Sep 14 2026
In his essay of the “Cultures of Tiki,” Scott Lukas noted that in modern presentations of Tiki cultures that had little to do with Tiki of the past like the soft surf culture and the former car culture. These are now becoming a part of the Tiki culture. This is particularly true of surf music, …
Oct 30 2025
In 1958, a strange new magazine appeared on American newsstands. Its pages were filled with vampires, werewolves, giant apes, mad scientists, aliens, mummies, and creatures that seemed to have wandered out of late-night television and directly into the hands of young readers. It was called Famous Monsters of Filmland. Created by publisher James Warren and …
Oct 29 2025
By the early 1960s, American children could surround themselves with monsters. Frankenstein’s monster might appear on television after dark, Dracula could stare from the cover of a magazine at the drugstore, and the Wolf Man might be waiting in the toy aisle. There were model kits to build, masks to wear, games to play, figures …
Oct 28 2025
Long after the neighborhood movie theater had gone dark, another kind of horror show was just beginning. On Friday and Saturday nights during the 1950s and 1960s, television stations across America filled late-night hours with old horror movies, science-fiction pictures and inexpensive thrillers. Dracula might emerge from his castle after the evening news. Frankenstein’s Monster …
Oct 25 2025
Walk into almost any Halloween store and you will find them waiting: a vampire in a black cape, a green-faced monster with bolts in his neck, a bandaged mummy, a furry werewolf, or perhaps a mysterious woman with a towering streak of white hair. These figures feel so naturally connected to Halloween that it is …
Oct 23 2025
For a generation of young horror fans in the early 1960s, watching Frankenstein’s monster on television was only the beginning. Soon you could build him. Aurora Plastics transformed the growing American monster craze into one of the most memorable hobby phenomena of the era when it began producing plastic model kits based on famous movie …
Oct 18 2025
Born on October 18, 1903, in Zurich, Switzerland, Albert Frey became one of the architects most closely associated with Palm Springs and the development of Desert Modernism. He arrived in California with firsthand experience of European modernism, an enthusiasm for industrial materials, and a belief that architecture should respond intelligently to contemporary life. What he …
Jul 08 2024
We are used to the words “totem pole” to mean those long poles with carved figures on them. Usually we see totem poles with wings from birds or other animals. But in the Pacific islands, these pole structures are called Tiki poles or Tiki totem poles. Tiki totem poles from the islands of the Pacific …
Jun 26 2024
Before you hang a Tiki mask in your home, you might want want to learn more about the history of Tiki masks and the chosen mask for your house in particular. With the correct Tiki mask, you might invoke a blessing or serenity, or yikes, fertility! Deciding whether to decorate with a Tiki mask …
Jun 18 2024
When my sister went to Hawaii years ago, she brought me back a small Tiki wooden carving. The perfect gift from Hawaii, I thought. Every time I look at this carving, I think of Hawaii and the island culture. Of course I also think of my sister! Tiki statues, the totem poles, masks and all …
