Punk rock, wrestling, comics and tiki!
It’s awesome to discover other people that are into Tiki. It’s even better when there are other commom interests as well. I came across the blog: Cult Of George and I knew imediatley that I met a kindred spirit. George Koroneos, the man behind Cult Of George writes about wrestling, punk, metal, comics and Tiki bars. All things that I love as well! I grew up in Pennsylvania right next to New Jersey where George lives. I have a feeling that we have been to some of the same rock shows over the years. I live out in Seattle now but hopefully our paths will cross again at a Tiki bar real soon. I will let George take it from here…
What’s the tiki scene like in the Garden State?
George- I’m not sure if I would call it a tiki scene, as there aren’t a ton of groups of Tiki fans that just get together and hang out (at least none that have invited me). What we have is a lot of older punks, psychobilly, hot rod and art fans that have been inspired by the sights and sounds of the ‘60s and appreciate tiki. Many of us use to hang out at the Asbury Lanes, a now-mothballed vintage bowling alley turned punk rock club that hosted an assortment of great shows over the past few decades.
That said, New Jersey is home to a handful of authentic Tiki bars that have stood the test of time. Lee’s Hawaiian Islander in Lyndhurst is a massive tiki restaurant, featuring a stunning two-story waterfall. Sadly, the owners don’t realize what they have and let it get a little long in the tooth. I would kill to buy the place and restore it to its former glory.
Chan’s Dragon Inn in Ridgefield is a highway truck stop on the way to New York, but it’s also a classic Tiki restaurant dripping with kitsch. It’s got all its original tiki carvings and faded Hawaiian lightboxes, as well as a year-round Christmas tree covered in cobwebs. In recent years, the place has become a popular place for Millennials and I was psyched to see it packed on weeknights.
Finally, there’s Lun Wah in Roselle, my personal favorite NJ Tiki establishment. The restaurant has been around for decades. When I first visited it in the mid-2000s, it was in pretty sad shape, but a few years back, this guy Chris bought Lun Wah and completely turned it around. He wasn’t exactly a Tiki fanboy, but he appreciated the aesthetic and did his best to restore it and update the style so it was less grandma and more fun. He did an amazing job cutting down the menu to a few fantastic meals and the bartenders have stepped up their game big time. I highly recommend a trip next time you’re in NJ.
What brought you into the ‘Tiki lifestyle’ and how long has it been part of your life?
George-I’ve been a fan of Tiki for most of my adult life, but it really started when I began collecting low-brow and pop art and stumbled across Shag. I already owned a few of his prints when he released a Tiki mug (the Wahaku Warrior), which I scooped up as soon as it launched in 2003. That led me to the long dark road of Tiki mug collecting, particularly early Tiki Farm and Munktiki mugs (many which we I got from the long-gone Tiki, piercing and bondage shop, Dressed to Kill, in Manville, NJ).
Once my wife and I could afford it, we would pick our vacation spots based on Tiki bars that we wanted to visit via Tiki Road Trip. We started in the Northeast (Waikiki Wally’s, Otto’s, Zombie Bar, Kowloon) and flew down to Florida (The Mai Kai) and then worked our way West, hitting every bar we could up and down California, Tennessee, Vegas, Arizona and more . Since then, we’ve done tours of all the Tiki bars in Barcelona, Tiki Athens in Greece and some legendary bars in Hawaii.
We also make it a point to go to Ohana Luau on the Lake in Lake George, NY at least every other year. It’s become the Northeast’s answer to Hukilau and it’s the perfect place to buy hard to find Tiki mugs and art and meet other Tiki brethren.
Tell us about your love for punk rock.
