Late Last Night - Tiki Oasis

Late last night, the place to be was the opening party for the Tiki Oasis at the Bali Hai restaurant in Point Loma on San Diego's beachside front.

Where else can you hear a man in a Hawaiian shirt ripping on a glockenspiel, see a bleach-blonde pompadour that stands more than a foot tall and meet a fire-eating mermaid?



The glock-rocker is from the band Tikiyaki Orchestra, the pomp prince is Jason Lee of Jason Lee & The R.I.P. Tides and the finned female is Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid (aka MeduSirena).

To be truly play the part of the explorers of this exotic 50s themed faux-south pacific subculture (think Hawaiian Eye crossed with Blue Hawaii), you need to sample tiki beverages such as Mai Tai.



But what of Marina the Mermaid you ask? “I’ve been an aquatic performer for 25 years,” she says “My goal is to bring back the golden age of aquabatics. I want to be an ambassador for an art form that almost went extinct.”

And why not, we say. Who can forgot the golden age of aquatic performers such as Australian Annette Kellerman, Esther Williams and the Synchronettes.