The Tonga Hut is a Tiki bar that turned into a dive bar, then turned into a Tiki bar again. It’s the oldest Tiki bar in Los Angeles, opening for business in 1958. Tiki was very popular back in the ’50s, but by the time the late ’60s rolled around, people had moved on to other things like polyester pants and underpowered automobiles.
The next three decades were not kind to the Tonga Hut. The bar still had most of its original Tiki decor, but it was left to neglect and disrepair. Slowly but surely, the Tonga Hut became a dive bar that happened to have some Tiki statues hanging around. Patrons were ordering cheap cans of beer instead of Mai Tais.
This was how things were for the Tonga Hut until 2005. The bar got new owners! They were lovers of Tiki and started work on restoring the bar. Everything was cleaned up and eventually even the water fountain worked again!
The new owners added more Tiki stuff to the bar and created a Tiki menu that has more that its share of Tiki classics as well as original concoctions.
There is a front entrance…
But the Tonga Hut has parking behind the building so most people enter from the back…
You enter the bar by walking down a long dark hallway which opens up into the bar…
The Tonga Hut looks incredible!
Aside from the modern jukebox hanging on the wall, I think it would be safe to say that the Tonga Hut looks like it did back the early ’60s.
In real estate, there is the term “time capsule house.” A time capsule house has never been remodeled or updated. The house looks like it did back in the day. I think the Tonga Hut may be the first “time capsule Tiki bar!”
Want to check out the Tonga Hut yourself? Here is the website.
And Facebook page.
More like last surviving of the original tiki bars that populated LA. You must be a tiki newbie.