Gods of Tiki: New LA Times piece on Leroy Schmaltz, Ed Roth, and other Angelino tikiphiles.
Think tikis come from Polynesia? Not really. Now even Tahitian hotels get their totems from Whittier, where Schmaltz's company, Oceanic Arts — the only full-blown tiki supplier in the world — sits nearly as stolidly as the tikis themselves amid a landscape that includes a juvenile correctional institute and endless fast-food franchises. In its heyday, Oceanic Arts employed 12 people, and needed three warehouses plus a two-acre plot just for logs. These days the company is smaller, its output reduced, but it has survived, packaging paradise for Southern Californians and beyond. Each year, as restaurants like the Beverly Hills Trader Vic's remove "clutter" from their interiors, as tiki palaces burn their last log, Schmaltz's impact becomes less visible. But the man is a legend in the world of tiki. His signature, Oceanic Arts, means a lot to his followers. Though far from charismatic in person, Schmaltz has made a powerful impact on the world of tiki, inspiring writers and artists, historians and gallery owners, barhoppers and hipsters. His impact is especially strong in L.A. and environs, where some speak his name with awe.
