Well kids, it’s true. I stole this from someone’s post on Facebook. If you are say, tiki-curious, the answers to these questions are foundational knowledge about how the culture and art form developed.
Tiki trivia from Learned League:
1. Let’s start at the very beginning. The “founding father” of tiki culture is generally acknowledged to be the man born as Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt. He later changed his name, some say to disassociate himself from a bootlegging background. What new name did Gantt choose for himself – a name that looks good when carved into a piece of scavenged driftwood?
2. What Polynesian-themed restaurant chain was started in 1934 by Gantt’s chief rival, a bar owner in Oakland, California? The chain currently boasts 19 restaurants in places such as Emeryville, California and London, England (as famously mentioned by Warren Zevon in his song “Werewolves of London”)
3. Perhaps the most famous tiki drink is a potent potable consisting of (according to the IBA) light and dark rum, lime juice, orgeat syrup, and curaçao liqueur, garnished with a mint sprig. Its name is said to be a corruption of the Tahitian word for “good” or “excellent.” What is the two-word name of this classic of the tiki genre?
4. Tiki drinks are often served in decorative ceramic mugs that recall the Rapa Nui-carved monoliths of Easter Island. What is the name of these monoliths, which often depicted the living faces of deified ancestors? Click here
5. Tiki bar decoration usually incorporates a dimly-lit tropical beach motif, often featuring fishing nets, floats, lots of carved wood, and the occasional simulated thunder and lightning storm. The chairs are often made from the wood of what type of climbing palm, of the subfamily Calamoideae?
6. Who wrote the 1948 Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories, Tales of the South Pacific, later used by Rogers & Hammerstein as the basis for their 1949 musical South Pacific? The musical included the song “Bali Ha’i,” which inspired a coffee-tinged tiki drink of the same name.
7. Chicago boasts several great tiki bars, including one named after one of Gantt’s most popular drinks, the Three Dots and a Dash – a throwback to the end of World War II. What letter of the alphabet does the cocktail’s title signify in Morse code?
8. Fill a wonton wrapper with a combination of cream cheese, crab or imitation crab meat, scallions or onions, and garlic. Seal the wrapper, then deep fry and serve hot, accompanied by a dipping sauce. What pupu platter staple does this describe?
9. Gather several friends around the communal bowl, grab your extra-long straws, and name this tiki punch that consists of light rum, brandy, orgeat, lemon juice, and orange juice. Even without a tail, it’ll sting ya! Click here
10. Well after the origin of the garishly colored Blue Hawaii cocktail, Elvis Presley starred in the 1961 film of the same name alongside which actress (and future Cabot Cove resident)?
11. Introduced in 1984 at the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland, what wildly popular pinapple-flavored frozen treat contains no actual fruit, but only trace amounts of pineapple juice powder?
12. In 2014, the resurgent tiki movement reached New Orleans with the opening of the bar Latitude 29 in the Bienville House Hotel. What prolific tiki historian and author of must-have tiki books such as Intoxica! and Sippin’ Safari is the proprietor of Latitude 29?