George- I have been a punk rock fan since I first heard “American Jesus” by Bad Religion in 1993. Being a middle-class geek in New Jersey in the ’90s was not a ton of fun, but when the grunge and punk scenes exploded in the mid-1990s had found my place in life. I went out of my way to meet others like me and we became absorbed in the punk culture of the time. I helped put on backyard punk rock shows every weekend, churned out copies of my fanzine Life In A Bungalo and got to interview and photograph all my heroes. I know it sounds lame and cliche, but punk was a lifestyle, not a music. It saved my life and gave me the drive I needed to accomplish everything I’ve done in life. I owe everything to it.
Tell us about the Headhunter’s Lounge.
George- In 2014, I smartly (or stupidly) decided to turn half of my barren concrete basement into a fully functional Tiki lounge. With zero carpentry experience, permits or the right tools, I started insulating and studding out my walls. I learned how to run electricity, built out a separate laundry room and created a Tiki bar with a hidden entrance to hide the old piping and panels. I finished sheetrocking the room mid-year and ran into an issue where a typhoon that had recently hit the Philippines had halted all importation of bamboo and lahala into the U.S.
I took the extra time to learn woodcarving and used a metal grinder to custom make all the trimming around the room, floor and ceiling. To avoid finishing the ceiling, I bought cheap rattan fencing from Home Depot and stapled it right to the ceiling studs. The floor was supposed to be painted, but I sprung for red and black checkered interlocking garage tiles to give the room a pop of color.
Eventually, the wall-covering shipped and I stapled/glued Lahala over the white walls floor-to-ceiling. I used halved bamboo to trim out the center of the walls and full-bamboo in the corners to cover overlap. I built the bar by hand using schematics from a bar-making website and included a cut-away in between the wall that separates the Tiki Lounge from the laundry room.
I wanted to include some form of entertainment so we could watch wrestling, but I didn’t want to put a giant TV in the Tiki bar. Instead, I mounted a 110″ electric projection screen into the ceiling and drop down when we wanted to watch TV. I hid an Epson projector into the opposite wall and ran in-wall speakers through the walls into the adjacent room, where all the tech is hidden. Guests have no idea that we have a home theater hidden in the room, until I drop down the screen.
The entire project took one year to the day and it’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done, even if it took years off my life between the saw dust and asbestos removal. I’ll also never be able to sell my home, but we don’t plan to.
What is your website Cult Of George all about?
George- Cult of George is a blog I created to host all my old interviews and photographs from Life in A Bungalo fanzine. At least that was what it was meant to be. Over the years, it’s become a place where I rant about wrestling, music and comic books. Basically, it’s a memoir of an aging punk rocker.
In 2015, I needed an outlet to get my mind off things, so my buddy John McGuire and I started a weekly podcast (then an online TV show) called Mai Tai Happy Hour. We love a ton of different nerdy things, including Tiki culture, rock and roll, comic books, video games and wrestling, so I figured why not just do a podcast touching on everything. I know it’s niche and not everyone’s cup of tea, but I figured there had to be enough weirdos in the world like us to have some sort of audience. A year and a half later and we are still plugging away and building/finding our audience.
Do you think your love of heavy music, wrestling and tiki have a connection?
George-There is zero connection between any of those topics. However, I find that people who are into one of those things, are often into one or some of the others. For example, I know plenty of punk rockers that love Tiki, comic book fans that love wrestling and Star Wars fans that love comic books. We’re like a cult of nerds.
What is your favorite Tiki drink? Why?
George- My go-to drink is The Painkiller, which is often not on the menu at most Tiki bars thanks to Pusser’s BS lawsuits and trademarks. I love it because it’s the perfect balance between alcohol and fruit and you need to know how to be proficient in cocktail making to perfectly blend the coconut creme. My favorite Tiki bar is Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas. The place is an oasis in the dessert and features some of the best mixologists in the world. What’s crazy is that it’s become super popular in the past few years and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get in on weekends. I’m sure some local Tiki aficionados might be annoyed with its newfound popularity, but I think it’s a good thing any time a Tiki bar can survive and thrive in today’s age of short attention spans and IPAs. Cheers.
Here is the Cult Of George website.
And Facebook page