Tiki Bars
Hawaiian Gardens Resort
Holly, Michigan, United States (Closed)
Hawaiian Gardens Resort was a large complex on the shores of Oahu Lake in Holly, Michigan. It was created by Fred and Jane Barton, who were inspired by their travels to Hawaii and New Zealand. Both Hawaiian and Maori imagery were used throughout the resort.
The resort had some dramatic and very modern shapes, including a geodesic dome and irregular angles, plus some A-frame structures. The entrance featured a stylized outrigger canoe full of rowers, and several Barney West-style moais on top. The architect was James H. Livingston Associates.
Aside from hotel rooms, the complex had several restaurants and lounges. The Huki Lau Restaurant "tried to capture the true effect of Polynesia," per the restaurant's menu. The Polynesian Longhouse had full table service and advertised "individually cooked" meals. The Kahili Room served buffet-style food inside the geodesic dome and was available for private rentals. Waitoma Grotto Lounge had rock walls, and "glow worms" in the ceiling, inspired by a visit to an actual glow worm infested grotto cave in New Zealand. The Banyan Court had lots of tropical plants, and windows overlooking Lake Oahu. The Banyan Court itself contained three sub-rooms: the Tahitian Room, Samoan Room, and Hawaiian Room, plus the Monu Chief House, with a 50-foot high skylight.
At some point the resort closed, and the buildings were used as a rehab facility. The buildings were bulldozed sometime in the mid-2000s.
There is a "Hawaiian Gardens" mobile home park on the other side of Lake Oahu, with Hawaiian street names. It is unclear what relationship existed, if any, with the former resort.
Lakanuki
Mammoth Lakes, California, United States
Lakanuki opened in 2003 in the ski resort town of Mammoth Lakes, in the Village. The decor is a sort of modern surf-tiki mix, with thatch over the bar and mural-size artwork on the walls. There are front and side patios, and an interior dining area.
Hukilau - San Jose
San Jose, California, United States
Modern Hawaiian restaurant. Opened @ 2005.
There was another slightly older Hukilau in San Francisco, but it has closed.
Hukilau - San Francisco
San Francisco, California, United States (Closed)
Hukilau was more modern-Hawaiian than retro-Poly Pop. They opened @ 2004 and closed in 2012.
There is another Hukilau in San Jose.
Spa Tiki
San Diego, California, United States (Closed)
Spa Tiki was a large full-service spa. The spa took up two floors, and had tikis by Bosko sprinkled throughout the place. It felt very much like a modern, upscale spa, with relaxing music and dim lighting. There was a shop near the front counter with beauty supplies and soaps with a Hawaiian bent.
The investors in Spa Tiki were also investors in nearby Mister Tiki's Mai Tai Lounge. Spa Tiki opened in 2003, and closed in late 2009.
The Islander - Seattle
Seattle, Washington, United States (Closed)
Opened in 2003, this restaurant focused more on vintage Hawaiiana than a true tiki bar experience, and felt airy, elegant and upscale.
In 2008, owner Thoa Nguyen changed the concept from Hawaiian to Vietnamese, and it became Thoa's Restaurant and Lounge.
From August 2018 onward, this location appears to be corporate office space.
Trade Winds - Oxnard
Oxnard, California, United States (Closed)
Trade Winds was erected by developer Martin "Bud" Smith, and opened March 4th, 1964. It quickly became the hot place to be in town.
The restaurant had a lagoon leading up to a soaring A-frame entrance; inside were a series of themed rooms, including a central gazebo-shaped structure, the Samoa Hut/Tiki Temple. The predominant theme was Polynesian, but some of the rooms included an East Indies room, a Sadie Thompson room, and a Zanzibar room, all designed by 20th Century Fox designer Fred Moninger, and decorated by Ione Keenan. There were many tikis, carved by Richard M. Ellis. There was a Polynesian floor show.
Some time in the 1960s, Hop Louie (of Latitude 20 in Torrance, Minnie's in Modesto and the Islander in Stockton) took over the restaurant. In the late '70s, it became a Don the Beachcomber.
In later years, it became Coconut Joe's Warehouse Restaurant, and then later still around 1981, it became Hawaiian Cowboy (some of the decor was removed to make room for a mechanical bull and a BBQ pit. About a year later, it became an ice cream parlor, and in 1984, the building was demolished. The site is now a road.
