Tiki at the LA County Fair: Part Five

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with Disney, Enchanted Tiki Room, LA County Fair, Tiki, Tiki Art October 11, 2013

Many people claim that Los Angeles has no seasons, so I suppose the L.A. County Fair is helpful in marking the end of summer. We cherish our annual traditions of riding the biggest Ferris Wheel (even though it’s sort of terrifying)…

…cooing at the cute baby farm animals…

…and eating ridiculous fried food. This year we tried the deep-fried Reese’s Peanut Butter Big Cup (pictured) and Chicken Charlie’s deep-fried cookie dough. Both were definitely winners in my book.

We scoped out the tablescaping contest in the arts and crafts building, too. Alas, there was no tiki-themed entry like last year, but I did enjoy this one for “It Happened One Night” that was set up as if the stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert had just stepped out for a moment.

New for this year were shows by Mermaid Melissa, a legit underwater performer who can hold her breath for five minutes. We were pretty underwhelmed by the size of the traveling tank — but how could we not be after seeing Marina the Fire-Eating Mermaid at the Wreck Bar earlier this summer? The kids (and one kinda creepy dude) seemed to enjoy it, though.

The highlight of this year’s fair was the giant exhibition Pencils 2 Pixels: The Art of Animation. There were displays for the biggies like Disney, Dreamworks and Sony Pictures Animation, but there was also representation of stop-motion animation (“Pirates! Band of Misfits”), Japanese anime and video game animation.

We’re pretty fond of cartoons around our house, if you hadn’t noticed by the frequent “Tiki on TV” posts I write. I’m pretty sure I squealed with delight when I spotted this animation cell from “Jem and The Holograms.”

Part of the exhibit was dedicated to a gift shop where I found this Disney art giclee of James Mulligan’s “Tiki Trouble” ($595), featuring Stitch and the tiki poles from inside The Enchanted Tiki Room.

There were cut-outs and set pieces where you could take a picture in the living room of “The Simpsons” and the Mystery Machine from “Scooby Doo.” Of course I had to pose with the Moai-inspired home of Squidward Tentacles from “Spongebob Squarepants.”

We wandered through a few of the other expo buildings with their in-person infomercials and among the vendors was a booth with all kinds of piñatas, including this tiki-ish one. That’s one way to take out your aggression for those Party City-style tikis! Though buying them would just encourage them to make more, so never mind.

Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room 50th Anniversary Merchandise Event

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Events and tagged with Disney, Disneyland, Enchanted Tiki Room, Shag, Tiki, Tiki Art, Tiki Mugs July 9, 2013

Last month marked the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland, so you know what that means — merchandising opportunity! Disney held a product release event June 28-29 at the Disneyland Hotel (and an even pricier $185 cocktail reception with Shag on Saturday night).

It wouldn’t be Disney if there wasn’t a line involved, right? First, you had to go to registration to sign in and confirm that you received all the paperwork (assigned time for the artists signing, etc.). After that, you headed to another station to pick up the merchandise you’d already purchased through the RSP (Random Selection Process). Cast members then unwrapped each item to doublecheck they were correct and intact.

Friday night was so understaffed that this whole process took up to three hours for some people. (Strange since this event had been sold out for weeks so it’s not like they didn’t know how many people would be showing up.) There hadn’t been anything special scheduled for Friday night so I’d decided just to go Saturday, and the wait time was significantly shorter.

So what would compel all these people to pay $89 apiece to basically just shop? For starters, this was another Disney collaboration with Shag, plus several other amazing artists, like Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily. They designed a whole slew of stuff, including pins (oh so many pins), tiki mugs (and a bowl inspired by Disney’s Polynesian Resort that snuck in under the radar), postcards, coasters, prints, a purse, shirts, tiki figurines, original art and more.

Working with The Mouse I believe for the first time was Doug Horne, another one of my favorite artists on the tiki scene. He created these two pieces: “Pele, Goddess of Fire and Volcanoes” and “In the Tiki Room,” which are also being sold as prints ($40).

Everyone was encouraged to wear Hawaiian/Polynesian attire, and it was fun to see folks who really went all out for the occasion.

One woman had turned her walker into a functional work of art by covering it with moss, cardboard packing material, flowers, shells, parrots and tikis.

Upon walking into the huge ballroom you were immediately struck by the scent of pineapple infusing the air. The logo and a few images from the Enchanted Tiki Room were projected on the walls, and surf and exotica music helped set the mood. (I don’t think “In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room” made the playlist, funny enough.)

