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California Tiki: A History of Polynesian Idols, Pineapple Cocktails and Coconut Palm Trees
After World War II, suburbs proliferated around California cities as returning soldiers traded in their uniforms for business suits. After-hours leisure activities took on an island-themed sensuality that bloomed from a new fascination with Polynesia and Hawaii. Movies and television shows filmed in Malibu and Burbank urged viewers to escape everyday life with the likes of Gidget and Hawaiian Eye. Restaurants like Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic's sprang up to answer the demand for wild cocktails and even wilder décor. The culture--a strange hodgepodge of idols, torches, lush greenery and colorful drinks--beckoned men and women to lose themselves in exotic music and surf tunes. Authors Jason Henderson and Adam Foshko explore the state's midcentury fascination with all things Tiki.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
146 pages, Hardcover
First published July 30, 2018
24 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
Jason Henderson
111 books163 followersI've been writing for a long time-- comics, games (like Destiny 2), books-- there's always *something.* But lately I've gotten into modern-day YA novels with the Alex Van Helsing series and now middle grade with the new Young Captain Nemo series.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 5, 2018
Broader conceptually than you might expect.
Re Tiki culture: [A]n island paradise where the pressures of the Gray Flannel Suit and the house-beautiful tyrannies of women's magazines could be set aside..
Yes, it covers the historical significance: the reaction of post-WWII and Korean war veterans rewriting their experiences to deal with both PTSD and reintegration into society by sublimation and subversion. It addresses music (Exotica and Surf), bars and Tiki lounges, movies, television programming, demise with the rise of Vietnam War due to the discomforting similarities, and the resurgence again in the 90s. Henderson also presents the sides and interpretation of fantasy versus appropriation inherent in Tiki.
Tiki created a popular space where men like Tom, wives like Betsy, women who served as WACS and medical personnel would find entertainment in surroundings that looked like the most vivid moments of their lives. It tamed those lurid memories and turned them into something of a dream.
Overall, a solid overview of California Tiki to give readers a basis for understanding, a deeper read will require use of the extensive footnotes.
Re Tiki culture: [A]n island paradise where the pressures of the Gray Flannel Suit and the house-beautiful tyrannies of women's magazines could be set aside..
Yes, it covers the historical significance: the reaction of post-WWII and Korean war veterans rewriting their experiences to deal with both PTSD and reintegration into society by sublimation and subversion. It addresses music (Exotica and Surf), bars and Tiki lounges, movies, television programming, demise with the rise of Vietnam War due to the discomforting similarities, and the resurgence again in the 90s. Henderson also presents the sides and interpretation of fantasy versus appropriation inherent in Tiki.
Tiki created a popular space where men like Tom, wives like Betsy, women who served as WACS and medical personnel would find entertainment in surroundings that looked like the most vivid moments of their lives. It tamed those lurid memories and turned them into something of a dream.
Overall, a solid overview of California Tiki to give readers a basis for understanding, a deeper read will require use of the extensive footnotes.
September 1, 2019
I picked up this slim history of California Tiki because of what it advertised: a rollicking jaunt through the culture, drinks, music, and aesthetic of the whole Tiki thing. And I got that. And then it got way deeper than I expected.
The book starts fun and breezy, talking about how Tiki culture emerged in California following WW2, when returning G.I.s were keen to bring back a slice of Polynesia with them. There’s talk of Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki and James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific. Standard touchstones.
And then the book takes a bit of a deeper look into the world the returning G.I. was thrust into following the Second World War. The life of the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, expected to return from the horrors of war and come home to an upwardly-mobile family and business life. We tend to think of PTSD as something more modern, but an entire generation felt it after the war, and had no means of coping with it. The institutions just weren’t there. So they invented escape in the concepts of half-remembered “exotic” refuges they found in the Pacific theater.
This is tiki culture, along with tropical drinks and rattan, and it’s part of why I want to read more deeply on the subject. The authors bring up the specter of cultural appropriation - of the fact that tiki in America is mainly the invention of cis-straight white guys, and the fact that by utilizing the “exotic,” they other cultures that aren’t their own. But they also, rightly I believe, point out that tiki isn’t taking from a monoculture. It has some resemblance to actual Polynesia and Hawaii, but it really is a place made of imagination, as fantastical as Disneyland. “Tiki,” they argue, “is for everyone.”
If I’ve made this book seem sloggy, it’s not. I learned a lot about exotica and surf music, about beach party movies and how to make the perfect Blue Hawaiian. There’s a lot of history packed into this small book, most of it oriented to pop culture, and most of it breezy. But an understanding of tiki isn’t complete without understanding its roots, and why it was so important to a generation who was still struggling to find its own identity, and so made one up.
The book starts fun and breezy, talking about how Tiki culture emerged in California following WW2, when returning G.I.s were keen to bring back a slice of Polynesia with them. There’s talk of Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki and James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific. Standard touchstones.
And then the book takes a bit of a deeper look into the world the returning G.I. was thrust into following the Second World War. The life of the Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, expected to return from the horrors of war and come home to an upwardly-mobile family and business life. We tend to think of PTSD as something more modern, but an entire generation felt it after the war, and had no means of coping with it. The institutions just weren’t there. So they invented escape in the concepts of half-remembered “exotic” refuges they found in the Pacific theater.
This is tiki culture, along with tropical drinks and rattan, and it’s part of why I want to read more deeply on the subject. The authors bring up the specter of cultural appropriation - of the fact that tiki in America is mainly the invention of cis-straight white guys, and the fact that by utilizing the “exotic,” they other cultures that aren’t their own. But they also, rightly I believe, point out that tiki isn’t taking from a monoculture. It has some resemblance to actual Polynesia and Hawaii, but it really is a place made of imagination, as fantastical as Disneyland. “Tiki,” they argue, “is for everyone.”
If I’ve made this book seem sloggy, it’s not. I learned a lot about exotica and surf music, about beach party movies and how to make the perfect Blue Hawaiian. There’s a lot of history packed into this small book, most of it oriented to pop culture, and most of it breezy. But an understanding of tiki isn’t complete without understanding its roots, and why it was so important to a generation who was still struggling to find its own identity, and so made one up.
January 5, 2020
Wasn’t quite what I expected. Is it cultural misappropriation? Yes, somewhat. I had no idea of its origins was one facet post WWII experience of returning GIs trying to fit in or escape.
May 29, 2022
This was a fun, light read. The authors dance between self awareness and gratification, but impart some love of the music and film of tiki related pop culture. For me, it was most useful for building a playlist, there wasn't a whole lot of actual history of tiki in here.
March 10, 2021
3.5
This was a decent book. I liked learning about the origins of the 1950's tropical visual culture. It really reminded me of the old motels down the shore on the East Coast. I didn't know about the history of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit or South Pacific so I appreciated gaining new insight on those works. I liked learning about surf music and exotica. I think the TV chapter for The Brady Bunch reference was a bit of a stretch personally. My biggest criticism is that the author couldn't decide if he thought it was appropriation or not (he said some parts were just generic fantasies to the point of essentialism so it wasn't trying to be authentic). I liked learning about how it gradually faded out in the 1960's with the Vietnam war. I enjoyed seeing examples of Tiki culture in local restaurants, drinks, and album art. This was a fun escapist book for a long, cold winter.
This was a decent book. I liked learning about the origins of the 1950's tropical visual culture. It really reminded me of the old motels down the shore on the East Coast. I didn't know about the history of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit or South Pacific so I appreciated gaining new insight on those works. I liked learning about surf music and exotica. I think the TV chapter for The Brady Bunch reference was a bit of a stretch personally. My biggest criticism is that the author couldn't decide if he thought it was appropriation or not (he said some parts were just generic fantasies to the point of essentialism so it wasn't trying to be authentic). I liked learning about how it gradually faded out in the 1960's with the Vietnam war. I enjoyed seeing examples of Tiki culture in local restaurants, drinks, and album art. This was a fun escapist book for a long, cold winter.
April 24, 2021
This book wasn't what I'd expected. Given the title, I'd expected a specific focus on the California aspect of tiki -- the California institutions that gave birth to and nurtured midcentury tiki culture. That's in there, for sure: Don the Beachcomber, Trader Vic's, the mai tai, Hollywood beach movies, but only because you can't not discuss tiki without discussing them. But why specifically did tiki happen first and find its greatest flourishing in California?
But really, this is a book about the history of tiki in a broad sense. California is secondary; it's in there because that's where so much of this happened, but that's secondary to their interest in a broad overview of what tiki was -- the postwar/Eisenhower era ethos that gave rise to it, the record albums that epitomized it, the movies and TV shows that used tiki themes, and so on.
