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What's New Today on The Swank Pad? Updated 8-27-08
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Click Here for the
"Hapa Haole
Hideaway" Tiki Bar Web Cam
Swank Blather
Mai Kai - The Postcards
- The complete collection of known Mai Kai postcards
TikiDaze
- Retro Tiki Wall Calendar!
Puffer Fish Tiki Bar Lamps For Sale
- A key part of any tiki bar, the Swank Pad is glad to now sell puffer fish lamps direct to you.
The Building of Hale Tiki
- A modern classic tiki bar in Augusta, GA. Swanky, Bamboo Ben, Crazy
Al and Basement Kahuna spent a week building out the bar and turned a old
shell into a masterpiece Sven Kirsten called one of the finest bars built in
recent times.
Hapa Haole Hideaway Tiki Bar Tour
- A tour of my home tiki bar
The Swank Vinyl Exotica CD II
- 30 Tracks of vintage vinyl for your tiki bar soundtrack. The exotic
mood of the classic tiki bar is recreated from vintage vinyl.
Spiegel 1969
- The 1969 Spiegel catalog. First we had the Fembots, now we see where they
live, and how they treat the men and children...
Attack of the Fembots! - Where serious megalomaniac scientists go to dress their luscious robot army!
These images are real. Women wore these things.
1957 Spiegel Catalog -
The beautiful world of Star Bright Living. An incredible view of the height
of style of the generation!
1951
Household magazine - The oddities of life in 1951.
Ads that are from another era.
Knoxville Then & Now
- Urban Archeology in Knoxville, TN. I take vintage postcards of diners
and motels and find what exists of those locations today. Sometimes the
entire building is there, others there is nothing, and many have a
tantalizing remnant of their former glory.
Vanishing 50s America
- Hotels, Homes, Diners, Signs, Architecture and more of what remains of a
more beautiful time in America. As I travel, I document it's vanishing past.
The American Home
- Fun views from 1957 Better Homes and Gardens - Incredible furniture and great designs from the height
of 1950's culture, at which I take pot shots and poke fun.
The
Grogalizer - The companion site for "The Grog Log" and "Intoxica." Helps you find the recipes you can make from these great books.
The Swank Vinyl Exotica CD
- 32 Tracks of vintage vinyl for your tiki bar soundtrack. From Werner Muller to Charles Mauu and many points in between.
Hukilau 2002 in Atlanta
- The first year of my tiki event Hukilau. Voted best event of the year by Creative Loafing Mazagine.
Hukilau 2003 at the Mai Kai
- The first year Hukilau was held at the Mai Kai. Co-organized by Bre-elle and Tristan Ishtar, Hukilau found its new home with the incredible aloha of the Mai Kai family.
Hukilau 2004 at the Mai Kai
- The year of the huricane at Hukilau. The best year for Hukilau, and Jeanne hit us!
Caption the Cartoon Contest
- Classic cheesecake cartoons of Bill Ward in a quarterly contest to come up
with the best new caption. Winner receives a custom CD of Swank Pad lounge
classics
Mango Fever! - Some eat mango. we drink it! Here's how to prepare it for either.
Drink recipes for China Village Mai Tai, and more.
The Ultra Rare Tiki Gardens Souvenir LP
- Sorry, the MP3's have been removed at the request of the owner of the copyrights.
Headlines from other sites

