Aloha!
The world’s largest Polynesian festival, Tiki Oasis in San Diego, is back for 2024. This year has a them of “Way Out West.”
The five-night, four-day all-things-tiki event is July 31-Aug. 4 at its familiar location, the Town & Country Resort. During that time there is near-constant live music from several bands, DJs, tropical cocktails curated by top mixologists, seminars on rums and the tiki lifestyle (in other words, fun stuff), fashion show flash mobs, the incredible Tiki Marketplace and access to the pool, which is an ongoing party with a poolside band.
Plus, at night, several of the sponsors have parties in their hotel rooms overlooking the pool. These are open to those with Tiki Oasis tickets.
Tiki Oasis Tickets
Seminars and the Wednesday Luau at the historic Catamaran Resort in Mission Bay, as well as à la carte tikets are available here: tikioasis.com/ticket. The Tiki Marketplace is free and requires no ticket.
Tiki Oasis is an All-Inclusive event.
The Tiki Oasis 2024 Theme
The theme of “Way Out West” is a celebration of California’s tiki culture.
California has always cast a magnetic spell upon travelers drawn to America’s sunny vacation playground, where the sun meets the sea. There are plenty of westerly attractions to capture the imagination of visitors, from gold mines to beach sunsets to drive-through trees to Hollywood star sightings, but during the 1930s – 1960s, a new kind of California Gold Rush occurred: visitors steered west in search of liquid gold — Zombies and Mai Tais! After World War II, the Tiki craze took America by storm, and California was the epicenter of it.
With the opening of Don the Beachcomber in the south and Trader Vic’s in the north, California was steeped in South Pacific romanticism and ripe for a Tiki tidal wave to hit popular culture. Concurrently, as mainstream attractions such as Disneyland steadily drew tourists, West Coast subculture began to explode with the sudden popularity of pop phenomena such as hot rods, theme parks, roadside vernacular, Googie and novelty architecture, the Beat Generation, and the rise of surf culture as well as music movements such as West Coast Jazz, Exotica, Western Swing, and the Bakersfield sound. Eureka!
Tiki Oasis 2024 Entertainment
Deke & the Whippersnappers, Dirty Fuse, The Double Whammy, El Vez & the Trailer Park Casanovas, Fisherman, Ixtahule, The Manakooras, The Outtasites, Par Avion, Project: Pimento, The Satin Dolls, The Scimitars, Surfer Joe, Taimane Gardner, The Untamed Youth, Venturesmania
• Thursday Night Headliner: Ixtahule
• Friday Night Headliner: Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
• Saturday Night Headliner: Al Jardine and his Endless Summer Band. Al Jardine is a founding member of The Beach Boys. Since 1998 Jardine has pursued a successful solo career, including two solo albums.
• Sunday Night 60s Showcase: Mike Stax Emcee – DJ Tony Tyger, The Ogres, The Apemen, San Diego legends The Crawdaddys
Tiki Oasis Seminars
For the full list of seminars, click here. The Tiki Oasis website is: Tiki Oasis
Thursday
Sexitecture – Feminism and Mid-Century Architecture
How to Dress Your Tiki Daddy.
Screening of “Bosko and the Rebirth of Tiki”
Confessions of a Fire-Eating Mermaid
(Nearly) Everything You Know About Rum in a Mai Tai is Wrong
Friday
Posing for Photos…Underwater!
Desert Polynesia – A Book Preview of Palm Springs Tiki
Way Out West in Waikiki – The Hawaiian Steel Guitar and other Tiki Twang
California Au-Go Go with The Devil-Ettes!
Lamp Building from Layout to Illuminate
Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
Spice Tales: A Tiki Cocktail Tutorial
Saturday
A History of California Music
The Great Crump Presents His Magic
Influential Women in Tiki
East Coast & Western Swing Dance
San Francisco’s Tonga Room: From Pool to Hurricane Tiki Hut
Delights of the Desert
From Victor to “The Trader”- A 90-Year Cocktail Odyssey
Tiki Oasis Book Club Presents “Day of the Locust” by Nathanael West
Sunday
Knotts Berry Farmland!
Picasso Was a Polynesiac: How Tikis Inspired Modern Art
Punch: The 1000 Cocktail Trick
Makalapua Macrame
The Opulent Grandeur of Los Angeles Architecture
Latinos in Tiki: Cultural Influence and Innovation
San Diego Bartender Battle Ingredients
Planetary Rum, Diamond Reserve Rum, and Bauchant Orange Liqueur. Secret Ingredient TBD.
The Core Values of Tiki Oasis
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Initially launched in 2001, Tiki Oasis is a family-run small business. Our core values are a reflection of who we are.
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Tiki Oasis promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion; we empower marginalized groups and encourage social justice through dialogue and action.
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Tiki Oasis promotes education and the sharing of ideas and knowledge; we believe in the historic preservation of American Pop Culture through the lens of modern-day values.
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Tiki Oasis promotes sustainable practices with a deep commitment to conservation and positive choices that support the health of our planet.
Tiki Oasis 2024 Sponsors
• Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin
• Planetary Rum
• Liquid Alchemist
• Trader Vic’s (celebrating its 90th Anniversary)
• Flor de Cana Rum
• Re’al Infused Exotics
• Don the Beachcomber
• Dos Maderas Rum