One of the richer paradoxes of the cocktail world is that, for all their Hawaiian shirts and beach-bum bonhomie, tiki aficionados are among the most doctrinaire pedants you’ll find in any bar.

Just ask Martin Cate, the owner of the beloved San Francisco tiki bar Smuggler’s Cove, and a bit of a stickler himself on the proper tiki aesthetic.

Image The new book by Martin and Rebecca Cate. Credit... Sonny Figueroa/The New York Times

“It is quantifiable,” Mr. Cate said. “When I hear people say: ‘Oh, tiki is whatever. It doesn’t matter what it is. It’s just a good time,’ now, no. That’s not true. To me, that’s as crazy as walking into the Guggenheim and declaring it to be Art Nouveau. There are definitions in this world.”