Visit the Tikiyaki Polynesian Village Resort ...

As I mentioned in my previous post the Secret Island is currently under the firm grip of an Icy Winter... 16 degree maximums inside a bamboo hut has me wishing for Summer and/or warmer climes!

I stumbled across the Tikiyaki Orchestra Village Resort and found a really good deal. Not only to you get the keys to room 151 for a week in the sunshine you also get a copy of the Tikiyaki Orchestra's new album Aloha Baby and a whole heap of booty that Tiki aficionados swipe from reputable Tiki establishments ... you know the mugs, ice bucket, matches, ash trays ... need I go on?

Here is a little more about the hotel itself...

"The Tikiyaki Polynesian Village was constructed at great cost on the golden sands of Waikiki Beach. The well known architectural firm of Dewy, Chetham & Howe was contracted to draw up the plans and build the tropical destination. All the interiors were contracted to be designed by I.M. Bland-one of Hawaii's greatest interior designers. I.M. Bland chose the decore of the Shanghai International Trading Company (ShITCO) as the outfitter for the well appointed room. ShITCO was chosen for its hand made Island look featuring carved furniture made of real Polynesian driftwood and other found artifacts."

Aloha Lanes just one of the substandard facilities available to guests!

Tiki Farm: Von Franco Ashtrays ...

In a short term departure from mugs Tiki Farm have created from the artwork of Von Franco two new ashtrays.

Done up in “Purple Haze” and “Mellow Yellow” glazes, the ashtrays are further finished in an authentic mother-of-pearl overglaze! Each ashtray features 1 cigar rest and 3 cigarette rests.

They only have 250 of each color so the supply of these is limited. AND… are you ready for the price? Their Smokin’ Joe ashtrays are only $11.11 each!

Get down to the Farm quickly!

Trader Sams ... open for business.

Back at the start of May I posted about the imminent opening of Trader Sams at Disneyland. Well the question is, is it any good?

Well what better place to find out than check Critiki . Well it would appear that its well worth the visit, scoring an average of 9.4. Whilst the decor is grabbing the headlines it is disappointing to see that its lowest scores come when reviewer score the drink quality, drink selection and food... all key elements of a quality Tiki Bar. The Critiki review states...

"Trader Sam's is named for the "head" salesman from the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland, and the decor is a mix of influence from that ride and the Enchanted Tiki Room, with a little of Walt Disney World's Adventurer's Club thrown in for good measure. Top-notch Disney designers Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily were able to work on some of the decor. There are reports of some interactive elements at the bar.

The early word is that the drink quality is higher than one might expect, with syrups from Portland's Trader Tiki in use. If you like the punny performance given by the Jungle Cruise skippers, you'll love the drink names: "HippopotoMaiTai", "Schweitzer Falls" and "Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum" are some of the cleverly-named cocktails."

To mark the opening Richard at the Designerland Blog has created and shared a rather nice unofficial Trader Sam's Soundtrack. Get over there and check it out...

Mahalo and Welcome ...

It would seem that The Secret Island isn't quite the secret that it once was as we celebrated our 5,000th visitor this week!

I'm so pleased that you good people are finding what started out as a place for me to store all my tiki outpourings useful. I quite like doing the background reading, dusting off some thrift shop vinyl and bringing you the Tiki tidbits, but getting frequent visitors (... from ten different countries!) makes it all the more worth while. I'd like to think that this is just the start and that Mia Huna Moku can continue to grow.

If you have any comments or feedback, likes and dislikes I'd love to hear them so don't be afraid to leave a comment or pop that message in a bottle and address it to ...

... here!

I suppose special thanks should go to my most popular Wahine of the Week: Monica Renee who single handedly brought in almost eight hundred hits... and I thought it was my words of wisdom you were after!

... "that oughta set the hit counter spinning!"

Tikimentary - In search of the Lost Paradise ...

