Tiki Style
Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
Soon after the island-themed Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s restaurants started serving tropical island cocktails in the early 1950s, the tiki mug came on the scene.
Fun to drink out of and to take home as souvenirs, the ceramic mugs with the smiling tiki god faces became a permanent part of our culture.
Exotic and irreverent, the mugs tell of far-away lands and adventure.
They invite us to indulge in a drink and give in to escapist fantasies far from the maddening crowd.
Filled with Polynesian drinks from rum punch and Singapore slings to mai tais and zombies, the tiki mugs take us away to the South Seas.
More than just kitsch, tiki mugs are recognized as an art form now and are even displayed in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
Like the American spirit itself, the tiki mug represents a feeling of optimism and a sense of endless possibilities freed from everyday conventions.
SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel love the playful tiki mugs and the gods themselves, beckoning us to merriment and mischief.
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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.
