The Hilo Lagoon Hotel was built in 1971.

The 10 floor building was built overlooking the spring-fed Waiakea Lagoon and Park. The six acre site included lush landscaping, extensive fishponds filled with colorful carp, and a freshwater swimming pool.

The Tiki Garden Restaurant was located on the first level overlooking the carp ponds. It specialized in buffet meals. Decor included large murals and floor-to-ceiling Easter Island Moai heads.

NOTE: As of today (2024) this building has been converted to apartment housing.

Club Zombie, a pre-tiki bar, opened inside the Hawley House Hotel (West St. Clair Avenue and West 3rd Street) on Thursday, December 19th, 1940. It was owned by Sammy Brin.

Club Zombie was one of the first tropical/pre-tiki bars in Cleveland and featured tropical theming that extended from its lush decor to its Polynesian drinks.

Club Zombie frequently featured local and national entertainment acts, including top-billed female impersonators. In 1946, “Boys Will Be Girls Revue,” an immensely popular and nationally-renowned female impersonator revue starring Lynne Carter, Titanic, and Del Raye, maintained top billing at Club Zombie for over seven consecutive weeks.

This club was open at least through 1946 according to newspaper advertisements, and possibly later...

This listing is for the Mai-Tai Supper Club's second location at 141 Grand Avenue in Schofield, Wisconsin. They opened in mid-June of 1974.

It was behind the Kenron Motel on the North end of Schofield, just on the left as you came into Schofield from Wausau. Today (as of 2024) this location is a U-Haul Moving & Storage.

Their large roof sign left little doubt as to what they served -- "Beef N' Spirits"! According to advertisements, they served a complete menu including steaks, seafood, and chops.

Matchbooks from the first location advertise the same, but with the addition of Cantonese appetizers and entrees as well. And Exotic Cocktails. It's unclear whether this second location also served Cantonese food.

However, this location's history is eclipsed by what happened to the old location!

The Mai-Tai Supper Club is shown here in 1978, the same year the original restaurant location at 1539 Rose St. in LaCrosse was sold by Rachel Skoug to Glenn Addis.

The first location on Rose Street lasted under the "Mai Tai" name at least through Mother's Day of 1980 according to newspaper advertisements in the La Crosse Tribune.

In January 1983, Addis sold the property to Arthur Lucas, who renamed the LaCrosse restaurant location "Arthur's Restaurant". The restaurant closed five months later.

Later that year, Lucas was convicted of first degree-murder. According to news reports, Lucas shot Theodore and Carlene Ann Buschkopf in a Winona, MN., hotel room; Theodore Buschkopf died from his injuries. Investigators later discovered that Arthur Lucas and Carlene Ann Buschkopf had planned the hit in order to collect life insurance money to fund the restaurant's intended reopening.

Instead, the building was razed.

Carlene died in custody in 2010. Arthur was released in 2013 after serving nearly 30 years in prison.

Omaha, Nebraska nightclub owner and local personality Don Hammond opened his 7 Seas club on December 1, 1947.

“Skipper Don” spared no expense, adorning his club in tropical splendor with a maritime / Pacific island motif. For nearly a decade, Don Hammond’s 7 Seas offered patrons a seemingly limitless parade of live musical acts and entertainers, while serving a full menu and cocktails.

In March 1957, Hammond sold the 7 Seas to Gene Purcell, a featured performer for Lawrence Welk, and whose musical combo was a fixture throughout the Omaha nightclub scene.

Five years later, in April 1962, the 7 Seas was acquired by the adjoining Diplomat Hotel as part of an expansion and closed.

Don Hammond would go on to manage other night spots across the Omaha area, including The Tiki Lounge at the Flamingo Supper Club.

Photo Credit: Don Hammond’s 7 Seas, October 25, 1951. Courtesy of the Bostwick-Frohardt/KM3TV Photography Collection at The Durham Museum Photo Archive.

Tucana had its grand opening on November 3, 2023 at The Denham Building in Parkside, in Birmingham, AL.

It is owned by Nicky Vann Tisdale.

Their creative team includes architect Haley Treadaway with Black Design Architecture and Josh and Shelton Carnley with Studio Carnley for branding.

The overall concept is modern and streamlined without the dense layering found in traditional tiki bars (like in an old school Trader Vics for example). Rather, the atmosphere is open and industrial with concrete floors, lots of windows, high ceilings, and exposed duct work.

No evidence of actual carved tikis, masks, tapa cloth, or hula girls...

However, they do evoke some jungle island vibes downstairs with tropical wallpaper, upside-down basket ceiling lamps, some fish floats over the bar, lots of rattan furniture, and some tropical plants. A couple dozen individually framed Audubon style toucan nature prints adorn the wall alongside the stairs leading to the second floor.

Cocktails are served in a variety of glassware and tiki mugs.

The disco ball constellation room is upstairs. Nicky claims this inspiration came from the Tucana constellation in the southern hemisphere. But as tiki enthusiasts know, tiki has an uneasy relationship with disco...which marked the decline of the Golden Age of Tiki. Still, a dance floor in such a large open space seems like a natural move.

Opened @ 2014.

This is a big family friendly venue that glories in the kitsch and is known for its very large fiberglass tikis inside and out as well as its inexpensive cocktails served in plastic cups.

