What Is Poly Pop? (And Why Should I Care?)

While its spark may have been lit in the early thirties by flamboyant California restaurateurs, Donn Beach and Trader Vic, the inferno of creativity that was to follow began in earnest only as the greatest generation returned from the Pacific theater at the close of WWII. As global victors in a global war, American Empire was at hand, and things both remote and primitive would share the melting pot with the sleek and futuristic. The United States was at her zenith, enjoying momentum and prosperity for the working class unequaled to this day, and they were ready to play.
 
Settling in California navy towns like San Diego, servicemen dreamed of exotic sights, sounds and flavors. Fueled by 1947's Kon Tiki Pacific Expedition, the stories of James Michener in 1948 (which spawned a wildly popular musical and film over the next decade), and Hawaiian Statehood in 1959, adventuresome and imaginative entrepreneurs, architects and musicians recognized the lucrative potential of this exotic niche. It wasn't long before primitive styled playgrounds for the common man emerged in Everytown USA. Cocktail lounges, restaurants, motels, and apartment complexes boasting modernized Polynesian flair dotted the land from coast to coast and beyond.
 
 
A lot has happened to the working man's view of the Pacific in the past seventy years. A succession of exotic places like Formosa, Inchon, Kaesŏng, Tonkin, Mỹ Lai, Laos, Cambodia and Saigon replaced Bali Hai in our consciousness and by the end of the Vietnam war it appeared even America's seemingly boundless optimism could no longer sustain of the illusion of a care free Polynesian paradise.
 
While its prominence has ebbed, one need only look at the surging popularity of San Diego's Poly Pop landmarks like Mission Beach's own vintage Catamaran Resort, Shelter Island's Bali Hai Resturant, Half Moon Inn or the Kona Kai Resort to realize San Diego owns a very special place in America's legacy of Tiki which should be remembered, preserved and most of all celebrated.