The Windsor Historical Society celebrated the mid-20th century tiki bar with an evening of icy drinks and kitschy snacks.
John Mooney, the society’s education outreach manager, wore a straw fedora and Hawaiian shirt while he sipped a Singapore Sling. The society holds biannual historic libation and drinks events.
“We’ve been wanting to do this for a while. These drinks are fun, and they taste good. It’s an interesting cultural period,” said Mooney. “This is the mid-20th century was when people decided that South Pacific culture was something they wanted to get into, at least when they were drinking.”
Americans mixed South Pacific and Caribbean cultures, as the drinks are mostly rum-based, he said.
“It’s a weird hodge-podge of things or cultural appropriations, frankly. That’s how the mid-20th century was,” Mooney said.
Tiki bars peaked in the 1940s and 1950s, heavily influenced by veterans who served in the South Pacific in World War II.
“The tiki bar held a fond memory for the GIs who slogged their way to victory,” Mooney said.
Mooney said veterans were also writing about their experience in the region, which spurred the mystical South Pacific.
“Then you had the Kon-Tiki Expedition where people are trying to prove that people might have come to Polynesia from South America. So that captures the imagination,” he said. “There was this exoticism about it, and Americans like that, they like this tropical ideal.”
Tiki bars hark back to the Great Depression, a time when people needed an escape from the daily doldrums, according to Mooney.
His drink of choice, the Singapore Sling, predates the tiki bar phenomenon, The drink originated in a Singapore bar in the 1920s. Singapore was still under British rule, followed by the Japanese occupation in WWII.
“It’s a gin-based drink, so it’s a little different than most of them,” Mooney said.
The gin-laced drinks began to appear on 1950s menus.
“Gin was more expensive, and you could sell them for more,” he said.
For a real tiki party, Mooney said a “low-key” attitude, torches, and Mai Tais – the “quintessential” tiki drink – are a must.
“It’s pretty hot out, and it’s a nice way to cool down,” he said, as the night’s temperatures still hovered around 90 degrees.
Snacks included cocktail weenies smothered in grape jelly and barbeque sauce, Spam fried rice, and a selection of chips and dips.
“We tried to go as mid-20th century as possible,” he said.