Polynesian Cocktail Lounge - at The New Chinatown Restaurant
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States (Closed)
The Polynesian Lounge opened in 1990, as a newly themed bar for the New Chinatown Restaurant. It was owned by Freddie and Jane Baker. Freddie "Kekaulike" Baker was born in Hawaii and moved to the mainland in 1949, he was an extra in Hollywood for some time, before forming a band. His band played hapa haole and other Polynesian-tinged tunes all over the country, including the Aku Aku in Las Vegas. He started headlining at the Tiki Kai Supper Club in the '60s, where he met Jane. The couple performed at the lounge regularly, along with a hula dancing friend, Evalani.
The New Chinatown was co-owned by the Ong family, and opened circa 1976. The restaurant was built using hundreds of green tiles which were brought over from China and are much coveted today (but these tiles were destroyed when the site was later leveled). When first opened, it advertised a Pagoda Bar and Kung-Pei Cocktail Lounge (one or both of these was probably coverted over to the "Polynesian Lounge"). It sat 400 people and they touted it as the finest Chinese restaurant in the Southwest.
When the New Chinatown Restaurant changed hands in 2003, the Polynesian Lounge was also sold, and the new owners turned it into a non-tiki, cabaret joint, and re-branded the restaurant as Mr K's Oriental Restaurant & Bar.
That was short-lived. This site has been re-developed (some time prior to 2015) and is now home to Labor Finders and Albuquerque Distilling (as of 2022) on the footprint of where the New Chinatown Restaurant used to be.
Tiki Kai Supper Club - Denver
Denver, Colorado, United States (Closed)
Opened in 1964.
The red-and-tan interior boasted some Witco décor, Tiki masks, faux-tapa designs on paper, lots of bamboo, and hanging floats and lanterns. A 1964 Denver Post review praised the food and the “suffering things” (you can guess which cocktail the reviewer was hesitant to name). Ernie Menehune provided entertainment—when he wasn’t busy is Las Vegas. Ernie still played gigs in Arizona well into his 80’s.
Two waitresses (Elizabeth Madrid and Judith Finchum, both 23) were arrested on January 19, 1966, for waiting tables in lingerie, a gimmick that had been used in the Tiki Kai in Albuquerque for some time. Madrid was fined $100; owner Harry Jew said that business had doubled in the single week that the two girls had been working there. A former waitress named Pat tells us: “(in 1966) Harry was the owner, Gordon the manager, Lou the maître D, Linda the hostess, Mike the bartender, Speedy the backup bartender, Tommy Jung the chef. I left Tiki Kai when I married Tommy.”
In December 1969, the Tiki Kai became the China Town Restaurant. In 1971, the Denver-based Vegas show-band the Glass Menagerie purchased the building and renamed it the Islander. The Islander lasted until 1975, and then it became Herb Wong's New China restaurant (which still served Polynesian drinks in their Kahuna Cocktail Lounge) until being demolished in 1992.
Today this location is the SafeSplash Swim School.
There was another Tiki Kai Supper Club in Albuquerque.
*NOTE: The Islander at this location is not to be confused with the Tommy Wong's Island (circa. 1977 -1983) which was about 11 minutes South of this location. That Tommy Wong's location now appears (as of 2025) to be a parking lot adjacent a kosher deli.
Tiki Kai Supper Club - Albuquerque
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States (Closed)
Opened in 1965.
The Tiki Kai's main claim to fame (or infamy, depending on your perspective) was its lunchtime lingerie shows, where the voluptuous waitresses would wear only see-through negligees while serving customers.
The Tiki Kai eventually burned down.
There was another Tiki Kai Supper Club in Denver.
Mai-Khi Lounge
West Allis, Wisconsin, United States (Closed)
Open at least as early as 1977.
Closed in 2000 and de-tikified.
This is now Bug N Out, a sports bar, as of 2021.
Some tell-tale bits of the old tiki bar remain -- the A-frame entrance, and some interior decor, including a few random lava rocks on some of the walls and routered Polynesian pattern decorative beams.
Bamboo that was salvaged when the Mai-Khi Lounge closed was used in The Leeward Lounge, a home bar in West Allis.
Leilani Hut
Long Beach, California, United States (Closed)
Leilani Hut was in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach. Open at least as early as 1938 and closed in 1974 when it became "The Stockpot".
At one point it was owned by Don May. Don was also the owner of The Hawaiian and The Gay 90's on Signal Hill. He also started the continuing tradition of the lighted floating Christmas trees in Belmont Shore.
The interior had some large Hawaiian scene murals.
It is now a Legends sports bar since 1979.