Tiki Bars
The Leilani
Fresno, California, United States (Closed)
The Leilani opened in 1951, and for many years was most famous for its beautiful palm tree neon sign, almost identical to the one that stood in front of the Lanai restaurant in San Mateo. The Leilani was owned by the brothers Jimmy, Roy and Stanley Dunn, who also owned Luau across town; they ran the two restaurants for 35 years. The Leilani used to serve drinks in tiki mugs with both its name and Luau inscribed on the back (and used at both restaurants): a black moai, and a three-face bucket mug. In its final years, it no longer had any tiki whatsoever, and was just an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet; sister restaurant Luau met a similar fate. The restaurant closed in 2005, and the building and sign were demolished around 2014.
Luau - Fresno
Fresno, California, United States (Closed)
Luau, along with its sister restaurant just across town, The Leilani, opened in 1951 and was owned and operated by the Dunn brothers, Jimmy, Roy and Stanley. Luau used to have a tiki bar, and drinks were served out of tiki mugs. The Leilani and Luau both had the same mugs printed up, with both names on each: a black moai mug, and a three-face bucket mug. In later years, Luau didn't have much to offer to a tikiphileit had devolved into an inexpensive all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet, with no tiki at all to be seen inside (not even a bar!). For many years, however, its sign remained as a fabulous example of classic midcentury graphic design. In 2013 the restaurant closed, and the sign is gone.
Hawaiian Village - Framingham
Framingham, Massachusetts, United States (Closed)
Since about 2012, this location at 689 Cochituate Road has been home to Speen Family Dental.
Ren Clark's Polynesian Village
Fort Worth, Texas, United States (Closed)
Ren Clark's Polynesian Village was in the Western Hills Hotel, and was richly decorated with bamboo, tapacloth, floats, lights, thatch and peacock chairs. It had several rooms: the Tahitian Room, the Hawaiian Room, the Samoan Hut, and the Cannibal Cocktail Lounge. Its signature tiki was carved by Milan Guanko.
Ren Clark was a magician, and held several posts in magician groups in the 1950s. For entertainment at his Polynesian Village restaurant he performed a magic act; as a souvenir, patrons could purchase a grotesque mug of a severed head -- this mug has become one of the more sought-after tiki mug collectibles, despite it not being really all that "tiki."
The Polynesian Village opened on June 20th, 1960. The hotel was open from 1951 until it burned down in 1969.
The location is currently a Winn-Dixie Marketplace.
King Yum
Fresh Meadows, New York, United States (Closed)
King Yum was a classic example of the style of Chinese-meets-Polynesian Pop restaurants that have peppered the U.S. Northeast for decades. It was opened in 1953 by the Eng family, and was still run by the Eng family today until its closure in August 2016.
The entrance had a rock wall waterfall, and there were tiki poles and tiki masks throughout the restaurant... painted in unfortunate primary colors. The restaurant had broad A-frame details over the dining room, and bamboo was used heavily. There was an awful lot of white on the walls, though. Lamps were old classics from Orchids of Hawaii. There was a second dining room with more traditional Chinese decoration rather than Polynesian. The exterior of the building had no Polynesian influence, but did have a beautiful green tile roof.
The food was good old American Chinese, and a number of tropical drinks were served, some in tiki mugs or coconuts.
As of 2021, this location is now home to One Banquet Hall, a wedding hall rental location.
Bamboo 2 U and Tikis Too
Encinitas, California, United States
This is a store that sells a wide variety of beach, nautical, and tiki decor and collectibles.
Their inventory is always changing, so one visit might see primarily beach cottage decor and another visit might display a ton of tiki mugs and carvings.
Trader Vic's - Emeryville
Emeryville, California, United States
This Trader Vic's location supplanted the nearby original Oakland Trader Vic's, and has been the company's flagship restaurant since it opened in 1972. The Emeryville Trader Vic's is positioned near the end of a spit in San Francisco Bay, and has beautiful views of the nearby marina and city lights across the water.
The Emeryville Trader Vic's closed at the end of April 2010 for renovations, and reopened on September 28, 2010. The newly-refreshed Trader Vic's Emeryville has a stronger focus on tiki decor, and works to strike the balance between the sunny blue marina view and the moodiness of a traditional Tiki bar. Many of the carvings, lighting and other decorative elements have come from other, now-closed Trader Vic's restaurants from around the globe.
The restaurant is large, with several banquet rooms available for private parties. There is a large bar area near the entrance, and two dining rooms at the back of the restaurant.
Purple Orchid Exotic Tiki Lounge
El Segundo, California, United States
Charming neighborhood bar that began a conversion to tiki in 2001 when it was purchased by current owners Dave and Rebecca Fernandez. Purple Orchid serves tropical drinks in mugs featuring their logo tiki that are available for sale. Purple Orchid periodically hosts parties to celebrate special events such as Halloween, New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day, by having bands perform on their small tiki-filled stage. Purple Orchid has two pool tables covered in purple felt, and a jukebox containing a few tiki-bar friendly selections, including APE's Jungle Sounds. The owners' Purple PT Cruiser painted with color-changing flames and the Purple Orchid can be seen around town. Be sure to visit the restrooms, which are papered with pages from Sven Kirsten's Book of Tiki.
Smorgy's - Burwood East
Burwood East, Victoria, Australia (Closed)
Created by Eric Schwaiger, Smorgy's was a chain that was started in the mid 1980s, expanded in the 1990s with more elaborate build-outs, and closed in the early 2000s. The food was all-you-can-eat buffet style and the decor featured some animatronics and many had Disney-esque style volcano entrances or waterfalls surrounded by jungle style shrubbery.
Trader Vic's - Düsseldorf
Stadtbezirk 1, Düsseldorf, Germany (Closed)
This Trader Vic's opened in the Breidenbacher Hof hotel in 1987. In 1999 the hotel closed, was eventually torn down and rebuilt, and when the hotel finally reopened in 2008 Trader Vic's was gone.
Trader Vic's - at the Crowne Plaza - Dubai
United Arab Emirates
Located in the Crowne Plaza Dubai. Opened in 1994 and had a makeover and was re-launched in April 2017.
The new design of the restaurant, which sits within the 3rd floor of the 5-star Crowne Plaza Hotel, makes the most of the floor-to-ceiling, with contemporary fabrics, new luxurious seating, Polynesian décor, paintings, artefacts and carpet designed exclusively for Trader Vic’s.
Tahitian Village
Downey, California, United States (Closed)
Opened July 11th, 1961.
Tahitian Village was a large, upscale motel complex designed by Armet and Davis, with decor provided by Oceanic Arts. The complex included a large restaurant and bar with music, dancing and a Polynesian floor show. The Apollo spacecraft development and construction happened nearby, and the Tahitian Village was a frequent destination for those working the project; Apollo astronauts were housed there.
After Tahitian Village closed, it became La Zona Rosa, a Mexican nightclub.
The building fell into extreme disrepair and was so squalid by 1995, that they were writing news articles about how something needed to be done about the location. It was finally razed in 2000 to make way for a strip mall.