Tiki Time: Exotical

As much nostalgia as I have for the places that have, after years of return visits, become part of our wacky tacky repertoire, there is something so exciting about discovering and putting a "new" landmark on our map!  In fact, my favorite part about writing this blog is getting suggestions of cool places to visit from wacky tacky aficionados.  I love getting a tip, gassing up the wacky wagon, and hitting the road to explore!  When our pal told us about Exotical in Downey, CA, we could hardly wait to go on a tiki adventure.

It was just at the very end of last year, thanks to some good friends, that we found a gem among the greater Los Angeles landscape, the city of Downey.  You might have read our blog posts about the City of Downey's Rose Parade float and our grub session at Bob's Big Boy Broiler, but we just knew that we hadn't exhausted all of the fun that Downey had to offer.  In fact, just down the road from Bob's is Downey's answer to crystal blue waters of the tropics - Exotical Hawaiian Apparel (est. 1964).

Family owned and operated since day one, Exotical offers a bounty of Hawaiian shirts, MuuMuus, cabana sets, hats, leis, and plenty more Polynesian goods and apparel for the kanes and wahines in your life.  Beautiful music whisks patrons away to islands as they peruse rack upon rack of flowered shirts.  

We thought she couldn't get any taller!

A selection of children's cabana sets

If the canned music isn't enough, there is a whole shelf of ukuleles, an inherited collection of the owner, that can be tested out.  He said that he didn't have the patience to learn the instrument himself, but he loved hearing others play.  It didn't take Mary but a few moments to tune one up and start to strum.

You can see that she test drove more than one model.

And then continued her musical tour of the islands on the drums

Unsatisfied by instruments alone, here she is trying her
hand at poi balls.  Out of fear, I took this photo from
a distance.

The neatest part about Exotical is that there is dead stock Hawaiian clothing mixed among the new offerings.  When the owner saw us picking out some of the vintage stuff, he offered to take us to the storage room out back to look through some additional racks of clothing; we didn't have to think twice.  Of course, on the short walk back there, visions of Shaheen danced in our heads.  Well, there was a Shaheen...

...but it was a 70's/80's style that just wasn't quite
what we were looking for

Back inside the store, there was still so much to see.  Our favorite part of the decor was the dressing rooms.  The women's dressing rooms were styled after the architecture of Polynesian longhouses and each booth was upholstered in an animal print!  Exotical is such a luau for the eyes, that I forgot to get any pictures of me; don't be too downhearted.

The men's dressing room was not as inspired, but had
cool wall paper and a neat tiki lamp.

Because we are the closest point to Hawaii on the mainland, there is so much of the island lifestyle present in Southern California; sometimes, I think we're just "Waikiki East."  

I'm aware of the childishness, but when I see all these leis, I can't help but
think of a million "lei" jokes/puns.  I'll just stick with the Wayne's World
classic, "Come on you wanna lei me"...

One of my favorite representations of the island is my nephew.  Born on Oahu to my sister and my islander bra-in-law, with a middle name like Pomaika'i O'Kalani, there is no doubting his heritage.  We didn't buy much at Exotical during our visit, but we couldn't resist picking up a little something for our favorite "hapa haole."  

The living embodiment of the Hula Boy doll above, no?

Is it wrong to be jealous of a two year old?  He is everything I will never be - perpetually tan, curly of hair, and just so dang cute!!!  It seemed weird walking up to the checkout with a pink set, but this kid is the only person in our family who could pull it off.  Honestly, he would look cute in a paper sack!  On second thought, maybe I should have saved my money and just put him in a paper sack.

The "little grass shack" check stand

So, if you wanna go back to your little grass shack, but you can't afford the fare to Kealakekua, be sure to stop into Exotical to get your island fix.

Call me indecisive, but I really found it hard to pick a version of "My Little Grass Shack."

So here is Arthur Godfrey, Teresa Brewer, and The Andrews Sisters all singing the same tune.

Exotical

8136 Firestone Blvd.

Downey, CA

(562)869-0575

www.goexotical.com

Cheers & Aloha!

Mr. Tiny

Hoopin' It Up!

I have threatened to give up on learning.  Sometimes I think that there is only so much information that my brain is capable of retaining and I fear that I am near max capacity with the essentials - movie trivia, the schedule of my TV programs, and how many ounces are in a cup.  Before I discontinue the learning process entirely, I just need to know one more thing, just one more thing and I'm done.  Since when did hula hooping become performance art?  

Not so very long ago, we went to a local "art walk," you know the kind - open galleries, vendors peddling their wares, artists, food trucks, music, hula hoopers....Hula hoopers?!!!  Yep, the headlining act for the evening was a hula-hooper...45 solid minutes of nothing but hoopin'.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate some fancy hoopin', but 45 minutes?  By minute seventeen, I was a little, shall we say, irritated.  

