1. Tiki (also: Polynesian Pop, Exotica)

Name given to the pop culture style that featured stylized, Polynesian themes.

Tiki is a remarkable cultural phenomenon that encompassed a wide spectrum of cultural elements. Unlike many fads that are limited to a single venue, Tiki encompassed architecture, music, food, and fashion. Tiki occurred because of a confluence of events that stretched as far back as the 19th Century.

Tiki reached its zenith of popularity between the mid-1950s to the early 1960s. During that time, countless numbers of Polynesian-themed restaurants, motels, bowling alleys, and other facilities were constructed.

Tiki is an unabashed artificiality - an idealized representation of Polynesian culture. Tiki culture appropriated idols, art, and other cultural features of the Pacific islands and blended them without regard into a generic identity. However, this artificiality is not done maliciously or negatively. Tiki is a way for people to experience the fantasy of a tropical paradise that has probably never really existed.

Early Origins of Tiki

The earliest origins of Tiki go back to the end of the 19th Century. In the late 1800s, the United States significantly expanded into the Pacific. Acquisitions of islands through the Spanish-American War, treaty agreements, and annexations gave the U.S. an extensive overseas empire (1898: Philippines, Guam, Wake, Hawaiian Islands, 1899: Samoa). This extension into Polynesia and Micronesia raised awareness of and involvement in this region. This involvement accelerated significantly after World War One, as the United States fortified its island possessions, to hedge growing Japanese influence in the western Pacific.

By the 1930s, the notion of the 'South Seas' was well established. Movies, like King Kong, South of Pago Pago, and The Hurricane helped develop the framework of an ideal of the South Pacific, an ideal that was largely artificial. This prototype of Tiki culture popularized in the public conscience, tropical islands, thatched huts, and exotic women dressed in sarongs. A handfull of nightspots began opening, using the South Seas as a theme. Bob Brooks' Seven Seas restaurant, in Beverly Hills, was a major influence in this 'Proto-Tiki' period.

Beginning of Tiki

The Tiki movement is considered to have formally begun in 1934, when restaurateur Donn Beach opened Don the Beachcombers in Hollywood, California. Don the Beachcombers tapped into the 1930s South Seas ideal, featuring bamboo decor, rum-based tropical drinks, and 'exotic' Asian dishes.

In 1937, Victor Bergeron remodeled his restaurant, Hinky Dinks, into the Polynesian-themed Trader Vics. Bergeron expanded his restaurants, and soon Trader Vics was a well established chain.

A couple of years after Bergeron started Trader Vics, the world was plunged into the Second World War. In December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and the United States was plunged into the Pacific War. Between 1941 and 1945, thousands of American troops went off to live and fight on islands throughout the Pacific.

By war's end, the thousands of American troops returned to the United States, bringing with them experiences with the South Pacific. The melding of wartime experiences in the South Pacific, the germination of Polynesian-themed lounges, and the prosperity of the 1950s would see Tiki emerge on the pop culture scene as a significant force.

The generation that fought so hard in the 1940s, enjoyed the prosperity of the 1950s. During this period, the success of Thor Heyerdahl's book Kon Tiki pushed Polynesia into the forefront of literary and cinematic circles. James Michener won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1947 for Tales from the South Pacific, which a few years later was adapted into the hugely successful stage (1949) and film (1958) musical South Pacific. By the 1950s, enough time had passed whereby people distilled their raw memories of the Pacific War into nostalgia.

The final ingredient to Tiki was developed in the mid-1950s. Musicians Les Baxter and Martin Denny developed a form of music known as Exotica, named for a Denny album of the same name. Exotica merged 'primitive' sounds of Oceania with jazz elements to create a unique sound, different than traditional Polynesian music. Baxter, Denny, and Arthur Lyman would produce develop this pseudo-Polynesian sound with a number of extremely successful songs and albums.

The Decline

Starting in approximately the late 1960s and early 1970s, Tiki began to fall out of favor. There are a number of theories as to why, with some people even arguing that the Vietnam War made people aware of Western exploitation of indigenous peoples - something that Tiki could be construed as doing.

However, the real reason is probably far more simple - Tiki became the victim of changing tastes. The World War Two generation that so enjoyed Tiki, gave way to the Baby Boomers who embraced the evolving Rock and Roll scene of the time. Many young, educated people may have felt that the artificiality of Tiki was exploitative and embarrassing. Additionally, the sounds and scenes of Mexico and the Caribbean began to replace Oceania as the notion of 'exotic'.

In the mid-1970s, Jimmy Buffett released the hugely successful Margaritaville, and the Margarita drink displaced the Mai Tai as a favorite. Many Tiki-themed facilities closed down, were demolished, or renovated away their Polynesian theme. Many of the surviving places fell into disrepair, such that Tiki establishments were looked at as dingy, tacky, kitschy places to be avoided. By the 1980s, Tiki reached its nadir.

Changing Fortunes

In the 1990s, things began to change. The Generation X crowd began to rediscover Tiki. The handful of Tiki places that survived saw increased interest. Exotica music was starting to have a following again, albeit a small one. Tiki mugs that were consigned to thrift stores and garage sales became hot items. Tiki was making a comeback.

By the 21st Century, Tiki has garnered a small but growing following. New Tiki places have opened throughout the Untied States, and many Tiki-oriented Internet sites are sprouting up. But this 'Neo-Tiki' movement may be seen as a movement inspired by but separate from the 1950s Tiki scene. The original Tiki scene was rooted in Lounge culture, a culture that may be too mellow for the current generation. Many Neo-Tiki places are contemporary nightclubs that have adopted the trappings of Tiki. And despite the resurgence of Tiki, many landmarks of the Tiki era are still being demolished. A recent notable example was the destruction of Columbus, Ohio's Kahiki restaurant in 2000.

On the other hand, Neo-Tiki may be also be seen as a logical evolution of the original Tiki movement. And there are still a number of Tiki purists that are at work preserving and documenting the Tiki phenomena, past and present. Only time will tell where Tiki will go.

2. Tiki

In Maroi mythology, Tiki is the first man on earth.

Tiki is said to have been created by either Tane (the god of light and trees) or Tu Matauenga (the god of war). He found the first woman, Marikoriko, in a pond where she seduced him. As a result she gave birth to a daughter, Hine Kau Ataata.

3. Tiki (also: Hei Tiki)

A sculpture in the shape of a god.

Tikis are common totems throughout Oceania. It is believed that each tiki contains a spirit. Different islands and regions throughout the Pacific have developed their own unique set of tikis. Often, Tiki pop-culture have incorporated these designs into decorations without regard to their region of origin.

4. Tiki

Name of the boat in the 1959-1962 ABC adventure series 'Adventures in Paradise'.


Updated September 3, 2004