Tiki Bars
Nalu Hawaiian Surf Bar & Grille - Dewey Beach
Dewey Beach, Delaware, United States
Nalu Hawaiian Surf Bar & Grille was opened in Dewey Beach, DE on April 24th, 2008 by Regan & Kim Derrickson.
Nalu is an open air family restaurant with a "Pacific island fusion cuisine".
The interior features several artificial palm trees and tiki poles that hold up both the thatched bar roof and that extend from floor to ceiling in the main area.
There is an outside patio and a live music stage area as well.
They have a food menu ranging from tacos to pad thai. Their drinks menu has an island style "Tonga Mai Tai" and an assortment of house tropical cocktails (that use Captain Morgan Spiced rum quite a bit) as well as frozen slushie drinks.
Nalu opened a second location in the adjacent town of Rehoboth Beach on April 9th, 2019.
Kanaloa - Houston
Houston, Texas, United States (Closed)
Opened September 5th, 2018.
Appears to have no connection to the chain of English Kanaloa bars that flourished from @2009-2020.
The exterior of the 2-story brick building was painted all-black.
Inside, the bar was decked out with a ton of multicolored fish floats hanging from the ceiling, a long bamboo bar stocked with a slew of top shelf rums and liqueurs, blue padded booths, polished koa wood tables, and large tiki murals painted on the walls. Outside the back was a patio seating area as well.
Barrera and his business partners Keith Doyle and Roland Keller, the team behind Wicklow Heights, wanted Kanaloa to be a place that would — like any great tiki bar — take drinkers out of the real world and into a kind of Polynesian fantasia. They called on Tiki Bosko to carve the tikis flanking the front doors and the wooden tabletops. Māk Studio, the firm behind EaDo’s Chapman and Kirby, created the tiki face wall murals. The stylish interiors, with deep blue hues, were the work of Leticia Ochoa’s Clover Design Studio.
By all accounts their drinks were fantastic. The food was supplied by Houston food truck Oh My Gogi which was given free rein in the kitchen. Menu items included a series of “tiki tots” including jerk chicken (seasoned grilled chicken, mozzarella cheese and pineapple pico de gallo) and Baja Shrimp (mozzarella, pico and guacamole). For vegans, there was “Beyond Baja Tots” made with plant-based protein, mozzarella, pico de gallo, cabbage and guacamole. There was also both grilled and fried shrimp tacos, a Korean salad and a Korean rice bowl.
Closed June 15th, 2021 -- another victim of the Covid pandemic shut-downs.
Hawaiian Garden
Seabrook, New Hampshire, United States (Closed)
Open under this name from about 1967-1975.
This restaurant had a lounge area with large bandstand for live entertainment. It was decorated with tikis, thatching over the bar, and served tropical cocktails. There were also motel rooms in back.
Wing Gwong Chin (1937-2018) started his long career in the restaurant business working at Trader Vics as a bartender, then later as a chef and bartender at other restaurants. He had a dream to own a restaurant so he learned the business and eventually partnered with his cousin Wing Foo Chin and others to open this location which was first named the Ye Cocke and Kettle Restaurant and Motor Inn. From the late 1960’s to 1980’s, the business changed names to Hawaiian Garden and then to the South Sea Restaurant and Motel.
In 1975 there was a big murder case revolving around one of Wing Chin's partners in a new restaurant start-up they were putting together in Marietta, Georgia. Wing Chin was President in the new partnership and his Vice President, a boyhood friend of his named John Oi, was killed by a third member of their partnership, named Armand Therrien (the Treasurer and only occidental involved -- an ex police officer who worked as the Hawaiian Garden's security and general handyman). Armand was judged to have shot John Oi and it was speculated in the trial that he did so because John Oi's death would have resulted in a $200,000 insurance payout to the partnership which would have surely helped the business and indirectly helped Therrien who wanted a higher salary and a greater role in the business. This indirect motive seems barely enough to warrant a murder, but a jury found it enough to convict Armand along with supporting evidence (gun, handcuffs, and shells). Speculation was that there were deeper motives involving gambling and the mob, but the specifics were never proven.
Shortly after this murder, the Hawaiian Garden underwent a name change to "South Sea Restaurant and Motel" and Wing Chin moved to Texas where he lived out the remainder of his life.
Misfit Tiki Bar
Tromsø, Norway
This bar opened on Friday, October 1st, 2021.
From their website:
"Misfit Tiki Bar is Tromsø’s own little exotic oasis, adding warmth and color to an otherwise cold and dark arctic city.
Misfit Tiki Bar is created to honor tiki culture's past and reinvigorate it here in the north. Located in the city center of the arctic capital, Tromsø. Misfit Tiki Bar features a variation of both original and modern tiki-tails, as well as a few simple yet delicious bar snacks.
Misfit Tiki Bar offers a large collection of rum from numerous countries around the world, while handcrafting a wide variety of homemade ingredients. The bar taps into the history of Tiki, paying homage to the heritage and indigenous artforms of Oceania’s treasured past that originally inspired Tiki culture. The decorations are crafted by both local and international carpenters and artists, from Norway to The UK and Hawaii."
Misfit Tiki Bar is located above their big brother bar, the Bastard Bar, known as a thriving live music venue that started in 2009.
Polynesian Village - Westbrook
Westbrook, Maine, United States (Closed)
The movement of Chinese restaurants into suburban locations continued in 1972 when the Sing family, which had operated Sing's Polynesian Restaurant and Lounge since 1969 in the Penobscot Plaza in Bangor, Maine, decided to expand southward to Greater Portland. They opened Sing's Cantonese Polynesian American Restaurant and Lounge at 152 Main Street, Westbrook. The family lacked the management structure necessary to operate two such widely separated restaurants and closed the Westbrook location by 1976. This site soon after became Polynesian Village until its close in 1997.
Kon Tiki - Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri, United States (Closed)
Opened March 1963.
The Kon Tiki opened as part of the new La Louisiane Restaurant, owned by Rube Levine and Jimmy Sholtz -- featuring steaks, seafood, and Italian cuisine.
Rube and Jimmy retained Mr. Edward Chun, formerly of the Polynesian Room of the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. Mr. Chun was nationally famous for his Cantonese specialties, and personally supervised the preparation of the Kon Tiki's Cantonese creations.
Later, La Louisiane became House of Chun, so presumably Mr. Chun took over the main restaurant as well.
This space was reputed to have become a gay bar in its later years.
Kon Tiki was open until 1990.
The area, south of Linwood Boulevard to 34th Street, between Main and Gillham, was deemed blighted and ridden with crime in drugs in the late 1980s, and these buildings, as well as other homes, apartments, and commercial buildings, were demolished in the early and mid-'90s as part of the so-called "Glover Plan" to be replaced by the Midtown Marketplace development, a large commercial development anchored by big box retailers Home Depot and Costco.
Ala Moana Motel
Wildwood, New Jersey, United States
In Hawaiian, Ala Moana means "path to the sea" and this hotel is exactly that -- a resort located only a block away from the beach and the beginning of the Wildwood, New Jersey boardwalk.
It is known for its vintage moai neon light with flaming tiki torches.
This hotel and several others along Wildwood Crest are commonly referred to as being a part of the Doo Wop style of architecture, named after the popular music of its time, but this style is also referred to as Googie architecture in California and other parts of the country.
Built in 1977. The Polizzes took over the Ala Moana in 1999 by redesigning the interior and exterior of the motel. 18 winters were spent refurbishing the Ala Moana Motel to the modernized resort it is now.
At this same time, the Polizzes bought four adjacent houses to expand the Ala Moana Motel Resort. The four houses were turned into suites and special motel selections known as the Ala Moana Tiki House, the Quiet Cottage, the Beach House and the Coconut House.
Kona Kai Motel - Wildwood Crest
Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, United States (Closed)
Opened in 1962 by Manuel Santos. Designed and built by Lou Morey.
This motel had a wonderful lava rock wall front entrance with neon signs and tiki torches.
It was commonly referred to as being a part of the Doo Wop style of architecture, named after the popular music of its time, but this style is also referred to as Googie architecture in California and other parts of the country.
Before closing in the early 2000s, the owners appeared to be trying to restore things back to their original 1960s look.
Demolished in January of 2006.
Ala Kai Motel
Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, United States
The Ala Kai Motel was opened in 1963. Its original owners were Kurt and Gertrude Burghold.
It is commonly referred to as being a part of the Doo Wop style of architecture, named after the popular music of its time, but this style is also referred to as Googie architecture in California and other parts of the country.
It still has its cool neon sign with a surfing hula girl and the basic structure is the same. Fake full-size palm trees adorn the exterior. It also has a large pool.
However, other than these details, it is a basic family-style motel.
Tiki Docks - Riverview
Riverview, Florida, United States
Opened September 10, 2020.
There are 2 Tiki Docks locations -- this one in Riverview and another one in St. Petersburg, Florida. Both locations have indoor and outdoor waterfront dining.
The Riverview location is 15,000 square feet and has tiki murals on the exterior. The interior is a huge open space with blue painted support beams and blue floors, a large central bar with lots of televisions stacked upwards, and several Bosko carved masks behind the host area in front. The bathroom hall features a mural of an octopus that extends into both the men's and women's restrooms.
Orchid Island Hotel
Hilo, Hawaii, United States (Closed)
Built in 1967 at the site of the Legionnaire Clubhouse.
The hotel itself was a standard multi-story structure, but with the addition of an ornamental 6 story A-frame entrance and huge standing tiki next to it out front.
Inside was The Monkey Bar. Live monkeys were in a large cage behind the bar with a glass window.
Ownership changed hands a couple of times, and then the hotel went out of business and finally closed in 1977.
The building burned in 1986, and the lot was cleared.
The property is now part of Reed’s Bay Beach Park.
Undertow - at The Century Grand
Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Previously at Sip Coffee & Beer Garage next door, Undertow closed their first location in December 2020 and re-opened in this larger location at The Century Grand in March 2021.
This larger space allowed Undertow to enhance the experience by adding more audio and visual effects, decorations, and a little bit more seating.
They've added six more seats to the bar, a second six-person booth, an additional two-person table, more portholes, and cinema-quality sound.
Some of the newest decorations include a new hand-carved bar by Tiki Diablo (Danny Gallardo) and "Emily," a real figurehead that was salvaged from the bow of a ship
As of October 11th, 2022, there is also a sister location in in Gilbert, Arizona.