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Tiki Oasis 6, May 4-7, 2006 **New Info pg. 7** |
Otto
Grand Member (3 years) 
Joined: Mar 29, 2002
Posts: 770
From: NorCal
|  Posted: 2005-10-30 12:27 am Permalink
Dear Tiki lovers,
I have some good and bad news to share with all of you. First the good news, Tiki News does plan on producing the Tiki Oasis for the 6th time in 2006. We have set a tentative date of May 7/8 weekend, more details will follow as soon as we know.
Now the bad news: It is with great sorrow that I bring you the following information.
Tiki Oasis will no longer happen at the tropics in Palm Springs (see below for explanation)
In fact, I strongly recommend that anyone who is booked into the tropics cancel their planned stay there. Among other things, the hotel management fraudulently accepted Tiki Oasis bookings bookings despite my recommendations not to. We recommend a variety of OTHER hotels in the Palm Springs area for those who are planning vacations to this area (see end of e-mail for some cool hotels to stay at if you have already made plans to go to Palm Springs).
As many of you know the Caliente Tropics was taken over by new management and owners just weeks before our 2005 event. This was extremely stressful for us as we didn’t know what to expect for our yearly event... There was even a time when we thought the whole show would have to be cancelled! Luckily the hotel felt that a commitment was made to our event and decided to still give us the green light. The experience working with the hotel in May 2005 was mixed – they had some good solid staff that was very helpful over the weekend and overall the event was a success for the hotel and for all those involved. When the event was over they seemed interested in continuing the yearly event which we were quite pleased about. Unfortunately over the last few months the staff that we worked with at the event were ‘let go’, our payment from the hotel was considerable less than in past years (even though we sold more room nights this year) and we could not get them to give us a final commitment on our May date. We have heard reports throughout the year of the hotel becoming less about ‘Tiki’ and more of a budget place to stay. This was something that really concerned us and we were starting to wonder the state of the hotel a year after becoming the ‘budget place’ to stay in Palm Springs. The other thing that did concern us is the lack of interest, on the part of the Caliente Tropics, in the Tiki community. It has become obvious to us that the Caliente tropics owners and management can care less about the Tiki Community. The new management openly scoffed at previous managements plans to improve the Tiki decor and court the Tiki audience.
Every October we finalize our plans for Tiki Oasis and it seemed like the hotel was stringing us along with little to no response when we repeatedly asked them to solidify our date. Once we did get an ‘offer’ from the hotel it was for dates in July-August and not our annual May date! If you know Palm Springs, you know it is 120 degrees during the summer and most of the city is EMPTY because the weather is so unbearable! We tried asking for ANY date in May and were willing to not take our usual Mother’s Day weekend that we had for the last 4 years but the hotel refused saying this was considered ‘in season’ even though everyone in Palm Springs knows Mothers Day weekend is one of the worst weekends of the year for hotels. Of course we feel slighted after hosting a successful event that truly benefited the hotel (giving them a sold out weekend last year with no effort on their part - Casey and I had done all the work already). Through these negotiations with the hotel management it is clear that they do not care about Tiki Oasis OR the Tiki Community. We will not go into the details of this – but you can imagine how shocking this was and forced us to make this decision.
A little history: Pete Moruzzi, Sven, and I started the Tiki Oasis event as a fundraiser to support the previous owners who had bought the hotel and renovated it and saved it from getting leveled like the Kon Tiki in Phoenix. The event not only gave the hotel a boost in the arm for one weekend, it raised national and international awareness of the hotels existence resulting in increased vacationers year-round. In return the previous management supported Tiki fans and other Tiki events. (Thanks Casey!) Since the owners and management of the tropics hotel are no longer the type of people we can support we can no longer continue to have our event there. We regret having to pull support from the tropics hotel itself but we feel it is only a matter of time before the owners either run it into the ground or renovate in an effort to increase profits. Therefore we cannot support the future demise of the tropics.
We want to formally apologize to M Modern, The Vagabond Inn, The Royal Sun, and the city of Palm Springs for having to move our event away from Palm Springs for 2006.
Stay tuned for details on Tiki Oasis 2006!
Cheers,
Otto
If you plan to visit Palm Springs we would like to recommend these hotels:
We are not affiliated with these hotels and do not receive any commissions from them
Famous 50s collector and former Seattelite Ruby Montana owns the
The Coral Sands Inn
210 West Stevens Road, Palm Springs, California 92264
http://www.coralsandspalmsprings.com/
Indianola
this is a Tiki hotel which is usually all male but will make an exception if you rent our the entire hotel
there are only about a dozen rooms so it is great for a small group gathering
354 East Stevens Road, Palm Springs, CA 92262
Toll Free: (866) HOT-TIKI (468-8454)
Local: (760) 323-3203
http://www.indianola-tiki.com/
Movie Colony Hotel - 726 North Indian Canyon Drive
The Orbit Inn - 370 W. Arenas - stars such as Will the Thrill and Shag stay here.
http://www.orbitin.com/
others
http://lautnermotel.com/
http://www.dhsbeathotel.com
http://www.delmarcoshotel.com/
http://www.hopespringsresort.com/
http://www.viceroypalmsprings.com/
http://miraclemanor.com/
[ Edited by: martiki - New info - 2006-02-02 10:55 ]
[ This Message was edited by: martiki 2006-02-02 10:55 ]
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Unga Bunga
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 06, 2003
Posts: 5734
From: CaliTikifornia
| Posted: 2005-10-30 12:48 am Permalink
They're Fuc#@ing Loss!
