Tiki-Kate’s Travels & Explorations
the stream at the Mai-Kai
at the Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale
Kate loved exploring. Urban archaeology was one of her very favorite things, and she was good at it.
Kate traveled far and wide to see the tiki sights. Kate visited 72 of the locations in Critiki, and was particularly keen on photographing unusual places that didn't get as well-covered, like apartment buildings.
Some years ago, fellow tikiphile ZuluMagoo put out a tour guide to all the locations in Southern California. It's an extensive list, and she's the only person I know who went to every single place on it. ZuluMagoo was impressed enough to create this Urban Archaeology Merit Badge for her, which pleased her greatly:
Kate used to go into libraries just to find their old phone directories from the '60s, and she would photograph any old ads she found for Polynesian restaurants. Now that's tenacious.
Her frequent travel buddy was her friend Bora Boris. Kate and Boris traveled together to events like the Hukilau at the Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale, the San Francisco Tiki Crawl, and Tiki Oasis in San Diego.
The Mai-Kai is a mecca of sorts for us tikiphiles, and she was thrilled to be there. The image on the front page of this site is from her visit.
When Kate was very sick, Boris took her back up to the Bay Area one last time, where she was able to attend my wedding, and to visit a new tiki bar she was very excited about: Smuggler's Cove.
Kate's passion for Polynesian Pop also attracted her to authentic Oceanic art, and she soaked up the culture during trips to Hawaii and New Zealand.