{"id":271,"date":"2007-06-21T10:24:21","date_gmt":"2007-06-21T14:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/2007\/06\/21\/who-invented-the-mystery-drink\/"},"modified":"2018-02-13T12:41:26","modified_gmt":"2018-02-13T19:41:26","slug":"who-invented-the-mystery-drink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/2007\/06\/21\/who-invented-the-mystery-drink\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Invented the Mystery Drink? – Answered!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bowl.jpg\"I have always believed that the Mystery Drink was created at the Mai Kai and copied by the Kahiki. I had wondered why my early Mai Kai drink menu copyrighted 1957 did not have it in the list. I knew it came later. In fact, I was told this last weekend at Hukilau that it was first served in 1962.<\/p>\n

The Kahiki opened in 1961. The oldest menu I have from there has the Mystery Drink on it. The bowl it shows on that menu is exceedingly rare. That bowl shows up in a few pictures of celebrities at the Kahiki from those early days. But for the Kahiki to copy the Mystery Drink, it would have to come at the very earliest, in 1962. More likely even later.<\/p>\n

If there are images from their opening showing the Mystery Drink, dated 1961, then the invention of this classic height of Poly Pop is now in doubt. I will search out my own archives later for the photographic evidence. Post your pics if you have it already before you.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> The Kahiki ran an insert in the newspaper on September 24th, 1961, with an image of the Msytery Bowl, and mentions the Mystery drink and where the Mystery Bowl was made. That stamps a clear date on the Kahiki Mystery Drink as 1961. If the Mai Kai served the first Msytery Drink in 1962, they were copying the Kahiki.<\/p>\n

\"kahiki-insert.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Does anyone have more proof on the Mai Kai doing a Msytery Drink before 1961?<\/p>\n

UPDATE 7-23-07<\/strong>: Kern Mattei, GM of the Mai Kai says the Mystery Drink was announced in their “Happy Talk” newsletter. If you are in possession of a pre 1961 “Happy Talk,” please check it for mention of the drink and report the facts!<\/p>\n

UPDATE 7-30-07:<\/strong> I asked Mimi Payne, who runs Arkiva Tropika <\/a>to look through her collection for a Happy Talk to try to prove this mystery. No luck on the Happy Talk, but, she did find in her collection that the Okole Maluna Club menu <\/a>had the Mystery Drink on it, and was dated 1958. Sure, that’s not 100% factual, but, nobody is going to make up a date on something like that. I consider this proven. The Mai Kai invented the Mystery Drink. <\/strong>Proof.<\/strong><\/a>\u00c2\u00a0And far earlier than was thought.<\/p>\n

UPDATE 2017:<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0 All the answers are in the book!\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have always believed that the Mystery Drink was created at the Mai Kai and copied by the Kahiki. I had wondered why my early Mai Kai drink menu copyrighted Read More …<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[536,547,11],"tags":[520,121,179,202,234,271,10],"class_list":["post-271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cocktail-capers","category-places","category-polynesian-pop","tag-cocktails","tag-drinks","tag-history","tag-kahiki","tag-mai-kai","tag-mystery-drink","tag-tiki"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/cover.jpg?fit=711%2C556&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p731sH-4n","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":244,"url":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/2007\/04\/29\/kahiki-collection\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":0},"title":"Kahiki Collection","author":"Swanky","date":"April 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A postcard of dinner at the Kahiki. Are you sure it's the Kahiki? Why, yes, it says so right on the pig! But to a collector, this is a laundry list of things to strive for. Penang #1 Drink mug - Paul Marshal \"Peanut\" mug. Unmarked, these are very common.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Tiki\" Collecting"","block_context":{"text":"\"Tiki\" Collecting","link":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/category\/polynesian-pop\/tiki-collecting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"kahiki necklace","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/kahiki-necklace-500x375.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":375,"url":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/2008\/08\/27\/molokai-bar-mai-kai-menu\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":1},"title":"Molokai Bar Mai-Kai Menu","author":"Swanky","date":"August 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Just when you think you know what's out there, something else comes along. Until about a month ago, I had never seen this menu. It is the \"missing link\" in a way. Oddly missing from the Mai-Kai drink menu that we all have seen that is dated 1957, is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Tiki\" Collecting"","block_context":{"text":"\"Tiki\" Collecting","link":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/category\/polynesian-pop\/tiki-collecting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/molokai-bar-cover-1.jpg?fit=500%2C382&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":176,"url":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/2006\/09\/25\/kahiki-lives\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":2},"title":"Kahiki lives!","author":"Swanky","date":"September 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"If there is a bigger fan of the Kahiki than tiki skip, I don't know them. There are a couple of collectors I see spending money on Ebay, but skip has a huge advantage because he is in Columbus and has had a good relationship with the owners of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\"Tiki\" Collecting"","block_context":{"text":"\"Tiki\" Collecting","link":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/category\/polynesian-pop\/tiki-collecting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":239,"url":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/2007\/04\/16\/kahiki-lush-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":3},"title":"Kahiki – Lush Life","author":"Swanky","date":"April 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00c2\u00a0Detail of a Kahiki postcard. Man, that's the life.","rel":"","context":"In "\"Tiki\" Collecting"","block_context":{"text":"\"Tiki\" Collecting","link":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/category\/polynesian-pop\/tiki-collecting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":117,"url":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/2006\/07\/03\/kahiki-made-clothing\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":4},"title":"Kahiki made clothing?","author":"Swanky","date":"July 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the great tiki temples of the era was the Kahiki in Columbus Ohio. I keep an eye out for ephemera from the place on Ebay all the time. The Moai mug is very common, but the clothing sold by bad spellers just drives me crazy!","rel":"","context":"In "\"Tiki\" Collecting"","block_context":{"text":"\"Tiki\" Collecting","link":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/category\/polynesian-pop\/tiki-collecting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":156,"url":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/2006\/08\/24\/hot-rod-hula-hop-2-columbus-oh\/","url_meta":{"origin":271,"position":5},"title":"Hot Rod Hula Hop 2 – Columbus, OH","author":"Swanky","date":"August 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Hot Rod Hula Hop 2 - Men in Fezes Second year for this event was funner and more hectic than last year. We Honui brothers of the Fraternal Order of Moai recieved our fezes. Something about that is like being in gang colors, but without the danger. Belonging. All weekend\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1388,"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions\/1388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swankpad.org\/blather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}