Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #56 The Flora Lounge – Kansas City MO

I’ve visited quite a few home tiki bars over the years, but Corey Whitworth’s Flora Lounge was the first home tiki bar that I ever slept in …. Thanks Corey! Before I called it a night, I took some pictures and I knew I had to do a blog post on The Flora Lounge. Here is Corey’s story …

What is the tiki scene like where you live?

Corey- We’re still an up and coming scene here. Just prior to TikiCat opening in April of 2017, there was a need to bring local KC area tikiphiles together. There were several of us who knew each other through TikiCentral, but we wanted something a little more accessible so I created the MOKANtiki group on Facebook with a good friend and fellow tikiphile, Amber Jennings.  We have over 600 members in our group and although we focus a lot on the Kansas City tiki scene (since that is where a majority of our members live), we have folks that have joined from all over the Midwest, so we have contributors from Omaha, St. Louis, Des Moines, Chicago, Milwaukee and more! So, it’s become a vehicle to support Tiki happenings throughout the Midwest, which I am really proud of. We also cross promote things going on with other regional Facebook groups such as the Tulsa Tiki Tribe, Denver Tiki Tribe, Chicagohana and Mikimadiloko Ohana.

What brought you into the ‘Tiki lifestyle” and how long has it been part of your life?

Corey- I was heavily influenced from childhood trips to Disneyland with my family. I had a great-great Aunt who lived in Anaheim, just a short drive away from the park and we visited her family a few times throughout my childhood, and always made a trek over to Disneyland. The Enchanted Tiki Room, and Adventureland as a whole, really captivated me as a kid. Not just the visuals, but also the attraction soundtrack as well as the music loops used throughout Adventureland.

In 1996, while doing some new music shopping to get me through some study periods in college, I stumbled upon the Enchanted Moods of Les Baxter double cd set and was instantly reminded of that same feeling that I had as a kid wandering through Adventureland, which in turn led to me to The Retro Cocktail Hour on Kansas Public Radio. I was visiting a friend who lived here in KC and he mentioned that the host, Darrell Brogdon, would regularly feature Exotica artists on its weekly broadcasts.  I was hooked!  The Disney influence made me love the aesthetic but it was the discovery of the music of the Polynesian Pop era which got me to really dig deep into tiki history.

Can you give a little history of how it all came together?

Corey- I began collecting around 2003 when I started buying vintage tiki venue paper goods on eBay and displaying old menus and adverts in my apartment. Then when I became a homeowner I decided to have a basement tiki bar. I had a smattering of tiki art, mugs and framed vintage menus on the walls and a hand built bar. But it wasn’t until we had to deal with some foundation/water issues, entailing a demo and subsequent rebuild of most of the walls, that my home bar really was born.

My wife and I were expecting our first child and we had already planned on doing a gender reveal with an Adventureland influenced party. Given the state of our basement, my wife encouraged me to rebuild and go bigger. We had just done a trip to Disneyland and my first visit to Trader Sam’s really influenced me in having a lot of thoughtful placement of items to help tell a story or relate an experience. In less than three months, we had all the framing done, sheetrock up and painted, all the matting/trim work on the walls, the back bar built, and all the decor placed. It was exhaustive, but rewarding when we held the party for 30+ people.

Any story behind the name of your bar?

Corey- The name I christened my home bar with was The Flora Lounge and the reasoning behind this is perhaps a bit embarrassing. I live on a street named Flora … so yeah, my ability to be inventive is lacking, but I still felt like it was evocative of the mood I was attempting.

My bar isn’t necessarily a Tiki Bar, I prefer to call it an Exotica Bar. Among the tiki pieces I have displayed, there are also some pieces that are African and Central American in origin, so I felt as though a tiki/South Seas related name perhaps did not fit the space. Also, there are some couches in the space that friends always remarked were so comfortable and lounge-y … so Flora Lounge just became a natural and fitting name to me.

What is your favorite Tiki drink? Why? 

Corey- I’m a sucker for passionfruit in a drink, so always drift towards a Port Light, Lapu Lapu or a Saturn if it’s on a bar menu. At home though, I keep it simple and have been enjoying a cardamom daiquiri: 2oz Plantation 5 Year (or your fav. rum), 1oz lime juice and 1oz cardamom syrup (I prefer Pink House Alchemy cardamom syrup over Boozy Botanicals or other brands)

What is your favorite Tiki bar? Not including your own! 

Corey- Well, if you will allow it, I have to gush about TikiCat simply because it ushered in so many things for tiki here in the Kansas City area. Sure, it’s high on the TiPSY factor, intimate, sports a great drink program and showcases art from so many amazing contemporary tiki artists, but more so, it ushered in the rebirth of tiki in Kansas City. It spurred me to create our MOKANtiki group, which led to so many new friendships and exposure of our local tiki scene to tikiphiles nationwide. Without TikiCat, and more appropriately Mark Sellers, we would not have had the opportunity to meet such luminaries as Shag, Doug Horne, Crazy Al, John Mulder & Charles Phoenix, or the chance to meet media contributors to the tiki community like Adrian Eustaquio, Jeff Ballard, yourself Ray Wyland and more! So, it will always hold a special place for me.

Outside of that, I really appreciated every single one of my experiences at Laka Lono in Omaha Nebraska, thanks to a wonderful drink program and some of the most enthusiastic and friendly bar staff and hosts, as well as at The Inferno Room in Indianapolis Indiana, for such an immersive buildout with a stunning collection of PNG art and Dave Hansen’s amazing craftsmanship on display throughout.

Outside of great drinks, what do you think are essential elements in creating the perfect Tiki environment?

Corey- I could tout the typical arguments of it being the music choices (Exotica or Hawaiiana standards or at the very least Surf Rock and absolutely no Pop/Top 40 playlists), an intimate environment that allows for conversation and promotes the escapism, or the need for at least a few vintage or new carvings. But I also think there’s a need for a knowledgeable and welcoming bar staff that engages patrons.  I have had the best experiences at places where the bar staff strike up a conversation and share their appreciation of the tiki lifestyle and show off their knowledge and understanding of some of the history of tiki.

What does the future hold for you and your home tiki bar?

Corey- With all the recent connections I have been making at tiki events the past few years, I have really been looking forward to hosting new tiki friends visiting from out of town and showing them some Midwest hospitality. Sharing stories of our collections and tiki experiences while in a home bar setting is just something I really appreciate. I also enjoy researching Missouri and Kansas tiki history and co-hosted a symposium on it at the Malihini Tiki Fest here in Kansas City in 2018. I have been compiling my notes and research to do a larger write-up specifically on Missouri tiki venues/history for a future release.

Anything else you would like to add?

Corey- I just want to thank you for highlighting home bars and their owners.  It’s inspirational and motivating to see other folks home spaces and hear about their collections and passion when it comes to the tiki lifestyle.