This is also a mailer menu. My first thought looking at this menu cover is, it’s kinda creepy. But then I think, “Zombie Village”, hello! Creepy indeed!
A little watercolor of the joint is nice on the back. From the Critiki entry it appears this either was or became a Skipper Kent’s place. Once again, there is almost nothing on Tiki central about the place. Makes me wonder. If Zombie Village had been in Tennessee, I would have searched out everything I could about the place and posted it on TC. Just goes to show how jaded Californians are about tiki.
The inside of the menu has that nice line at the bottom that reveals the mug price is included in some of the drink prices.
Skipper Kent’s was a sister restaurant to Zombie Village — Skipper Kent’s was in San Francisco, while Zombie Village was in Oakland (near the original Trader Vic’s location).
I think it’s not so much to do with being jaded, as it is that all that research happened in prehistoric tiki revival times — that is, it’s an oral history, rather than a written one, and has been shared by those who know it over drinks at the local bars, rather than online. About 20% of tiki life here takes place in written medium, and about 80% takes place in real life, at actual tiki bars. So many of the folks here into tiki just aren’t into computers, and it’s like pulling teeth to get them to document what they know. I don’t think they’re jaded about tiki, I think they’re jaded about computers, and the value of documenting history.
That, and with so many places to research and document, it takes time for each place to get documented with the same depth and care of those places from more sparsely tikified areas. Eventually, Zombie Village will get the spotlight.
Sounds right. I am sure there is a lot more out there about these places that people in the area know. Maybe if a thread is started on TC, it can get the ball rolling to have more information shared online where it is accessible to everyone. It is weird to me that every single place in tiki history is not already in the Locating Tiki forum. In my mind, every place in Tiki Road Trip and every place known should be there where anything anyone knows or has can be shared.
Hmmm. sounds like a nice project for somebody…
There. I started a TC thread on the Zombie Village. Maybe people will share. If that works, I might start adding threads on everything I can think of…
Swanky, the lack of info isn’t just confined to California tiki locales. Several folks (including me) have asked about the Kahlua Hut and received practically zero response, then freddiefreelance and I recently posted about a couple of Chicago places, Tradewinds and Club Aloha, which got no feedback either. I was surprised that Teitelbaum didn’t chime in on that one, maybe he was saving it up for his next book?
However, like Humu says, it don’t think it has anything to do with being jaded. The folks on TC seem more than happy to tell you what they know. In the case of these places, I think they genuinely have no information to pass on.
Anyhoo, I hope your idea works, or at least gets people interested in doing more research.
We’re just nerds I guess. I expect to be able to Google things and get the scoop. And if I can’t and I know there are people who know, who are online, I think there is a problem. It takes a village. A Zombie Village!
It’s not so much California as, Oakland. Is there not someone in that area, a local, who is interested?
I’ve always found, despite the lack of emphasis on Zombie Village as opposed to other Tiki landmarks, I find what little of the artwork that I’ve seen that was associated with it to be some of the most intriguing. To me it seems a little bit darker, a little bit more mysterious and, in many cases, a little bit more beautiful than more run of the mill Tiki graphics. Thanks for posting this and for starting the TC thread. Perhaps we’ll get to see more of it or, at least, learn more about it’s origins.
Seems to have worked. Lots of stuff added on the Tiki Central thread. I started a Dobb’s House Luau Memphis thread as well. I’ll just keep adding places and see what comes along. There are at least 10 places I know of that are not on Critiki and don’t have a thread in Locating Tiki on TC. I am taking a research trip to Florida in a month or so and hope to have a long list of new locations to add to the history of Poly Pop then. There is a historian there who tells me Tiki Road Trip missed a lot of places he knows of.
I just Googled Zombie Village on a whim to see what would come up. My father did all of the design and constuction for Skipper Kent sometime in the forties I believe. Dad used to take me there when I was a kid. I forget when it burned down. Unfortunatedly, Dads’ original sketches also burned in the Oakland hills fire. All I have left is one of the original napkins. It was a way cool place as I remember it, though probably not a great finacial success. Anybody out there?
Aloha, Skipper Kent and Lucille Kent lived out their days in Kona. In the house they built and furnished together. They have kept everything. From recipts on Lunches from June 1rst 1948 in Singapor to Skipper Kents precious rock collections from all over the world. They kept every Christmas card ever given them. There is an archive of photos with detailed days dates and destinations from every adventure they shared together. This was a wildly artistic couple. Lucille Kent was an accomplished painter. They lived their lives to the fullest. They didn’t have any children but spent their time living Hawaiian! Archiving and decorating, traveling and sharing. I truly wished I could have met them. I do have the recipie box with all the original drinks from Skipper Kents… My specaial treasure!