May The Fourth Be Tiki at Rumba Seattle 5/4/16

Posted by Ray on in Tiki Bars 2 Comments
Chewbacca and a Tiki Drink at Rumba
Chewbacca and a Tiki Drink at Rumba

If you didn’t already know, the sci-fi fans of the world have proclaimed May 4th to be May the Fourth Be With You Day, celebrating the coolest movie ever: Star Wars!

I grew up with Star Wars and it is indeed my favorite movie of all time. I still have all my action figures from back when I was a kid! With the release of The Force Awakens, Star Wars might be bigger than ever!

May 4th landed on a Wednesday this year and every Wednesday is Tiki Night at Rumba. Rumba had a great idea: combine Star Wars and Tiki! A special menu was created that had Star Wars and Tiki themed drinks. Here were some of drinks…

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Tiki VIP #1 Tiki Brian of the Exotic Tiki Island Podcast

Posted by Ray on in Tiki Music, Tiki VIP 2 Comments

Tiki-Brian-in-Tiki-Shirt5

There are two things I love about Tiki bars: they create mood and they create an escape. When you live where the weather isn’t the greatest, it’s nice to have a place that you can go and forget about what’s going on outside. I live in Seattle and it’s all about escaping the rain. If you live in upstate New York, you want to get out of the snow. If you live in a city where all you see are buildings and sidewalks, maybe going somewhere that has palm trees—even fake ones—would be nice.

Tiki Brian is out of Baltimore and if you’ve ever been there, you know that it’s a tight city with small streets and big buildings. It’s truly the concrete jungle. If there ever was a place that could use an exotic escape, Baltimore would be it. Tiki Brian created an exotic escape by creating a podcast: the Exotic Tiki Island Podcast!

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #2 The Monkey Skull Voodoo Lounge Seattle, WA

Posted by Ray on in Home Tiki Bars 3 Comments
Monkey Skull Voodoo Lounge Sign
Monkey Skull Voodoo Lounge Sign

It was the summer of 2015. Some friends of mine asked me if I would be interested in going to a Tiki party that was going on up in North Seattle. I was totally down!

We arrived at the house where the party was happening. We knew it was the right place because there were Tiki torches burning outside. We could hear the sounds of people having a good time nearly a block away. Surf music was pouring out of the basement, so we followed the sounds as we walked along the side of the house and finally downstairs.

I didn’t know it yet, but I was about to take my first step into a larger world.

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Tiki Bar Review #11 Hula Hula Seattle WA

Posted by Ray on in Tiki Bars 2 Comments
Hula Hula
Hula Hula

When I was a kid, I used to read and collect comic books. Spider-Man, Superman, Iron Man, Batman: I read them all! What I loved most was reading the origin stories of my favorite superheroes. I found it fascinating to learn how Spider-Man became Spider-Man, where Superman came from, or where Iron Man got his suit of metal.

When I meet a fellow Tikiphile, I always like to ask, “What got you into Tiki?” Every journey starts with one step forward. If you’re into the Tiki lifestyle, that journey had to start somewhere for you. My very first step into embracing Tiki culture was when I first stepped into Hula Hula…

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Happy 55th Anniversary Tiki Ti!

Posted by Ray on in Tiki Bars 3 Comments

I’ve been to my fair share of Tiki bars all over the US and Canada and I have to say that hands down, the best Tiki drinks I’ve ever had were at Tiki Ti in Los Angeles, CA!

Tiki Ti will always have a special place in my heart.

This is the Firefly from Tiki Ti…

Firefly at Tik Ti
Firefly at Tik Ti’

It’s one of my favorite Tiki drinks ever.

This FIrefly is for you Tiki Ti.

Happy 55th birthday!

VCOS Spring Fling at Hula Hula Seattle, WA 4/23/16

Posted by Ray on in Tiki Bars, Tiki Lifestyle
Vespa in front of Hula Hula
Vespa in front of Hula Hula

VCOS stands for Vespa Club of Seattle. We’re over 100 members strong! The club is open to all and we like to set up events for our members. Every year, we set up a scooter rally that happens over the 4th of July weekend called Scooter Insanity. Tons of people come out to ride. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention that I am the vice president of VCOS. My fellow officers and I thought it would be a cool idea to set up a little party for the club. Serve some food, maybe some free drinks, etc. We just need a location for our little shindig…

Hula Hula
Hula Hula

Kristin (our president) came up with the idea to have our party at Hula Hula. She knew that I’d approve! The other officers were cool with Hula Hula as well. This was going to be a blast!

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Tiki Bar Review #10 Rumba, Seattle, WA

Posted by Ray on in Tiki Bars 5 Comments
Rumba SIgn
Rumba sign

The other night, I watched a really great documentary about Tiki culture called Plastic Paradise: A Swingin’ Trip Through America’s Polynesian Obsession. It’s a must see for anyone into the Tiki lifestyle. There was one point that they brought up which I thought was fascinating. Don the Beachcomber borrowed many of his cocktail ideas from the Caribbean! When you dig into the roots of Tiki culture as we know it, many of the ideas were actually constructed and imagined. Let’s be honest: do you really think ancient Polynesian societies were sitting around drinking cocktails with umbrellas in them?

I’ve known about Rumba for some time and I’ll be honest, I never really had any interest in checking it out. I knew they serve great drinks, but Rumba isn’t really a Tiki bar…

Well, a couple weeks ago I was going to a concert at the Paramount in Downtown Seattle. Rumba is literally two blocks away from the Paramount. My friends and I had some time to kill before the show started, so I suggested we check out the place…

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Tikifest Tacoma, WA 4/16/16

Posted by Ray on in Tiki Bars, Tiki Music 1 Comment
Flyer for TIkifest
Flyer for TIkifest

It all started with a Facebook event invite…

When I got the invite for Tikifest, I just had to laugh. I messaged back, “Well, it looks I’m going to Tacoma!” Tikifest was set up by Jeffery from the Ukadelics. The idea was simple: have some Tiki bands play at Bob’s Java Jive and have a prefunk at Tacoma Cabana beforehand. Easy enough.

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Tiki Bar Review #9 Hidden Harbor Pittsburgh, PA

Posted by Ray on in Tiki Bars
3 Dots And A Dash at Hidden Harbor Ins
3 Dots And A Dash at Hidden Harbor Ins

Old school, new school. We’ve all heard the terms, haven’t we? Can this pertain to Tiki as well? When I think of a Tiki bar, I think of the normal décor: thatch, bamboo, tiki statues, and a very dark environment which I like to call old school. But can there be a “new school” Tiki bar? These are the things I’m thinking about as I am enjoying my cocktail at Hidden Harbor in Pittsburgh, PA.

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