This Tahoe history lesson includes everything from Disneyland to the Polynesian Pop Movement.
It all really begins at Harveys Wagon Wheel Casino. This Stateline legend started as a family run business in 1944 with one room, a six-stool lunch counter, and a few slot machines and blackjack tables. Through hard-work and a booming business model, in 1963 they built the first high rise in Tahoe. The new resort featured 197 rooms, a host of new table games, and a Polynesian restaurant called Top Of The Wheel.
The Tiki-themed restaurant was decorated by Eli Hedley. That's the same artist who designed Tiki shops at Disneyland and a host of other Tiki-themed spots across the country.
So this is my uber cool treasure. This Top of the World drink mug is adorned with the lounge's logo "Sneaky Tiki".This 7 ½" decorative drink vessel sent me on a search to learn all I could about it. What fun.This find is pristine. Made by the Otagiri Mercantile Company, a Japanese-based manufacturer of ceramics, its identifying sticker is still intact with the initials "OMC" and "Japan" very visible. So dang cool.
A little more about the Polynesian Pop Movement... Believe it or not, many believe its beginnings came from the 1935 film Mutiny on the Bounty.And the man who really made the movement spread was legendary tiki carver Eli Hedley. The Original Beachcomber began his career in a cove in San Pedro. In 1946, his unique profession netted him a yearly salary of $100,000. WOW. That just shows the value of the ocean's treats after WWII.So how did Disney get involved? In the early 1950s, the state of California wanted to turn Eli's cove into a state park. Walt sent his people to gather decor for this new place called Adventureland located in this new park called Disneyland.Walt was so impressed with Eli's authentic wares, he offered him a spot in Adventureland.Tiki's Tropical Traders was Eli's souvenir stand which he ran for the first several years of Disneyland's operations (1955-). The shop was owned by him, and rent free, in exchange for carving early Adventureland tikis and offering a general scenic and authentic feel to the place.The fine tradition of offering rubber snakes and shrunken heads to young adventurers continues to this day in approximately the same location as that 1950's Adventureland original. Who didn't have a shrunken head?!As America rode the wave of Polynesian pop as far as it could in the mid-century, the tsunami of the tiki came crashing down in the 1970s through the early ’90s. How cool is it that one thrift store find, no doubt purchased for less than $1, could offer such history and such an interconnection of things I love? Super fun find indeed.
posted under |
1 comments:
Love this! I had no idea! About any of it. That tiki cup looks exactly like mine, which I got when I bought a fancy drink at the Enchanted Tiki Bar!
I love tiki bars and had no idea about the history. There are a few in Palm Springs! I am glad that some survived.
Who knew the Traders shop had so much history?
I forget, have you been to the Tiki Bar outside Disneyland. Ugh I miss Disneyland so much!!
Post a Comment