Sometime life imitates art, or is it the other way around?
Mr. X’s Valet, a painting from Shag, was the inspiration for the Ka Laki Lolo Tiki. Art decided to use elements of the tiki bar in that Shag painting and Ka Laki Lolo Tiki was born! Art and Maria’s home tiki bar is in Dundee Michigan and when things get cold in the winter they have a wonderful tiki bar to escape to. It’s an enclosed patio turned tiki bar and Art and Maria can enjoy a Mai Tai or two even though it might be two below outside! Here is their story…
What is the tiki scene like where you live?
Art- As far as commercial bars go, it’s very sparse. We’re about an hour from Detroit which has The Mutiny (and we just lost one) and a couple of pseudo/sort-of locations. We have several really nice home bars within an hour of us and all are very welcoming. There is a Facebook group, Detroit Friends of Tiki that tries to have a home bar visit each month. This has been very successful with 30-40 people at each meeting. It doesn’t matter how extravagant the location is, as it’s just as much about seeing your friends and “talking Tiki.” Oh, and the cocktails! The next real bars are Max’s South Seas Hideaway in west Michigan and Tiki Underground in Ohio, each about two and a half hours away.
What brought you into the tiki lifestyle and how long has it been part of your life?
Art- As far as getting into the “Tiki lifestyle,” there was no real point where we said, “We are now Tikiphiles.” We’ve always lived in Michigan, so we appreciate the contrast of the “tropical vibe,” particularly with the nasty winters. Like so many others, my family visited Disneyland and of course, the Enchanted Tiki Room. It didn’t really set a fire under me for Tiki, but was kind of “placed on file” in my mind to surface later. I’ve always liked bamboo and rattan for some reason.
Maria- We went to Hawaii 40 years ago on our honeymoon, which introduced tropical to me. We went to the International Market Place every day for chocolate covered macadamia nuts and a shaved ice. Unfortunately, we didn’t even consider Don the Beachcomber’s place! We were young and stupid! We did however, buy our first Tiki there! It’s a carving of the AKUA KAAI image, the original being in the Bishop Museum, according to the hang tag. It just sat as a souvenir for many years.
Can you give a little history of how it all came together?
Art- We put on an addition to our house in 1996, with an enclosed patio with an indoor grill, which included large windows for a sun room effect, so regardless of what it was doing outside, we were cozy inside throwing a party without concern for the weather. We fitted the room with rattan furniture and a small, portable bamboo bar. There were some nautical items decorating the space and we even had an unlighted puffer fish hanging from the ceiling. We enjoyed giving the parties and became interested in vintage cocktails. In fact, we would devote one night a week to trying “new” concoctions that we found in old bar books or online.
We belonged to private city club in Toledo which had a bar in almost every room. Maria and I proposed an indoor bar crawl which was approved. We were in charge and put together four other groups running a total of five differently themed bars. For some reason, we decided we wanted to have a Tiki bar. This was in 2016, before we knew much of anything about Tiki. We look back and are both embarrassed and proud of what we did. There was some clown stuff and also some authentic things and it was very well received.
Maria- Sometime later, around April 2017, we were sitting in the patio after one of our larger get-togethers, talking about how the little bar stuck out in the room and sometimes caused a “traffic” problem. I said (jokingly, I thought) that if we took out a bank of windows, we could build a back bar out, which would leave considerably more space for a front bar and hence, our guests and it was left at that. A couple of weeks later, Art mentioned that Patrick, a good contractor friend of ours was coming out to the house for a drink. I said, “Fine, what’s the occasion?” He said, “Well, to talk about the back-bar addition, of course!” The next thing I knew, a foundation was being dug, the window bank was gone, and the walls for the new portion were being built!
Art- The 10 x 10 back bar area was completely closed in, but we still weren’t “all in” on Tiki. Having a full cabinet shop and 50 years of woodworking experience meant we were going to do the interior ourselves. I have to give SHAG some credit at this point…
While searching for something else, I ran across a picture of his Mr. X’s Valet which portrays a Tiki bar with a thatch overhang, a lit puffer fish, and a couple large Tiki totems. There are a couple of Shriners and a mysterious lady sitting at the bar. The barkeep looks to be a typical staid professional from the 50s. Something about that picture really hit me. After a little back and forth, we decided to create our own Tiki bar. There is a large artist’s proof of the print, hanging in a prominent place in the bar.
