The Tiki Talk Show

This week on The Tiki Talk Show, Ryley and Ellie talked with Bosko Hrjnak, one of the first artists to revive tiki art from just appreciation to application. Bosko got his start in the mid-80s as the first artist to sculpt full size tikis after the art had faded from popularity and the public eye when tiki fell out of fashion. Ever since, Bosko has been using his creativity to carve and sculpt 3D...

Welcome back to another episode of The Tiki Talk Show. Ryley and Ellie sat down with the tiki revival’s most renowned bar builder, Bamboo Ben.  As the grandson of the Original Beachcomber, Eli Hedley, tiki was in Ben’s blood. Having always been artistic, Ben took his experience building custom furniture and started building tiki bars for backyard parties in the 90s. Living in Southern California,...

Welcome back to The Tiki Talk Show! Following our brief hiatus, Ryley and Ellie sat down with a true member of the Mount Rushmore of the Tiki Revival, Jeff, Beachbum, Berry. Jeff first discovered Polynesian Pop as a child in the fleeting glimpses he caught of Ah Fong’s restaurant bar in the San Fernando Valley. The intricate escapism always lingered in the back of Jeff’s mind, but it wasn’t until...

It's been a great year for Ellie and Ryley! Not just in tiki, but in so many amazing experiences. This episodes serves as a great transition note for us all. We hate to tell you, but The Tiki Talk Show you've known, is over. But fear not! This is the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for all of us. We are moving to the United Kingdom! Yes, you read that right, England! This was as unexpected...

This week on The Tiki Talk Show, Ryley sits down with William and Kelly of First Wave Tiki. This husband and wife, artistic duo take first-wave tiki treasures and reimagine them into works of art for the modern tiki-phile. They first got into tiki around 2020 in Los Angeles. An antiquities dealer by trade, Will ran into tiki artifacts naturally; the first wave treasures were coming up for sale in...

This week, Ryley and Ellie get back to the interviews by welcoming Max Well, co-producer of The Donn of Tiki, to the show. Max and fellow co-producer Alex Lamb got interested in tiki in 2020. As filmmakers, they were interested in highlighting L.A.’s tiki bar culture before they fell down the rabbit hole of tiki history and the legend that is Donn the Beachcomber. The Donn of Tiki tells the story...

This week on The Tiki Talk Show, Ryley and Ellie recap their recent trip to the crown jewel of North American Tiki establishments, The Mai-Kai. First opened in 1956, The Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been serving delicious food, great drinks, and a fantastic experience for decades. Ryley and Ellie headed south for a few days to get away from Maryland’s cold and snowy weather, and south...

Ladies and gentlemen, we are back! After a brief hiatus, we are slowly getting back up to speed and bringing you more great interviews. We wanted to record a quick episode to let you know what we have going on. Throughout January, we were ran ragged and we are still recovering so no interview this week. We have a lot in store here in the next few months and a lot of very exciting announcements com...

Happy New Year Tiki Talk Show family! Ryley and Ellie kick off 2026 with a chat spanning 10,000 miles. We were joined by Australia’s resident tiki power couple, Josh & Babz Collins. Originally from London, U.K., these two have left an indelible mark on tiki and vintage subcultures wherever they’ve gone. Music drew both Josh and Babz to the wide world of vintage, mod, tiki, and more, and it has...

Merry Christmas! This week, Ellie and Ryley sat down with the king of cool, Charles Phoenix, for a post-Christmas chat. Charles Phoenix is a mid-century expert, professional presenter, and writer who has written a number of books on the mid-century style we all love. Charles Phoenix is best known for his slide shows displaying mid-century Kodachrome photos, but he’s also an avid car enthusiast and...

This week on The Tiki Talk Show Ellie and Ryley chat with Otto and Baby Doe von Stroheim for a second time. That’s right, it’s the first ever 2 part series for this show, though it’s sure not to be the last. If you haven’t seen part 1 yet, where we talk about the 80s-2001 be sure to check that out. Last time, we left off in 2001, where Tiki News had released its final (published) issue and come to...

This week, Ellie and Ryley have the first of a two-part series with Otto and Baby Doe von Stroheim, a Bay Area based tiki power couple. Best known for their world-renowned tiki weekender, Tiki Oasis, Otto and Baby Doe have poured so much time, love, passion, and effort into the tiki scene beyond this iconic event. This first part covers their beginnings in tiki, through the nineties, up to the fir...

This Halloween episode brings more treats than tricks as Ellie and Ryley share a peak behind the curtain into their research process. We walk through books, websites, music, movies, and other podcasts that have given us a jumping off point for the Tiki Revival period and the guests that we interview on this show. By no means is this an exhaustive list into tiki research materials, but hopefully it...