Show off!
(Source)

I could have walked away, but nothing gets me as committed to a one-sided standoff like my own irritation.  Was I irritated by the hooper's unbelievable stamina?  Was I irritated by the costume choice - vampire Rainbow Bright meets homeless, pirate/stripper/hippie/nurse?  Was I irritated by the inexplicable musical selections?  (My next project is a compilation album; the working title is, "Songs to Hoop By," but I'm actually leaning towards, "Hoop, There It Is").  Was I irritated by the fact that no matter how hard I try, I have NEVER been able to master the proper hula motion and therefore, in the last 30+ years have never successfully hooped?  Had I allowed the seething bitterness of jealousy to overcome the entirety of my being?

While it's never been in women's foundation garments, I have always
pictured myself being able to hula hoop for hours with the similar
carefree countenance  of these happy hoopers.
(Source)

In short, yes.  The fact is, I pride myself on moving with relative ease.  I love to dance and hula is in my family.  My mother's formative years were spent in Hawaii (hula lessons/performances were basically mandatory) and my brother-in-law, a native Hawaiian, has worked as a professional Polynesian dancer.  Okay, so the actual Hula and the Hula Hoop have very little in common, but come on, what gives?  Why can't I hoop it up?  My best guess has something to do with a pathetic combination of factors - the relative girth of my equator, damnable gravity, and the fact that for my entire life I have been plagued by nothing but an endless stream of faulty Hula Hoops (I am concurrently penning a strongly-worded letter to the higher-ups at Wham-O).

The girl on the right is my personal hero.  Hoopin' and eating?
Heaven must be missing an angel!!
(Source)

Yeah, I can swirl it on my arm and even around my neck.  Yeah, when I was much smaller, I could use it as a "jump rope," but I could never shake the feeling that I was my parents' biggest disappointment when they saw all of the other kids on the block - feet firmly planted, knees bent, moving in an otherworldly rhythm creating a deafening hum as the beans or rice or BB gun pellets (or whatever it is they put inside there) swirled in seemingly perpetual motion - and then saw me, probably picking my nose and pretending the hoop was a steering wheel on a giant car.

That would be me - the one looking for a hiding place in the armpit of a
girl and bracing myself for impact, afraid that the hoop would somehow
break free and hit me in the face.  "No, not my glasses!"
(Source)

Anyhow, all of this got me thinking about the Hula Hoop.  My tendency is to think of pop culture fads exclusively as historical relics. I am always operating under the mistaken notion of "simpler times, simpler minds."  But try telling yourself just how terribly-modern and sophisticated you are whilst performing "The Macarena."  The mere mention of "The Macarena" reminds us that we've all been unwitting participants in the pop culture paradigm at some point in history.  Sorry, sorry, to quickly get your mind off of "The Macarena," here are some fun facts about the Hula Hoop. 

* Based on an Australian design, Hula Hoops were trademarked by Wham-O, Inc. in 1958.

* In the first four months of production, over 25 million Hula Hoops were sold (more than 100 million 

   in the first year).

* The first Hula Hoop-themed song was recorded by Teresa Brewer in 1958.

"Hula Hoop" - Teresa Brewer (1958)

* The Hula Hoop was inducted into The National Toy Hall of Fame in 1999.

* Ball bearings were the original noisemakers added to the inside of the Hula Hoop after a drastic drop  

   in sales in the mid-1960's.

* The origins of a similar hoop being used for exercise/recreation date back to the 6th Century B.C.

* I am hopeless at hoopin'.

* Although it didn't really happen that way, The Hudsucker Proxy ingeniously used The Hula Hoop as   

   a device to tell the story of corporate greed.

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

* Some famous hoopers of yesteryear include Art Linkletter, Jane Russell, and Sue Lyon.

Art Linkletter showing kids that adults do the darnedest things.
(Source)

Jane Russell making it look easy.
(Source)

Sue Lyon's seduces James Mason in Lolita.
Not to get too deep (or too obvious, maybe?), but could they have chosen a more appropriate
 and effective tool than the Hula Hoop to communicate the danger of Lolita -
all the innocence of a child's toy and all the hip action of much more adult pastimes
(Source)

I guess I can stop learning now as my question appears to have been answered.  Judging by this vintage photograph taken from Life magazine, hoopin' has been a performance art from the Hula Hoop's earliest days.

A performer at a nightclub floor
show getting her hoop on!
Now that's my kind of art!!!
(Source)

Here's hopin' your hoopin' is a heapin' helpin' better than mine!!!

 

"Rock-A-Hula"

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny