Tiki culture is an American-originated art, music, and entertainment movement inspired by Polynesian, Melanesian, and Micronesian cultures. Inspired by Oceanian art, influential cultures to Tiki culture include Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, the Caribbean Islands, and Hawaii. The name comes from Tiki, the Māori name for the first human, often represented in the form of hei-tiki, a pendant and important taonga. The hei-tiki was often appropriated by Europeans as a commercialised good luck charm, hence the name of Tiki culture. Despite spanning over 10,000 miles and including many different unrelated cultures, religions, and languages, Tiki aesthetic is considered by some to be amalgamated into one "fantasia of trans-Pacific cultures" and "colonial nostalgia". Because of this, and the simplistic view of the Pacific taken by the aesthetic, Tiki culture has often proved controversial.
Trader Vic's is a restaurant and tiki bar chain headquartered in Emeryville, California, United States. Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. founded a chain of Polynesian-themed restaurants that bore his nickname, "Trader Vic". He was one of two people who claimed to have invented the Mai Tai. The other was his amicable competitor for many years, Donn Beach of the "Don the Beachcomber" restaurants.
Le Droit is a Canadian French-language daily newspaper, published in Gatineau, Quebec. Initially established and owned by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the paper was published by Martin Cauchon and his company, Capitales Médias, from 2015 - ? when a cooperative was formed by the employees to continue publishing the paper.
A theme restaurant is a type of restaurant that uses theming to attract diners by creating a memorable experience. Theme restaurants have a unifying or dominant subject or concept, and utilize architecture, decor, special effects, and other techniques, often to create exotic environments that are not normally associated with dining because they are inaccessible, no longer exist, are fictional or supernatural, or taboo. The theme may be further extended through the naming and choices of food, though food is usually secondary to entertaining guests.
Gesca Limitée is a division of the Power Corporation of Canada, which published French-language daily newspapers in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.
A tiki mug is a large ceramic cocktail drinking vessel that originated in tiki bars and tropical-themed restaurants. The term "tiki mug" is a blanket term for the sculptural drinkware even though they vary in size and most do not contain handles. They typically depict Polynesian, mock-Polynesian, tropical, nautical, or retro themes, and as the term is used generically do not always emulate a tiki. When used to serve drinks they are frequently garnished with fruit or decorative drink umbrellas and swizzle sticks.
A tiki bar is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails. Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their tiki culture décor which is based upon a romanticized conception of tropical cultures, most commonly Polynesian. Some bars also incorporate general nautical themes or retro elements from the early atomic age.
The Mai-Kai is a Polynesian-themed restaurant and tiki bar in Oakland Park, Florida. It opened to the public on December 28, 1956, and is one of the few "Grand Polynesian Palaces of Tiki" still in operation today. In 2015 it was named the "best tiki bar in the world" by Critiki, an organization of fans of Polynesian pop culture. It is the last restaurant in existence carrying on the traditions of service and serving the original drink recipes of Don the Beachcomber, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Bishop Street is a north–south street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. With a total length of 0.6 km, it links Sherbrooke Street in the north to René Lévesque Boulevard in the south. Like neighbouring Crescent Street, Bishop is home to many pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants.
Peel Street (officially in French: rue Peel) is a major north–south street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Street links Pine Avenue, near Mount Royal, in the north and Smith Street, in the Southwest borough, in the south. The street's southern end is at the Peel Basin of the Lachine Canal. The street runs through Montreal's shopping district. The Peel Metro station is named for the street.
The Fraternal Order of Moai is a fraternal order and social club founded in 2005 by Matt "Kuku Ahu" Thatcher, Jim "Chisel Slinger" Robinson and Joel "Cowtown Kahuna" Gunn. The Order uses the Moai statues of Rapa Nui as a theme. An initial goal of the group was to preserve the history of and artifacts from the closed Kahiki Supper Club in Columbus, Ohio. Since then it has grown into "a serious group of tiki aficionados" with activity all over the United States. Some describe the group as "a cult within a cult" when discussing the modern Tiki revival.
Kowloon Restaurant is a pan-Asian restaurant in Saugus, Massachusetts. The restaurant serves a range of Cantonese, Sichuan, Japanese, Polynesian, and Thai dishes in several themed dining rooms and lounges. Kowloon was called one of the best Chinese restaurants in New England by Boston television station WHDH in 2004.
Joseph Stephenson "Steve" Crane was an American actor and restaurateur. A Columbia Pictures actor in the early 1940s, Crane opened the Luau, a popular celebrity restaurant, in 1953 and established a successful 25-year career in the restaurant industry. In addition to his own accomplishments, Crane is often remembered as Lana Turner's twice ex-husband.
Ben & Florentine is a Canadian breakfast and lunch restaurant chain, serving around 4 million customers per year. The founders used characteristics from their own families to create the concept of the chain. Each Ben & Florentine restaurant is owned individually as a franchise.
The Zombie Hut was a Hawaiian/Polynesian-themed restaurant, nightclub and Tiki bar located on Freeport Blvd. between Florin Road and Sutterville Road in Sacramento, California that originally opened in 1945 after the end of WWII and continuing for 45 years until its closing in 1990. Inspired by the 1930s Tiki craze, the restaurant was owned by Johnny Quaresma from 1945 to 1952 when Ed and Beatrice Hill purchased the business. The Hills eventually sold the Zombie Hut to Bruce Brooks, who owned it until its closing in 1990.
Chin Tiki was a tiki-themed supper club, nightclub and banquet hall in Detroit, Michigan owned by Marvin Chin. It closed in 1980 and was demolished in 2009.
Jeff "Beachbum" Berry is an American restaurant owner, author, and historian of tiki culture, particularly the drinks associated with the tiki theme. In addition to researching and reconstructing lost recipes, he has invented and published his own cocktail recipes.
The Kahiki Supper Club was a Polynesian-themed restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. The supper club was one of the largest tiki-themed restaurants in the United States, and for a time, the only one in Ohio. It operated at its Eastmoor location on Broad Street beginning in 1961, at the height of tiki culture's popularity. The Kahiki was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, but closed and was demolished in 2000. It was described as an exceptionally important example of a themed restaurant and the most elaborate tiki restaurant ever built.
The Golden Tiki is a tiki bar located on Spring Mountain Road in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was opened for business in 2015 by Lev Group. On June 30, 2020, The Golden Tiki closed for a few days after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.
Three Dots and a Dash is a craft cocktail tiki bar in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.
