Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #93 Bloody’s Tiki Bar – Portland OR

Sometimes, all it takes is a trip to Hawaii to plant the seeds of tiki…

Brain Bloodgood and his wife April flew out to Hawaii to get married and they came back husband and wife and an interest in tiki. That was over fifteen years ago and starting with a Koi pond, Brian slowly started to transform his backyard into a tiki, tropical oasis which includes Bloody’s Tikiroom which is a stand-alone structure that is so cool to relax either day or night! Here is Brain’s story…

What is the tiki scene like where you live?

Brian- It’s pretty rad! I live in Portland OR and we have two amazing Tiki Bars (The Alibi and Hale Pele) and host Tiki Kon for the PNW. Portland has a pretty rich history of older Tiki bars that have come and gone too. I really got to know a lot of local Tiki peeps recently and am blown away at how nice and fun the local Tiki scene is.

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

Brian- I’m from a small town in Iowa, right outside Cedar Rapids originally.  Not much Tiki there growing up in the 1980’s but we had one place.  There is a mansion with one of the oldest original Tiki rooms still in existence and it is AMAZING, and definitely left an impression.  It’s called the Tahitian Room in the Brucemore Mansion.  If you’re a golden era Tiki buff and haven’t heard of it, check it out, you are in for a big treat!  This definitely planted seeds for me and watching Magnum P.I. as a kid.

My biggest exposure to Tiki wasn’t until 2005 when I got married in Hawaii.  My wife and I bought our house here in November 2005 and a week later we flew to Hawaii and got married.  Our house had a tiny bamboo grove in the corner of the backyard, and I was looking for inspiration of what to do back there.  When we got to Hawaii, it was a game changer, it was like stepping into another world.  We got married by a sea captain named Howie who was a white dude, but wore a shirt that said, “Naturally Hawaiian” Howie’s home where we got married was one of the coolest, most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, it had timber, bamboo and banana plants, multiple koi ponds, and waterfalls. I immediately thought, I have to try and recreate this in my backyard.

On this same trip, the night before our wedding, my cousin Scott recommended we go see Don Ho play at the Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber hotel.

It was one of his last shows, he had to leave the next day to get heart surgery and never fully recovered and he passed the next year.  His show was so great, he played Tiny Bubbles multiple times, both times saying, “God, I hate this song” Ha! My favorite song he did was called “Who Is The Lolo That Stole My Pakalolo” it is hilarious and his story to go with it was equally funny.  The coolest thing though, Don asked if there were any newlyweds, he had my wife and I go up on stage with him and gave the two of us microphones, and we got to sing a song with him, just the two of us and Don.  I also had my first Hawaiian Mai Tai there.

After that I was pretty much sold and as soon as I came back to Portland, bought a hardy banana tree and I started researching Koi ponds, and Polynesian lifestyle.  This lead me to Tiki and the discovery of Tiki Central and 17yrs later I’m still loving it.

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

Brian- My space came together very slowly! I started with my subtropical garden and slowly began collecting tiki mugs and relics at the Goodwill and Salvation Army by my house back in late 2005.  I used to find all kinds of Tiki Mugs in Goodwill back then, I never found anything too fancy, but I would find several Trader Dicks and Accoutrements mugs almost every time I went in.  I didn’t have a home for all the stuff I collected so I squirreled it away in Rubbermaid totes above my garage not really knowing what to do with it.

In 2007, I built my waterfall and first Koi pond.  It was a smaller version of what I currently have, I learned quickly Koi need a lot of water and space that’s at least 3 ft deep on all sides. This prevents trash pandas from getting them and having an expensive sushi dinner!!  The next year in 2008, I tore out the little pond and went bigger.

I upgraded my filter system that runs underground over to an area by my garage.  This lead to the creation of my first Tiki Hut, in 2011 I built a small platform over the fish filters and bought some bamboo poles and thatching from Bamboo Craftsman in Portland. I soon learned thatching only last about 1 to 2 seasons in the Portland rain, now it is all bamboo fencing on the roof with grape vines growing on top.  It was my first Tiki style build out, I made a hanging lamp and put up fish net and sea shells, it’s a great place to sit and watch my Koi.  This was also around the time I decided I needed a home bar to store my rum, but didn’t know where to build it yet.

