Tiki Bars (Home)

My personal home bar and display room

You enter the room through two wood-screened folding partitions that swing outward.

I have a wet bar and all my alcohol in the front room, so this is less of a functioning bar space than a lounge area to drink, hang out in, and where I can display all my tiki collectibles.

The first incarnation of this home bar started up in Portland, Oregon in 2011-2015 in a rental apartment that I had painted the walls and ceiling in a gingerbread brown. Now we are back down in Los Angeles and renting this house and I've opted not to go all out with dark paint or wall coverings.

I have several swag lights. The puffer fish light I made back in my old Rumpus Room Days and the eyes are taxidermist glass eyes meant for a cougar! The other lights are vintage lucite spaghetti that I picked up here and there.

The rattan bar and stools I found up in Oregon.

The orientalia style rattan hutch was found at the Pasadena City College flea market back in 2007 and I refurbished it up in Oregon and found an appropriately sized lower hutch to set it on.

Between the hutch and the fireplace is a 5-foot-tall carved Moai KavaKava Man that I picked up in Portland. I remember buying him for a great deal at a women's clothing shop my wife was checking out. I carried him three city blocks back to the car while passers-by cheered me on. That was a great day! Now he is my official mascot in the Hoodoo Room.

Thanks for checking out my space!

Opened in June 2015.

The Jungle Lounge is the home tiki bar of Russell and Kathryn Bennett in Gray, Tennessee, a rural town in the the state's Tri-Cities region. The space is a 8'x12' room created when they enclosed part of their deck -- two walls are screened-in, and the other two are covered in bamboo matting. The name is a nod to Disney's Jungle Cruise, a particular favorite of the Disney- and tropical-loving couple, who grew up in Tampa in the 1970s. The couple did the work themselves, including carved trim and masks (Bennett is an art teacher). The decor includes pieces by a late artist friend, and items collected during their travels, including Polynesian restaurant menus, mugs, carvings, and Disneyana.

While the space does not have an actual bar component, it does provide a "no stress" zone for the couple, where they can sit, or doze, talk, sip a drink, and listen to Exotica and space pop music.

This is the home bar of David Eck and Mimi Freedman.

Version 1.0 of The Lothario Lounge was established by David in South Pasadena (circa 2010 - April 2016).

The Lothario Lounge moved and expanded in 2016 when David and Mimi combined households and moved to their current location in Los Angeles, CA.

David originally envisioned the Lothario Lounge as a Mid-Century modern bachelor pad. In fact, some of his self-carved tikis had women's lingerie hanging off them at the old South Pasadena location. Mimi has since tidied up the lounge and added some of her own vintage decor, but out of fondness for the old days, they've retained the old Lothario name.

The Lowbrow Lanai is the home tiki bar of Marci Holcomb and Austin Jordan, owners of Sputnik Housewares. It started in 2007 with a suite of thrifted Paul Frankl rattan furniture, and has developed into an outdoor gallery of Witco, velvet paintings, and midcentury hotel art. Vintage lawn games are played on lush grass by day, and by night the lighting and music transforms the space into a classic moody lounge.

This was an offshoot of our Screaming Monkey Bar, as we needed a place to make drinks and have a little ohana in our lives. We love tiki and love to share it whenever we have the chance!!

Aotearoa Tiki Lounge is the home tiki bar of Brian (Mr. LDT) and JoAnne (KeKona) in Columbia, Missouri. It was built in the backyard of their home in November 2016; the first iteration of their home tiki bar opened in 2005. They've pulled inspiration from their travels to tiki bars around the world, and especially from their travels to New Zealand, the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Opened in 2005.

Balis' Hai'deaway is the home tiki bar if Mr. Bali Hai and his wife. It features carved tiki poles, masks and thatch from Oceanic Arts, bamboo stools, pufferfish lamps, and a vintage 1973 Bally pinball game, Bali Hai.

Ken's Tiki Lounge is the home tiki bar of Ken and Gloria, in Lomita, California, near Los Angeles. It was created in 2004 in a converted garage in the couple's home. It was inspired by the very earliest days of tiki-themed restaurants, and the couple has sought to preserve that style as much as possible. The lounge contains a bar down one side, a hidden home theater setup, and extensive mug collections. It also contains some mirrored balls and disco lights in a nod to Kelbo's ballroom. They are avid collectors of Polynesian art and artifacts, and are especially proud of the many pieces recovered from now defunct tiki palaces such as Kelbo's, Bahooka, Trader Vic's, Don the Beachcomber, and several other lesser known establishments. It may alternately contain a rattan dining set or pretzel furniture depending on the event. Aside from the electrical wiring, all construction and decoration inside and out was done by Ken and Gloria. They entertain family and friends in the space, and it is their little hideaway at home. Fatutu, a Tiki tOny original tiki, sits atop the roof and welcomes visitors to "Ken's Tiki Lounge: the best little place no one ever heard of!"

