This venue was opened in 1970 with the Ala Moana Hotel and was one of the Spencecliff family of restaurants.

It was painstakingly modeled to resemble a Maori meeting hall on the inside and was covered with all manner of carvings.

Spencecliff later passed this restaurant on to his former employee, Gordon Yoshida, who continued to run it until February of 2009.

In its time, it was run as a dinner theater and home to a number of full Hawaiian Revue dance teams throughout the years.

After its close, the contents were auctioned off or demolished and disposed of. Some of the better carvings found their way into the hands of collectors and a few are on display at La Mariana Sailing Club.

Opened in December 2024 in the basement under the historic Phoenix Saloon in New Braunfels, Texas.

The build-out was designed and carried out by The Boozy Doodler (Jason Straughan). Owners of the Phoenix Saloon had visited Jason's home bar, the Taboozy Lei, during Covid and had asked him if he could transform their basement into something similar.

The space incorporated lots of old school tiki elements and touches from Jason's own invention, like an animated ship in a bottle. Details included: Papua New Guinea carvings, a nautical section (with mermaid prow figure and windows looking out at the sea), tons of routered wood trim, bamboo, lauhala matting, hanging fish floats, cork floats hanging from strands of nautical rope, and much much more. The incredible attention to detail satisfied even the pickiest of tikiphiles and was evidence that this was a true labor of love.

Closed January 14th, 2025 due to disagreements between Jason Straughan and bar owners.

This Kahunaville was one location in a nationwide chain of restaurants.

It was located in the Rivertown Mall from @2002-2004.

Like the others in the chain, this restaurant featured a synchronized water fountain show, waterfalls, caves, talking idols, a sophisticated sound system, an arcade, and a variety of tropical drinks. Their eclectic food menu featured about 90 items, which included "Kahunaville-sized" sandwiches, salads and entrees with American, Mexican, Cajun and Asian influences.

The parent company of Kahunaville, Adventure Dining Inc., once operated nine nationwide locations, including homes in Delaware, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Michigan and Tampa. The Las Vegas, Nevada "Party Bar" (2001-2016) was their last holdout before the chain folded.

This type of corporate chain typifies what many tikiphiles dislike most about corporatizing the Tiki aesthetic -- bending the decor more towards a Chucky Cheese buildout (or perhaps Rainforest Cafe if one is being kind) with cheaply molded and cartoony fiberglass and plastic decorations in primary colors, dumbing down the cocktails of Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic into chemical-tasting slushy boat drinks (but served with "flair"), offering a big scattershot food menu in hopes of appealing to every American tourist palate, and supplying loud video games and animatronics to entertain the kids. For those that grew up with these, there is some nostalgia, but they were not terribly mourned by fans of traditional tiki bars and restaurants.

This second Nalu location opened in Rehoboth Beach on April 9th, 2019.

It tilts a bit more to the surf than the tiki spectrum of decor with surfboard tables and Hawaiian wave mural walls, but no carved tikis in evidence like the original location.

The food menu is much the same as the sister location. They have a self-described "Pacific island fusion" menu with pad thai, tacos, burgers, and poke bowls leading the way.

The cocktails are served in tiki style glassware.

The Royal Lanai opened @ 1962.

This site was previously occupied by the first Tropics restaurant (The World Famous Tropics at Waikiki) which was opened by Peaches & Tony Guerrero and ran from 1940 to at least as late as 1955, possibly later.

The upstairs portion was designated as a separate bar called "The Attic Bar".

This location was open at least as late as September of 1968.

It is interesting to note on their limited cocktail menu that they used Leilani brand as their house white rum. Beachbum Berry describes this as one of his favorite historical white rums for that time period. They also produced a very cool tiki-shaped bottle glorifier to set the bottles on that has become highly coveted over the years. See photos below...

Soft opening on December 1st, 2024 and officially opened December 10th, 2024.

This is a traditionally decorated tiki bar with art, tiki carvings, flotsam and jetsam, swag lamps, and dim lighting for a mysterious twilight experience.

They serve a menu of traditional tiki cocktails (see below).

They have merch on their Etsy store (see below).

The Pearl Tiki Bar officially opened on January 25, 2022.

Part of "The Block" which includes Highball Lanes, The Pearl, The Capri, Fondren Station and Fondren Yard.

Highball Lanes shares a wall and side entrance with Pearl as well.

