Oklahoma-based Frankoma Pottery Co. will host a tiki party this afternoon and Saturday to commemorate the creation of limited-edition tiki mugs, the first Frankoma tiki creation in at least a half-century.
The tiki mugs will be debuted at 1 p.m. today and Saturday at Frankoma’s store at 17117 S. Union Ave. in Glenpool, Oklahoma, south of Tulsa.
More from the company’s social media post:
This mug will be the first new Frankoma Tiki creation since the early 1960s when the company made items for Tulsa’s Trade Winds Supper Club and the Cultured Pearl.
Internationally recognized Tiki Artist Wendy Cevola, from Elk Grove, California, designed the new 9.5” mug. Wendy will be available on Saturday afternoon via Zoom to answer questions (approximately 1:30 p.m. Central time).
Mug colors will be available including Red, White, Black and Yellow on Friday and Caribbean Blue, Meadow, Orange Peel, and Turtle Shell on Saturday. The mugs will be numbered and strictly limited to 25 of each color.
To add a bit of excitement to the event, attendees wearing a Tiki shirt will be allowed a $10 discount on a Tiki mug. Non-alcoholic drinks and snack food will be provided.
The owner said in a comment thread that more colors of tiki mugs probabl
There’s quite a bit of overlap between Route 66 enthusiasts and fans of tiki-bar culture. Tiki bars date back as far as the 1930s, but they began to catch fire in popularity in the 1950s and ’60s.
They declined after that, though such themed tropical bars began to see a modest revival during the 1990s. A good history of tiki bars can be found here.
Frankoma Pottery opened its store in Glenpool in November 2022 after a long hiatus and uncertainty about the brand. Frankoma held deep roots along Route 66 in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Dennis Glascock purchased the company, including its trademark and original molds, in 2012 after a long career with the Phillips 66 petroleum company.
Frankoma’s pottery reputedly came from clay on a hill in Sapulpa. Glascock said that’s only partially true, as the company originally was founded by John and Grace Frank in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1933. Back then, the company used clay from Ada, Oklahoma.
Sugar Loaf Hill in Sapulpa, a longtime source for Frankoma’s pottery, “is pretty much gone” at this point, Glascock said, The company continues to use Oklahoma-sourced clay.
Frankoma Pottery moved to Sapulpa in 1938 along Route 66. The company persuaded officials to change the name of the road north of Sapulpa to Frankoma Road.
Frankoma’s financial troubles began to mount in the 1990s, including a bankruptcy filing, and went through several ownership changes. The factory on Frankoma Road closed in 2010 and, at last report, was a housewares factory.
(Image of Frankoma tiki mugs via Facebook)