Mai Tiki Bar is the home tiki bar of Indianapolis tikiphile Bob Cripe. Bob found most of the bar's decor from Goodwill. The room has vintage rattan furniture, and the bar itself is fronted by bamboo and lauhala matting, with a pufferfish lamp hanging above.

Mon-a' Roa Lanai is the home tiki bar of Pat "Patiki" Weikle and Dwayne "Capt_D" Kinney, created in June 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. There are views of the midtown skyline, Piedmont Park, and it overlooks Monroe Drive, which inspired the Lanai's name. The decor was inspired from the couple's travels around the world, with sections dedicated to nautical decor, Disney, headhunters & zombies, and native art & cultures. There are a multitude of color-changing lights and sounds, with an ominous lava flow and underwater lightscape.

The Playboy Mansion (the original one in Chicago, not the one in Beverly Hills) had an indoor swimming pool room that was decked out in tiki, including Witco masks and a large, modernist moai.

Hefner purchased the mansion in 1959 for $400,000 with plans to build a pool in the basement. The city would only allow it after Hefner convinced officials it was for personal, not commercial, use.

A spread in the March 5, 1961, Chicago Tribune magazine described how Hefner turned a car-service area into a lounge, which was positioned slightly lower than the bottom of the pool: " ... in the manner of an aquarium, permitting a view of the swimmers and pool activities."

Discussed on page 43 of Sven Kirsten's The Book of Tiki.

The A&E Secrets of Playboy Series, Season 1, Episode 4 (The Price of Loyalty) shows the mansion's bamboo bar at the 14:51 minute mark. There are palm trees on either side of the 12-15 foot bar and its front is covered in bamboo with a black padded naugahyde rail edge at top. Hard to see what bottles are against the mirrored back bar, but it is well-stocked and there is an assembly of smaller framed photos on the side wall. See last photo (still frame) below.

Hefner left Chicago permanently for Los Angeles in 1974 following the conviction and ensuing suicide of Bobbie Arnstein, the culmination of an "investigation of drug use in Hefner's mansion". Subsequently, in the 80s, his company eventually let the mansion for a nominal rent to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and then donated it to the school outright in 1989. The school later sold the mansion in 1993, which was then redeveloped for luxury condominiums.

The AltaTiki Lounge is the home tiki bar of Buz Deadwax. It is perched atop a hill in Daly City, just south of San Francisco. Buz created the bar in early 2016.

The Hunahuna Hut is the home tiki bar of James and Marshell Claycomb in Maricopa, Arizona, just south of Phoenix. They created the bar in a bedroom of their home in June 2016. "Hunahuna" is an old Marquesan term for "cleverly hidden." The room is a relaxing retreat, filled with the sounds of vintage Exotica albums, a fountain of trickling water, and the clank of classic rum cocktails. The Hunahuna Hut is wrapped in bamboo, lauhala, and carved wood pieces throughout. The bar also features a fiber optic starlight ceiling with overhanging vegetation. The freestanding bar and fully stocked backbar are enhanced by a wall designed to look like a dismantled ship interior. This nautical wall includes a tiki-appropriate monitor, hidden behind two portholes that display scenes of the setting sun along the coast of an exotic island.

This is the home bar of Ron Ferrell and Mickee.

The South Pacific Room is the home tiki bar of Derek and Roxanne in Vista, California (north of San Diego). Derek is masterful with a router, and has built many of the room's features, including the bar and a large table. The room is filled with detailed trim pieces carved by Derek, and they have made most of the lamps themselves, too.

Even better than having the know-how is sharing the know-how: The South Pacific Room hosts regular instruction sessions to teach folks how to make their own lamps and routed pieces of art.

James first decided to devote an entire room to his expanding Tiki collection around the same time that he launched the Tiki Bar Review Pages in 1995. The unnamed room moved into its current location in 1998. After a major redecoration in late 2003, the room was finally named: Aku Hall. Said fast enough, the name is a silly pun, but it also reflects James' particular fascination with Easter Island.

The house drink, Pisco Sour, is a heavily customized versionof the drink most commonly served to tourists in Chile and on Rapa Nui.

Atomic Lagoon is the home tiki bar of Richard Ridley and Steve Bultemeyer in Phoenix, Arizona. The bar was created in April 2017. The name is a nod to their house: "Atomic" for its mid-century modern design, and "Lagoon" for its original 1963 lava rock fountain and pond. The mid-century modern bar has a built-in glass case used to display tiki mugs. There is a liquor cabinet which is able to rotate to display the content either outdoors behind the bar, or inside the interior of the house. The lava rock fountain is surrounded by 50-year-old Mediterranean palms. Atomic Lagoon is used for tiki parties, lounging during the warm Phoenix evenings, and gives them an oasis in the desert.

This is a super secret speakeasy home bar version of the much beloved Bahooka which used to exist in Rosemead, CA.

It was designed by Adrian Eustaquio (a.k.a. "Polynesian Pop"/Host of Inside the Desert Oasis) and is owned by Jeff Godbold.

The home bar features some of the original props from the original Bahooka, with a full bar, separate lounge, a game room, and a private theater.

Murals by Rarabird, two aquarium booths, a sliding jail bar door, plastic parrots, and much more!

Located in Monrovia, California.

Balhi Ha'i is the home tiki bar of Critiki and Ooga-Mooga creator Humuhumu. Her original home tiki bar, The Humuhumu Room, closed when she moved away from Seattle in 2003. Balhi Ha'i made its debut in 2011.

Balhi Ha'i occupies half of the lower level of Humu's home, roughly six times the size of the Humuhumu Room. Visitors pass through a dark jungle area, with nighttime wildlife sounds, before entering the main area, which plays an Exotica soundtrack. The room includes a built-in wet bar (vintage circa 1968) upholstered in avocado green vinyl in tribute to the green upholstery found in golden era Trader Vic's locations. There is a good amount of vintage rattan seating, and the room has its own bathroom. A rain lamp birdcage, decorated in tribute to Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room, hosts a bird named Mimi. A large, firelit shelving unit showcases highlights from the mug collection. A dramatic, towering rattan chair with a scooped "wave" top has a hanging lit pufferfish named Jack. A floor-to-ceiling dimly-lit panel is covered with tapa cloth. Most of the carved pieces in the room are in a traditional style. Highlights include several large authentic Papua New Guinea pieces, a Maori-style plaque carved by Basement Kahuna, and a couple of Witco tikis. One wall has an arrangement of smaller pieces of art, including carved Maori plaques, some Coco Joe's "lava" pieces, and a few pieces of modern Tiki art. Balhi Ha'i has its own logo, imprinted on custom zombie glassware. Stemmed drinks are served in vintage Noritake Bamboo pattern coupes. A rotating selection of tropical drinks is presented on a carved Marquesan-style tiki drink menu. There is a growing selection of sipping rums available. She hosts a party on the second Saturday of every month.

When not in use for bar entertaining, a projector screen comes down and the space becomes a home theater with surround sound.

The Hapa Haole Hideaway is the home bar of Tim "Swanky" Glazner and his wife Stephanie Romer, in Knoxville, TN. The bar is full of authentic Papua New Guinea artifacts, and has a webcam to allow viewers from around the world to enjoy an evening with him and his guests.

Swanky and Stephanie also own a tikified beach condo called Follynesia in Folly Beach, South Carolina that is available as a vacation rental.

Built in 2010.

Hubert's Huli Huli Haus (a.k.a. The 4-H Club) is the home tiki bar of Suzanne Couture and Bruce Woodbury. Hubert is their monkey (a Macaca soccus, I believe). Hubert used to be a ski instructor in the Swiss Alps, and Suzanne sometimes moonlights as a chicken. But make no mistake: with all this barnyard tomfoolery, this space is all tiki.

The Haus is a barn-like structure behind the main house, but the inside is a tapa and lauhala dream. An a-frame sits above the bar, and the room is ringed with vintage rattan seating. Both Bruce and Suzanne have been big tikiphiles for a long time, and have saved up an impressive collection of unique items. Suzanne is an interior designer, and naturally the space is beautifully executed.

The Bamboo Grove of Westwood is the home of Tiki Artist Dawn Frazier, also known as Sophista-Tiki. It was a single-apartment vacation rental for a time, from about 2008-2016.

It is located in the West Seattle neighborhood of Seattle. The unit is filled with vintage midcentury furnishings including a rattan couch, and has a built-in bar and tiki mural. The unit has a full kitchen, wireless internet, off-street parking and a private bamboo garden. Two twin beds can be pushed together to make one king-size bed, and a third person can be accommodated on a fold-away bed.

Since about 2016, Dawn no longer makes The Bamboo Grove available for rent, and today it is just her private residence. It is still as spectacular as ever and Dawn is continually making improvements and additions.

