Aloha Mai-Kai ohana, I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying this great weather! This week we have a special Supporter Spotlight on my good friend Tom Laura, better known as BigToe! Get to know Tom better in this week’s supporter feature.
The Mai-Kai has also just gotten a new shipment of their amazing T-shirts and has something NEW! I have been getting a lot of messages asking when they would be back in stock so make sure to grab a couple in your size before they disappear!
The petition is currently sitting at 11,165 supporters and counting! Please continue to spread the word by sharing the petition link. https://www.change.org/savethemai-kai
Much love and mahalo,
Tiki Don
Supporter Spotlight on Tom Laura AKA BigToe Art!
I had the pleasure of chatting about the Mai-Kai with Mr. Tom recently and like everyone whom I have talked to, he too had a special connection with this magical place. Tom is a lifelong Southern California resident who has made the pilgrimage to the great Mai Kai several times and he looks forward to its reopening!
Tom’s Bio:
Bigtoe, AKA Tom Laura was born to a big Italian family in LA and still makes his home in Southern California. His formative years were spent surfing from Baja South to Malibu North and copying images from Mad Magazine and Ed Roth. After taking 10 years to get a 4-year fine arts degree at Cal State Long Beach, Tom went into the apparel business, the surf industry to be specific. During this time, in addition to helping raise 2 amazing daughters, surfing and surf travel was been Tom’s passion, with local status at the Southernmost “Trestle” punctuated by occasional surf trips to most of the Hawaiian Islands, Samoa, and Various parts of Baja and mainland Mexico. After a 15 year "hiatus", he started painting again.
Tom creates art with a casual, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and playful eroticism that offers a nostalgic escape in our fast-paced and ever-changing world. BigToe’s art is inspired by the confluence of Tiki, Kustom, and Surf cultures. The fusion of these seemingly disparate lifestyles has always been an obvious one to the artist: All 3 are outsider ways of life. The last vestiges of wild west renegades.
The art of BigToe has been exhibited at Gallery worldwide including La Luz de Jesus, Copro Nason in Los Angeles, as well as US galleries from Hawaii, San Diego, Orange County, New York, Detroit and Florida, and worldwide in galleries in Canada Japan, France, England, Germany, Switzerland, and Australia’s Kustom Lane.
BigToe's first decade of artwork is featured in the Book Gratisfaction: The Inspirational art of BigToe, and in several themed art books such as Korero Publishing's Kustom Graphics and Surf Story and in magazines such as Longboard Magazine, Car Kulture Deluxe, Bachelor Pad, Tattoo Life Magazine, Campout Magazine, Tiki Magazine, Exotica Moderne, Ol Skool Rods and MAD magazine, as well as Smokin' Shutdown/Germany, Burnout Magazine/ Japan, Pinstripe & Kustom Graphics magazine in England and Deadbeat Magazine/ Australia.
Tom’s thoughts on the Mai Kai
“I have gone out to Ft Lauderdale a few times to sell artwork at The Hukilau. As your readers may know, a visit to the Mai Kai is a major part of The Hukilau experience. I always try to go at least 3 times: Once just to say hi spend some time in the Molokai Bar upon arrival, once for the Gala event on Saturday night to experience the mecca of tiki culture with a couple hundred of my friends, and a final time to have a quick cocktail to say farewell until the next time.
My favorite part of a visit to the Mai Kai is that it’s like being transported to the South Pacific. I always start in the Molokai Bar, which feels like a journey in a 17th-century wooden sailing ship. A fun bit of trivia is that the sailing ship fittings and decor were added in the early 60s, after the Norwegian shipwrights that built the ship sets for the 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty. As a former competitive sailor on mid-century racing schooners, I was gobsmacked to see how period correct the sailing details are. After a cocktail or 2 prepared in the secret bar galley out of the sight of patrons (a protocol set up in the 60s as a way to keep competitor tiki bars from stealing the cocktailing secrets of the bar), it’s time to “debark” to the restaurant for the amazing themed rooms and Polynesian floor show. The big rooms are named after places in Hawaii, Tahiti & Samoa are perfectly decorated and one would have to have a heart of stone not to be completely blown away by the experience.
It’s critical that we save the Mai Kai because is the undisputed queen and the last survivor of a by-gone era of Tiki Temples.
What’s next on Tom’s agenda?
“My next event is a 4-person art show opening 5/15, with an official artists reception on 5/29 of “The 7th Voyage of the Gargantuas” an art show collective show with myself, Doug Horne, Ken Ruzic, and this year’s guest artist McBiff. Each year, we pick several themes to riff on and display the art as a pseudo competition. One of the themes for 2021 is “An Enchanted Tiki Room”, for which I am painting an homage to the Mai Kai gardens. A portion of proceeds for which will go to benefit the Mai Kai in some way.
After that, it’s going to be a crazy summer, with all the usual tiki events: My highlights will include Tiki Oasis in San Diego and Tiki Caliente in Palm Springs.
People can find my work at www.bigtoeart.com and keep up with my activities and events on Instagram or Twitter at @bigtoeart.
*Photo: Tom Laura and Audrey Moorehead (TeeKiTogs) enjoying a special night at the Mai Kai.
Mai-Kai News! Mai-Kai Merchandise
The Mai-Kai Vintage T-Shirts are BACK IN STOCK! This shirt features a vintage two-color graphic of the Mai-Kai that dates back to the 1960s. These are printed on 100% cotton, premium fitted tees that are super soft, light, and comfortable.
The Mai Kai also has a new T-Shirt offering designed by artist Brian Potask featuring one of their most famous giant tikis! Click on over to the Mai Kai Trading Post to read the story and order your "Mai-Kai Tiki Tee" shirt today!
You can find Mai-Kai merchandise online at: www.maikaitradingpost.com
Have a great week ahead,
Tiki Don