Leis, Luaus and Alohas: The Lure of Hawaii in the Fifties

by Fred E. Basten, Charles Phoenix

All aboard for a fun-filled, nostalgic journey to the Hawai'i of yesteryear! More than 220 illustrations, ranging from watercolors for restaurant menus to catchy tourist brochures, fondly recall Hawai'i's "golden years." Come along for the ride!

112 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

FRED E. BASTEN is the author of over thirty-five books including, “Glorious Technicolor: The Movies’ Magic Rainbow,” “Max Factor’s Hollywood,” and “Steve McQueen: the Final Chapter” (with Grady Ragsdale). He currently lives in Santa Monica, CA

Reviews

[Kevidently · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much of my recent obsession with Polynesian pop springs from Hawaii. Like tapa cloth, Hawaii is woven into the history of the ersatz culture of tiki bars, A-frames, and Chinese food masquerading as South Seas cuisine. The Hawaii craze took off in a big way in the 1930s with music and the first tiki bars, and exploded in the 1950s, when returning vets from WWII had newfound wealth, leisure, and a desire to return to the "simple, relaxed way of life." Hawaii was there to be everything to everyone.

This book isn't one of the more probing looks into the culture of the 1950s that continues to fascinate me. It isn't really even about the tiki lifestyle of which I've grown so fond. It's about the USA's obsession with Hawaii itself in the 1950s - the high notes version. To say this book is breezy would be like saying Diamond Head volcano is a biggish hill. Co-author Charles Phoenix is known for his coffee table books featuring Americana's kitsch and culture, and that's pretty much what you get here ... albeit reigned in a little by, I assume, author Fred Basten's more reverent take.

Each chapter opens with a short introduction to a facet of Hawaiian culture that excited the folk of the 1950s: food, flowers, entertainment, etc. This is followed by photographs, postcards, advertisements, matchbook covers and more, illustrating the opening thesis and driving mid-century modern nuts crazy. There are some menu covers I must have studied for a good 20 minutes, marveling at the confluence of 1950s graphic design and the culture of Hawaii. The pictures are the point here, and it's a credit to the authors that they totally understand that.

I've been on this tiki journey all year, monofocused on this specific cultural obsession that occupied the United States from roughly the mid-1930s to the middle-late 1960s. It was SUCH a prevalent aspect of American life then and it's all but disappeared today. Back then, the lure of the Hawaiian islands was more exotic, more OTHER, because the white people who were busy discovering it kind of didn't know any better. The legacy of suburban America clinging to a tropical idyll that they partially overlaid with their own idea of what a tropical idyll should be ... well, it's not necessarily blameless. But I'd argue that the naive optimism and honest love of the real culture (mixed with rapture of the fake culture) makes this sort of reverence for a bygone era less squicky and more captivating. I loved this book.

[Stella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nostalgic for 1950s tourism brochures? Wanna reminisce about how great it was to take a slow plane or slower ship to Hawaii and be treated like royalty by the locals while you totally ignored or exploited their cultural values? Before fast jets totally ruined it and made the beaches all crowded and stuff? That's this book.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and nostalgic view of Hawaii in the 1950s, just as it was transitioning from being an exotic island paradise to a place visited by many tourists. Great pictures, drawings and illustrations.