Tiki Bars
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.
Hawaiian Inn
Daytona Beach, Florida, United States
The Hawaiian Inn opened circa July of 1965.
This Polynesian-themed resort complex is right on the Atlantic Ocean; most of its 208 spacious hotel rooms have private balconies overlooking the ocean. The hotel has a number of amenities, including a large outdoor pool, an indoor pool, shuffleboard, and a beachside 9-hole putt-putt course, and most of the rooms include small kitchenettes. There is also the poolside Ohana Tiki Bar and Grill.
The hotel has seen better days. There is no remnant of its Polynesian history in the rooms, which appear to have undergone remodels at some point in the 80s -- all of the rooms used to have Witco headboards, which can now be seen as wall hangings throughout the hotel. Outside of the rooms, there are some nice touches, including bamboo-encased garbage cans and Witco furniture.
Check for scheduling, but the resort regularly hosts a Hawaiian Luau Dinner Show.
Just up the street from Hawaiian Inn, you'll find Aku Tiki Inn and Traders Restaurant.
Trader Vic's - Dallas
Dallas, Texas, United States (Closed)
The Dallas Trader Vic's opened in 1967 in what was then the north wing of the Dallas Hilton Inn. It closed in the spring of 1989, but was kept somewhat intact, with much of the original decor still in place. Over the next 20 years, the space was available for private rentals. In 2006, the hotel became the Hotel Palomar, and plans got underway to reopen the Trader Vic's. Trader Vic's finally reopened, looking every bit the classic Trader Vic's it was, in March 2007. Sadly, a burst pipe in January 2010 led to the restaurant closing.
The hotel site is now known, as of 2024 (and since 2014), as The Highland Dallas.
*Photos below show the original postcard hotel image from 1967 and colorized image of the front entrance of Trader Vic's at the time with a Barney West carving out front. Then, jump to the refurbished 2007 Trader Vic's and its menu.
Kona Kai - Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States (Closed)
Opened @ 1973.
Located in the O'Hare Marriott, the Kona Kai had seating for 456 in the dining area, plus 127 in a multilevel cocktail lounge. Despite its size, the dining area was broken up in a way that achieved a warm and comfortable and relaxing air for diners, a mood set by a hospitable maitre d' and pretty hostesses. There was no feeling of being crowded.
Tables were well-spaced for privacy. South Sea Island props were in abundance -- hand carved outriggers, tiki gods, clam shell and fish float fixtures diffusing soft lighting, polished wood tables with straw mats, a high waterfall dripping down among artificial tropical trees and plants and foot bridges spanning streams of water.
The doors to the Kona Kai closed in 1998, but until 2011 it was still there. For a short time after 1998, the Mai Tai Lounge continued to operate, but it is now closed, too.
During its time in shuttered state, the Marriott periodically rented it out for events, such as the Exotica tour in 2003. In 2011, the room was finally repurposed, and the contents were purchased by The Banana Hut in Eureka, WA. The Banana Hut subsequently closed and put the interior decor up for sale -- much of which was originally sourced from Oceanic Arts.
This used to be part of a larger chain of Kona Kai restaurants, with other locations in Philadelphia and Kansas City.
Zombie Hut - Brooklyn
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Zombie Hut opened in Brooklyn in 2002.
It is a small neighborhood bar with tiki-lite decor, very dim lighting and an outdoor patio.
Among other decorations, they have an interior mural of the menu cover art from the now long-closed Zombie Village in Oakland, California.
They also have a selection of board games.
The bar is particularly well-known for serving strong, cheap tropical drinks. Lots of frozen slushy drinks, but they also do flaming scorpion bowls and other cocktails as well. Cash only.
Kahiki - Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain
Opened in 1977, this location is not as richly decorated as some of the other Barcelona tiki bars, but it is centrally located.
The mural figures in this bar have an unusual Indonesian themed quality to them.
As with the other Barcelona tiki bars, they serve their drinks in classic Spanish style porcelain tiki mugs.
Some tiki purists may be disappointed at times by the music selection or cocktail offerings, but as with other Barcelona tiki spots, this is an amazing time capsule worth checking out if you are in the area.
Honolulu Restaurant - Alexandria
Alexandria, Virginia, United States (Closed)
Owned by David & Anna Chan -- David was head bartender at the Washington, D.C. Trader Vic's during the 70s, and he and Anna opened Honolulu Restaurant in 1978. Honolulu closed on April 10, 2004 (coincidentally, Martin Denny's 93rd birthday) when an expansion project on a nearby bridge forced its closure.
David & Anna have launched a new line of products from their Honolulu Restaurant, called "Dave & Anna's Signature Blends." These products, and some memories from Honolulu Restaurant, are at their new website, time2tiki.com.
The Emerald Lounge
Richmond, Virginia, United States
Opened June of 2023.
Just a few weeks after opening Slurp! ramen bar, its ownership team of Kevin Liu, Mattias Hagglund, Thomas Leggett and Brandon Peck unveiled Emerald Lounge (2416 Jefferson Ave., Unit C1), an elevated tropical cocktail bar to the neighborhood.
“We looked at the concept of island escapism,” Liu says of the concept for Emerald Lounge. The crew, also owners of The Jasper in Carytown, looked at American tiki bars from post-World War II for inspiration, but “we wanted to create our own concept,” Liu said. “It’s less tiki and more Havana.”
