From spiritual concept to cocktail culture
Tiki is part of a belief that is based on a spiritual concept, typically Polynesian. The tropical birth of the Tiki culture is originating from the Marquesas Islands, this spirituality is spread throughout Oceania through the embodiment of statues in lava rock, wood, and even human bones. These representations are present in different forms, considered as oceanic art, such as jewels and tattoos with mystical meanings. Some of these depictions are faces with large round eyes engraved and painted on stones, some also representing the Maori Gods.
With the birth of resorts in the Caribbean (especially in Barbados, Bahamas, Cuba, and Jamaica) and with the rise of air travel and the availability of residential air conditioning, tourist was encouraged to travel in these paradisiac locations.
And for the people that couldn’t afford the voyage, there was the birth of bars in America by the tropical picture.
Two people, in particular, built the US Tiki empire: Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, aka” Donn Beach,” and Victor Bergeron, aka “Trader Vic.”
Gantt was born in Texas, but he left home young, touring the Caribbean with his grandfather for a few years; then, when the Prohibition took effect, he became a bootlegger, smuggling contraband rum into the US from the Bahamas. In 1930, Gantt moved to Hollywood, and once the prohibition was repealed, he opened a bar later known as “Don the Beachcomber.” The place and the drinks were a mixture of Caribbean philosophy.
In the 1930s, Victor Bergeron took an interest in Don the Beachcomber’s bar. He opened a restaurant in Oakland that was inspired by his trips to Cuba, where he met the legendary cantinero Constante. So he started to adopt and share his Cuban philosophy all around the globe.
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