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      "api": "/posts/the-golden-era-and-what-came-after/index.json",
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      "date": "2025-07-30T09:00:00-07:00",
      "description": "Postwar boom, seventies collapse, and the long slow revival that brought the drinks back.",
      "draft": false,
      "fields": {
        "author": "Martin Cate",
        "date": "2025-07-30T09:00:00-07:00",
        "description": "Postwar boom, seventies collapse, and the long slow revival that brought the drinks back.",
        "draft": false,
        "image": "",
        "lastmod": "2025-07-30T09:00:00-07:00",
        "publishdate": "2025-07-30T09:00:00-07:00",
        "tags": [
          "history",
          "golden-era",
          "revival"
        ],
        "title": "The Golden Era and What Came After"
      },
      "html": "\u003cp\u003eTiki\u0026rsquo;s peak wasn\u0026rsquo;t the thirties. It was the two decades after the Second World\nWar, when several million Americans came home from the Pacific and the country\ndeveloped an appetite for a romanticized version of where they\u0026rsquo;d been.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"the-boom\"\u003eThe boom\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the fifties and sixties there were Polynesian restaurants in every major\nAmerican city, and chains — Kon-Tiki, Trader Vic\u0026rsquo;s, the Mai-Kai — operating at a\nscale that\u0026rsquo;s hard to picture now. Hotels built them. Bowling alleys had them.\nApartment complexes were designed with A-frames and lava rock.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was mainstream in a way that no cocktail movement has been since.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"the-collapse\"\u003eThe collapse\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the mid-seventies it was over, and the reasons are not mysterious.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCosts went up and quality went down. Fresh juice became bottled mix, real rum\nbecame well rum, and drinks that had been carefully built became sweet and\nuniform. The category ate its own reputation — the phrase \u0026ldquo;tiki drink\u0026rdquo; came to\nmean \u0026ldquo;sugary and cheap,\u0026rdquo; which by then it usually was.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTaste moved on. The generation that had found it exotic aged out, and the one\nfollowing it found it embarrassing. Then came a broader reckoning with the\nappropriation baked into the whole aesthetic, which was overdue and correct.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBuildings were demolished or remodeled. Enormous quantities of carved work went\ninto dumpsters.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"the-revival\"\u003eThe revival\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat brought it back was research. Beachbum Berry\u0026rsquo;s recipe archaeology in the\nnineties and 2000s made the original drinks knowable again, and it turned out\nthey were genuinely good — dry, complex, technically demanding. That was a\nsurprise to almost everyone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe revival that followed is different from what it revived. It\u0026rsquo;s rum-literate\nin a way the Golden Era mostly wasn\u0026rsquo;t. It\u0026rsquo;s more careful about the imagery. It\ntreats the drinks as craft cocktails that happen to be tropical rather than as\nnovelties.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"whats-worth-keeping\"\u003eWhat\u0026rsquo;s worth keeping\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe escapism, the theatricality, and the hospitality. The idea that a bar can be\na destination rather than a room with alcohol in it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat isn\u0026rsquo;t worth keeping is the pseudo-anthropology and the sugar. Neither was\never the point.\u003c/p\u003e\n",
      "id": "posts/the-golden-era-and-what-came-after",
      "lastmod": "2025-07-30T09:00:00-07:00",
      "markdown": "\nTiki's peak wasn't the thirties. It was the two decades after the Second World\nWar, when several million Americans came home from the Pacific and the country\ndeveloped an appetite for a romanticized version of where they'd been.\n\n## The boom\n\nBy the fifties and sixties there were Polynesian restaurants in every major\nAmerican city, and chains — Kon-Tiki, Trader Vic's, the Mai-Kai — operating at a\nscale that's hard to picture now. Hotels built them. Bowling alleys had them.\nApartment complexes were designed with A-frames and lava rock.\n\nIt was mainstream in a way that no cocktail movement has been since.\n\n## The collapse\n\nBy the mid-seventies it was over, and the reasons are not mysterious.\n\nCosts went up and quality went down. Fresh juice became bottled mix, real rum\nbecame well rum, and drinks that had been carefully built became sweet and\nuniform. The category ate its own reputation — the phrase \"tiki drink\" came to\nmean \"sugary and cheap,\" which by then it usually was.\n\nTaste moved on. The generation that had found it exotic aged out, and the one\nfollowing it found it embarrassing. Then came a broader reckoning with the\nappropriation baked into the whole aesthetic, which was overdue and correct.\n\nBuildings were demolished or remodeled. Enormous quantities of carved work went\ninto dumpsters.\n\n## The revival\n\nWhat brought it back was research. Beachbum Berry's recipe archaeology in the\nnineties and 2000s made the original drinks knowable again, and it turned out\nthey were genuinely good — dry, complex, technically demanding. That was a\nsurprise to almost everyone.\n\nThe revival that followed is different from what it revived. It's rum-literate\nin a way the Golden Era mostly wasn't. It's more careful about the imagery. It\ntreats the drinks as craft cocktails that happen to be tropical rather than as\nnovelties.\n\n## What's worth keeping\n\nThe escapism, the theatricality, and the hospitality. The idea that a bar can be\na destination rather than a room with alcohol in it.\n\nWhat isn't worth keeping is the pseudo-anthropology and the sugar. Neither was\never the point.\n",
      "readingTime": 2,
      "slug": "the-golden-era-and-what-came-after",
      "summary": "Tiki’s peak wasn’t the thirties. It was the two decades after the Second World War, when several million Americans came home from the Pacific and the country developed an appetite for a romanticized version of where they’d been.\nThe boom By the fifties and sixties there were Polynesian restaurants in every major American city, and chains — Kon-Tiki, Trader Vic’s, the Mai-Kai — operating at a scale that’s hard to picture now. Hotels built them. Bowling alleys had them. Apartment complexes were designed with A-frames and lava rock.",
      "title": "The Golden Era and What Came After",
      "url": "/posts/the-golden-era-and-what-came-after/",
      "weight": 0,
      "wordCount": 344
    }
  ],
  "slug": "golden-era",
  "taxonomy": "tags",
  "term": "Golden-Era"
}