I didn’t do too much but collect stuff between 2011 to 2018.  In May of 2018 I noticed the trex boards of my deck were starting to crumble. Trex is supposed to last forever, but not the case, I have the old trex boards and whoever installed it, didn’t leave a proper gap between the boards, and over the years the rain would sit on top and slowly break them down.  I was left with a choice to either build a cover over my deck or tear it out.  After years of trying to convince my wife (who is not much of a Tiki person) I need a place to put my stuff and a proper bar, I began planning and watching YouTube videos, and in just a couple months I bought all the wood and framed it out. I really wanted a contractor to come in, but the quotes I had were super expensive, so I researched building plans and did it myself.  I cut and carried the rafters up one by one.  I did occasionally have some help, my friend Shawn and my dad helped my get the big header boards up, and my father in-law helped me get the sheeting on the roof.  Then in the fall of 2018 I had a company come and re-roof our house and put the shingles on top of the Tiki room at the same time.

I spent the rest of 2018 and 2019 framing in the outside of the building and siding it. Then COVID hit!  I own a screen printing business printing t-shirts and all my customers like schools, bars, and restaurants all closed, so I had no work.  In March 2020, I found myself with an enormous amount of free time, that’s when I really got to work.  I went to the rebuilding center and on craigslist and found old glass windows that I repurposed, made sure no rain was going to get in and began working on the inside.  Then last year in the Spring of 2021 I had it ready to start decorating the walls with bamboo and I hand routed all the chair rail and base boards with a Hawaiian flower pattern that I had found on a small ceramic pot in a Goodwill a long time ago.

In August, last year my folks were visiting and we pulled down all the stuff I had been collecting for 16 years and put it all together.

Any story behind the name of your bar?

Brian- My last name is Bloodgood.  My dad used to race cars back in the 60’s and early 70’s and he had a helmet that said “Bloody” hand painted on it.  It hung in his garage while growing up.  I have the helmet hanging in my shop now, It was a nickname he had, that I adopted.

What is your favorite Tiki drink?

Brian- For the longest time it was a Jet Pilot but the last couple years my fav has been the Donga Punch, it’s so easy to make and Don’s mix is the best!!

I also have my own drink I like a lot I call the “Blood Brother” I’ve been working on since 2018.  It has a Rhubarb based syrup I call “Bloody’s Mix” of my own making that I embellished and blood orange in it, and is my home bar’s signature drink.  I can’t get fresh blood orange all year here, so I often have to sub it with regular OJ.  Rhubarb is a staple in the Midwest, I grew up on Rhubarb pie and Rhubarb crisp.!  There are lots of good rhubarb syrup recipes on YouTube, that’s where I got the base for my syrup.  I’ve since made several other syrups, it’s fun and you feel a bit like a chemist.

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

Brian- I like so many, but Hale Pele is closest to my house, and really has it all, great drinks, great staff, great music, great effects, great escapism.  It’s very encompassing and I go here more than anywhere else!  That said, I just visited the Tiki Ti in LA and the Undertow in Phoenix and both are amazing and definitely are instant favorites too.

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

Brian- It really comes down to the escapism, as long as it doesn’t feel like I’m in a city and I’m stepping into a different world, I’m pretty happy.  I love traditional stuff and the speak easy feel and try to portray that most in my bar.  That said, I have an Incredible Hulk and Yoda Tiki mug and will geek out with whoever wants to chat.

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

Brian- More Lamps!!!  I plan on making at least 3 hanging lamps soon in style of Orchids of Hawaii and Oceanic Arts.  I have a few other small projects in the works too.  My cherry tree in the backyard had to be trimmed up, so I got a few decent logs laying around.  I’m going to try and carve my own Tiki and make a small Outrigger for the ceiling.  I’m also going to put up some palm matting over a few areas at the top that have exposed studs and hang a few pieces of art.

Anything else you would like to add?

Brian- You can see all of my Tiki bar build, drinks, art pieces, books, record collection and other Tiki ephemera on Facebook and Instagram.  Bloody’s was also recently featured on the Tiki Kon 2022 home bar tour (thanks Justin and Greg!)  and I’m uploading around 200 pics from that into a Facebook album.