I recently came across some trailers for a short film tiled "Tikimentary" which went on to become a longer movie screened at the 2010 Hukilau. Tikimentary is

A road-movie searching for the ultimate Tiki experience. Take a trip through San Diego's Tiki Oasis, The Hukilau, in Fort Lauderdale and the Luau By The Lake, in fabulous Lake George. An intimate portrait of this new exotic urban tribe: the so-called "tikiphiles". They drink tropical drinks, dress in vintage clothes, listen to Exotica music, but most of all: are a big and colorful family. Starring: Tiki Kiliki, Otto Von Stroheim, Baby Doe, Marina The Mermaid, King Kukulele, Shag, Lenore "Tikilicious" & Steve Koppleman, Joe & Nicole Desmond, Harold Golen, Paul & Kelly Patterson, Suzanne Long, Sandy Future, Amy Eggers, Kiki Lenoue, David Lenoue.

Here are a couple of trailers to wet your appetite:

"The average person doesn't get it, they don't understand."


"Tiki casts a spell on you!"

"We are all looking for a paradise to escape to."

It was directed by Duda Leite, a Brazilian independent filmmaker currently living in São Paulo. He has directed some “cult” short films like “Serial Clubber Killer” (1994) Best Short Film at Mix Brazil, “Selma & Denise” (1995), “After the Fox” (1999) – Official Selection at OutFest in Los Angeles and Frameline Festival in San Francisco, and “Resmungo” (2002) which aired on MTV Brazil.The final version of the movie is currently available for watching on MUBI.com.

Watch the Tikimentary.

Tiki on Tumblr...

Ah you've got to love social networking ... so little spare time but so many ways to connect with others and while away the hours! To be honest though when you live on a place like The Secret Island you'll use any way possible to connect with other Tiki-philes out there who have access to some of the most iconic Tiki venues and events on their doorsteps. I was recently asked on Twitter "Hukilau or Tiki Oasis?" ... my response "Neither both half a world away!" (... but oh how I'd love to go!)

I recently signed up at Tumblr and I'm loving it. Its a great way to blog if you're short on time but still want something creative in your life. I like how visual it is and the way that people can share their images with the world. Here are three of my favourites from Tikilicious.

One of the best things about Tiki Culture is the community that it creates. If you want to get in touch then leave a post, or get yourself across to your social networking site of choice.

MySpace
Twitter
Tumblr

Swanky's Blather ...

I thought I would give readers of The Secret Island a heads up (not that he needs it ... he is the master I am the student!) of Tim "Swanky" Glazner's blog Swanky's Blather. I'm a regular reader and love the attention to detail in his posts which bring together his collecting of Tiki ephemera, cocktail capers and all round retro goodness.

I'm currently trawling through the archives of vintage commercial Hawaiian slides. For me they sum up perfectly the essence of what attracts me to the Tiki Lifestyle and a great visual source of information about the past. Here are a couple of samples ...

Swanky is a real Poly Pop mover and shaker as well as author of his blog he is also creator and organizer of Hukilau and collector of Polynesian Pop. He created the first carving seminar for Tiki carvers and helped organize Tiki Eyeball at the Aku Tiki Room in Illinois. He is a writer for Tiki Magazine. He produced the Tiki Daze calendar and was voted “Best Mixologist” by Metro Pulse magazine. He is into Midcentury culture and Tiki is a part of that.

The Careless Navigator ...

Despite it's location in the Southern Ocean and proximity to some tropical island paradises Tiki Kulture really hasn't taken off in Australia. There are a sprinkling of Tiki Bars across this huge continent which make the arrangements for a bar crawl complex. There are however signs that this is about to change, mug makers are moulding and carvers are busy carving and sharing their expertise. Today I returned from a two day Tiki Beat carving workshop with Marcus Thorn in Sydney... more on that next time.

Websites and blogs play an essential role in the sharing of Tiki finds, experiences, music and art with others across this sun baked land. The Careless Navigator is an Australian based portal that does just that. It is designed as a "dedicated online resource for all of you interested in Polynesian Pop and Tiki across Australia and an opportunity for all of us Australia wide to connect and share discoveries from across the planet."