Thanks for the update Otto.
I look forward to the next Oasis!
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tikivixen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 28, 2002
Posts: 724
From: Vallejo CA
| Posted: 2005-10-30 01:09 am Permalink
I am very sad to hear this--but more for the Tropics than Oasis. It's the people and the tiki spirit that make Oasis so marvelous, and hey, we can bring all that most anywhere. (Er, some of us even bring a little to the Modesto Tropics now and then!  ) You guys do such a tremendous job pulling this event together--the last thing you need is to have to deal with those creeps ever again!!
We've had a wonderful run. I'll never forget the great times we all had at the Tropics...good memories, eh?
Thanks again for all you've done, guys. And I look forward to the new Oasis! Can't wait to see what you come up with  .
tikivixen
p.s. I hope preservationists in Palm Springs will pitch in to save the Tropics if need be!! This sort of thing makes me nuts--why couldn't the creeps buy the Motel 6?!? arrggghhh. Perish the thought, but if they do decide to 'renovate' the Hoiti-Toities may have to mount "Tiki Rescue Mission Tropics"!
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ted tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 11, 2004
Posts: 186
From: minneapolis
| Posted: 2005-10-30 06:07 am Permalink
I knew it. The "new" management were so clueless at the last event(and rude)that Emily and I just sensed this would be the last time we would see the Oasis there. I also thought it was only a matter of time before all tikis would be gone from the place. They probably will throw out all of the tikis in a big dumpster. What a waste-we loved Palm Springs.
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pablus
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 23, 2003
Posts: 2146
From: www.crazedmugs.com
| Posted: 2005-10-30 06:41 am Permalink
Maybe someone should "rescue" those tikis.
Can't Sven appoint a covert tiki army?
I'm pretty sure he has the power to do that.
I mean, he did absolve me of guilt in the "rescuing" of the basement Witco.
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=13461&forum=1
TIki Oasis will be fun - even if it's held at an interstate rest area.
I hope to attend.
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RevBambooBen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 12, 2002
Posts: 7197
From: Huntikington Beach
| Posted: 2005-10-30 06:50 am Permalink
They're not throwing any tiki's away.
They're just not putting anything back into the hotel
( tiki wise)
Don't be going there and ripping the place apart!!!
I get first dibs being that the REEF Bar (decor and time), came out of my own pocket.
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tyger jymmy
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 14, 2003
Posts: 554
From: califorina
| Posted: 2005-10-30 07:24 am Permalink
Ya know I knew it I was telling my Wife that this may happen .Her reply was how can they with the turn out ,and Sales of rooms,food,drinks ect ect, .F,in Sh-t I loved the HEAT there too .
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DrMiguelito
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Aug 05, 2005
Posts: 57
From: San Diego
| Posted: 2005-10-30 09:41 am Permalink
How sad. I haven't been to an Oasis yet, but I stayed at the Tropics last year and loved it. Sucks that the new owners don't know or care about what a good thing they have there. I bet within a year it's done over with a cheesy pseudo-Mexican theme, like every other budget accommodation in PS.
I'll be waiting impatiently for news on the Oasis relocation. Assuming it's close enough to drive, I'm still planning to go.
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mrs. pineapple
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 12, 2003
Posts: 611 | Posted: 2005-10-30 7:46 pm Permalink
I saw this coming, what a bummer. I guess Mr. Pineapple and I will have to renew our wedding vows at the site of the new Oasis. I have so many great memories from the Tropics, but I think it'll be fun to drag those memories to the new location! Keep us posted Otto!
_________________
"You're the mayor of shark city, people think you want the beaches open."
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CaseyJPS
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 14, 2003
Posts: 184
From: Palm Springs
| Posted: 2005-10-31 08:37 am Permalink
Aloha!
I hesitate to comment, but there does need to be some clarification. So many people in our community ask me "what happened?," and I pretty much glaze it over. I will make this as "appropriate" as possible.
The current Caliente tropics Resort "ownership" consists of Blue Sky Equity Partners (Roger Abbott etal of La Jolla) and Larry Miller of Tiburon. Larry Miller, an attorney who invests in commercial property throughout Palm Springs (plus about eight of his family members), is the partner we were involved with who pulled the rug out from under us, walking-off with our life savings dumped into the Caliente tropics Resort, plus over $145,000 in personal debt, not to mention the forgone incomes of two persons. Larry wrote a very clever (and convincing) contract with us in the Fall of 2000 which gave him the ability to shove us out the door 4.5 years later, sell an interest in the Resort to Roger Abbott, and stick us, with debt (hotel expenses) while still badgering us to put more money into the business. The IRS still claims we owe payroll taxes, for which the hotel will not take responsibility.
