Craig Donofrio grew up in So-Cal and enjoyed Disneyland, going to Hawaii, and backyard luaus as a kid, so it’s safe to say tiki has been in Craig’s blood for a long time. When Craig and his wife Paula moved to Cleveland, they decided to build their own tiki bar in their basement. They called it The Royal Ohana Room and here is their story …
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #67 The Royal Ohana Room – Cleveland OH”
Kat Reeder is an artist that lives in Honolulu and her artwork makes me want to get on a plane right now and head to Hawaii! Kat is a digital artist, but her work looks like it’s from the 60’s and 70’s. I could totally see Kat’s “vintage-inspired tropical glamour girls” hanging on the walls of a travel agency or in the pages of a magazine. Tiki is escapism, but it can also be a time machine. Kat’s work will take you back to a simpler time. Here is her story …
Continue reading “Tiki VIP #42 Kat Reeder – Tiki Artist from Honolulu”
Having a waterfall in your tiki room is cool.
Having water falling into your tiki room from a clogged drain upstairs, not so cool.
But for Christian and Ge’Nelle, it makes for a good story of how they came up with the name of their tiki bar, The Liki Tiki Honu Hale. Here is their story …
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #66 The Liki Tiki Honu Hale – Mission Viejo CA”
While browsing through the video choices on Amazon Prime, I stumbled upon a documentary about the tiki scene up in Winnipeg Canada. It’s called Mai-Tais, Toques and Tikis and it is awesome! I loved this documentary so much that I bought it on Amazon immediately. It’s about thirty minutes long and it leaves me wanting more every time I watch it! The man behind this great tiki documentary is Steve Ward. Here’s his story on how Mai-Tais, Toques and Tikis became a reality …
Continue reading “Tiki VIP #41 Steve Ward – Mai-Tais, Toques and Tikis”
There’re a couple of choices when deciding where you go on a first date …
Coffee? Dinner? Movie? How about a Tiki Bar! Angela and JR have known each other since high school, but didn’t go on their first “official” date till 22 years later. They decided to meet up at Tiki Underground in Hudson Ohio. There must have been a spark because now they’re married! Here is their story …
Continue reading “Love At First Tiki! – First Date At Tiki Underground And Now They’re Married!”
How many bedrooms?
How big is the kitchen?
One or two car garage?
Does the master bedroom have a walk-in closet?
This is what most people ask when looking to buy a home, but for Linda and Dave Bagdade, “can we build a tiki room in it?” was the most important question! Here is their story …
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #65 D&L Exotic Tradewinds Paradise – Indianapolis IN”
Just a short drive in Anaheim CA from Disneyland (and Trader Sam’s), we were delighted to be able to get to Strong Water on our recent Los Angeles Tiki bar crawl …
Continue reading “Guest Tiki Bar Review: Strong Water – Anaheim CA by Tom Hemmen”
On this episode of Secret Tiki Escapes we head to Happy Valley OR to visit Heather and Donald Water’s Uncharted Waters and Leftover Lounge.
I just finished reading Michael Zadoorian’s new book THE NARCISSISM OF SMALL DIFFERENCES and I totally relate to the characters. Joe, one of the main characters in the book, is a 40 something Gen Xer, no kids, doesn’t want kids, into old stuff and hangs out in tiki bars. This would describe me as well. I hope to meet Michael in person someday, but I already feel like I know him. I know where he’s coming from. Here is Michael Zadoorian’s story …
Continue reading “Tiki VIP #40 Michael Zadoorian – Author/Detroit Tikiphile”
Indianapolis doesn’t have a Trader Vic’s, but it does have a Trader Ric’s!
The basement in the MCM home of Matt McElfresh and Ric Mills used to be their EBay warehouse, until they acquired “the mural”. This beautiful mural originally hung in the men’s bar at the historic Claypool Hotel and it was the inspiration for Matt and Ric to build their home tiki bar. Matt named the bar after Ric, calling it Trader Ric’s, and the rest is history! Here is Matt and Ric’s story …
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #64 Trader Ric’s – Indianapolis IN”
