Most of us would see a toolshed, but for Eric Allred, he saw a tiki bar …
The Edmonds Sneaki Tiki Lounge is Eric’s cozy little tiki bar inside his toolshed. Eric was thinking of tearing it down but instead created an amazing little tiki bar. Eric also collects tiki mugs and has acquired quite a few in a short amount of time. Here is Eric’s story …
What’s the tiki scene like where you live?
Eric- There is a pretty lively Tiki scene going on in the Greater Seattle Area. There are several big parties every year that I have been going to as well. For public bars, not much to speak of in Edmonds itself. There is the Taki Tiki bar, which is what I would equate more to as a Florida beach bar with a small side of Tiki. There are some good Tiki Bars in Seattle, and a great one down in Tacoma. If I go a little farther South, I have also attended the last two Tiki Kon events, which has also opened my eyes even further to the scene itself.
Can you talk about your tiki mug collection?
Eric- How do I even begin? I sort of have a “collector’s” mentality. Candace gave me my first two mugs, which I still drink out of today. It wasn’t until I attended Tiki Kon in 2017, that I really discovered the wide diversity of mugs, the makers, manufacturers, and the rarity and value of some mugs. I came home with 15 mugs and from there on I was hooked. I started reading up on mugs, who made them, etc. I love things created by people / artists. I need to organize my mugs more effectively, but I am well over 400 mugs now. I have been seeking and finding older Munktiki designs that I particularly like.
Any story behind the name of your bar?
Eric- I think that kind of came up once when I was looking at the outside of the shed, and there is no indication that there is a tiki bar inside. That spawned the Edmonds Sneaki Tiki Lounge name.
What is your favorite Tiki drink? Why?
Eric- Mai Tai – it’s the first drink I became accustomed too. It became my staple!
What is your favorite Tiki bar? Not including your own!
Eric- That’s hard to say – Tiki Bar all up? Psycho Suzi’s (Minneapolis MN) and the Devil’s Reef in Tacoma WA. For home bars, it would be a toss-up between Peter / Trista’s bar and Tom / Jeanie’s bar.
Outside of great drinks, what do you think are essential elements in creating the perfect Tiki environment?
Eric- First, an Aloha attitude! It’s all about the festive, open, inclusive, buoyant people. I think some kind of quirky background music should be involved, lounge music, Hawaiian, surf, etc. It should have something aligned with Hawaiiana / Polynesian from a decoration perspective.
What does the future hold for you and your home tiki bar?
Eric- I will continue to refine and iterate on my tiki shed, but I already know I am going to expand further into the backyard and into my basement as a whole. The tiki shed is just the tip of the tiki totem pole.
I’d like to thank Travis Bay for his photos used for this post.
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Crazy cool…..I would be afraid of someone slamming the door and all that goodness fall off the fall into a pile of pieces……ARRRGGGGG!!!! Please tell me those doors dont slam…wind around here would worry me as well….its it that way there?
Awesome We did something similar. We bought a Tuff shed for the express purpose of putting a Tiki bar in. But it is slowly creeping out on to the patio now. Tuff sheds did however do a blog on our shed.