This week, in continuation with a month of Mai-Kai love and appreciation, Ryley and Ellie host Tim “Swanky” Glazner on the podcast. Tim is a co-founder of the East Coast’s original tiki weekender, the Hukilau, historian for the Mai-Kai, and a Donn the Beachcomber expert. His interest in tiki comes from an appreciation for mid-century design, style, culture, and nostalgia. When the Hukilau found it...

This week, Ryley and Ellie chat with Jim “Hurricane” Hayward, author of The Atomic Grog blog and a fixture in the South Florida tiki scene. Hurricane Hayward has been into Midcentury culture and design for quite a while, but it was the Hukilau and the magic of the Mai Kai that launched his passion for all things Polynesian Pop. A few years later, he’s combining his professional work of journalism...

This week on The Tiki Talk Show, Ellie and Ryley talk to a legend in the tiki community and one of the OG tiki podcasters, Adrian Eustaquio, host of Inside the Desert Oasis Room Podcast. Adrian’s love for tiki dates back to the late 1980s when a family member renewed their vows at Don the Beachcombers in Southern California. Entranced by the eternal twilight, young Adrian had a chance to walk arou...

This week, Ellie and Ryley are joined by Gregorio Pantoja, owner of the Kon-tigo Tiki Bar, co-author of the new book Fassionola , professor, and historian. What began as a home tiki bar in Southern California has transformed into a preservation project for one of Tiki’s lesser known heroes. Most know the stories of Donn the Beachcomber, Trader Vic, and even Stephen Crane, but Harry Yee is a less f...

Unlucky 13 has no such hold on The Tiki Talk Show because we are fortunate to have our amazing listeners, friends, and tiki family participate in this community episode! Ryley and Ellie were busy at Tiki Oasis seeing our friends, making new ones, and partying to our hearts content. For those who couldn’t make it in person, they sent in videos to share their tiki history and experiences. Grab your...

This week, Ellie and Ryley sit down with Spike Marble, photographer, videographer, graphic artist, and musician. He’s best well known for his YouTube shows Spike’s Breezeway Cocktail Hour, his new show Tiki Cocktails with Spike, and his band The Hula Girls. Spike grew up with tiki just behind his shoulder, growing up in Southern California. When Spike was in college, his professor introduced him i...

This week Ryley and Ellie are joined by The King— King Kukulele that is— famed musician, improv stand-up comedian, and the Emcee for a variety of notable tiki events. Our artist spotlight for the week is Furious Jim, an Arizona based creative that expresses himself through a variety of mediums. Denny Moynahan aka King Kukulele is an L.A. native with a musical background. He started out playing the...

This week Ellie and Ryley are celebrating a small milestone by hitting episode 10! We celebrate this achievement by sitting down with Sheryl Schroeder, one of the original tiki artists. Sheryl was so much fun to talk to, and with her years of experience in the tiki scene, she’s done it all. Our Artist Spotlight this week is Johnny and Shanna Lowe of Rita’s Lost Weekend. Not only do they have one o...

This week Ellie and Ryley had the pleasure to talk with a man of many names— Mark Riddle, Marty Lush, or maybe you know him as Digitiki. Mark is a musician who got his start playing piano before being recruited to play the vibraphone for The Tikiyaki Orchestra. Now, he’s making names with his own independent musical career. This week’s artist spotlight is Robert Gonzalez aka Tiki Gonzo. His wood c...

This week on The Tiki Talk Show, Ryley and Ellie talk to Ed Hamilton, Administer of Rum, the man who brought Rhum Agricole to the US palate, and the legend behind the famed Hamilton Rums. This week’s artist spotlight is Matt Strickland aka Tikis by Savage Matt. His tiki lamps, wood carvings, and jewelry creations are all handmade in his home in Michigan. Ed Hamilton is a man for whom Adventure is...

This week, Ellie and Ryley talk to Sven Kirsten, the famed author, urban archeologist, and tiki fanatic. People rarely know they’re making history as they’re making it; Sven is no exception. Sven’s contributions to the tiki community can’t be contained in just one interview. Sven, along with a band of fellow tiki fans, brought this subculture back from being wrapped in midcentury kitsch to being t...

This week on The Tiki Talk Show, Ryley and Ellie talk to Jayme Blaschke of Lagoon of Mystery, a Texan who took his desire to build an at-home tiki bar on a budget and created a video record to share with others. This week’s artist spotlight is Dawn Fraiser, one of the OG tiki artists who does a variety of mediums out of her home in west Seattle.  Jayme Blaschke has had an appreciation for Hawaiian...