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The Neanderthals steal the show at the Hukilau in Fort Lauderdale. (Veda Jo Jenkins / sflimages.com)
Photos: Hukilau in Fort Lauderdale
Video: Celebrating Hawaiiana at Hukilau
It was all Tiki at the ninth annual Hukilau, bringing attendees from all over the United States and the world to the Bahia Mar hotel in Fort Lauderdale.
Over the four day event guests learned about the history of Florida’s Weeki Wachee, Polynesian history, how to make “suffering bastard” drinks, and attended a mermaid viewing at the nearby Wreck bar at the Sheraton. They danced to music and dined at the Mai-Kai, one of Fort Lauderdale’s oldest Polynesian restaurants.
The main event Friday night was music and dancing.
Emcee King Kukulele and Crazy Al entertained the crowd between sets. Musical performances by Stolen Idols, Walk the Plank, Reverend Valentine and Sweet Hollywaiians, who came all the way from Osaka, Japan, played pure Polynesian rhythm but it was the Neanderthals who topped off the night. Dressed in caveman garb, black high-top sneakers and masks, the band and go-go girls took the crowd back to the ’50’s and turned the room into a beach blanket dance party.
Veda Jo Jenkins is a photographer/writer for sflimages.com. Click on the image to see that site.
“Everything I’ve been to has exceeded my expectations,” shared first-timer James Honeycutt from Atlanta. “I found my Tiki people … I’ll definitely be back next year.”
“The Hukilau was started in Atlanta in 2001, and here in Florida, it has even survived hurricanes over the years,” reported volunteer coordinator Shelley Knepper. Close to 30 volunteers help make the event a success.
In this crazy little mixed up world we live in, many of us tail-end baby boomers are looking wistfully over our shoulders. We are looking back at that wonderful world that greeted us back in the 1960′s. Hukilau and the whole “tiki culture” is a re-immersion into mid-20th Century culture. Hukilau is a grand celebration of these pangs of nostalgia.
We are far more than just collectors of tiki. We are fanatics of mid-century architecture and style. We are hot-rod fanatics, vintage clothing collectors, groupies of Martin Denny, Les Baxter and exotica music. We are surf-niks grooving to bands that pay homage to the Ventures and other bands that brought the art form to fruition. We embrace artifacts that remind us and transport us to carefree times.
We freely admit that this “little thing of ours” is a tool of escapism…perhaps much like the afternoon cocktail party was an escape for our parents, at the end of a long laborious day in 1965. Sans melancholy, we celebrate the culture that raised us with the same joy de vivre that gave it its initial birth!
Cocktails anyone?
Shaken AND stirred — Vince Martini (aka – Mark Hooper)
I am the ultimate tail end baby boomer (1964) and I remember my parents getting ready to go out to Traders Vic’s. My Dad was in the Navy and was stationed in Alameda. They were Friday night regulars for years, and appear in the some of the old promotional material.
The reason I’m ‘tiki’ is these due to these fond memories.
Sometime I wish I was born 25 years sooner. Except I would be really old now.
Where can I get the blue tee with the black design. The 7th pic.
Having reading this blog i realize it was helpful in so many ways. Genius!