The elaborate cosplay of Comic-Con is now gone but you can find an equally dazzling display of fandom at Tiki Oasis through Sunday at the recently and beautifully renovated Town And Country Resort. Plus cocktails and live music.
Addressing cultural misappropriation
Tiki Oasis has always been about one thing: Escape.
But in recent years, with increased awareness about cultural misappropriation, it has had to deal with the real world and serious issues. But Tiki Lindy, a mixologist and invited speaker, wanted to remind people that Tiki culture began when young servicemen — many of whom had never been out of the U.S. — were deployed to tropical military bases during World War II and fell in love with the exotic island life.
"But when they returned home, there wasn't any type of way to experience that stateside for these post-military, post-World War II veterans," Tiki Lindy said. "So the Tiki culture came about as a Hollywood-esque, romanticized version of these island cultures. So when we think about the culture of Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka — very different cultures — but they all have one thing in common, that's island living. And of course, the dark side of things, which is colonization. I think those who have been in this Tiki appreciation world, truly understand the line between cultural misappropriation and cultural appreciation."
Maintaining an oasis in a post-pandemic world facing a contentious election and still mounting social justice issues can be a challenge. But if you do want to put all that aside for just a few days, then Tiki Oasis is your destination.
Kitschy escapism
Tiki Oasis is about fashion, cocktails, kitschy fun, and, most of all, escape. For more than two decades Tiki Oasis has boasted that it’s the biggest Tiki Weekender on the planet and will quell your wanderlust and quench your thirst. Tiki Lindy can do the latter with some Tiki-era cocktails.
"When we talk about Tiki-era cocktails, we specifically think to the two pioneers in Tiki Bar. So that's Trader Vic or Vic Bergeron and Donn Beach or Don the Beachcomber, who back in the '30s and '40s were the two main guys to bring all these disparate island cultures together and the ingredients from those areas to make craft cocktails," Tiki Lindy explained.
Tiki-era cocktails emerged out of spirit-forward Prohibition cocktails, and used tropical ingredients and had a citrus component. Plus an added flair.
"So you tend to see beautiful exotic garnishes, orchids, pineapple leaves, fun straws," Tiki Lindy added. "You'll see a lot of fun escapism just in the drink itself because it should be both the environment and then the microcosm of your experience right there in front of you with the cocktail."
On Friday, Tiki Lindy will explore spices in Tiki cocktails.
"How to use spices in rum-based cocktails and the history of how spices ended up in rum-based cocktails," Tiki Lindy said.
In addition to Tiki Lindy's cocktail tutorials, Tiki Oasis offers seminars on vintage hair styling, lamp building, posing for photos underwater, and feminism and mid century architecture. There's even a seminar on confessions of a fire-eating mermaid. Plus you can always find dancing, live music, an art show, and a marketplace featuring artists and makers.
As its name implies, Tiki Oasis provides refuge, relief, and a pleasant contrast to harsh realities so plan an escape way out west where the sun meets the sea.
