These days there appears to be a new tiki bar opening every week. Tiki Tom’s in Walnut Creek CA is one of those new bars — but it’s an old bar, too. Tiki Tom’s owners took what was a vaguely tiki-ish dive bar, and, with the help of Bamboo Ben & Son, turned it into a proper tiki bar. And what a tiki bar — an instant classic that feels like it’s always been there.
Continue reading “Tiki Tom’s – Guest Tiki Bar Review by Stephen Curran (Walnut Creek CA)”
I have a thing for small tiki bars…
Tiki Ti and Hale Pele are at the top of my list and I really love the intimacy that a smaller tiki bar gives. When Julian and his wife Katie decided to turn a backyard shed into an tiki bar, they truly created a tiki experience that is cozy and tiki cool! It doesn’t take much to fill up a smaller tiki space but the Lujan Lagoon is filled top to bottom with incredible tiki décor. Here is how the Lujan Lagoon came to be…
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #94 Lujan Lagoon – Concord CA”
I’ve always wondered what a home tiki bar would look like from the 70’s. I’m thinking someone’s home tiki bar would be in the basement, the bar itself would have already been built into the home, maybe there would be a tiki or two, some thatch would be hung up and a whole lot of rum would be behind the bar! Well gang, I think I just described RumTiki’s home bar Hogo Village located in San Francisco …
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #71 Hogo Village – San Francisco CA”
About a decade ago, Jenny and Chad Martens had it really good. They lived in Alameda CA, a block away from Forbidden Island, and Baby Doe and Otto Von Stroheim were their neighbors. Then Jenny and Chad got some bad news, that Baby Doe and Otto were moving away. But the good news is that they gave Jenny and Chad some of the lauhala and bamboo poles from their tiki bar! Jenny and Chad used their newly acquired materials to build their very own tiki bar called The Atomik Tiki Lounge.
Jenny and Chad have since moved out of Alameda and now live in San Lorenzo. They tore down and rebuilt The Atomik Tiki Lounge in their new home and it’s bigger and better than ever! Here is their story …
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #68 The Atomik Tiki Lounge – San Lorenzo CA”
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”
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”
The last day of our recent visit to Los Angeles, we purchased tickets for a distillery tour we’d become aware of while researching things to do in the area online. At $40 per ticket it was not inexpensive, and its Yelp reviews, while mostly positive, featured some pretty poor ones as well – however, it looked intriguing, and potentially like a lot of fun, so we took the plunge …
There’s other things you can do at a tiki bar besides just drink …
Continue reading “Tiki Bar Review #58 Damon’s Steak House – Glendale CA”
Imagine you’re on an airplane …
It crashes into the jungle …
You’re still alive …
So, you and the rest of the survivors turn the wreckage of the airplane into a bar …
This is Last Rites …
Continue reading “It Isn’t Tiki But Damn! #4 Last Rites – San Francisco CA”
