Last week, I discovered that the super-popular Tiki website critiki.com had ceased operations. Long known for its vast database of Tiki establishments around the world, the site has been the go-to guide for tiki bars, restaurants and Polynesian pop for years. Readers have noticed that posts became much more sparse in recent months, but no one had any indication the site was about to close up shop.
Humuhumu, the website’s owner was very clear on the reason: Cultural Appropriation, that old bugaboo. “The Hawaiian culture is just one in a literal ocean full of misunderstood Pacific cultures,” she writes. “It is difficult for these cultures—and when we say culture, let’s be clear, we’re talking about people—to be visible, and honored, over the loud noise and suffocating weight of the other cultures they are forced to share space with, both in the islands and here on the mainland. Critiki has played a role in taking up some of that space, and making it harder—not easier—for people to understand the cultures of the Pacific. I regret that.”
WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING?
As can be expected, the reactions were fast and pretty one-sided. We love our Tiki, as evidenced by some of these online comments from Reddit:
One reader wrote: “Cultural appropriation arguments are some of the worst thought-out ideas I’ve ever heard. Tiki bars are an American invention. It’s kitsch…it’s not supposed to be an accurate representation of Polynesian culture. It’s pop. If anything, it causes more people to be exposed to Polynesian culture than anything else. It’s an homage.”
Another wrote this: “What bothers me the most is the fact that the website is essentially a historical archive of tiki places and that although it was HER website it was crowd sourced by hundreds of people, it was information, reviews and pictures people provided her with. And from what I know she didn’t offer to have anyone take it over or continue with it.”
Also, “Up until just a couple weeks ago when I was looking for options on a vacation. It’s a shame that the owner feels that the site has contributed to making the world of tiki worse, when I truly feel the website was an invaluable resource for tiki. It will be missed.”
Over on Tiki Central, similar thoughts were posted:
“It irritates me to no end that any single person has the power to obliterate that many years of discussion, history, and research off the internet, deadlinking probably hundreds of thousands of pages. Now I feel sorry to have contributed so many things there.”
Also, “While I respect the personal decision from Humuhumu to step away for what I similarly consider to be valid reasons, burning it all down on the way out and taking a broadside at everyone who hasn’t landed in exactly the same place…not so much.”
SO, IS TIKI REALLY JUST RACIST APPROPRIATION?
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times from 2019, “The word ‘tiki’ traces to New Zealand and the Marquesas Islands. It refers to sacred images of gods and creation. In the plasticized, popcorn-ceilinged suburbs of post-WWII America, ‘tiki’ evoked a lost world of palm-ringed beaches, happy natives and rum-fueled sexual release…Places like the Luau in Beverly Hills, the Tonga Room in San Francisco and the Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale created sticky, pineapple-sweet microverses. By the late 1960s, during its decline, a politically more progressive generation of Americans saw tiki as retrograde or worse.”
Hmm…so, apparently, tiki is offensive not only because of its disrespectful treatment of cultures, but also because of its celebration of ‘colonialism.’ And progressive thinkers and drinkers decided to move on to more ‘sophisticated’ imbibing. Interesting. The article then points out, however, that tiki came screaming back from the dead when German filmmaker Sven Kirsten introduced the term ‘Polynesian Pop’ in his “The Book of Tiki,” published in 2000. The book was basically a call to arms to revisit and revive the genre, replacing much of the kitsch with Midcentury Modern aesthetics. God bless you, Sven Kirsten!
“Tiki art was never intended to be taken seriously or to portray the real thing,” Kirsten wrote. “It was always a loving, naive homage to a culture envied and longed for, and never meant as a parody, or patronizing ridicule of another belief. Why is it being dragged into that negative perspective?”
WE LOVE OUR TIKI AND POLY POP
Yeah, we love our tiki. And let’s face it — we’re in the middle of a thriving renaissance right now that is creating even more places for us to love. But, if cultural critics (ugh… what a crotchety, un-fun group of troublemakers) are to be believed, then perhaps our current tiki trajectory can include respectful depictions alongside the kitschy nostalgia. I agree and fully embrace the common response: “Appreciation — not appropriation.” None of us (well, most of us) don’t truly regard tiki as factual history and sacred religious expressions. Nope. No more than we consider Taco Bell a true representation of Mexican culture, or Pizza Hut the high point of Italian cooking. (But folks, the Mexican Pizza? Yes! It’s back.)
Tiki is uniquely American, created by Donn the Beachcomber and Trader Vics in California as a way to escape the urban jungle of city streets and the rancor of 9-to-5 life. Tiki, or as Sven so eloquently reframed it, Polynesian Pop is an escape… not to a culture, but to a feeling. To a beach. To a supremely calming place. Yes… tiki incorporates imagery from the islands. But not to denigrate it, or to belittle it… but to love it. Appreciate it. And be inspired.
Last week I enjoyed lunch with some friends at a Tiki-themed sushi and Asian food restaurant in Los Angeles, which was also hosting a tiki marketplace. Music was provided by an older native Hawaiian gentleman who had lived most of his life in Hawaii, but now split his time between California and the islands. We discussed the Critiki issue and I asked him, point blank, “Is Tiki cultural appropriation?” And his answer was even more point blank: “That’s just bull@$!t!” According to this man—I estimated him to be at least 80—“Hawaiian” is more a spirit than it is a culture. The spirit of the islands, the heart of “aloha,” he says, is not owned by the people who live there… it’s owned by people who love it. Who visit. And who cherish it and carry it back home with them.
Aloha!