The ballroom was mostly a space for people to relax or engage in pin trading — a running theme of the event —- but there was also a photo-op area where you could pose with Stitch (and a Stitch-inspired tiki) in front of a beachy background. How could I resist?

Dole has been a sponsor of the Enchanted Tiki Room since 1976, and they supplied goodies for the event, like cans of pineapple juice, fruit cups and recipe cards (the same ones I’ve picked up before at the Dole Whip stand).

All attendees received two free commemorative gifts: an Enchanted Tiki Room bottle opener (doubles as a magnet) and a wooden sign made to look like the 75 cent tickets that Disneyland guests had to purchase to visit the attraction when it opened in 1963 (because technically the Enchanted Tiki Room was not owned by Disneyland but by Walt’s personal company, WED Enterprises). And if you had registered for the event right away you also got an “Early Birdies” pin. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of all the swag.

However, the part that truly made this event worthwhile was the “Memory Room” Q&A panels with original imagineers from the Enchanted Tiki Room and their contemporaries who recently worked on restoring the attraction. Bob Gurr talked about drawing the birdcages that hide some of the mechanics, while Rolly Crump relayed “cute stories” about designing the tikis in the garden and what it was like working with “The Old Man” (Walt Disney).

Many of the merchandise from this event was not limited edition so it’s probably already landed at shops in the park, but I’ve seen how tricky it can be for the stock to keep up with demand. For us, this event was worth it for the convenience and peace of mind (and all the extras Disney ended up throwing in). To paraphrase a famous proverb: “A (tiki) bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

Brad Parker “Tiki Shark” Art – Tales from the Tiki Lounge

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Events and tagged with Art, Brad Parker, Tiki, Tiki Art, Tiki Shark May 9, 2013

The retro-style paintings of Shag may have gotten me into tiki in the first place, but there are many talented tiki artists I haven’t talked about nearly as much. Another one of my favorites is Brad Parker, aka Tiki Shark, who had a show called “Tales from the Tiki Lounge” at La Luz de Jesus gallery last summer. (I know I’m quite late to the party with this post.)

I first found his work a few years ago on Tiki Central and I was an instant fan of his beautiful, mystical and whimsical style. I also love how he brings in other pop-culture influences like comic books, noir and the Universal movie monsters. (Before moving to the Big Island he had worked for DC and Marvel Comics and also in Hollywood production design.)

He’s had a longstanding gig designing beach towels for Body Glove — I have a couple and they’re awesome — and for this show he handpainted a 1980s surfboard he’d specially picked out from the “vaults” of the surf company’s headquarters in Redondo Beach.

“Tales from the Tiki Lounge No. 10: Happy Hulaween” is a pulp-fiction-style revisiting of the “Monsters on Vacation” series I mentioned from the 13th annual Everything But the Kitsch’n Sync show a few years ago at La Luz de Jesus.

Brad continued that theme with “The Invisible Man Goes Surfing,” who’s decked out in Body Glove gear, of course. Notice how every surfer is supposed to wear a lucky tiki pendant and this guy is no exception to that rule.

His designs have been adapted to other items like these limited edition skate decks and tiki mugs, too. Tiki Farm has produced several of the latter, including Diga Diga Doo and Lil’ Dig (based on one of his paintings), the bestselling Hawaii 50th anniversary statehood mug and the lovely Makalani Bowl (a personal favorite). Coming up in October is the release of three sea creature tiki mugs he designed for the 60th anniversary of Body Glove.

Thor Heyerdahl’s Peru-to-Polynesia voyage was a cakewalk compared to the shark-saturated waters in “Kon Tiki Dream.” It’s impressive how Brad depicts the static solidity of the wood tiki carving while simultaneously evoking so much emotion through its scared smile.

Meanwhile, “Hawaiian Eye” pays tribute to the 1960s television show of the same name, which was based on the escapades of a private detective agency in Honolulu. (The Book of Tiki 10th anniversary art show at M Modern in Palm Springs also featured a painting inspired by that series.)

You can see all the art from this exhibition on the web site for La Luz de Jesus gallery, and if you’re lucky enough to be on the Big Island you can find his other original paintings at the Wyland Kona Oceanfront Gallery. (His postcards and calendars have been popping up in souvenir shops on the Islands, too.) Brad Parker also keeps this Tiki Central thread updated with his latest projects.

The Tiki Chick

A California girl chronicling modern tiki culture

Tag Archives: Tiki Art

Tiki at the LA County Fair: Part Five

Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room 50th Anniversary Merchandise Event

Brad Parker “Tiki Shark” Art – Tales from the Tiki Lounge