Tiki Culture in the United States began in 1934 with the opening of Don the Beachcomber, a Polynesian-themed bar and restaurant in Hollywood. The proprietor was Ernest Raymond Beaumont – Gantt, a Young man from Louisiana who had sailed throughout the South Pacific; later he legally changed his name to Donn Beach. His restaurant featured Cantonese cuisine and exotic rum punches, with a decor of flaming torches, rattan furniture, flower leis, and brightly coloured fabrics.

Three years later, Victor Bergeron, better known as Trader Vic, adopted a Tiki theme for his restaurant in Oakland, which eventually grew to become a worldwide Chain..

When American soldiers returned home from world war 2. They brought with them stories and souvenirs from the south Pacific. James Michener Won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for his collection of short stories, Tales of the South Pacific, which in turn was the basis for South Pacific, the 1949 musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, also a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Hawaiian Statehood further drove interest in the area and Americans fell in love with their romanticised version of an exotic culture. A further factor was the excitement surrounding the Kon-Tiki expedition. Polynesian design began to infuse every aspect of the country’s visual aesthetics, from home accessories to architecture.

Soon came integration of the idea into music by artists like Les Baxter, Arthur Lyman and Martin Denny, who blended the Tiki idea through jazz augmented with Polynesian, Asian and Latin instruments and ‘tropical’ themes creating the Exotica genre.
This Music Blended the elements of Afro –Cuban rhythms, unusual instrumentations, environmental sounds, and lush romantic themes from Hollywood movies, topped off with evocative titles like ‘Jaguar God’ into a cultured hybrid native to nowhere.

There were two more primary strains of this kind of exotica:
Jungle and Tiki. Jungle exotica was a Hollywood creation, with its roots in Tarzan movies and further back, to William Henry Hudson’s novel Green Mansions. Les Baxter was the king of jungle exotica, and spawned a host of imitators while opening the doors for a few more genuine articles such as Chaino, Thirston Knudson, and Guy Warren
Tiki exotica was introduced with Martin Denny’s Waikiki nightclub combo cum jungle noises cover of Baxter’s Quiet village. Tiki rode a wave of popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s marked by the entrance of Hawaii as the 50th state in 1959 and the introduction of Tiki hut bars and restaurants around the continental United States.

Tiki exotica has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, and Tiki mugs and torches that once collected dust in thrift stores are now hot items, largely because of their camp value.