Home Tiki Bars Archives - Page 12 of 13

Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #16 The Alta Tiki Lounge Daly City, CA

Posted by Ray on December 28, 2016 in Home Tiki Bars 4 Comments

Buz Deadwax owner of The Alta Tiki Lounge

“Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,¹
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same…”

If your familiar with the TV show Weeds, you’ve heard this song sung by Malvina Reynolds. The neighborhood Malvina was singing about was actually Daly City and she describes it perfectly. All the homes are literally square boxes that are different pastel colors and built on the side of a hill. Hidden in one of these “square boxes made of ticky tacky” lies the Alta Tiki Lounge.

Buz Deadwax is the proud owner of The Alta Tiki Lounge and here is his story…

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #15 The Fuzzy Smudge Olalla, WA

Posted by Ray on December 8, 2016 in Home Tiki Bars 1 Comment

Remember that old saying “as the crow flies?”

It meant the actual distance between two points via a straight line. The town of Olalla is only 15 miles away from Seattle, but that doesn’t mean it’s close—let alone easy—to get to. The Puget Sound stands between Seattle and Olalla, which means you have two ways of getting there: taking a ferry or driving around and below the Puget Sound. A ferry trip is not cheap, so that means driving is the best way to get there. Why all the fuss about getting to Olalla? Because Debbie and Mark Whitehead live there and down in their basement lies the Fuzzy Smudge…

Here is Debbie and Mark’s story…

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Home Tiki Bar #14 Spotlight Toad’s Grog Grotto East Vancouver, BC

Posted by Ray on November 21, 2016 in Home Tiki Bars

Heather and Terry the owners of Toad's Grog Grotto

I was talking to a friend of mine and he mentioned that he really loves speakeasy bars. The idea of a speakeasy is borrowed from the days of prohibition when alcohol was illegal. People still wanted to party and get their drink on, so hidden bars were built. Some bars were in basements, in underground tunnels, or behind secret doors. Of course, it’s totally legal to drink booze now, but the idea of speakeasy is really cool.

I like to think of Toad’s Grog Grotto as a speakeasy Tiki bar! Heather and Terry Manning live in a townhouse in East Vancouver, BC and you would never think a Tiki bar would be near. But there is a Tiki bar and it’s in Heather and Terry’s garage. As much as Heather and Terry love Tiki, they also love bicycles. They needed to keep their collection of bikes somewhere, so they decided to split the garage in half. When you open the garage door, all you see are bicycles. Hidden behind the bikes is a curtain and behind that curtain lies Toad’s Grog Grotto! This is Heather and Terry’s story…

Toad's Grog Grotto Entrance — Toad’s Grog Grotto Entrance

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #12 The Cabana Aloha OR

Posted by Ray on November 7, 2016 in Home Tiki Bars

Dana at The Cabana

Imagine you wanted to make your own Tiki bar but you were “good with tools.” The possibilities would be endless! If you can dream it, you can build it and that’s what Dana Fryer, aka Cabana Man, did with his place. Dana wanted a bar, so he built it. He wanted a tide pool, so he built one. How about a cave? No problem, it only took Dana 74 beers to build one. The name of Dana’s Tiki escape is called the Cabana. Here is his story…

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #13 The Shangri-La 66 Seattle, WA

Posted by Ray on October 24, 2016 in Home Tiki Bars

There has always been a connection between Asian culture and Tiki. Food served at Tiki restaurants back in the day was pretty much Chinese food. (Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!) If you step up to the bar inside a Chinese restaurant, don’t be surprised to find some Tiki drinks on the menu. Jeffrey has a love for both Chinese and Tiki cultures. So Jeffrey and his partner Erik created a bar in their home that combines both. It’s called Shangri-La 66…

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #11 The Blue Flamingo And The Bowler Hat Club Seattle, WA

Posted by Ray on October 13, 2016 in Home Tiki Bars 1 Comment

Russell and The Blue Flamingo Lounge and Bowler Hat Club

The late ’80s/early ’90s was a great time for music and no, I’m not talking about grunge! There started to be a renewed interest in music from the Mid-Century, music like jazz, swing, exotica, surf, and lounge. It was mostly punk and alternative types that re-discovered all this great music and leather jackets and boots were replaced with suits and skinny ties.

Records at The Blue Flamingo and Bowler Hat Club

Russell Scheidelman is one of these punks who got turned on to this great music from the ’60s and went head-on into the Seattle lounge scene. Russell is one sharped-dressed man who channels Andy Warhol and John Steed from the Avengers.

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #10 The Taboo Lagoon At The Shangri-La Portland, OR

Posted by Ray on August 25, 2016 in Home Tiki Bars

Aaron behing the bar at The Atomic Lounge

When Aaron Thorpe came across his home to be, he took one look at the place and said, “It’s mine.” There’s something about Mid-Century Modern homes that just look so cool and so right. Aaron’s place looks like something straight out of Palm Springs and it’s located in Portland, OR. Aaron has created a home Tiki bar, which is located outside by his pool. It is incredible, but there is so much more to see at Aaron’s home that it would be a crime to not show off the rest of it!

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #9 Trader Tom’s Tropical Lounge At Drifter’s Cove Tacoma, WA

Posted by Ray on August 18, 2016 in Home Tiki Bars 1 Comment

Renee and Tom at Trader's Tom's Tropical Lounge — Renee and Tom at Trader’s Tom’s Tropical Lounge

In the Pacific Northwest, Tacoma has always had a bad rap. It’s an unfair because it’s being compared to Seattle. Tacoma may not be as big as Seattle, but it sure has some pretty nice neighborhoods. Titlow is a part of Tacoma that is right off the Puget Sound. The neighborhood is known for its giant park (Titlow Park). It’s very stunning. In Titlow you will find Trader Tom’s Tropical Lounge at Drifter’s Cove…

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #8 The Lowbrow Lanai Portland, OR

Posted by Ray on August 8, 2016 in Home Tiki Bars

Sometimes the hardest part about creating your own Tiki bar is finding the things you want to add to it. There is always eBay or Craigslist, but most of us find our Tiki treasures going to antique stores and thrift shops. I’ve done my share of traveling from one antique shop after another looking for that perfect Tiki mug. It took me over a year to find my Mid-Century Modern couch! Marci Holcomb and Austin Jordan don’t have to search very far for cool stuff. They own their own vintage store: Sputnik Housewares! Marci and Austin’s store and home are in Portland, OR. This is their story…

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #7 The Exotica Glendale, AZ

Posted by Ray on August 4, 2016 in Home Tiki Bars 3 Comments

Jim Hyte lives in Glendale, AZ, which means he lives in the desert. I remember on TV when someone was lost in the desert and dying of thirst, they would start to hallucinate. The image the person would see was always a large pool with palm trees. Jim decided to make that hallucination into a reality. He has turned his home and backyard into the Exotica!

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