The tiki has had a definite resurgence," noted Doug Nason, co-owner of Copro-Nason Gallery in Culver City, Calif.
A lot of today's tiki art came out of hot-rod designs, but the icon of the tiki symbolizes the whole 20th century," he said.
Nason recently curated a tiki art show at the Hollywood, Fla.
Shag, who has a collection of 300 tiki mugs in his living room and a tiki mask hanging above his fireplace, believes post-Polynesian pop is a growing phenomenon.
But it was the GIs returning from the South Pacific, where they had been the conquering heroes, who helped spur Americas first big love affair with tiki.
Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdal published his own bestseller, Kon Tiki, the tale of his voyage to prove that Polynesians migrated from South America to the South Pacific.
What is most amazing about the tiki trend is it lasted so long," observed Otto von Stroheim, who publishes a zine called Tiki News.
On eBay, tiki mugs and other tiki items fetch multiple bids; recently, a Florida seller offered a complete tiki bar.
Indeed, now that tiki and Polynesian pop are fashionable again, even Disney has plans to build a new Enchanted Tiki Room attraction at its Disney Paris theme park.
Pete Moruzzi, a computer sales executive, built a tiki bar in his Southern California home in 1994.
Aerospace engineer John Kurtz is collecting tiki ashtrays from the 1950s and `60s, and plans to hang them like art on the walls of his Los Angeles home.
