page_title: Tiki culture
section_title: Tiki's decline
hierarchical_section_title: Tiki culture / Tiki's decline
caption_attribution_description: English: Chin Tiki restaurant, circa 2006.
context_page_description: Tiki culture is a motif of exotically decorated bars and restaurants catering to an escapist longing for travel to tropical regions of the South Pacific. Featuring mock tiki carvings and complex, alluringly named alcoholic drinks, it eventually influenced residential recreation.
  Starting in California in the 1930s and then spreading around the world, it was inspired by the sentimental appeal of an idealized South Pacific, particularly Hawaii, Polynesia and Oceania, as viewed through the experiences of those who had visited such areas and a Hollywood lens focused on beautiful scenery, forbidden love and the potential for danger. Over time it selectively incorporated more cultural elements of other regions that affected Polynesia, such as Southeast Asia.
  Tiki culture changed over time, influenced by World War II and the firsthand exposure hundreds of thousands of American servicemen gained during that conflict. In time its appeal wore off and both the culture and the hospitality industry theme all but died off.
  The early decades of the 21st century have seen a small renaissance of interest in tiki culture, including a limited commercial revival.
context_section_description: Towards the latter part of the 1970s "Tiki restaurants" were well past the apex of their popularity and many started to close. This was true for both many independent tiki bars as well as what had grown into the major chains associated with hotels such as Vic's Outrigger and the Sheraton's Kon-Tiki. The majority of "independent" Tiki bars like the Pago Pago Lounge were demolished or shuttered, with only a few such as the Tonga Room, Tiki Ti, and Mai Kai managing to stay afloat. Trader Vic's was the only of the former major chains that was still in large scale operation.
  By 1980 most of the tiki aesthetic in architecture and elsewhere had been completely wiped away in the name of progress.  Some examples of homes, apartments and restaurant buildings remained, almost exclusively on the west coast. Of those, only a small handful still featured carved tikis.
  The allure of escapism and tropical drinks for the average American still remained, but was eclipsed by Jimmy Buffett and Parrotheads seeking the closer to home "Margaritaville" instead of Tiki's further away Bali-Hai islands as their preferred Shangri-La for relaxing and drinking.
  "Tiki" restaurants and bars had been vital through much of the 1930s into the 1970s, what Jeff Berry called an unprecedented lifespan for a [themed] drink fad. The Chin Tiki, which had been permanently closed in 1980 and falling into disrepair, was finally torn down in Detroit near the turn of the century, just as tiki was beginning to stir once again on America's west coast.
caption: Shuttered Chin-tiki restaurant in Michigan (2006)
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