Every home Tiki bar is built the same way: one piece at a time. It may start with the bar itself, a piece of furniture, a Tiki, a wall hanging, or even a Tiki mug itself that creates the spark for someone to start to build a home Tiki bar. Everything you see in a home Tiki bar has a story behind it and adds to the history of the bar. The Monkey Hut, Heather Gregg and Craig Hermann’s home Tiki bar in Portland, OR, has its own history that starts back in the ’90s in Petaluma, CA.
Petaluma is about forty miles north of San Francisco and it’s where Heather and Craig lived before coming to Portland. The back porch of their home was turned into a Tiki bar one piece at a time. Some items were found on Craigslist. Other pieces were found along the road ready to be thrown out.
Heather and Craig moved up to Portland in 2003 and brought the Tiki bar with them. The new home for their Tiki bar was the front bedroom of their place. Then in 2008, they moved into the house that they’re in today. The entire basement was then made into the Monkey Hut.
The bar itself is actually part of the front porch that was moved downstairs. This was done by the previous owners…
Most of the furniture in the lounge area has made the long journey from Petaluma to Portland…
Some items were acquired from old restaurants like these lanterns, which were from an old Chinese restaurant. The table lamps are from the Jasmine Tree, which housed items from the closing of the Kon-Tiki Ports (including Tikis) until it closed. The larger Tiki items from the Kon-Tiki went to Thatch, which is now Hale Pele
The light-up parrot piece above the bar comes from the now-defunct Bahooka in Rosemead, CA…
Here are some more pictures of The Monkey Hut…
Speaking of history, Craig has been involved in the Tiki scene for a long time…
He used to bump elbows with Martin Cate of Forbidden Island/Smuggler’s Cove fame back in the ’90s and he is also one of the founders of Tiki Kon. Tiki Kon started back in 2002 as a home Tiki bar crawl and has grown into one the biggest Tiki events in the country!
Craig knows his way around a cocktail shaker. He was a bartender at Thatch. Thatch is now Hale Pele and it is one of my favorite Tiki bars.
“What would you like to drink?” Craig asked me as he grabbed two tumblers from behind the bar.
“Whatever you’re having!” I replied.
Craig went on to make us one of my favorite Tiki cocktails: the 3 Dots and a Dash!
Heather joined us and Craig made her a Black Magic…
As I was sipping my drink, I noticed that the tumblers were custom made for the Monkey Hut!
It was time for Round Two. This time Heather and Craig’s daughter Penelope came down to join us. Craig whipped up a non-alcoholic drink for her. I dubbed the drink “the Penelope Special”…
For the adults, Craig made us a round of Navy Grogs…
We had another visitor as we enjoyed our drinks. This time Nixon the family dog came down and got comfortable on one of the Rattan chairs. See if you can find Nixon…
We finished our Navy Grogs and Craig asked if I wanted another. “Yes!” I said. I was really feeling the drinks big time, but Craig’s cocktails were so good, I couldn’t pass up another. He made me a Honi Honi..
A Honi Honi is essentially a Mai Tai, but instead of using rum, you use whiskey. Take a guess how it tasted? Yep! Amazing!
All good things must come to an end. It was time for me to leave and meet up with a friend for dinner down in center city Portland. Heather offered the invitation for my friend to come up to the Monkey Hut. I thought about it for a second and realized that if my friend came up, I would never leave! Heather and Craig’s Monkey Hut is amazing and I had such a good time. This is what the Tiki lifestyle is all about!
Stupendous!