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!
What is the tiki scene like where you live?
Cliff-I’ve never been one to have my finger on the pulse of any scene, so I hesitate to say I’m much of an authority on the current goings on as far as events and the like. We have Devil’s Reef, which is absolutely amazing, and then we’ve got the Old Hangout in McMenamin’s which has it’s own charm as well. “Da Tiki Hut” opened their hidden bar a while back as well, and I’d love to see them expand it.
What brought you into the tiki lifestyle and how long has it been part of your life?
Cliff-I give credit to Disneyland for piquing my interest in the whole Adventureland/Enchanted Tiki Room vibe as a kid, long before I would step foot into Trader Sam’s. But, that was always something apart no different than Tomorrowland or Fantasyland – it was just a cool aesthetic that I attributed to an amusement park. Full credit for actually pulling me into the Tiki culture goes to Tiki King, Pat Baron. I was dating his niece at the time and he’d come down to San Diego to attend Tiki Oasis in 2008. He invited us to come along and that was that! I was introduced to a culture that I’d only vaguely known existed.
Can you give a little history of how it all came together?
Cliff-Covid and rain. A couple months before Covid hit, our finished basement flooded. We had to gut out everything, pull up carpet, do the mold abatement; the whole nine. By this point, our tiki decor mostly stuff from thrift stores, yard sales, marketplace, etc was already becoming crowded upstairs, so as soon as we had the space, we knew what to do.
I was out of work for about a month during the shutdown, and with nothing but time on my hands, I bought some fencing boards, wallpaper, and stain, then got to work. Stylistically, I aimed for “pirate captain’s cabin”. The type of room that would have a luxury feel, with odds an ends from traveling the world or at least circling the Polynesian Islands in a rum fueled delirium.
Any story behind the name of your bar?
Cliff-Not a very interesting one I’m afraid to say. When my wife, Ashley, and I were first spit balling ideas for names for her mug making business, we decided I’d need a name as well. I’m a dork, I’m a D&D nerd and big gamer, so I wanted something that had a bit of a fantasy bent to it. Dr. Bones was a name I’d used in the past for some nerdy stuff, and I figured an apothecary was a fitting place to serve up fun drink mixes.
I will say that we went back and forth on one thing, the damned apostrophe! The bar itself is technically unnamed because of this. We’d gone back and forth so many times on names; The Sunken Grotto, Shipwreck Libations, The Tipsy Mermaid; that I ended up not naming it at all. The beautifully painted wall outside (credit to Ashley Morgan) reads “Dr. Bones, Apothecary” and not “Dr. Bones’ Apothecary”.
What is your favorite Tiki drink?
Cliff-In general, my favorite tiki drink is a Painkiller. However, that is topped by the Antarctic Expedition from Devil’s Reef. It’s similar with the coconut cream, but has that hint of Absinthe that brings it to another level.
What is your favorite Tiki bar? Not including your own!
Cliff-This is a tough one, because I love the Bali Hai for nostalgia having grown up primarily in San Diego. It was the first place I ever had a Mai Tai which may have permanently defined what a Mai Tai is in my brain, and contributed to why I’m loosey goosey with the rules on drink naming conventions.
But if I were to choose a favorite now, Devil’s Reef, hands down. It checks every box for me with the decor and drinks.
Outside of great drinks, what do you think are essential elements in creating the perfect Tiki environment?
Cliff– It has to have the casino effect. While I’m inside, I can’t know there’s anything outside those four walls. As far as decor, I tend to lean on the spookier side of tiki. Skulls, shrunken heads, voodoo elements, etc. If I walk into a bar that advertises themselves as tiki, they can have all the wooden carved masks, all the fishnet and glass floats, jade tiles, etc. But there’s an intangible element that I feel pushes something from a bar that’s trying to capture an audience using tiki, and a true tiki bar. There’s a Bob’s Burgers episode that I think puts it into context better than I can.
What does the future hold for you and your home tiki bar?
Cliff-Expansion! The odd hallway space in our basement that I converted was a great place to start and learn a bit about what i was doing. But there are changes I’d make if I did it all over. At the time, I was also on a tight budget. So maybe the secondhand stools wobble a bit, the bar itself would fit better in a man cave with sports posters on the walls, and the carpet was the only one I could find that fit the space and was dark enough nobody would pay it any attention.
Our hope is, we move to a bigger place in a coupe years, and I can really go hog wild with it.
Thank you Jason Craig “We Shall Tiki” for your pictures used for this post!
