It was one year ago, almost to the week. I was at Hula Hula chatting with the bartender. She had good news and bad news.
The bad news was that Hula Hula was closing because the building was getting leveled for new development. The good news was that Hula Hula would live again in a new location. The owners just needed to find the right place…
There are many reasons why people don’t drink alcohol. Some people can’t drink because of health reasons. Others don’t because they feel it’s just not a good idea anymore. But one of the most important reasons not to drink is pregnancy.
Bobby is a good buddy of mine. We are heavily into Vespa scooters and have spent many hours riding (and probably even more hours wrenching just to make our scooters run!). Bobby had never been to a Tiki bar and was interested in checking one out. When Bobby’s wife Birgitta heard we were going to the North Shore Lagoon, she was bummed. She’s pregnant, which meant no drinking for her. It was all good for Brigitta, though! We were going to do some drinking, but we were going to do it the Straight Edge Tiki way: no alcohol!
If I had a nickel for every time someone said this to me, I would be rich! Okay, well maybe I would have enough to buy a cup of coffee, but I digress.
Yes, starting a Tiki bar is a dream of mine, but it’s not easy and it’s not cheap. You need to find a place that’s in a good location and somewhere you can afford the rent. You also need a license to serve alcohol AND a license to sell it. I haven’t even talked about the money needed for décor.
One idea I thought of was doing a “pop-up” bar. I was down in Los Angeles and they got pop-ups for everything including food, clothing, music, and of course, booze. The idea is to rent a space out for a week, a month, or even a day. I thought a Tiki pop-up bar would be a great idea. Well, great minds think alike. Duffy De Armas made my a dream a reality! He opened the Tiki pop-up bar: the Low Tide Lounge.
It meant the actual distance between two points via a straight line. The town of Olalla is only 15 miles away from Seattle, but that doesn’t mean it’s close—let alone easy—to get to. The Puget Sound stands between Seattle and Olalla, which means you have two ways of getting there: taking a ferry or driving around and below the Puget Sound. A ferry trip is not cheap, so that means driving is the best way to get there. Why all the fuss about getting to Olalla? Because Debbie and Mark Whitehead live there and down in their basement lies the Fuzzy Smudge…
There has always been a connection between Asian culture and Tiki. Food served at Tiki restaurants back in the day was pretty much Chinese food. (Shhh! Don’t tell anyone!) If you step up to the bar inside a Chinese restaurant, don’t be surprised to find some Tiki drinks on the menu. Jeffrey has a love for both Chinese and Tiki cultures. So Jeffrey and his partner Erik created a bar in their home that combines both. It’s called Shangri-La 66…
The late ’80s/early ’90s was a great time for music and no, I’m not talking about grunge! There started to be a renewed interest in music from the Mid-Century, music like jazz, swing, exotica, surf, and lounge. It was mostly punk and alternative types that re-discovered all this great music and leather jackets and boots were replaced with suits and skinny ties.
Russell Scheidelman is one of these punks who got turned on to this great music from the ’60s and went head-on into the Seattle lounge scene. Russell is one sharped-dressed man who channels Andy Warhol and John Steed from the Avengers.
Every journey starts with a first step, but sometimes you may forget when and where that first step might have been. When it comes to the living the Tiki lifestyle, it usually starts by walking into your first Tiki bar. Then you hit another. Then you buy a Tiki mug. Then you buy another, etc.
I can remember my first Tiki bar. It was Hula Hula in Seattle, WA…
The year was 2006. In theory, Hula Hula should’ve been my first step in the Tiki world, but actually, it wasn’t. My first step was at an amusement park in Pennsylvania called Knoebels Grove…
There is a new wave of Tiki coming our way and Martin and Rebecca Cate have written the manual. That book is called Smuggler’s Cove which is named after Martin’s Tiki Bar in San Francisco. This book covers every aspect of Tiki and is a must for every Tikiphile out there! I did a full review of Smuggler’s Cove. Click here to check it out.