They provide plot lines for Gidget Goes Hawaiian and the Brady Bunch tiki idol episode. They give a history of Martin Denny's Exotica album. I was more curious about how and why these things happened in California specifically and what that tell us, both about tiki and about California.
I suppose as a broad introduction to tiki culture it's not bad, but if you're going to do a broad intro, why put California in the title? Why not focus more on things like the popularity of tiki in places like Washington D.C. and Chicago, where palm trees and coconuts are rare?
My favorite part of the book is when they discuss why tiki was out of sync with the hippie/counterculture movement of the late 60s/early 70s. I hadn't thought before of how much hippies were interested in living a lifestyle inflected by Native American culture; tiki was about using an exotic "other" culture as escapism -- something you visited as a temporary escape, not something you lived. That's a valuable insight, and they explore it well.
But really, this is a book about the history of tiki in a broad sense. California is secondary; it's in there because that's where so much of this happened, but that's secondary to their interest in a broad overview of what tiki was -- the postwar/Eisenhower era ethos that gave rise to it, the record albums that epitomized it, the movies and TV shows that used tiki themes, and so on.
They provide plot lines for Gidget Goes Hawaiian and the Brady Bunch tiki idol episode. They give a history of Martin Denny's Exotica album. I was more curious about how and why these things happened in California specifically and what that tell us, both about tiki and about California.
I suppose as a broad introduction to tiki culture it's not bad, but if you're going to do a broad intro, why put California in the title? Why not focus more on things like the popularity of tiki in places like Washington D.C. and Chicago, where palm trees and coconuts are rare?
My favorite part of the book is when they discuss why tiki was out of sync with the hippie/counterculture movement of the late 60s/early 70s. I hadn't thought before of how much hippies were interested in living a lifestyle inflected by Native American culture; tiki was about using an exotic "other" culture as escapism -- something you visited as a temporary escape, not something you lived. That's a valuable insight, and they explore it well.
November 27, 2024
Not the first time I've read this, but before Storygraph I didn't often bother to log my reading on GoodReads. This one has no cocktail recipes. There are plenty of other books for that. What it does is provide context for the psychological and emotional state of post-WWII Americans, particularly servicemen, and how their needs were met by the books, movies, music, and exotic/tropical restaurants etc. of the mid century. Note I said men. The author's address the topic of cultural appropriation, but give the plight of the mud century woman a wide berth. Bringing on a female scholarly co-author could have bumped this tiny but mighty book up to 5-star status. Plenty of nice photos, but the real meat of the book is how they contextualize the emergence of tiki culture.
At about a quarter of an inch thick, obviously this book isn't a complete reference work. For deeper dives in any direction, you'll have to take other works mentioned in this book as a starting point and work your way out from there.
At about a quarter of an inch thick, obviously this book isn't a complete reference work. For deeper dives in any direction, you'll have to take other works mentioned in this book as a starting point and work your way out from there.
September 24, 2023
A very entertaining and informative book on the origins of Tiki, how it came about and evolved, and the various different aspects of the culture. I wasn't really aware of a lot of this and it was fascinating to discover that there is much more to Tiki than music and cocktails. The historical aspect is really interesting as there were a lot of things that were inspired by Tiki culture that I never really realized were even related to it. Lots of great pictures and information about music and Tiki bars that you can still visit.
October 19, 2021
This book, as the title indicates, is narrowly focused on tiki in California. If you’re looking for a broader retrospective, you’d be better served to read Sven Kirsten’s Tiki Pop. I thought the music, film, and TV chapters had some good insights. The book weaves the cultural appropriation debate throughout.
March 3, 2026
Like a drink and a meal at the local tiki restaurant, I would like to spend more time than allotted with “California Tiki”. I enjoyed the visuals and the short history of tiki’s development and place in history, but each chapter was a mere appetizer. I wanted more history and a deeper dive into all the aspects of tiki. It was a great jumping off point. But there could have been so much more.
August 20, 2023
Author completely misses the fact that Tiki and all associating facets of it (music, food, decor) are blatant cultural appropriation and harmful fetishization that have lasting effects on modern cultures.
January 8, 2024
Good book to better understand the phenomenon of Polynesian Pop/ Tiki culture, it's roots, and media influences. Not sure about the choice of book title. The book seems more comprehensive than limited to a California experience.
January 15, 2024
A fun quick read that details the history of American tiki culture. My favorite section was about the surf music. We did go to the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna - there is a section in the book that interviews the owner.
October 10, 2018
Tiki-Tiki
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews