Chapter 04 of 5
The Death of the Pupu Platter
The 1970s decline as kitsch lost its cool and cultural awareness began to shift.
- Cultural Shift
The Escapist Hangover
By the late 1960s, the bright optimism of the post-war era began to sour. The fantasy of a tropical paradise felt increasingly disconnected from a world facing the Vietnam War.
- Aesthetic Fatigue
From Cool to Kitsch
Once considered high-end and sophisticated, Tiki began to look like 'grandpa’s basement.' The exotic allure was replaced by the perception of cheap, dusty clutter.
- Counterculture
The Hippie Rejection
Youth movements of the 70s traded artificial rum cocktails for a more 'grounded' lifestyle. Plastic palm trees couldn't compete with the grit and realism of the new era.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
Which new bar trend contributed to the decline of the Tiki aesthetic in the late 1970s?
🍹 The Strange Social Life of the Tiki Bar
- 01The Architects of ParadiseDon the Beachcomber, Trader Vic, and the birth of a manufactured tropical aesthetic.
- 02Post-War Polynesian PopHow returning soldiers and 1950s suburbanites turned Tiki into a national obsession.
- 03Liquid Theater: The Art of the SipAnalyzing the elaborate cocktail rituals, secret recipes, and exotic garnishes.
- 04The Death of the Pupu PlatterThe 1970s decline as kitsch lost its cool and cultural awareness began to shift.
- 05Modern Tiki & The Ethics of EscapeThe craft cocktail revival and navigating the line between homage and appropriation.