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San Diego Tiki Culture, Then and Now, To Be Featured in New Book

It includes profiles on local bars and restaurants, plus cocktail recipes

Author Martin S. Lindsay
Susana Vestige

A local blogger and historian with a love of tiki is behind the upcoming book, Ninety Years of Classic San Diego Tiki: Celebrating San Diego’s Polynesian Pop Culture, Tiki Restaurants, Bars and Cuisine. In the book, author Martin S. Lindsay, who runs the blog Classic San Diego as well as Alineaphile and Escoffier At Home, comprehensively documents our city’s tiki history, past and present, through profiles of restaurants and bars including Tijuana’s Aloha Cafe (founded in 1928), tiki temple Bali Hai (built in 1953), and current favorites Grass Skirt and False Idol. The 200-page book is filled with archival photos, menu reproductions, recipes, and stories about local establishments ranging from classic to modern tiki spots, and features a forward by famed tiki historian and author Sven Kirsten.

Lindsay, whose contributed some of his own collection of tiki memorabilia to the decor at False Idol, has launched a Kickstarter campaign that runs until Wednesday, January 9. It allows for pre-orders of the book, which is scheduled to be released in late March 2019.

An excerpt from the book
Courtesy image
A sample page
Courtesy image

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