TIKI CULTURE

An old photo, me & my 1940 LaSalle

I came across this photo today. It’s a picture of me, pre-Tiki days, with my 1940 LaSalle. I was 13, the photo was taken in 1982.

How does a 13 year old kid get his hands on a then 40+ year old classic car? Well, my old man loved to buy and sell old cars. He’d get them cheap, fix them up, sometimes paint them, and sell them for a profit. Today this would be called being a “automotive enthusiast”. Back then we called it hustling cars for bread.

The short version of this story is that I had my own side business buying and selling go-karts, minibikes, even 1/4 midget racer and a Model T Ford midget car (like you see clowns drive in parades). In 1982, I traded the Model T for a real 1941 Dodge Luxury Liner sedan. Eventually I made my way into buying this 1940 LaSalle Sedan for $400…a barn find. My buddy Steve and I would pretend to drive it, actually dubbing it the “Air Car”, a car that could go from cruising the country highways of South Jersey to flying above the Pine Barrens. Well, this was before video games and internet so we had to be creative.

I traded this beauty for a 66 Olds Toronado, and eventually made my way up to the 1974 Caddy Eldorado Convertible I had a few years ago. I sold that and put the money into my 53 Chevy Hot Rod, which I’ve had since 1990.

The point of all this is that at 42 years old I still feel like the goofy kid in the photo, hanging out with vintage cars and never actually finishing any of them. And apparently I still pose the same way, too.

-Tiki Chris Reporting from the garage at Tiki Lounge Talk

53 Chevy in Primer

Happy 4th of July and your Weekend Cocktail from Tiki Lounge Talk!

Let freedom ring-a-ding-ding, baby!

Hope you kool kats & kittens are getting your kicks on this bangin’ 3-day weekend. Here’s a little something to help you get in the mood…

Fourth of July Cocktail

Invented by Thomas Jefferson and enjoyed by the founding fathers at the post-signing of the declaration party, this kookie concoction will have you singing I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy by the third sip.

• 1 ounce watermelon schnapps (Good luck finding that)
• 1 big splash cranberry juice
• 1 very thin slice jalapeno or serrano pepper
• 1 slice lemon
• 1 slice lime
• 1 1/2 ounces tequila
• 1/4 ounce blue curacao
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup
• Watermelon wedge, for garnish (optional)

Shake up the schnapps and cranberry juice in a shaker; pour into an ice-filled glass.

Muddle the jalapeno pepper, lemon and lime slices, tequila, blue curacao and simple syrup in the shaker. Slowly strain into the glass over the red layer. Garnish with watermelon and a little American Flag and let’er rip!

A NOTE ON FIREWORKS

Here in south Florida, unlike that crumby state I used to live in, it’s perfectly legal to set off fireworks in your driveway. Now, I don’t mean just sparklers and cherry bombs, I mean honest-to-God, Chinese high-flying fireworks. As long as you have a Florida ID you can buy them at specialty stores down here, and set them off skyrocketing over your neighbors’ houses. Each year several people on our block do this, so by 10pm the streets are so full of smoke you can’t see. It’s great. The smell of sulfur and cordite lingers for days. But the best part is looking up at the sky from your front yard and seeing real fireworks bust over your head. Just wanted you kids in the states with stupid, unbearably infringing laws to see what you were missing

-Happy Independence Day from Tiki Chris, reporting from the launch deck at Pirate’s Cove Tiki Bar, Florida

The Jet Pilot - Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail!

Jet Pilot at The Mai-Kai

It may be hard to believe, but I had my first Jet Pilot cocktail at the Mai Kai last week. Lemme tell ya, that is one strong drink. Even the Matre ‘d thought I was crazy. But it’s a good one, no doubt about it kids.

There are a lot of screwed-up versions of this original Tiki Bar drink out there, using odd stuff like Bacardi Limon (yeah, that’s real authentic), but I found Beach Bum Berry’s recipe which is probably as close to (or exactly like) the original drink concocted by Don Beach 60+ years ago, during the heyday of jets and Tiki bars…

•    1/2 oz lime juice
•    1/2 oz grapefruit juice
•    1/2 oz cinnamon syrup
•    1/2 oz falernum (make your own falernum)
•    1 dash Angostura bitters
•    1 oz dark Jamaican rum
•    3/4 oz gold Puerto Rican rum
•    3/4 oz 151-Proof Lemon Hart Demerara Rum
•    6 drops Pernod
•    4 oz crushed ice
Throw everything into a blender, adding crushed ice last, and blend at high speed for five seconds. Pour into an old-fashioned glass. The Mai-Kai garnishes with a chunk of fresh pineapple speared on a sword. Works for me.