The Below Decks is the home tiki bar of Steven D. Matthews, in Los Angeles. The bar is in the former garage and patio of his home, and has now become the home's living room, with all entertaining beginning and ending there. The bar's focus is cocktails, well made ones, drawing inspiration from the works of cocktail experts Beachbum Berry, Dale DeGroff, Gaz Regan and Martin Cate. The bar's name is a nod to The Sailing Ship Columbia at Disneyland. Design-wise, Steven's inspirations include The Enchanted Tiki Room, Swiss Family Treehouse, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at Disneyland; Tiki-Ti; Trader Vic's; and Oceanic Arts. The current canine mascot of The Below Decks is his sweet Veda-Roux.

This is the home bar of Dan Watson.

The Humuhumu Room was a teeny, tiny little enclave -- only 7' by 9', with lowish ceilings. It was the home bar of Humuhumu (Michelle), creator of Critiki and Ooga-Mooga.

There was a whole lot of stuff in the space: a bar with a sink & small refrigerator, a fountain, seating for five or six, and three almost-life-size palm trees. The most people Humu ever had in the Humuhumu Room was ten full-sized adults, not counting her behind the bar.

The Hawai'ian word for sewing is "humuhumu"; the Humuhumu Room also doubled as Humu's sewing room. Her vintage fold-up sewing machine table served as the central cocktail table. The room's name became Humu's own nickname, and it has stuck ever since.

The Humuhumu Room closed in February 2003, when Humu moved out of the house it was built in. She currently resides in San Francisco and has a newer home tiki bar, Balhi Ha'i, which made its debut in 2011.

The Monkey Hut is the home tiki bar of Craig "Colonel Tiki" Hermann and Heather "Tikimama" Gregg. This Portland hideaway is the second generation of their home tiki bar; the original Monkey Hut closed when the couple moved in early 2008. The Monkey Hut takes up a good chunk of the basement, with seagrass-lined walls and classic Polynesian Pop artwork illuminated by a collection of beachcomber lamps. Hermann and Gregg are passionate about historic and historically-inspired tiki cocktails, and put their home bar to proper use.

The 65th Street Revival is the home tiki bar of Ron and Chris Amittone. The name is a nod to the nearby vortex of early tiki in Oakland at 65th & San Pablo: Hinky Dinks, which became the original Trader Vic's, and Zombie Village. The home has been in his family for generations, and his family spent many evenings in both of those establishments.

Ron's former career as a garbage collector has given him access to incredible treasures. Every bit of the bar is covered with the most amazing rare bits and bobs of vintage Tikiana, Hawaiiana, and fun old booze stuff. Ron constructed the bar and shelves himself, he has incredible taste and great skills in bringing it all together on a scale that works just right in this space.

Bloody's is my home tiki bar. I started small versions of it in 2006, but I'm currently finishing a more permanent home on my deck. It over looks a small subtropical garden and koi pond, and has a smaller tiki hut for watching the fish and sipping beverages.

This is the home bar of Doug Thornburg.

This is the home bar, work space, and back deck area of Tiki tOny's in Ventura, California.

The Chi Chi Lounge is the home bar of Atomic Chick and located in Riverside, California.

The Lumi-La Lounge is the home tiki bar of Jennifer, Gillian and Kenn in La Mesa, California. They built the bar in the sun room of their house in July 2010; "lumi" is Hawaiian for room, and "la" is the word for sun. The space features art from many local Southern California artists, and artists carving in Hawaii. The physical bar itself is re-worked from Jennifer and Kenn's wedding altar pieces. The Lumi-La features custom t-shirts for contest winners, a custom designed cocktail, an outdoor patio, custom carvings, moldings, floorboards and picture frames all carved by Kenn.

The Lumi-La Lounge is where the rum flows, the ukulele plays, and Polynesian attire reigns. If the sun is out, the Lumi-La is likely hosting a pig roast, a game of corn-hole or just general frivolity and libations.

Based in Long Beach and built in 2019, this is Doug Horne's home tiki bar -- which displays his own artwork and other collections, including his vintage collection of naughty cover paperbacks!

First opened as the High Street Taproom in 2014 and centered around the bar built from scrap material, the former garage has worn a number of faces before finally evolving into the Torture Chamber it is today. The room has been a bar to show off experimental beer, house aged and infused spirits, and at one point an operating speakeasy. The bar has built an ever growing list of unique house cocktails, and one off (often tiki inspired) beers on draft. Pulling inspiration from lifelong passions of skateboarding and horror films, the dim dungeon of a bar is full of treasures waiting to be found.

