Author: Ray

Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #117 Kraken’s Bay Tiki Lounge Warren MI

Posted by Ray on in Home Tiki Bars 5 Comments
Kraken's Bay Tiki Lounge

From Parrot Head to Tikiphile…

Before Ed Schroeder discovered tiki, he was a Parrot Head. There’s a lot of crossover between the tiki, pirate and Jimmy Buffett subcultures. From an outsider’s perspective, they may appear all the same, but as Ed slowly discovered the world of tiki, he realized that tiki bars are the “real deal” and started to build his own! Kraken’s Bay Tiki Lounge is Ed’s basement but it feels like paradise. Here is Ed’s story…

Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #117 Kraken’s Bay Tiki Lounge Warren MI” →

Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #116 The Exotica Suite – West Bloomfield MI

Posted by Ray on in Home Tiki Bars 1 Comment
The Exotica Suite

It’s been said that good things come to those who wait.

In the case of The Exotica Suite – a home tiki bar in West Bloomfield, Michigan owned by Matt and Nui Totsky – that certainly rings true. Matt shares how their story of patience and perseverance finally paid off with the room of their dreams.

Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #116 The Exotica Suite – West Bloomfield MI” →

Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #115 Thirsty Piranha – Seabeck WA

Posted by Ray on in Home Tiki Bars
Thirsty Piranha

Would you have a piranha as a pet?

During covid times, Wendy and Carl had a lot of time to kill so they decided to build a tiki bar behind their home in Seaback WA. Seabeck in located out on the Peninsula here in the Pacific Northwest and is about an hour and a half drive from Seattle. You need to travel on a dirt road through the woods to get to The Thirsty Piranha and I have to be honest is kind of creepy going through at night. It’s really dark out there! But once you get to Wendy and Carl’s home you start seeing the multicolored lights of the Thirsty Piranha. There are plenty of windows which would normally be frowned upon for a tiki bar but here, it works! You feel like your outside with nature and you don’t have to be worry about getting eaten by a bear, but inside, you have to watch out for the piranhas!

Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #115 Thirsty Piranha – Seabeck WA” →

Seattle Sunset Tiki Cruise 5/18/24 by Sean Heath

Posted by Ray on in Guest Tiki Bar Review 2 Comments
Seattle Sunset Tiki Cruise 5/18/24 by Sean Heath

Dedicated readers, Tiki with Ray has foolishly left his computer out and yours truly cracked his password (12345 same as on my luggage) and taken the helm of the ship. Let us hope it doesn’t capsize as I do donuts and recreate scenes from Speed 2, or possibly, the Titanic.  Either way we have rocky shoals ahead.  

Continue reading “Seattle Sunset Tiki Cruise 5/18/24 by Sean Heath” →

Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #114 Rita’s Lost Weekend – Matawan NJ

Posted by Ray on in Home Tiki Bars
Rita's Lost Weekend

Remember that movie Escape From New York?

Once you got in, it was hard to get out. But in reality, it’s quite the opposite. If you want to drive into Manhattan from New Jersey you have only three options: Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel or the George Washington Bridge. If you want to take a train in, you got two ways in, NJ Transit or you can take the PATH train.

So, if you want to tiki and you live in New Jersey, what do you do? You don’t escape to New York, you build a tiki bar in your garage and escape there! This is exactly what Shanna and Johnny did and here’s their story…

Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #114 Rita’s Lost Weekend – Matawan NJ” →

Tiki VIP #52 LeosLowbrow – Tropical Painter – Rev. Dr. Leo Hartshorn

Posted by Ray on in Tiki VIP 1 Comment
LeosLowbrow

As I’m getting older, I’m realizing that my life has been a series of chapters like in a book and the same can be said for Rev. Dr. Leo Hartshorn.

Leo has gone from playing drums in a 60’s psychedelic band, to becoming a minister and more recently a painter. Leo had done many styles but the paintings that stood out to me where that of famous tiki people. Leo has done paintings of Donn Beach, Shag, Martin Denny, Bob and Leroy of Oceanic Arts and Sven Kirsten!

Here is Leo’s story so far…

Continue reading “Tiki VIP #52 LeosLowbrow – Tropical Painter – Rev. Dr. Leo Hartshorn” →

Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #113 Dr. Bones, Apothecary – Tacoma WA

Posted by Ray on in Uncategorized
Dr. Bones, Apothecary

When Ashley Morgan, aka Sleepy Siren Treasure Co. ins’t sculpting mugs shaped like dead oceanographers, she’s spending time with husband Cliff deep down inside their basement bar. It’s part nautical, part pirate and part tiki, all things that Ashley and Cliff love. The name of their bar is called Dr. Bones, Apothecary…
NOT Dr. Bones’ Apothecary!

Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #113 Dr. Bones, Apothecary – Tacoma WA” →

Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #112 The Satin Tiki Room – Redford MI

Posted by Ray on in Uncategorized 3 Comments
The Satin Tiki Room

Are you a punk rock guy? I used to play drums in a band called Negative Approach from Detroit…

Chuck Burns is a musician from out of The Motor City and has been playing music for most of his life. He’s into rock and punk and yes, has played drums for Negative Approach which is one of the most influential hardcore punk bands there is. I’m a big fan of rock and punk and to answer Chuck’s question, Hell Yeah! I’m a punk rock guy! Chuck is also into tiki and has created his own tiki bar in his basement. It’s called The Satin Tiki Room and here is Chuck’s story…

Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #112 The Satin Tiki Room – Redford MI” →

Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #112 The Kursed Piranha – London UK

Posted by Ray on in Uncategorized
The Kursed Piranha

I stumbled upon a random tiki video on YouTube…

I’m always on the lookout for any tiki videos on YouTube and I found one. It was a video of someone giving a tour of their home tiki bar. You couldn’t see the person but you can hear the person talking about all the pieces that make up their bar. That person is GiGi and she’s from the UK. I was impressed with what I saw in that video but I noticed that there was more. Gigi made videos for each step on her build out and it was really cool to see the transformation. The name of the bar is The Kursed Piranha and here is how it all came to be…

Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #112 The Kursed Piranha – London UK” →