We worked for free, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, since September 30, 2000, never receiving one penny of compensation. The Resort never made a dime. The once-ailing infrastructure and massive improvements required a huge amount of maintenance and upgrading, which was never completed. Every dime was put back into the business. [Invested in the fringe of this were Bamboo Ben, Crazy Al, and Bosko as well.] Larry Miller etal and Roger Abbott, will walk away with our investment after they run the resort into the ground and drain it of any remaining quality of life.
They are deceitful, disrespectful, greedy, arrogant, and socially inept. Their existence is validated in how much money they can amass, at whatever cost. They absolutely do not care and they will never fit in (review your college psychology textbooks). It would never dawn on them to support this community or their own local community because they don't see the value in it. However, they are happy to benefit from the community and use whatever resources they can to profit. After 4.5 years of our lives and life savings invested in this project, as well as the tourism infrastructure of our local community (and our tiki community), we were offered $25,000 by Larry Miller to "sign-off."
The short version: We invested and got screwed. They will use our blood, sweat and life savings to leverage a real estate sale for a handsome profit, for which we will never benefit. As a footnote, I'll be moving by November 18. Reluctantly, I had to sell my family home (I was fortunate enough to take ownership in late 2002, after my fathers' death) to eliminate the hotel debt.
Moments over the past seven months have been a living hell and this community has been a HUGE bright spot. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR THE SUPPORT!
Mahalo!
_________________
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mrsmiley
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 3153
From: Las Vegas, NV
| Posted: 2005-10-31 10:35 am Permalink
RAZZ!!! but no surprise.
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tikivixen
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 28, 2002
Posts: 724
From: Vallejo CA
| Posted: 2005-10-31 12:48 pm Permalink
I'm so sorry, Casey. But SO glad to hear you're finally getting yourself out from under that nightmare!!! And I'm glad you're still HERE, needless to say.
My sweet, timid little Mother used to get pushed around a lot in life. Usually she let it roll off her back, but there were moments she'd just lose it and shake her little fists and growl. I know what she'd say right now: "I wish I were an ALL POWERFUL DEITY because I would just WIPE THOSE PEOPLE OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH and, and OOOOH I'm JUST SO MAD!! I'd give that hotel back to that nice Casey and make sure those horrible men got JUST WHAT THEY DESERVE!!"
That's what I say too. *sigh* Too bad my Mom's not running things, eh?
And I'm glad we as a community aren't supporting those guys anymore. Thanks, Otto! And thanks Casey--for all the hard work you did for so long and for making the Tropics a wonderful place to stay--not just for us but for everyone!!! It was, and is, a truly honorable achievement.
xox tikivixen
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Jungle Trader
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 04, 2003
Posts: 3691
From: Trader's Jungle Outpost, Turlock, Ca.
| Posted: 2005-10-31 2:21 pm Permalink
It has been said that "a man's good name is worth more than silver or gold". The names of the men mentioned above in Casey's post will forever be associated with mud scum. Too bad for them.
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tikitortured
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 08, 2004
Posts: 329
From: Huntington Beach Ca.
| Posted: 2005-10-31 2:43 pm Permalink
Hmmmmm, thanks for the NAMES of the EVIL doers Casey. They just might get a good old fashioned "tongue Lashing" from T-Tort soon. In my opinion,(and I'm sure many, many other peoples), Shelter Island in San Diego is the obvious choice for the next OR subsequent Tiki Oasi, given it's many advantages over the Tropics: Humphries Half Moon Bay Hotel (chock full 'o tikis), Bali Hai bar/restaurant (right across the street), and other rather large hotels in close proximity (stumbling distance). Also the beautiful view of the bay makes for a more TIKI-like atmosphere than the desert. It's basically the same distance as Palm Springs and keeping the event in sunny Southern California is important (to me, hehe). Lastly, there are several other TIKI establishments in San Diego that would make for a great little road trip in conjunction with the Oasis (Mr. TIKI, etc). I dare not second guess the wisdom of the Great and Powerful OTTO, as I'm sure he's already made the call to these places. We trust your judgement Otto, and I'm sure wherever you choose it will be as wonderful, if not MORE, than past TO's!
[ This Message was edited by: tikitortured 2005-10-31 14:45 ]
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floratina
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 997
From: West Los Angeles
| Posted: 2005-10-31 3:25 pm Permalink
Casey, that was painful just to read that. OMG, I had no idea. Thank you so much for all you gave to us. We wouldn't have so many wonderful memories if it weren't for you. There were some defining moments in this scene that took place there. I suppose that is small solace after your life's savings have been taken from you. But thank you so much for everything.
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