Once we made the commitment to Tiki, things started rolling. Maria is very good at concept and design, so she came up with most of the ideas and together we made them happen.
Any story behind the name of your bar?
Maria- This really came about because of that indoor bar crawl that we organized. We wanted to have a name for that bar, if only for the one night, so I searched for Hawaiian words and looked up their meanings. I read them out loud and found a phrase that sounded good and was cute in its meaning. Ka Laki Lolo Tiki – The Lucky Crazy Tiki. I then found a basic Tiki face and changed the eyes and mouth to fit, what was in my mind, a sort of crazy look, for our logo. We went all out and Art constructed a sign for that Tiki bar, as one of the stops of the bar crawl. It was his first time really working with bamboo and strip led lighting and it came together nicely. The sign was used for the crawl and then relegated to cold storage for about a year. When the time came to name our home bar, it was only natural to use that sign as it fit right in.
What is your favorite Tiki drink?
Art- I would probably have to say the 44 Mai Tai. It’s the quintessential exotic drink in my book. Everybody does one, but there are just a few really good ones out there. We’ve experimented a little with “The Bum’s” recipe, but only in regards to which rums we have available and taste good to us. After that, I really enjoy our Jet Pilot. We also have a house drink, the Black Lagoon, which has rum and a blended Scotch (my first love) in it.
Maria- My favorite is our second house drink, the CubaNana Cocktail. It’s a long story, but Art’s grandmother “Nana” was the inspiration for it. She was a world traveler and we found a recipe for a martini type drink scrawled on a note card that she was served in London, called a Cubanna Cocktail. We adapted it to a rum base and christened it the “CubaNana” in her honor. It has nine ingredients that go great together!
What is your favorite Tiki bar? Not including your own!
Art- That’s a difficult one. There are number that we haven’t been to, although we hit 16 bars in 3 days in San Francisco, in 2022! The Mai Kai is still the king for me, but there are others that make their special contributions. I have to mention Michigan’s own Max’s South Seas Hideaway, naturally. The combination of new and old Tiki artifacts is astounding. And the drinks and food are always top notch.
Maria- Certainly the Mai Kai stands out, but I think one of the most important or influential bars for us was Tiki Underground at its first location in the Akron, Ohio, area. It was very early in our “Tiki career” when we found it somewhat by accident. The people were so friendly and we had a great time there enjoying the atmosphere. TU started what they call the Tiki Flea, an event that brings artists and vendors of Tiki items together, to sell their wares to the public. We’ve met many people at the Flea who have become good friends over the years. Owners, Sean and Jessie, have gone on to create an even greater place in Cuyahoga Falls.
Outside of great drinks, what do you think are essential elements in creating the perfect Tiki environment?
Art- We really have strived for the whole package. For the most part, we are in keeping with the classic style of Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber. Firstly, clutter is our friend, although it is known politely as layers. We have been adding pretty much continually for six years now and its fun watching people “discover” new things throughout a party. Sound is important as well. We have about 5 1/2 hours of music including surf, Hawaiian and steel drums. I recently installed a separate player for the KenTiki Jungle Box. Birds and rain are going on in the background, mixing with the music.
Lighting is one of the most important aspects. As mentioned, the area was originally built as a sun room. Rather than remove all the windows, we installed lined shades which keep the room quite dark, allowing us to have complete control. They offered another opportunity for decor. Our artist friend Mark Thompson (TOPESArt) airbrushed tropical and Tiki scenes on them. Regarding the specifics of lighting, I wouldn’t claim to be an expert, but I have done over 200 lighting spots and accents. Led strip lights have been great for that. We’ve also made a large number of our lamps and therefore can light them to suit. One of our highest compliments is when someone walks out of the room and exclaims, “Wow! It’s still daytime!”
What does the future hold for you and your home tiki bar?
Maria- I still have a few lamp ideas which I will eventually get finished. In the meantime, we’ll be testing out various rum rhapsodies, for research purposes, of course!
Art- We’ll probably keep adding smaller items, although most will have to hang from the ceiling as we’re pretty much out of wall space. There is some spillover into the adjacent living room, but we’d like to keep that under control – at least for now! I mostly want to enjoy our work, which includes having friends join us.
Anything else you would like to add?
We would agree, like so many have said, Tikiphiles are generally some of the nicest people you can be with. Those who build a bar are just as anxious to use it as to share it with others who appreciate the effort. Most of us can’t be in perpetual Tiki mode, which makes it that much more enjoyable when you are!
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