davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2023

[davidd]

Guess you got the real deal, while mine is, as the name suggests, just part wood, and mixed with resin.  This made me curious so I googled, and this was interesting: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25508525...dvertiser/
This is bot-quality writing but kind of interesting too: https://discover.hubpages.com/travel/Col...ds-in-Lava
I remember seeing the black ones.  I guess the wood in mine is somehow pulverized as well.

Yes, these tikis are carved out of  solid chunks of real wood. The guys doing the carving used to sit on the ground in their stall at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet or at the International Marketplace, holding a piece of wood between their feet while carving with a chisel and mallet. They would carve the date and "Hawaii" in the carvings as they were purchased, and they'd sign their names if asked. One carver once told me that it was a family business, and as I asked about various carvings on display, he said which ones he had done, and which were by his cousin, and which were done by his uncle.

Several more carved wood tikis that I purchased while I lived in Hawaii can be seen in this old pic from my Flickr account:

For a number of years, it became something of a tradition to add one new carving to my collection each year, usually when friends or relatives were visiting and we went to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet or to the International Marketplace.


I also have some of the "resin" types in various sizes... including a Genuine Coco Joe's key fob!

I loved those Coco Joe links! It was so much fun to learn a bit about Coco Joe's souvenirs.

Way back when I was a tyke, probably nine years old, maybe less, my grandmother and my aunt took a trip to Hawaii, and my grandmother brought back small souvenirs for all the grandkids. Her gift to me was a small black "lava rock" key ring shaped like a tiki head, with yellow plastic "jewel" eyes. I remember the tag said "Ka-Imi: Hawaiian God of Wisdom." Stamped in the back of the little plastic (that's what it felt like) figure was the circular Coco Joe's logo.

When I got older, old enough to have need of a key ring, I actually carried my keys on Ka-Imi for a number of years, figuring I could use the wisdom. At some point the figure picked up a pretty good sized chip, at which point I stopped carrying it. I'm sure I still have that gift from my grandmother somewhere among my treasures; I'm just not entirely sure where.

The "resin" type figurines and sculptures, ranging from keyring size to quite large, are still common in gift shops and swap meet stalls in Hawaii, both in "wood" colors and in the black "lava rock" color. If the articles you linked to are accurate, Coco Joe's is long gone, having gone out of business in the 1980s.

https://mytiki.life/tiki-bars/coco-joes

I have as of yet not found any information as to why Coco Joe's folded up shop. Did it become impossible for a Hawaii-based manufacturing business to compete with lower-priced imported souvenirs? Did the founder pass away? The link above says: "Gallacher [ founder of Coco Joe's ] was honored by the U.S. Small Business administration as the Hawaii Small Businessman of the Year in 1973 at which time he had 50 employees producing 400 designs."  It seems odd that less than a decade later a company of that size would be out of business. But then, Hilo Hattie closed up shop -- twice -- while I was living in Hawaii, after having been a staple of the island tourism trade for over 40 years.

https://beatofhawaii.com/what-went-wrong...lo-hattie/

The Hilo Hattie name continues today, I see, with an online presence.


Lots of info about Coco Joe's, other resin pieces, and all things "tiki" on the Tiki Central forum... if you're looking for a non-doll forum to join:

https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic_id=17776

I think I set up an account there once. Let me see if I can find my log-in info. Yeah, I still have an account, under the name "davidd," just like here. I've never posted there much. Those people are serious about their Polynesian pop culture!

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28 February - A Doll A Day 2023:

Temporary Disassembly

One of the Pinky Street gang oversees the temporary (we hope) disassembly of the surf shop diorama to allow for some necessary structural reinforcement.