This location stood adjacent to a Sambo's restaurant in 1975.

Around 2012, this site became the Presidio Parkway Inn.

Lilo Lounge was an early modern tiki bar in Potrero Hill that opened sometime before the end of 1996. It quickly became a hotspot during the first dot-com boom, and particularly attracted the early tiki scene in the San Francisco area. The dot-com bust took Lilo Lounge with it, and it closed in 2001. The space later became Lingba.

Trad'r Sam is the oldest, longest-operating tiki bar in the world. Trad'r Sam opened in 1937, and was originally owned by Sam Baylon. This small and very old bar started as pre-tiki, and is an extremely rare example of the bamboo bars that were in some cities in the '30s.

Back in the day there were huge bunches of bananas hanging from the ceiling and the bartenders were dressed in pith helmets and safari clothing.

Today, there are still tropical drinks available, but this bar is now more of a loveable dive than anything.

It had closed for a very short time and re-opened in November 2023 after a makeover that refreshed the floor, walls, and seating. Much of the rattan and the bamboo is still intact, but a series of seating areas around the perimeter of the bar which were named after islands, and framed in rattan, had fallen into disrepair and have been removed -- replaced with newer tables and rattan chairs.

The biggest feature, the bar itself -- a large, rattan encrusted horseshoe-shaped structure -- still remains. They have also added a few small inexpensive tikis throughout.

While in the area, cocktail enthusiasts shouldn't miss the world famous tequila destination bar across the street just a block and a half away, Tommy's Mexican Restaurant.

Open from 1951 to 1994.

Cosmo Place is actually an alley. The unusual location didn't stop the San Francisco Trader Vic's from becoming a powerful center for city nightlife. In fact, in 1983, Queen Elizabeth II had her very first experience eating out at a restaurant here. (She had a Tanqueray gin martini.) This Trader Vic's location closed in 1994, and the space then hosted a popular French Vietnamese restaurant, Le Colonial, for 26 years, before closing in 2024. As of 2025, the location is in development...

Lingba opened in 2001, in the same space that used to be Lilo Lounge.

Executive Chef and owner Cody Robertson combined local ingredients with traditional spices to create contemporary southeast asian cuisine. Lingba also featured tropical cocktails and nightly DJs, to a backdrop of palm trees and hanging plants.

Lingba closed in 2010 after a steep rent increase.

Opened in 1969.

Hawaii West is a pool bar in San Francisco's busy North Beach neighborhood, with a couple of tikis.

Their cocktail menu only lists 4 cocktails.

Humphrey's Half Moon Inn is a large hotel (two stories, 182 rooms) on Shelter Island, built in 1960 with Polynesian touches in accordance with the Harbor Department's requirement that all structures on the artificial island be Polynesian in appearance.

It is an upscale hotel, sporting a dramatic A-frame porte cochere and many well-maintained and unusual tikis throughout the grounds. In the summertime, Humphrey's plays host to national music acts during their very popular Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay series.

Humphrey's is one of several great vintage tiki locations on Shelter Island in San Diego, the others being Bali Hai Restaurant and Trader Mort's Liquor.

Hula Beach was a store specializing in Hawaiian-style products and home furnishings. It closed in early 2010.

Maleville's Coral Reef Lodge was next to the Coral Reef Restaurant. It was demolished in June 2002 to make way for a new County Department of Human Assistance building.

Coral Reef was owned by Buddy and Roberta Maleville in 1949. It had seven "enchanting" dining rooms, one of them being the Outrigger Room; the restaurant could accommodate groups of up to 150. This was the restaurant for the nextdoor Maleville's Coral Reef Lodge. Coral Reef was a Polynesian restaurant landmark for Sacramento, operating for decades until it closed in 1994 and was later demolished.

Before opening this location, the Malevilles also opened a Coral Reef location in Millbrae that only lasted until 1953.

A massive tiki from the sign for the Coral Reef today resides at Bamboo Hut in San Francisco.

In 1982 this became the Stanford Terrace Inn, an independent, non-Polynesian hotel.

*Background rendering is by John Nicolini for Electrical Products Corporation but the sign he drew was not built. Note that Gene Costa was appearing at the piano bar. Gene was another one of the illustrators at EPCO. He and John were close friends. They both shared a love of art and jazz...and probably dancing girls.

When the Palo Alto Trader Vic's opened in 2001, it was the first new Trader Vic's in the U.S. in 28 years. It was a bit of a departure from the core Trader Vic's concept -- rather than a moody, mysterious interior chock-full of items from the four corners of the globe, the look was bright, airy and relatively streamlined. The U.S. Trader Vic's that have opened since have returned to a more rich, elegant feeling, but are still relatively sparse compared to the Trader Vic's of old.

The Palo Alto Trader Vic's housed a rather large collection of stunning Papua New Guinea art, courtesy of the franchise owner (who also owns the neighboring Dinah's Court hotel).

The Palo Alto Trader Vic's location closed in August 2012.