Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #2 The Monkey Skull Voodoo Lounge Seattle, WA

It was the summer of 2015. Some friends of mine asked me if I would be interested in going to a Tiki party that was going on up in North Seattle. I was totally down!

We arrived at the house where the party was happening. We knew it was the right place because there were Tiki torches burning outside. We could hear the sounds of people having a good time nearly a block away. Surf music was pouring out of the basement, so we followed the sounds as we walked along the side of the house and finally downstairs.

I didn’t know it yet, but I was about to take my first step into a larger world.

The basement of the house was completely converted into a Tiki bar! There was a bartender making Tiki drinks, so I got in line and waited to get mine. I got my drink and worked my way over to check out the band. This took some time because the room was packed with people dancing to the music. Everywhere I looked there were girls in floral dresses and guys in Aloha shirts. I found myself a place to stand and got into the surf rhythms of Banzai Surf. They were so cool. They were cranking out all the surf hits and everyone was having a great time, including myself.

I discovered one major thing after leaving the party: there is a Tiki subculture!

For me, embracing the Tiki lifestyle pretty much had been going to Tiki bars. I would talk a friend or two into going with me. We would go, have some Tiki drinks, and that was about it. After going to this Tiki party, I realized there were other people that were into Tiki just as much as I was!  I discovered that there are Tiki conventions like Tiki Oasis and Tiki Kon. I found out about people who love Tiki culture so much they would convert parts of their homes into Tiki escapes. This is what Peter did with his basement. He created The Monkey Skull Voodoo Lounge!

Peter was kind enough to invite me over to take some pictures and ask a couple questions. When I arrived, the front door was already opened. I stepped inside. We made our introductions and Peter asked if I would like a drink. I said, “Of course!” Pete grabbed a bottle of rum from the bar and Trista (Peter’s girlfriend)  found some cans of Pepsi hiding the fridge. Rum and Cokes—I mean rum and Pepsis— it will be! We all sat down and I got Peter’s story…

The original idea was to make a goth themed bar, Peter told me.

One of the more popular goth bars in Seattle is a place called Barca.  Barca is very dark and decorated with tons of candle fixtures, chandeliers, and other items that look like they might have been stolen from and old castle in Eastern Europe. Peter loved Barca and designed his bar after it.

As Peter and Trista were showing me around, they pointed out remnants of the original goth bar: a candle fixture here, a human skull there, and so on.

Then Peter discovered Tiki and everything changed.

First Peter built a water fountain…

Then Peter got a bar…

And stocked it with rum—tons of rum…

Then Peter got another bar…

Yes, the Monkey Skull Voodoo Lounge has two bars!

Peter started searching Ebay and Craigslist for anything Tiki and added what he found to bar…

This is Peter’s Tiki mug collection…

The shelf pictured above spans the length of the room and it’s filled from the floor to the ceiling.

Here are some mugs…

And some more mugs…

Peter started collecting stuffed animals! No, not teddy bears. Taxidermy!

Peter hosts a yearly Tiki party at his place. It has been going on for almost a decade and it’s off the hook. There must have been over one hundred people dancing and drinking when I was there last year!

This is the webpage for Peter’s annually Tiki party.

Here is a video of the action at one of Pete’s parties.

After several Rum and Pepsis, it was time for me to go. We spent over three hours talking about music, bars, Tiki, and life. It didn’t feel like I was interviewing Peter, it just felt like we kindred spirits talking about our passions.

Will I be coming to Peter’s next Tiki Party? I’m counting the days!

This is the Facebook page for the Monkey Skull Voodoo Lounge.

A couple years back, Peter gave himself the challenge of going to every single bar in Seattle. He accomplished his goal and now he’s shooting for the entire USA! Pete’s website is seattlebars.org

It’s an amazing website and it’s very informative. I will be doing a post about his website in the near future. Stay tuned.

I also want to thank Trista Robinson for being my photographer for the day. All the pictures used in this post were taken by her. Trista has her own website and here is the link.

This is Peter and Trista…