When I moved to Seattle from Pennsylvania over a decade ago, I told my parents I wouldn’t be coming home for the holidays. This wasn’t because I don’t love them, but because you always run the risk of dealing with snow and freezing rain during the winter. What I usually do is fly home during the spring or early fall. The weather is better and the flights are cheaper.
The holidays can be a little tough when all your friends are spending time with their families and my family is thousands of miles away. Instead of wondering how long to leave the turkey in the oven, I wonder where I’m going to put myself for the day. At first blush, this may sound depressing and lonely, but it’s actually quite liberating! I have a four days off during the Thanksgiving holiday. What should I do with them? Where should I put myself? I know: San Francisco!
I’d been in contact with Humuhumu, the creator of the website Critiki, about doing a blog post on her. I mentioned that I’d be in the Bay Area for Thanksgiving and Humuhumu invited me to come over for a drink in her home Tiki bar. That was an offer I couldn’t refuse!
I showed up to Humuhumu’s place in the afternoon. After crushing some ice, her family and I headed downstairs into the darkness of Balhi Ha’i…
After my eyes adjusted, I saw that I was in a place I did not want to leave! Shortly after we got settled in, there was a knock on the door upstairs. It was Humuhumu’s friends Elina and Buz. We were going to have a little Tiki party!
After we all got comfortable, Humuhumu started making drinks…
As we were enjoying our Tiki drinks, Buz mentioned he also had a home Tiki bar and asked if I would like to check it out. I said, “Absolutely!” So we all headed up to Daly City to check out the Alta Tiki Lounge…
Buz quickly got behind the bar and hooked us up with a round of not Mai-Tai’s, but “Buz”-Tai’s!
This drink was tasty and strong!
I could’ve totally gone for another round, but there was someplace I had to be…
Smuggler’s Cove!
Humuhumu decided to tag along and we headed into downtown San Francisco. Smuggler’s Cove is small and fills up fast. If you’re smart, you arrive early. We arrived before the bar was even open and there was already a line!
Saving a place in line for us was Tiki artist Brian, otherwise known as B-Rex. I’ve done a blog post on Brian and I was glad to meet him in person. He’s a cool dude.
Smuggler’s Cove opened its door and we made our way in…
This was my first time to Smuggler’s Cove and I was blown away. I couldn’t believe the attention to detail. Quickly, San Francisco was miles away for me! The man behind Smuggler’s Cove is Martin Cate and he happened to be at the bar that night! There he is on the right talking to a customer…
Martin was nice enough to give Humuhumu, Brian, and me a tour of Smuggler’s Cove, all three floors of it! The future of Tiki is in good hands with Martin. He has been behind some of the greatest Tiki bars around, including Forbidden Island, Hale Pele, and the newly opened False Idol. Hale Pele is my favorite Tiki bar and I’ve visited quite a few.
After a round of drinks, we were starting to get hungry. Smuggler’s Cove didn’t serve food, but another one of Martin Cate’s establishments did. It’s a place called Whitechapel. It’s gin bar that looks like a London subway. Sadly, no pictures were taken. The only thing that was taken away was Humuhumu’s turkey leg!
Humuhumu, Brain, and I made our way from the Tenderloin to Chinatown to our final destination: Pagan Idol!
When you walk into Pagan Idol, you notice that the bar isn’t all that Tiki. It’s a nice bar, but I don’t understand the hype…
Then you see a set of stair that lead up…
Hidden in the back is the real Pagan Idol! Wow, this place is amazing!
It goes back and back then the room turns and there’s giant waterfall and Tiki huts!
As I was walking around checking out the bar, one of the bartenders approached me. He knew who I was! He follows my blog! This was the highlight of the night for me. It made me happy to know that people are actually reading what I have to say.
After chatting a bit with William, I joined Humuhumu and Brain inside one of the Tiki huts. And then the drinks start coming…
And then more came…
And even more!
Long story short, I drank for free at Pagan Idol and I walked away with not one, but two Tiki mugs! The guys at Pagan Idol treated Humuhumu, Brain, and me like royalty and it meant the world to me.
It was starting to get late and Brian was parked back at Smuggler’s Cove, so we drunkenly made our way back to where this evening started. We finally made it back and standing out front of Smuggler’s Cove was none other than Tki Ti’s own Greg Bansuelo!
It was a big deal to be chatting it up with a Tiki rock star like Greg. In fact, it was a big deal to be meeting everyone this evening in San Francisco.
When I started my blog, I never really cared about making money. Having a blog does have its perks like getting free drinks occasionally, but again that’s not the reason why I do it. My main goal is to meet some of these Tiki rock stars in person and to hopefully to call them friends. I think that happened tonight!
Thanks Ray! We are headed down this weekend to San Francisco to check out Smugglers Cove for the first time. Now I can see we need to hit up Pagan Idol as well. I always enjoy your blog!
Thank you! I’m glad you liked the post. Try to make it to Forbidden Island as well. You won’t be disappointed.