Within minutes of entering Pete Klockau and Katie Monachos’s home, I’m lounging among six-foot totems with a mai tai in hand; a Jukebox Jam comp is playing, and I’m almost convinced I’m in an island tiki bar instead of on a quaint street in Uptown. My hosts, both artists (Katie is an architectural designer, Pete’s a freelance illustrator and sales manager at Bloodshot Records), are lovers of midcentury modern artifacts, especially anything tiki. “It’s one of the few interests you can have that’s aesthetically pleasing and also involves drinking,” Pete says.
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While Pete has always been a collector, Katie’s interest in tiki stems from her rockabilly roots and architectural background. “When you go into a tiki bar and the music’s right and the drinks are right, it becomes an experience. It takes over every sense.”
