bahooka, including tikis based on ones in the restaurant, bucket lamps, parrots, a chain running through the table, and of course Ruffus noshing on a carrot.

I couldn’t resist giving a goodbye kiss to that famous fishy face. Here’s hoping our currents cross again someday…

5 Fascinating Facts About the “Kon-Tiki” Film

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with Academy Awards, Kon-Tiki, Kon-Tiki Film, Movies, Oscars, Thor Heyerdahl, Tiki February 20, 2013

Image © Hanway Films/Nordisk Film Distribusjon

For months I’d been looking forward to a movie about a man named Thor — and I’m not talking about “The Avengers.” Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl became world-famous in 1947 after he and a five-man crew constructed a primitive raft called Kon-Tiki and floated it all the way from Peru to Polynesia. This was not simply a thrill-seeking stunt, but a demonstration of his theory that the ancient Polynesians could have migrated via ocean currents from South America. His subsequent bestselling book, The Kon-Tiki Expedition by Raft Across the South Sea, and documentary helped to spark an interest in Polynesia, contributing to the mid-century craze for tiki bars.

Directors Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning © Nordisk Film

Fast forward several decades and now there is a new “Kon-Tiki” film, a dramatic adaptation directed by Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning. Released in 2012, it’s the most expensive film Norway has ever made, though the $16 million budget is still less than 10 percent of the cost for a film like “Life of Pi.” I jumped at the chance to see a preview screening of “Kon-Tiki” followed by a Q&A with the directors, screenwriter Petter Skavlan and actor Jakob Oftebro. They shared some fascinating stories about the production, and I’ve selected five of my favorite facts about this beautiful, intense and exciting film.

Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen as Thor Heyerdahl in Kon-Tiki © Nordisk Film

1) Writer Petter Skavlan had experience in sailing across oceans, which he said helped him capture the dynamic of people at sea for an extended time. It also gained him some cred with Thor Heyerdahl, with whom he worked on developing the story. The adventurer passed away in 2002, but he had signed off on the 21-page outline for the film.

Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen and Anders Baasmo Christiansen in Kon-Tiki © Nordisk

2) It is common movie magic for cities to stand in for others, but I thought it was funny that hardly any of the sites where the real events took place were used as filming locations. Rather, 1940s New York was a set in Bulgaria, Peru was actually Malta, and even some of the Norway scenes were instead shot in Sweden.

Kon-Tiki © Nordisk Film

3) We viewed the original version with Norwegian dialogue, but during filming they also did identical takes in English so the movie could have a wider release internationally. The Weinstein Company acquired the rights to distribute the film in the U.S. (and a few other countries), and the English language version opens in America on April 26, 2013.

Kon-Tiki © Nordisk Film

4) In 2006, Heyerdahl’s grandson Olav was part of a crew that retraced the Kon-Tiki expedition on a newly constructed, similar raft called Tangaroa. And it was this very vessel that was used to re-create the Kon-Tiki in the film — fascinating to think that the raft you see actually made that same voyage. (Some day I hope to visit the original Kon-Tiki at The Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo.)

Jakob Oftebro and Tobias Santelmann in Kon-Tiki © Nordisk Film

5) Joking that it’s a bit hard to tame sharks and crabs, they said the only real animal that appeared in the movie was the parrot. The others were part of the 500 or so special effect shots, which were so well done that you can’t even tell they’re CG animated.

“Kon-Tiki” is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, which is fitting as Thor Heyerdahl’s 1950 documentary “Kon-Tiki” won for Best Documentary — the only Oscar awarded to a Norwegian film thus far. I think you know who I’ll be rooting for this Sunday!

D23 Presents Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with Disney, Disney Archives, Enchanted Tiki Room, Tiki February 11, 2013

For the past several months, The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley has been hosting Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives, presented by D23. This exhibition is truly a must-visit for any Disney geek and it runs through April 30, 2013.

For me, one of the most exciting displays was the three prop storybooks that open at the beginning of “Sleeping Beauty,” “Snow White” and “Cinderella” to introduce each of the films. They’re so iconic, it was a thrill to see them in person.

Also impressive was the re-creation of Walt’s formal office at the Burbank studios, including his actual desk and personal items like Norman Rockwell sketches of his daughters.

According to the information card, songwriter Richard Sherman — co-composer of “The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room” with his brother Robert B. Sherman — would often play “Feed the Birds” (Walt’s favorite song from “Mary Poppins”) at that customized baby grand piano.

Speaking of “Mary Poppins,” this traveling costume from the movie was featured in a section dedicated to Disney’s early live-action filmmaking. Apparently you can spot openings near the pockets where piano wires were attached to her suspension harness for the flying scenes.

And then around the corner I was delighted to find the magician’s case of The Great Emelius Browne, along with the spell book, “Isle of Naboombu” book and bedknob from “Bedknobs and Broomsticks.” (If you can’t make it out there to see this all for yourself, there’s a photo tour online of the entire exhibit.)

A giant area downstairs presented props and costumes from more recent projects like “Alice in Wonderland,” “Tron,” “The Avengers” and “Pirates of the Caribbean,” such as this 23-foot-long special effects filming model of The Black Pearl.

There were also things from the Disney theme parks, like the giant Maleficent dragon head originally used in Fantasmic, which caused a bit of a stir on our local streets and highways when it was transported to the museum.

So what does all this have to do with tiki? Well, it was this automaton singing bird (manufactured by Bontems in France in the early 1900s) that inspired Walt to develop Audio-Animatronics, and the first attraction to feature that innovation was… the Enchanted Tiki Room. I actually first saw this item at the Walt Disney Archives at the Burbank studios, which are not open to the public unless you’re on a special tour. This temporary exhibit is a rare opportunity to see this interesting piece of tiki-related history.

The Tiki Chick

A California girl chronicling modern tiki culture

Category Archives: Other Tiki Topics

Saying Goodbye to Bahooka

5 Fascinating Facts About the “Kon-Tiki” Film

D23 Presents Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives