Wan-Q started out life in the 40's or 50's as a fairly average Chinese restaurant, but at some point in the 1960s (at least as early as 1962), owner Benny Eng was caught up in the Pop Polynesian movement and converted his restaurant into a unique tiki establishment with a full menu of tiki cocktails in addition to his already excellent Cantonese menu of food.

Benny outfitted his restaurant with rattan, bamboo, Tikis and waterfalls. And of course there was the exotic tinseled glory that was Wan-Q’s exterior which included a thatched A-frame roof, tapa cloth details, Chinese jade tiles and float lamps.

Wan-Q was replaced for a time by the Sugar Shack (live music venue circa 1994), which kept the exterior (including the sign) mostly intact. Several other restaurants also occupied the space since then. Today the location houses another Chinese restaurant called Fu’s Palace.

In 2019, The LuWow re-opened its doors in a prime spot in Melbourne’s cbd on Little Collins Street. It is in the space formerly occupied (fittingly) by Hawaiian-themed restaurant, Hana.

From their website:

"The LuWow has been recreated by 'Skipper' Josh Collins and Barbara Blaze Collins in a more intimate space, relax in a cosy booth or hang at the bar surrounded by an oasis of colourful kitsch with huge tiki totems, all carved by 'Skipper' Josh himself, leopard lounge suites, a jungle of plants and bamboo and a plethora of insane and wonderfully trashy souvenirs from the South Pacific and beyond. Josh & Barbara have kept to their retro OTT design ethic on this new venture. Their previous bars have been The LuWow (Fitzroy), Hula Bula Bar (Perth), Devilles Pad (Perth), South London Pacific (UK), Tikis (Belgium). Adding to the retro Tiki vibe of The LuWow the background music is hand curated from the owners’ huge vinyl collection of exotica, rhythm n blues, ska, soul, surf, 60s garage, beat & rock n roll."

The Castaways Hotel opened on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip across from the Sands Hotel in 1963, became one of the casinos billionaire Howard Hughes bought in the late 1960s and survived into the 1980s, when it was demolished to make way for Steve Wynn's The Mirage in 1989.

In 1963, the casino was themed as a Polynesian Resort, with Tiki torches and palm trees surrounding the exterior. It also included Pacific Island Tiki-themed showrooms and a bar with a fish tank in which a woman swam to entertain patrons.

The following year, in 1964, the Samoa Room showcased "Playmate of 1964" with March & Adams/Dick Wells/Jay Nemeth. The Kon-Tiki Room showcased continuous entertainment.

Successive remodeling as the years went on sometimes went against theme. For instance, outside the hotel, Castaways managers bought and assembled a sixty-year-old scale replica of an East Indian Jain temple, made of elaborately carved teakwood, which they called "The Gateway to Luck".

This establishment touts itself as Rome's first tiki bar.

Camillo Affinita and Alessio Esposito (along with their partners Alessandro and Marco) opened up Makai in November of 2016.

They feature a signature mug and other barware made by Maka-Tiki as well.

NU LOUNGE BAR was founded in December 2000 by four friends – Davide Cavallari, Daniele Dalla Pola, Elena Esposito and Maurizio Gerosa. The four members gathered their national and international experiences together in order to create a Cocktail Bar in the center of Bologna and offer their customers a unique experience.

It is tucked inside an open galleria and there is seating within the bar area as well as outside in the enclosed galleria space. Focus is on tiki cocktails and the bar features a unique assortment of Italian made tiki mugs.

Daniele Dalla Pola left Nu Lounge and is known in the United States for his work at Esotico Miami (closed in March of 2024) and its neighbor bar, the Kaona Room.

This tiki bar was opened in June 2017 by Ian McCol, the force behind the Tiki Bar and Kitsch Inn (see the similarity in logos). It was opened a couple of years after a Lola Lo's tiki bar closed at this same location. Lola Lo's was run as more of a nightclub and this incarnation made use of the space for more of a restaurant and bar atmosphere. However, the Auld Reekie Tiki Bar only lasted a year or so before closing and being converted into an Irish pub, Kitty O'Shea's.

This venue opened in August 2011 at the site of the former Po Na Na in Edinburgh. It appears to have closed after 2015 or so.

The Auld Reekie Tiki Bar opened at this same location in June 2017 (created by the owner of The Tiki Bar and Kitsch Inn) but it only lasted a year or so and was replaced by Kitty O'Shea's, an Irish pub.

Barney West (1919-1981) was a tiki carver during the golden age of midcentury Polynesian Pop.