It’s stuff like”Pernod” and “Falernum” that makes a Tiki Lounge drink a Tiki Lounge drink. Most people don’t even know what that stuff is, and most bars won’t bother to carry it. But I guarantee you, making this drink yourself is well worth the effort. Mix it up, take a swing and TAKE OFF! (insert vintage jet-plane sound hear)

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the garden terrace at The Mai-Kai, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

JUST ADDED:

One of my Twitter friends sent me this groovy recipe for Falernum. You can buy it, but it’s more fun and will taste a lot better if you make it yourself. Visit the Post Prohibition website for the recipe.

It’s time for The Hukilau 2011!

Me, our friend Molly and my wife Colleen at the Mai Kai during The Hukilau 2010. I think that was Mai Tai number six.

That’s right kids, the big event is happening THIS WEEK…and it’s the 10th anniversary of The Hukilau, too!

PROOF that SoCal doesn’t have the monopoly on the koolest of koolness. The Hukilau in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is the east coast answer to the Tiki revival!

This year promises to be a truly swingin’ event, with more music, art, drinks and fun than ever. Wahini Colleeni and I have booked a room at the Bahia Mar, where much of the action is taking place, so we can have ALL the fun! So if any of you reading this are making it down to Fort Lauderdale this weekend, look for us!

Some of the highlights of this year’s Hukilau include:

• A “Rumposium” by cocktail-slinger extraordinaire Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, held at the world famous Mai-Kai
• The Tiki Treasure Bazaar featuring 40 of the koolest Tiki and Vintage sellers around
• TONS of entertainment including performances by The Intoxicators!, The Tikiyaki Orchestra, Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid, Grinder Nova, The Exotics, The Fishermen, DJ’s Lounge Laura Taylor & Drew Farmer, DJ’s Jack Fetterman and Gina of the Jungle and more all emceed by our old pal King Kukulele.
• Appearances/symposiums by Ian Burrell, Martin Cate, Wayne Curtis, Stephen Remsberg, Kevin Kidney & Jody Daily, Dick Dale, Vintage Roadside’s “Beautiful Girls That Live Like Fish!”, Paul Roe’s “Hawaii - Sailors, Sex and the Birth of Old School Tattoos”, Harold Golen Gallery of Miami and more
• The Hukilau Master Mixologist Challenge
• PARTIES PARTIES PARTIES
• And maybe a few surprises…

Stolen Idols at The Hukilau 2010

The Mai-Kai dinner show and some of the symposiums are already sold out, but there’s still plenty of elbow room at the parties. For a complete line up of entertainment and the schedule, visit The Hukilau website.

Aloha kids, see you in Fort Lauderdale!

-Tiki Chris reporting from the beach in front of the Yankee Clipper, Fort Lauderdale

Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail: Lots of Rum, and a fun video

Sometimes just throwing together some stuff can be a really good thing. This week we are featuring a rum drink that came about by literally throwing five rums together with coke and lime. There’s probably a drink out there with the same ingredients, but I’ve already had two of these so I’m making up a name myself, which alzo acounts for any typos, dammit…

Five Rums Named Moe

Get it? Like the old song? Ok, anyway, I came up with this because I have been building a nice collection of rums over the last year, and was too lazy to mix something difficult this afternooon. Soooo, here’s what I did…

1/2 oz each of:

Seven Tiki Rum
Eldorado Dememara Rum
Appleton Estate
Meyers Dark
Ten Cane

Throw all the rum together in a shaker with ice and shakkkke. strain ovEr rice in a large Tiki mug, and fill with Coke. Thenn add about 2-3 teasppons of fresh lime juice an stir. MMMm. Strong stufff.

I’m sure some of yoos guys will want to play around with the amounts of each rum to get the flavor just right. Me, I just want to go float in the pool. Somebody bring me some sunshine…

Bring Me Sunshine
by The Jive Aces with Ian Clarkson on vocals (and Ukulele)

If this video doesn’t make you smile, Jack you’re dead.

I would also like to thank Kelly Camille Patterson of The Velveteen Kitsch-en for the kookie cocktail stirrers. They’re tops! Look for a fun post on this crazy chick next week.

Have a Great Memorial Day Weekend! And to all the soldiers who are being remembered on this weekend, I tip my hat to you, where ever you are.

-Tiki Chris reporting from poolside at Tiki Island Resort