Visiting your first tiki bar and sipping your first Mai Tai can be a life changing experience. It was for me and for many others who fell in love with tiki culture. As you start to get more and more into tiki, you realize that there’s so much to discover, there’s tiki art, fashion, escapism, mugs and last but not least, cocktails. Tiki Triangle by Justin Cristaldi is a great book to help you enter into this wonderful world of tiki. Tiki Triangle has chapters on the history of tiki, tiki’s connections to WW2, food, rum, ingredients and tons of tiki cocktail recipes!
What brought you into the ‘tiki lifestyle” and how long has it been part of your life?
Justin- My father was stationed in the Navy during WWII, he was stationed in the South Pacific and even got hit by a Kamikaze. Though only hit with shrapnel in the leg, he still got a Purple Heart Medal. He loves all things Polynesian, especially the Asian food! (I elaborate more on this in pages 7-8 in my book).
What is the tiki scene like in New Jersey?
Justin- Our favorite place to go when we were just coming of age was “South Pacific”, which is now a very good upscale pizza restaurant with a great cocktail program. Unfortunately, it was on the downside before the pandemic, but we still had Chan’s Dragon Inn, Lun Wah and Lee’s. Lee’s Hawaiian Island is the only one we think is still open, but time will tell. Little Buddy Hideaway in Asbury Park has also closed, but I am very happy that Cellar 335 in Jersey City is alive and thriving (I am actually writing about them in the upcoming issue of Exotica Moderne).
Can you talk about your blog and other writing that you have done?
Justin- Since my parents were much older than me (they were 40 when I was born by surprise), mid-century culture was just as much of my growing up as was anything else that was relevant in the 1970s. I love food, cooking, cocktails, and of course, growing up with Sicilian parents, that too takes center stage along with pop culture.
What got you inspired to write your tiki book?
Justin- I love writing, I have always aspired to write a book, I love cocktails, the cocktail culture and everything mid-century. Italian cookbooks have been done and overdone and overdone again. If anything has stuck with me other than growing up in North Jersey, other than being Italian, it’s been my love of all things Tiki, Tropical and love of Polynesia and the pop culture of mid-century. So many people told me I could not write, photograph and design a book all on my own, but I knew in my heart I wanted full control over the design, photography and writing, so I did it all myself. Self-publishing was not the easiest or cheapest way, but it’s the way I know in the end, if it had any flaws, it was all on me and I could not point to a third party and say I didn’t have control over that aspect. In the end, I am very pleased about the way it turned out, it’s not perfect, but I am almost 100% certain it’s as close as I wanted it to be without relinquishing control to a big house publisher over which I had no control.
Can you tell us what the book is all about?
Justin-It’s a journey from my childhood to teenager, to coming of drinking age, and while I know today there is some concern over reality and Polynesian pop culture, I hoped to have bridged the gap and explain how we arrived at tiki culture today. It was not always pretty, but it was always supposed to be fun, a source of escapism. We have to accept the pop culture for what it was then, and how to celebrate it now.
Where can people buy your book?
Justin- Unfortunately, I had to pull it off of Amazon, so it is only available from TikiTriangle.com Amazon wanted to sell the book for double ($60) and give me only .24cents per copy. Even with their large network, I would still not be making enough to pay for my time, let alone the artist’s illustrations in the book. I would have to sell over 10,000 copies just to break even. I never wrote this book to become rich or famous, but I certainly did not work my tail off for over a year to research, write and design it, only to give it to Amazon for free to profit from. In the old days, this was called Industrial Piracy or Theft of Intellectual Property. The only thing tiki that comes into context here is “pirates”.
Anything else you would like to add?
Justin- In the back of this book is, or was, a pretty comprehensive list of tiki bars all over the world that still exist. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, so many of these places no longer exist. Tiki was an endangered culture long before the pandemic, now it’s even reached harsher levels. I had hoped to update the book, eliminating this list (an updated list can be found at tikitriangle.com/destinations), and adding more cocktails, but at this point, I think it’s probably better to do a follow up or sequel book, rather than revise the old one.
Get your copy of Tiki Triangle here
Here is the Tiki Triangle blog