A Moment of Tiki: Kon-Tiki, Tucson

November is here, bringing with it the all-new Episode 34 of A Moment of Tiki, in which we visit the historic Kon-Tiki in Tucson, Arizona! Established in 1963, the Kon-Tiki is a throwback to the Polynesian pop palaces of tiki's heyday. It's a fantastic immersive experience with the largest collection of Milan Guanko tikis in the world (in case you're wondering, Guanko was a Filipino carver who developed a reputation as one of the top carvers of the era, so his work is kind of a big deal).

There were a couple of things about our visit I didn't get to share in the video, so I'll do so here. First, I was surprised that the Kon-Tiki wasn't a stand-alone building. It's semi-detached in a strip mall area, and had we not been on the lookout for it, we might've just driven straight past. It looks as if it may have been stand-alone at one point, but somewhere along the line (I'm looking at you, 1970s) other stuff went up around it, some of which just happened to be built onto the restaurant. Odd, but the important thing is that the Kon-Tiki remains with us to this day. The other thing I noticed was the fact there are multiple flat screen TVs in there, presumably to draw in the sports crowds. That's unfortunate, and a bit of dissonance in an otherwise immersive tiki environment, but if those TVs are responsible for keeping the Kon-Tiki with us for decades to come, then I shall happily tolerate them.

And because I failed to share these here back when their first aired, I have a couple of bonus episodes for you as well. First is Episode 27: Podcasts A-Go-Go! in which I share some of the great podcasts that taught me much of what I know about tiki culture, rum, cocktails, music and woodworking. It's a diverse bunch.

And finally, Episode 26: Krypton Bar which involved a small tiki bar dating to the early 2000s I rescued from CraigsList and am in the process of refurbishing. Some day we'll have a restoration episode dedicated to it, but I'm only doing a bit here and a bit there on it, so progress is slow.

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