There you will find Hidden Treasures (...well hidden in Australia I can tell you!) as well as some Adventures in Paradise. There is also a Ship's Store where you can pick up goodies such as prints and posters. There you will also find details of the the HAWAII HOME MOVIES DVD put together by the Careless Navigator himself. Its a selection of standard 8mm, super 8mm and 16mm films from 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s…taken by travelers/tourists to Hawaii from all over the world. He is currently working on the second DVD which will feature the excellent “Aloha Amor” from Tiki Joe's Ocean. In this special preview clip we see the Coco Palms resort in all its almost technicolor glory!



A trip to the Careless Navigator would be anything but careless... set your course carefully and take a look!

Critiki ...

Critiki is a reference resource for the collecting, travelling or researching tikiphile, with information on over 700 locations and over 3,000 images. Regular readers are encouraged to share their opinions on any of these locations they've visited, in the form of a critiki — a ratings on a scale of 1 to 10 on a variety of criteria are given, including drink quality, music, service, mood and tikiness. Helping fellow tikiphiles know whether a place is, in the words of Humuhumu the webmaster, "a must-see, classic-tikis-everywhere joint, or a tiki-stops-at-the-name, beer-and-karaoke dump."

As well as the uploaded reviews there are also the images which help build a picture of what a place is really like, or might have been like in the past! Each day there is theme and I particularly enjoyed the recent advertising one. Lots of retro design and fonts to check out, I particularly liked this one...

Critiki is a free, not-for-profit website, created by Humuhumu aka Michelle Trott who lived in Hawaii for a short while which left a lasting impression plus a love for themed environments, midcentury Americana, Tiki and Polynesian Pop. Her life hasn't been the same since and it wouldn't be as she also runs two other tiki themed websites, Humu Kon Tiki - A tiki news & information blog and Ooga-Mooga - A website for tiki mug collectors which I hope to feature in another post.

The Secret Island - still a secret?

There was great excitement today on The (not so) Secret Island when we were featured on the wonderful blog of Aubrey London. This week she celebrated her birthday at Trader Vic’s in Emeryville before heading over to the Forbidden Island for another Mai Tai or three!

I'm not sure if its the rum, the decor, the fun times with friends or the Hawaiian shirts she's most interested in, but the Tiki bug certainly has bitten hard! She has some big Tiki plans for the blog, her home and wardrobe in the coming months ... knowing Aubrey all will be styled to perfection, here on The Secret Island we can't wait!

Viva Tiki Kate...

Poly Pop and Tiki Lifestyle is strange in the way that draws people together from all backgrounds and from every corner of the globe. It doesn't matter that you're the only person you know who insists on wearing Hawaiian shirts long after the holiday makers have dropped theirs off at the Op Shop, because you know from events and places like Tiki Central that there are people just like you out there. So when a community looses someone it is felt widely, even if most of those people never had the pleasure to meet them.

One such person was Tiki Kate who sadly passed away on Wednesday September 22nd. I never had the opportunity to meet her but felt a connection through her love of anything Tiki, Ooga-Mooga and contributions on Tiki Central. Humuhumu has put together a wonderful blog for Tiki Kate simply called Viva Kate!. Its a fantastic tribute to a terrific Tikiphile. Check out the blog and the wonderful urn she commissioned from Squid which has become known as "Her Last Tiki Mug."

The Quiet Village Podcast ...

The Quiet Village is more than just a classic exotica track but also the working title of DigiTiki's (aka Mark Riddle)regular exotica podcasts. The Quiet Village features rare and vintage exotica recordings from yesterday and today and you can join Mark as your host, as he lets the records lazily spin on the phonograph. You could even prepare a Mai Tai to add to the experience, the sound of ice in his glass is a familiar sound alongside the tunes.

He also publishes detailed play lists to accompany each podcast. Such is the level of detail, quality of information and caliber of guests visiting the Quiet Village that a pencil and paper are as essential as the headphones! The news and music sections at DigiTiki.com make the shows and the website a most for any fan of exotica. Check it out...