TIKI DREAMS — A Visit To The Museum Exhibit Celebrating Classic, Long-Gone Bay Area Tikidom

The California Bay Area is a hot spot for tikiphiles. With more than a dozen tiki bars in the vicinity (There are more than a half dozen in San Francisco alone.), the Bay Area is one of the bigger tiki meccas in the country. Since the dawn of tiki and all through its heyday, the Bay Area has been a Polynesian pop mini-nirvana. All of those glorious bars and restaurants are the stuff of legend today. A new exhibit at the Napa Valley Museum in Yountville, Tiki Dreams, takes visitors back in time for a glimpse of what Northern California tiki culture had to offer back in the day.

This past May, I was fortunate to be visiting California. Although I hadn’t arrived in time for the opening, I was going to have a chance to visit the museum not long after the exhibit debuted. I had contacted my new tiki pal, Gillian (whom I had met by chance when I visited Petaluma’s Kapu earlier in the year) and, along with my friend Erich, we made plans to go-go.

Since we were going to be in the area, Erich and I planned to meet Gillian for lunch first at Wilfred’s Lounge in Napa, Ca, just a few miles from the museum. It was great to see her. She was sporting some fab-o-rama homemade jewelry she had fashioned out of swizzle sticks from various tiki bars. How very clever. We also got to chat with our favorite waitress, Isabella.

We were having such a marvelous afternoon, that time got away from us. We were going to make a last minute effort to get to the museum and rush through the exhibit…when we decided to just wait until the next day to go. Gillian had already seen it. (She’d been able to go to the opening.) Erich and I were staying the night with friends in the area. What difference could a day make? That decision turned out to be very fortuitous. Not only did we get to spend more time with Gillian, but the next day when we actually got to the museum, an unexpected bonus surprise awaited us.

We reached the museum the next afternoon. It is housed on the grounds of the Veterans Home of California, and we had to pass though a guard-like station to gain access.

There was a giant tiki to one side of the museum as we approached. It wasn’t just a tiki, but an actual bar inside of the tiki. It reminded me of the one on the patio at Forbidden Island in Alameda, CA. Very cool.

When we finally got inside, we had the museum all to ourselves. That was beyond perfect, as it allowed us a chance to really get a good, uninterrupted look at the exhibit.

Tiki Dreams was nicely laid out and curated. Visitors are first welcomed by a Disney-like, Tiki Room-esque, audio-animatronic parrot named King.  

They are then given an introduction to tiki. There are examples of how the whole romanticized Polynesian thing took the country and pop culture by storm. There are fascinating artifacts, like a flyer for a 10,000 new home development called Tropicana Village and the packaging of a Swanson Polynesian Style TV dinner.

Aside from the collections and knowledge of curators Otto von Stroheim and Baby Doe, many of the artifacts on display and histories shared came from fellow tikiphiles. For example, the information for the section on Tiki Junction and Barney West (the man who carved the first wooden tikis for the original Trader Vic’s), was supplied by West expert Ray Puzey, who also DJ-ed the opening night party.

An old, neon Trader Vic’s sign with a flashing red arrow leads visitors on a voyage to the distant tiki past for a glimpse into the many tiki bars, restaurants, and palaces that dotted the Bay Area landscape during the initial tiki craze. There are matchbooks, dinnerware, menus, and photos of those wondrous, bygone establishments.

The various bars and restaurants are divided into sections, giving each its own retro spotlight into what once was. The Islander, Coral Reef, The Lanai, and Tiburon Tommie’s are just a few of the tiki places featured that are now, unfortunately lost to history. The photos of some (such as Skipper Kent’s Zombie Village of Oakland) are just jaw-dropping, making you wish you could step back in time and visit them in person.

The still-extant Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar is also included. Yet Trad’r Sam, a bar that is considered the oldest tiki establishment that is still in operation in the world (1937), is surprisingly only represented by a single sketch. Despite that, the tiki archaeologists have truly dug up some amazing artifacts from the distant tiki past.

At the back of the museum, the space is left pretty wide open intentionally. Tiki-themed event parties are scheduled throughout the run of the show A nifty corner bar, created by Woody Miller, is the focal point on those occasions, as libations are available there under the bar’s exotic hanging lamps. (After all, what would an exhibit celebrating tiki cocktail culture be without cocktails of its own?) A tiki mug commemorating the show (also designed and created by Miller) is available—but only at those special soirées.

This party space also features an incredible, vintage Witco bar set on display.

Sharp-eyed visitors may also get a tabu “eye full”…if they know where to look.

The final section of the exhibit is a look at tiki today. There is a small display of Otto von Stroheim’s TIKI NEWS zine (which may have been very instrumental in keeping tiki from slipping into total obscurity) on up to flyers for the annual Tiki Oasis event he and Baby Doe started in Palm Springs (before moving to its permanent home in San Diego). A collection of mugs and art from modern tiki artists also rounds out this final section, giving hope of keeping the Tiki Dreams of many enthusiasts alive.

The exhibit empties out into a gift shop area. There are plenty of cool tiki items up for grabs. I scored several items I wanted, but I realized I had failed to see another exhibit I wanted to experience, The Great California Road Trip 1962, in a different part of the museum. I asked the museum’s friendly ticket girl if I could leave my items there so I could see that other exhibit. (To visit it, you have to leave the main building.)

That turned out to be a lucky move. Once I’d seen the other exhibit and returned to make my purchases, I thought I noticed other people in the main gallery. I looked down at the far end of the room. There were some people with their backs to me. As they turned the corner, I caught a glimpse of the profile of the guy wearing a hat. Could it be…?

I asked the museum employee if she knew who they were. She said they were the people who were responsible for the exhibit, the curators. She didn’t know their names, but I did. Otto von Stroheim and Baby Doe? Here? Now? It was a Thursday afternoon. Why would they be there?

I stalked them through the exhibit, trying to get their attention. I heard one of them mention that they were needing to leave. I swung back around and ambushed them in the final section of the show. Despite my being older than them, I totally fanboy-ed out and got their photo.

That was a bonus Tiki Dream come true for me!

Tiki Dreams runs through December 31, 2023.

Napa Valley Museum Yountville
55 Presidents Circle
Yountville, CA, 94599
https://napavalleymuseum.org/