America has embraced many cultural movements over the years, but few are as visually appealing as that of Tiki.
Essentially a naïve, romanticized homage to an imaginary idealized South Seas lifestyle, Tiki was the perfect mid-20th century antidote to a suburban workers dreary day.
With its exotic imagery of carved wooden masks, torches, warm beaches and tropical foliage, its popularity ran from the mid ’30s to the late ’70s but may yet see another resurgence, thanks to promoter Otto von Stroheim.
On Aug. 16 through 19, The Crowne Plaza Hotel, formerly The Hanalei, will be site of his Tiki Oasis 7, a celebration of the history of all things Tiki.
The event will feature symposiums, including lessons on mixing classic drinks and how to dance various ’60 styles.
The entertainment also includes burlesque shows, films, DJs spinning the smooth sounds of retro exotica and live music from surf rockers The Tiki Tones and The Blue Hawaiians, as well as ukulele master King Kukelele.
Stroheim has made the celebration of Tiki his life’s work, documenting the culture in Tiki News fanzine, writing liner notes for related CDs and promoting themed events around the Southwest.
He’s even gone as far as lobbying eBay, successfully, to add Tiki as a sub-genre.
However, it’s his annual festival that has garnered the most attention.
The gathering has gone from 30 or so friends to last year’s record 1,500 attendees.
Originally held in Palm Springs, the multi-day event was relocated to San Diego in 2006 for both its proximity to the ocean and noteworthy Tiki-style architecture of the former Hanalei Hotel.
Indeed, one of the gatherings highlights will likely be a talk given Sunday by local historian Bosko discussing San Diego’s Tiki past and giving a walking tour of the hotel’s premises.
Stroheim enthuses over locations such as The Catamaran and Humphreys Half Moon Inn or Point Loma landmark Trader Mort’s.
“It’s been genericized since the ’60s, but when Shelter Island was built, it was entirely Tiki,” he pointed out.
Though many original fans of Tiki are still involved, Stroheim finds the new interest in the movement to be more fragmented.
“In the great suburban world of the ’50s and ’60s, it would be some guy sitting in his backyard thinking, ‘Well, since I can’t go to Tahiti, I’m going to plant a bunch of banana trees, wear a grass skirt, put up a couple of torches and drink pineapple juice,” he laughed. “It was all in order to transport himself to another world for an hour.”
Today, Stroheim finds the audience for Tiki to be more generalized.
“There really is something here for everybody,” he said. “Lots of people like the cool retro vibe to it ,and more specifically, some people like the imagery of the masks. Others are attracted to the music associated with it.
“Things like surf [music] or Martin Denny’s exotica, Hawaiian tunes or bongo music.”
While ukulele music is thought by many to be synonymous with the South Seas and will be a part of entertainment at Tiki Oasis, Stroheim considers it to be a parallel phenomenon.
“A lot of the Tiki crowd have jumped on that as well because it has the same elements of enjoyment, but the instrument has had many spikes in popularity going back to the 1800s,” he said.
Although Stroheim looks forward to an enjoyable event, he considers the festival’s primary purpose to be a way of bringing Tiki culture back into the public eye.
“It’s really like an American folk art movement that should be recognized, just like jazz, quilt making or shaker furniture is,” Stroheim said..
Tiki Oasis 7 will be held on Aug. 16 through 19, at The Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2270 Hotel Circle North, San Diego. Tickets are $40. For more information, visit www.Tikioasis.com.