They do serve food beyond the typical bar food one might expect.

They also have indoor as well as outdoor seating.

Opened April 13th, 2024.

Mary Oglesby and Paul Gilliam, who created and opened the Cameo cocktail bar in Midtown, are the co-owners of Mary's B.O.T.E.

The interior has a dark classic tiki feel with fish traps hanging from the ceiling above the bar, and a back-bar shelving unit stacked with booze and featuring what must represent many many hours of routering native style patterns.

Across from the bar and barstools are diner style booths lining the wall from front to back.

There is also a back patio decorated with pink and turquoise yard flamingos.

Opened Friday, September 13th, 2024.

According to its designers, "The Bamboo Room by Trader Vic’s, located within the stylish Esmé Miami Beach Hotel at 1438 Washington Ave. in Miami Beach, offers a seductive atmosphere where the past and present collide. Spanning 1,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, the lounge can accommodate up to 50 seated guests. Inspired by the original Trader Vic’s Bamboo Room, this venue pays homage to classic tiki culture while incorporating contemporary design elements. Its accents, tropical décor and innovative cocktail menu create an exotic, escapist ambiance that transports guests to a different era."

For tikiphiles and Trader Vic's fans, they may find the "contemporary design elements" means a stripped-down atmosphere without all the flotsam and jetsam, carvings, and tapa cloth they've come to appreciate at other Trader Vic's locations -- just another fine dining environment, but with an impressive array of cocktails served in Trader Vic's tiki mugs and food supplied by Sushi Bar next door.

Still, that sounds pretty darn good. It may not be as immersive a tiki space as traditional Trader Vics locations, but with excellent food and drinks, it appears they are off to a fine start.

Omaha theater owner Ralph Goldberg opened the Beachcomber Room on November 15, 1941, as a dining, dancing and drinking addition to his Cinema Grill restaurant. The opening night act was Tavora and her South Seas Maids of Melody. The Beachcomber was decorated as a Pacific island paradise, in grand pre-tiki fashion, with plenty of bamboo and palm trees, including painted views of the ocean. As the “Home of the Famous Tropical Hurricane,” the Beachcomber promised that a tropical storm, complete with wind and rain, would erupt occasionally throughout the night.

The Beachcomber proved to be a popular lounge for its ability to attract top entertainers to its bandstand, including Fats Waller, the Mills Brothers, Scatman Crothers, the Nat King Cole Trio Coleman Hawkins, Louis Jordan and others. This popularity resulted in The Beachcomber being selected by Billboard Magazine as one of the “Leading Cocktail Lounges” in the region in their 1944 Yearbook.

It was not to last.

Despite its success, on May 1, 1944 the Omaha World Herald reported that the Beachcomber would be closed and remodeled into a VFW “G.I. Club,” bringing an abrupt end to this tropical night spot.

*NOTE: The B&W photo below shows the Cinema Grill exterior a couple years prior to the addition of The Beachcomber.

Opened May 12th, 2012.

The interior design was made by architecture team Mind the Ark, in collaboration with the owner of the bar and renowned street artist WD. The concept of this bar is a place of contrasts with classical, vintage style elements integrated unexpectedly with tropical culture atmosphere and Tiki references. Plaster decorative elements that decorate the ceiling of the interior and the facade of the wooden bar (eclecticism), in combination with abundant planting and vertical surfaces dressed with wallpaper with dominant theme of exotic birds and heavenly landscapes set up in an unexpected scenery: A bar in the Pacific 50s’ made by and for Westerners, beamed into an old house in Athens that moves on three levels (walkway, balcony and interior bar).

It appears that in the time since, the owners have personalized the space with more carved tikis and an abundance of House of Angostura advertising (who sponsor Tiki Week and other promotions).

From Ia Orana Polinesia:

"The Ia Orana Polinesia Cocktail Bar is located in the municipality of Sant Quirze del Vallès, about 30 minutes from Barcelona. A place to have a delicious cocktail in an atmosphere inspired by Polynesia. It is a unique bar in Spain, come and you will be surprised. The Ia Orana Polinesia Cocktail Bar is a place where you can relax and chat, surrounded by an exotic and elegant atmosphere. Take a seat and study their extensive menu, you will find high-quality cocktails with and without alcohol made by true professionals in the sector. In addition, Ia Orana Polinesia offers you live shows performed by native Polynesians, who will entertain you with their exotic dances. If you decide to go, try to reserve one of the cabins in the water, which are part of the VIP area. These cabins are the best area of ​​the bar, where you will enjoy a more intimate atmosphere, ideal for parties, events or groups. You will also find at your disposal a menu with tapas, cokes, salads and desserts."

Formerly located in a secret lounge above the Downtown Grill (2020-2024).

The Monkey's Paw closed their Downtown Grill location and re-opened at this new location in the basement of Pearl Passionate Cuisine & Cocktails (which closed June 23rd, 2024).

The Pearl venue became a new location called The Monkey's Paw Tropical Tapas on July 11th, 2024 with tapas dining upstairs and the Monkey's Paw Tiki Lounge downstairs.

Reservations must specifically choose which areas patrons wish to reserve (restaurant or lounge).