West, a native of Seattle, came to the Bay Area as a boy when his parents moved to Oakland. His father was chief engineer for the steam schooner Wapama which is now part of a San Francisco waterfront museum. During World War II, West joined the Merchant Marine and served as a steward on Liberty ships in the South Pacific. During his 15 years at sea, West became interested in the native art of Easter Island, Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Hawaii, an infatuation that later had a great influence on his art. West moved to an ark on Corte Madera creek shortly after the end of World War II. To set himself up in the woodcarving business, he drove spikes and laid heavy rails for a railroad crew. West’s first wood carving came from redwood pilings he floated to his home from San Pablo Bay. His first major customer was restaurateur Trader Vic Bergeron who purchased many pieces of West’s early art.

After establishing himself as a wood carver, West opened a studio in Sausalito ("Tiki Junction") on land lent to him by Zack’s by the Bay owner (Zack’s became Margaritaville, then Paradise Bay, now Salito’s Crab House), Sam Zakessian in 1963. The tiny studio soon became engulfed by tikis and other assorted tropical carvings and vegetation. West began his carving career with conventional carving tools but soon progressed to a chain saw. He shipped in mammoth redwood logs by rail and shipped his commissioned works on flatcars all over the country. West’s art can be found in London, Hawaii, and Cuba. West’s business thrived well in Sausalito and at one time he had five apprentices working with him.

This Lola Lo location opened in April 2012 in what was previously the space occupied by Sakura bar and closed in November 2016. It was replaced by Lincoln Fever (a disco bar).

Set in a basement in the heart of Lincoln, one of the biggest challenges for the design team was how to incorporate a historical Roman wall through the middle of the space that had to remain visible but untouchable, so incorporating the elements of stone, a silhouette of Moais was incorporated on the glass to allude to their natural origins.

The main club room with flaming bar front and reclaimed timber wall had unique hand-painted volcano graphics and was surrounded by other tropical décor well known at Lola Lo’s such as the puffer fish lanterns and fisherman’s floats lights, fish traps and tapa cloth and vintage Hawaiian print seating. Seating area tables had glass-topped curiosity boxes showing off shrunken heads.

This Mahiki location was located at the Forte Village Resort. It appears to have been open from 2017 to 2018 or possibly 2019 before it closed.

Promotional materials show a beachfront open seating terrace bounded by glass dividers to block the wind/ocean spray. Arching trees were strung with lit fish floats. The bar was a small open-sided structure facing out over the seating area. The attached youtube video gives a better idea.

In addition to this Mahiki location, there were also the original London and the Manchester locations (both now closed), one in Dubai, Arab Emirates (now closed), the Mahiki Beach location in Marbella, Spain (open), and a second London location (Mahiki Kensington, closed in 2019). There was also a Mahiki club in Gothenburg, Sweden (closed).

In 2017, Mahiki took over this second London location on Kensington High Street location from alpine cabin-themed club Bodo’s Schloss, which is situated beneath the Royal Garden Hotel and just a few hundred meters from Kensington Palace. Rumours of a tunnel connecting the palace to the club for VIP royal access have existed for as long as the site has been a club. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke of Sussex, Rihanna and Harry Styles have all partied here.

The location is a 350-capacity, 6,000 square foot space and was detailed and designed for the Mahiki by CT Creative Limited, a sister company of CheekyTiki. One detail that this Mahiki had in abundance were oriental jade glazed temple tile divides. These were molded by CheekyTiki and are still for sale through their now re-branded company, Little Grass Shack.

Menu below by TikiRacer.

In October of 2019, it was announced that Mahiki was closing and would be replaced by Bloom Nightclub.

In addition to the original London location (now closed) and the Kensington location (now closed), the Mahiki franchise has spread to several other venues. Mahiki Clubs have opened in Dubai, Arab Emirates (now closed), Marbella, Spain (Mahiki Beach/open), in the Forte Village Resort in Sardinia (now closed), and Mahiki Manchester (opened in 2017 in collaboration with Gary Neville's company GG Hospitality Management Ltd., closed in 2018, then reopened in 2019, and closed once again in 2020). There was also a Mahiki club in Gothenburg, Sweden (closed).

Created (April 2014) in the former site of Coyote Wild in Victoria Street, this 800-capacity bar covered the ground and first floors, featured two bars, an Island Grill diner, a spacious dance floor and an upstairs tropical garden -- totaling up to 22,259 sq ft. CheekyTiki's sister company, CT Creative Ltd., did the design work and worked over the course of several weeks to make a space where guests entered through a real sunken ship to be greeted with a tropical arboretum of hanging plants, and a flock of 52 mirror ball carrying parrots over the dance floor. It was one of, if not the largest spaces they had done up to that point for the Lola Lo chain.

Closed August, 2017 and was replaced by Bar Soba (which only lasted a single year) before being converted into office space by a new design firm.