Sweet Redemption and an Incredible Home Bar Tour!

Back before the days of Facebook and Instagram, we tiki collectors would congregate online at a place called Tiki Central. That website, Sven Kirsten's books, Tiki Oasis, and maybe a couple of other events were really responsible for the resurgence of tiki. 

Together, with thousands of other tiki fans, we have categorized and searched out most of the mid-century Polynesian Pop treasures of the past. The early days were really exciting! People were discovering new mugs and bars/ restaurants every day. A web search in the late '90s and early 2000s of the word 'Tiki' literally went from pulling up info about a football player (Tiki Barber) to hordes of information about any vintage tiki place, carver, event, music... It has been incredible to see the change happen.

But I'm getting off track here- the reason that I bring up Tiki Central is because in browsing the site, you would tend to see the same usernames pop up over and over. My first real (in person) friend from Tiki Central was a guy who called himself Sabu the Coconut Boy. I'm still on there as 'Luckydesigns'. Not very relevant now, but whatever...

So over the years, I'd see this name, Erich_Toudt come up... Wasn't the kind of guy to go make up some name, he was always insightful and finding incredible tiki stuff out in the 'wild'. I've met LOTS of people from the golden era of Tiki Central but I had never met Erich before.

When he saw that I got that Witco bar a couple of weeks ago and witnessed the debacle I just went though last week with some Witco stools on Craigslist (relive my nightmare here, he casually mentioned to me in a private message on TC:

"Hey, I've got some of those stools that match your bar. You want them?" 

Huh?? YES, I DO! 

His place is about an hour north east of my place and I set out for the drive. 

But when I got there, I wasn't expecting to see what I saw...

When I arrived to his large house in a rural mountainous part of southern California, I texted Erich and he came out to meet me. We walked through the side-yard to find a littered mess of nautical ephemera and cast away tiki stuff. I recognized the area as the work-in-progress spot. Stuff you don't want to put away into storage because your just about to get to it. I've got the same thing going at my house... Shells, crates, barrels, tikis! Some really good stuff that I would have been stoked to have in my bar!

Each one of these bins were filled with clam and conch shells. He goes hunting for stuff three times a week and never pays more than five bucks for a shell.

The shell collection alone was impressive!

Then I saw it... The Hut

He said that it has taken him about 4 years to put the Hut together... 

...and it all started with this little wall that was just supposed to hide a propane tank.

We're not even in the Hut yet and look at all of this stuff! the lava rocks, floats, tikis, shells, a cannon(?!). 

We walked around the Hut and he kinda went over some of the design features that he and his Dad employed on the outside. It's a very well-built stand alone structure.

I was dying to get inside!

The first thing that I noticed when I came inside was this GIANT intricately carved tiki. He said that it originally came from Jungle Sea Imports in Glendale. It was purchased and displayed by a tiki-themed liquor store in the 1960s. There was also one of the same style at the Tonga Lei in Malibu.

Here's Erich, standing with it.

And in the Jungle Sea Imports catalog...

Another incredible large tiki that he has in the Hut is this light colored guy with the head between his knees. 

One of three in the cannibal headhunter series, these were used as the mascots of the Kon Tiki chain of restaurants.

Where are the other two??

He has a great Disney tiki/ Trader Sams collection as well!

He bought the two tiki drummers from Disney and made the center guy himself.

Just below that are some nice, wall-mounted portholes and an incredible vintage nautical lamp. The barrel with the cleat on top serves as a trash can.

To the left of that is a real watertight door! It was salvaged from the ship in that little bamboo frame to the right of the light. 

These nautical touches just add authenticity to the whole Hut. Look at the size of that clam shell too!!

Nice ceiling treatment of vintage Hawaiian and Exotica vinyl covers in the closet behind the watertight door!

As we walked around the room, I began to notice the small little carvings within all of the carved trim. Erich did all of these with a router.

Then we started getting into the tiki mugs, Coco Joes, and treasure craft stuff. He has some of the most rare tiki stuff I've ever seen in person.

Another giant clam shell!

These Coco Joes plaques on the left are some of the only ones known to exist.

Two of his three tiki hibachis. 

Witco wall mask flanked by a bunch of Bali Hai and Trader Vics stuff.

Impressive collection of Mai Tai Joe (commonly referred to as Suffering Bastard) mugs and decanters. I found a decanter (the guy on the far left) myself, in a thrift store in Stockton, CA when I was going to college up there. I paid a DOLLAR for him. Still, one of my greatest tiki finds...

A Witco stool converted into a cigar ashtrayThis painting covers a large flat-screen TV. No need to show off a big TV in a tiki hut... but it is probably pretty nice to have when you do want to hang out in there and put something on like the DVD of tiki or my own (ahem) Tiki WeirdoLand DVD.

Aside from the really rare 'Suffering Bastard' decanters and mugs, these Bali Hai plates blew me away! I had NEVER seen those before! There's another one on ebay right now. They're asking $250 or something around there for it. Wow.

Above the TV, a hanging barrel hides a fresh air vent. 

This was one of my favorite mugs of his that I had never seen before. I'm kinda partial to Hula Girl mugs!

So, while I just expected to go pick up some vintage Witco stools, I also got a tour of an incredible home tiki hut and made a new buddy. He gave me a great deal on three good sized clam shells and an old barrel. Oh, and the stools?

...the stools are safely home in The Breezeway with the matching bar that they would have been sold with. I just need to replace the fabric back to leopard and do some work on the wood to get the dark Witco sheen back!

Thanks again for the deals and the hospitality, Erich! It was a blast!

-Spike-

By the way, The Hula Girls are playing Room #1749 at Tiki Oasis on Friday night at 10:00. Hope to see y'all there!