How did Hawaiian and Polynesian culture come to dramatically alter American music, fashion and decor, as well as ideas about race, in less than a century? It began with mainland hula and musical performances in the late 19th century, rose dramatically as millions shipped to Hawaii during the Pacific War, then made big leap with the advent of low-cost air travel. By the end of the 1950s, mainlanders were hosting tiki parties, listening to exotic music, lazing on rattan furniture in Hawaiian shirts and, of course, surfing. Increasingly, they were marrying people outside of their own racial groups as well. The author describes how this cultural conquest came about and the people and events that led to it.

Geoff Alexander has authored two books on cinema and has written on musical subjects ranging from jazz history to flamenco. He is the founder and director of the Academic Film Archive of North America, in San Jose, California, the first archive solely dedicated to the history, preservation, and scholarship of the classroom educational film.

Acknowledgments viii

Foreword by DeSoto Brown 1

Preface 3

Of Hawaiian Words and a Note on Money 7

Introduction 8

One—Sailing to Paradise 17

Two—Flying Air Paradise: The Evolution of Flight to Hawaii 33

Three—The Hula: Taking America by Dance 51

Four—Sliding into Paradise: The Hawaiian Steel Guitar 81

Five—Ring My Bell: Music from the Paradise of Exotica 95

Six—Passing the Tiki Torch 121

Between pages 142 and 143 are 8 color plates with 12 photographs

Seven—A Twisted Tale: The Emergence of Rattan Furniture 143

Eight—The Shirt Heard Round the World 157

Nine—If It Swells, Ride It: A Surfin’ Tsunami Surges to the California Coast 193

Ten—Breeding a Hope for the Future: Interracial Romance Embarks for the Mainland 210

Afterword 224

Appendix A—Bigger, Better and Braver: Why the World’s Largest Flying Boat Ever Made Never Flew a Commercial Route to Hawaii 225

Appendix B—The Zenith Trans-Oceanic: Bringing Hawaii to Your Living Room via Shortwave 228

Chapter Notes 230

Bibliography 256

Index 265