Back on April Fools Day, I ran a prank story about Tokyo Disneyland’s Stitch-themed Enchanted Tiki Room show coming to Orlando. Truth is often stranger than fiction, and rumors are now swirling through the Utilidors and across the internet that such a scenario may be true. Even stranger (and more blissful for some) is the notion that the original show may be restored in Orlando during The Magic Kingdom’s 40th Anniversary celebration, since the technologically-upgraded and slightly shortened show is playing so well in California.
From Progress City:
This brings us to the final attraction currently rumored to be destined for rehab - the Enchanted Tiki Room. Unlike the two previously mentioned show upgrades, this refurbishment currently resides only in the realm of rumor and hearsay. Yet multiple sources continue to say that, at some point before 2011, something will happen to the Tiki Room. This stands to reason; after all, aside from Journey into YOUR Imagination, The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management! has to be the most reviled attraction overhaul in Walt Disney World history. Disney fans have bemoaned the attraction since it opened in 1998, and mostly tend to stay away these days. Meanwhile, in California, the original Tropical Serenade show was fully restored for Disneyland’s 50th anniversary and plays daily to happy and entertained guests. So what’s to happen in Orlando after Iago and Zazu get the boot?
Here opinions differ; so far there seem to be two versions of the story. The first says that for Walt Disney World’s 40th anniversary the show will be returned to its original program for a short time while preparations are made for the installation of an entirely new show. The other version omits this return of the Tropical Serenade and says that WDI will just skip to the new attraction. Both versions agree on what this new show will be - after all, it’s already playing in Tokyo.
There’s a number of hurdles, technological and financial, that would have to be jumped in order to bring the original show back to Orlando. For example, the Magic Fountain was removed at WDW and replaced with an AA figure. Is the fountain sitting in storage somewhere, or was it scrapped? Were the waterlines and pumps closed off and removed, or still accessible? Was the programming of the show, which used to run off of 35mm movie film in a bin loop, ever converted over to whatever system the new show is using?
In it’s day, WDW’s Tiki Room was Walt’s show fully realized. Free of the confines of the 1963 budget and restaurant-conversion, Orlando’s Tropical Serenade was majestic, spacious, comfortable, and had real working rain that you see out the windows! It would be wonderful to have it back, if only for a short time.
Read the full story at Progress City






According to news reports, Republican National Convention attendees spent Saturday enjoying a “Tiki in Minnesota” party on Lake Minnetonka, before Hurricane Gustav sidetracked the conventioneers fun.
I can’t wait for photos to show up on flickr to see if it was a genteel cruise of lemonade sippers or a rum-fueled hedonistic getaway that would even make the 2005 Vikings blush. Prince was not available for comment at press time.
Read the story at Canada.com

I’m really digging the Balinese puppet show feel of this lamp from Lamps Plus — it reminds me of the more authentic-looking outdoor lamps used at the Royal Pacific Hotel at Universal Orlando.
The base is metal and the lid is made out of wicker with a metal pull. 13 inches high by 7.25 inches wide.
$49.99
Buy the LAMPS PLUS Palm tree wicker accent lamp at Amazon.com
The ax fell on yet another Trader Vic’s location on August 23rd, 2008, when the restaurant at Lincoln Square in Bellevue, Washington, shut its doors.
My wife and I actually visited this location in August of 2006 and had a wonderful time and delicious food & cocktails; in 2007 the restaurant won an AOL’s Seattle CityGuide award for “Best Cocktail,” but reports from late in 2008 indicated less-than-stellar service and so-so food. According to The Seattle Times, the location just wasn’t profitable. The restaurant opened on March 6, 2006.
Read the story in The Seattle Times




It’s always hard to find gifts for tiki-loving gals — other than vintage dresses and the occasional bamboo purse, tiki comes off as a “guy thing.”
That’s why I was pleased to find Rubi Rocket, a small jewelery company from Australia that has created a line of jewelry for 2009 called, “Tiki Lounge.” The line consists of necklaces, earrings, brooches, bracelets, and rings that feature motiffs of tikis, hula girls, flowers, ukuleles, pineapples, and palm trees. Each is made from laser-cut acrylic plastic and etched wood.
$20-$34AU.
See Tiki Lounge Jewelry at RubiRocket.com


So you want to use some images from The Swank Pad? Ok. You can, IF you credit The Swank Pad with a link and you download the images and put them on your server rather than linking to The Swank Pad images directly. And drop me a line too. Thanks! -Swanky aka Tim Glazner
What is The Big Hairy Deal?