A. Panda's Tiki Lounge is the home tiki bar of Andy and Jessica Montero in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They created the lounge in the basement of their newly-constructed home in October 2006. There are three sections of the lounge: a tiki bar and game room, a home theater, and a toy train layout. Andy's interest in tiki was originally sparked by the art of Shag. A. Panda's Tiki Lounge is a pun on Andy's longtime nickname, Andy Panda.

Based in Eagle Rock, the Cocoanut Canteen is the home bar of Trader Sampson (Chase Sampson).

Sampson started, bit by bit, building a tiki bar in his spare room, influenced equally by LA’s tiki culture and the Disney version of it. The Cocoanut Canteen comes from Sampson and his wife Alexis’s mutual love of art deco and an iconic Disney character. “I love the Indiana Jones influence on Trader Sam’s,” he explains. “It’s pulling in a lot of adventurey, 1940s vibes in the decor and the postcards on the walls. It feels like you’re in a different time. That’s the vibe I wanted for the home bar.”

Sampson wanted his bar to feel more like an organic extension of the art deco vibe in their home. “All of my decor is pre-1945,” he says. “Everything on the walls, all the photos, they’re meant to evoke the feeling of being in a different time, whereas in a lot of tiki bars you’re just in a different place.”

Home bar in North Whittier Ca.

A small home bar where we enjoy time with family and friends and share our love of Tiki and Tequila. Our bar contains a lot of tiki love and memorabilia from our travels so we consider it to be "Eclectiki".

When my husband surprised me with a tiki bar for my birthday, it reignited my interest in tiki and began a long, never ending quest. It's definitely a work in progress.

The Hala Kahiki in Derby is the home tiki bar of Neil & Carla in Derbyshire, UK. They built the bar in the back of their tiny two-bedroom home in February 2016, in a 4m x 5m extension added onto the house. Three trips to Oahu, Hawaii planted the seed for the couple's love of tiki, starting with a bottle of Trader Vic's Mai Tai Mix brought home from the islands, and continuing with a quest to make Mai Tais at home, and find them on menus out in the world. All of this seeking led the couple to realize that if they wanted a great tiki bar, they'd have to build one themselves, at home.

The bar itself is on wheels, letting it be stowed against the wall when not in use. There is a 1961 Rock Ola Regis jukebox, and a phallic bottle opener. The couple has built up a liquor collection, and they're also proud of the food they serve, including cheesecake. The couple love to entertain friends, opening their bar on Friday afternoons through to Sunday evening (and occasional Wednesdays when Carla's off visiting her mum), and are delighted when newcomers first realize it's not an outdoor beach bar.

Named after the legendary Lanai San Mateo that I grew up with and frequented many times.

Wolf Lair Castle (aka Wolf’s Castle) is a 1927 storybook mansion built on 3.3 acres in the Hollywood Hills to resemble a Norman castle.

Milton Wolf built Wolf Lair in 1921, overlooking Lake Hollywood.

He also had celebrated architect John Lautner design a gate house adjacent to the castle, decked out in teak and redwood with a green granite fireplace. There is a two-bedroom suite in the guest cottage designed like a Tiki Room. It has a bamboo roof and bare-breasted native girls painted on the windows.

The musician, Moby, owned this property for a time but sold it in 2014 for $12.4 million.

My basement Tiki bar includes a home theatre, game room, bar, plenty of art by SHAG and many other wonderful Tiki artists, and pandas. It also houses my home office for my day job.

Inspired by our trips to Hawaii, Akua (roughly translates to "Island Spirit" in Hawaiian) - is the home bar of Justin Peterson and Erin Sullivan. Work was mostly completed by April 2020. The bar area is part of the larger lounge / living room, inside our 1954 mid-century modern home in west Orlando. Featuring a hand-painted mural, custom shelves, mugs, and artwork & nicknacks from Oahu.

My tiny (9' x 11') bit of paradise here in San Francisco.

Eclectic tiki bar with salvaged bar and backbar mixed with new and old authentic arts and crafts. Started in 2010 but never done. Some souvenirs from various SoCal locations as well as the odd PNG mask here and there. Working on getting some diner booths set up in this 21x21 foot room with vaulted ceiling because, well, we have room.

Vince and Karen's exotic tropical hideaway. This concept encompasses most of the living space of our Los Angeles area home. It has been evolving over the last few years, as we visit additional tiki market places, thrift shops and yard sales. It is named after our former dog Smokey. She dug out a special place in our backyard bamboo stand to create a special hideaway for her. Bamboo Ben did and excellent job on the mug shelves.