Summer Solstice with an Enchanted Tiki Room Shirt
I went to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, in 1972, and one of the first attractions I visited was the Enchanted Tiki Birds. The experience had such an impact on me…I was never the same.
Always fond of birds and flowers, I was mesmerized by the Audio-Animatronics representations of macaws; deities Hina Kuluua (goddess of rain), Rongo (god of agriculture), Maui (god of the sun) and Tangaroa (father of all gods and goddesses); and orchids, who sing and move in time with the music.
The next year, I visited the Enchanted Tiki Room, the original version of the attraction in the Anaheim, California Disneyland. It’s been around since 1963, when all things Polynesian were in vogue.
In this West Coast version of the Tiki Room, the building is an absolute dream, featuring a pagoda-like tower with thatched roofs and a lanai veranda where music by Martin Denny and Bud Tutmarc played in the background when I visited. Tío Babi and Vicente had given me London Phase 4 records of Hawaiian music which I absolutely adored, and so it was pure law of attraction to be immersed in this mind-blowing environment.
Being in the Tiki Room, which was designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, sparked my intuition endlessly. I wanted to live there among the birds and mythical creatures. My hair stood on end during an instrumental interlude featuring a rainstorm, lightning and wind sounds.
Back in Puerto Rico, I decorated my bedroom with pennants, Crazy Flickers, black lights and psychedelic posters, and played the Tiki Room soundtrack LP, which I bought in Disneyland, on my dad’s floor-standing Grundig console record player, which he let me keep in my room.
In honor of these warm memories, I was so thrilled when I found this vintage official Disneyland Hawaiian shirt from the early 70s, which features the Tiki Room characters, logo and plants. I suspect the print of the shirt was drawn by Rolly Crump, designer of the facade of It’s a Small World as well as the dear Popsie “greeting” figurines I adore so much. (Popsies came into my radar when Van told Scooter and me how he had gotten one for his brother as a gift, back in the early 60s.)
I combined the shirt with a straw hat Van keeps around in Ocean Grove for gardening. It’s the perfect complement to the warm tones of the shirt. The ensemble is perfect for this Summer Solstice, harkening the comfort and wellness of this longest day of sun.