This small tiki bar has little padded booth nooks looking out each of the front windows that have a nice assortment of colored glass fish floats hanging overhead.

One interior wall is wallpapered with a tropical leaf print, while the opposite walls have bamboo wainscotting and a tan wallpaper punctuated by various flotsam and jetsam as well as small framed tiki and nautical artworks.

Lauhala matting covered ceilings with stained oak beams. A matching dark stained oak bar and barstools.

Some rattan chairs for seating.

Not much in the way of large carvings or signature pieces, and this may not be as immersive a space as some, but it is cozy and provides a nice counter-point to the other bars and businesses on "The Block".

Previously the site of Charlie's High Hat Bar/Charlie's Grill and Cocktail bar, built in 1932, which has a convoluted history of murder and suicide (and which you can read about in the Tiki Central thread below).

In 1948, 39-year old Jimmie Kam Sun Lee immigrated to the Daytona Beach area from Hong Kong. He was born in Canton, China. Jimmie Lee opened the doors of the Lotus Restaurant as owner-operator in 1950 at 308 Seabreeze Boulevard, on the ground floor of the building formerly hosting Charlie’s Grill & Hi-Hat Club.

Laney's was upstairs and offered strippers and other entertainment. Laney’s Supper Club continued to operate until 1963.

By 1962 at the Lotus Restaurant, Jimmie Lee was joined or succeeded by Wei Lee. Various members of the Lee family shared responsibilities throughout the years.

The interesting tiki facade of the Lotus Restaurant remains a bit of a mystery. However, another member of the Lee family who worked at the Lotus Restaurant in the late 1950s, the venerable Ho Lum Lee, also known as “Papa” Lee, worked several years as chef at the Hawaiian Inn in Daytona Beach and then moved on to be chef at Tiki Gardens, retiring after 20 years there...

So this might be the missing link to explain the Polynesian/Hawaiian influence.

The Lotus Restaurant continued in business until 1987, when the remaining family operating it acquired and moved on to an existing restaurant in Deland, renaming it the New China Restaurant.

A slew of bars have been at the old Lotus Restaurant location in recent years, including Front Row, The Joint, Moonshiner's Hideaway, and ROK Bar. Current status is uncertain as of 2025.

This restaurant appears to have been open in the early 1970s on 7th Avenue near 51st Street at the Hotel Taft.

The floral patterns on the booths and the carpet have a very 70s vibe. Other than this, and some groovy 70s advertising, much of the decor and concept seems to have been "borrowed" whole-heartedly from the Trader Vic's and Steve Crane franchises.

The 1968 demolition of Madison Square Garden, the increasing presence of unsavory businesses in the area, and the desire for newer, more elegant hotels contributed to the gradual decay of the Taft Hotel. In 1974, Urban Renewal Housing and Development Corporation, headed by Gilbert M. Federbush, acquired the hotel from Lawrence A. Wien. At the time, the hotel was struggling with a 51% occupancy rate and losing $80,000 a month. A year later, the hotel fell into receivership and was foreclosed on by its lender, the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Soon after, the hotel was converted to mixed use and sections were re-named.

It would appear this was a brief flash-in-the pan restaurant during the early 70s before closing.

Opened June 23rd, 2025.

This 298-seat indoor-outdoor restaurant and bar was operated by Tampa-based 23 Restaurant Services.

Previously home to the short-lived Don the Beachcomber (owned by the same mother company) which occupied this space for less than a year from February of 2024 to September of 2024 when Hurricane Helene hit and caused extensive damage.

It was then decided to re-envision this space as a Tiki Docks. Much of the build out and decor was still recognizable from the old Don's bar/restaurant, but with some fresh paint, freshening up, and repairs.

This location closed September 9, 2025, abruptly, and less than three months after its June 23 grand opening.

Tiki Docks Bar and Grill has three locations currently: Riverview, Port Orange, and St. Petersburg, FL.

Circa 1962 - 1992.

Originally named Joy Tang when opened at 212-17 26th Avenue, in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center Bayside Queens, New York 11360.

Served Polynesian, Cantonese, and Szechuan food and had a separate cocktail lounge.

Host was Pat Lai.

Opened September 11th, 2024.

This large space measures 500 m2. Seating for 100. Secluded location close to the center with free parking. Outdoor grill and bar & lounge. Can be rented out for group or corporate events.

In addition to Hawaiian scenes, the walls are covered with other exotic scenes as well, with Aztec pyramids and Cambodian ruins, etc...