Soft green walls provide a backdrop for Emerald Lounge’s retro, upscale tropical vibe. Bits of subdued tropical prints peek out amid hanging planters and sleek gold accents. The centerpiece is the bar, stocked with rum, agave and brandy, with a white marble topping and pendant lights that look like pale pink flowers floating overhead.
As Liu notes, the decor is not fully Tiki -- there are no actual carved tikis. Rather, the space incorporates tiki adjacent imagery like palm wallpaper, hanging lights that would look at home in a tiki bar, and nautical elements like a hammerhead shark floating above one of the seating areas. Some tiki purists might call this a "fern bar" hearkening back to similar decorated bars from the 70s, but Emerald Lounge is its own hybrid tropical space.
All of this notwithstanding, it appears that their drinks program is "on point" and tiki cocktail enthusiasts will not be disappointed in their menu.
Little Nickel
Richmond, Virginia, United States
Opened January 29th, 2018.
Little Nickel is a neighborhood restaurant. The cuisine could best be described as "tropical diner"- a splash of coastal flair & spirited twists on mid-century American classics alongside thoughtful & funky cocktails.
The main bar definitely feels like a classic diner counter, but there are other mid-century and tropical nods. Tretchikoff's Green Lady hangs adjacent the bar. Palm leaf wallpaper abounds. The hanging lamps are made of cane/rattan materials. Repeated round brass mirrors have a nautical porthole vibe. Some seating areas are shaded by palapa thatched overhangs. What is missing are actual tiki carvings to truly make this a "Tiki Bar" and, without carvings or more tiki-themed art, the decor hovers ambiguously in the middle of "Diner" or "Fern Bar".
They do not attempt to call themselves a "Tiki Bar", but rather, call themselves a "Tropical Diner". But if you are in the area and looking for good tropical cocktails, this looks like it may be the spot!
Hukilau Restaurant and Lounge - Key West
Key West, Florida, United States (Closed)
Opened @1960s and closed @ December 2000.
Later re-named Paco's Hukilau in its final years.
Background photo and first two photos show Hukilau during the 60s and final photos (circa 2005) show the site after its closure, when much had been removed.
The structure appears a bit ramshackle with lots of additions. Heavy tropical plantings around the exterior hid much of the structure, even in the early years. The center bar was in a round room with heavy beams and poles supporting a very high ceiling.
60s interior shot shows they once had Witco Tiki barstools and tables held up by nautical chain as well as Orchids of Hawaii swag lamps. The bar front side slants inward at the base, which can be matched with the later color photo of the interior after the bar closed.
The site has been re-developed and no signs of the Hukilau exists. In its place are condominiums.
Korolevu Beach Hotel - Fiji
Warwick, Fiji (Closed)
Construction of the Korolevu Beach Hotel began in 1948.
Situated along the Coral Coast, halfway between Nadi and Suva, a stretch of coast long known as the Fijian Riviera.
The Korolevu in its day was a landmark beachfront development which drew colonial expatriates from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. This hotel fostered the beginning of mass market tourism to Fiji.
Original Korolevu proprietor Bill Clark is said to have confided to a friend that it was economics that prompted his design choice for the individual accommodation units, since local villagers could build them for a fraction of the cost of building Western-style buildings. His plan was to recreate a typical Fijian village with everything tourists would need.
Later, Clark acknowledged that he knew the Fijian word bure originally referred to a temple building, and the individual units should really have been called valevakaviti, the Fijian-style stand-alone hut. But Clark surmised rightly of course that tourists would never get their tongues around the proper name.
Clark got much of his inspiration for building Korolevu after travelling to Honolulu and seeing how indigenous tourism was rapidly evolving on the island. He brought back innovations like the lounge bar, and built his accommodation block facing out over the beach to the reef, and extensively landscaping around the accommodation.
This tourism visionary also came up with Fijian-themed entertainment, put on feasts every night and introduced cultural shows to educate guests about "local" ways of life.
During its heyday, it is said the martinis flowed like water, the parties were wild and families also enjoyed the wide open expanse of land and safe swimming beaches. Partying colonials were joined by large numbers of American tourists flown in by Pan American Airlines whose planes stopped at Nadi to refuel before heading on to Auckland or Sydney.
Added to the customer mix were regular air crews from Pan Am, BOAC, Qantas, Teal and later Air New Zealand who all helped to make the hotel renowned for its lively atmosphere.
The bar photo below shows that there were tikis on the support pillars, in addition to the abundance of bamboo and other natural materials used to make the interiors the equal (if not superior) to other contemporary Honolulu bars Clark may have seen prior to his build-out.
Two unrelated events saw the Korolevu Beach Resort close down in 1983. First a major hurricane destroyed power lines all around the Coral Coast, and caused substantial damage to the hotel.
It took almost a year for power to be restored, and without mains electricity the hotel could not cater to guests.
Soon after, a lease-holding dispute erupted. Land ownership is complex in Fiji, the land title for the Korolevu hotel spread over nine freehold titles, three contiguous native leases and a Crown lease to the deep water access.
The dispute escalated until all the hotel’s furnishings and fittings were removed over one night, leaving the once effervescent hotel stripped of every shred of charm and character.
Faced with a massive reinvestment to get the venue up and running again, its owners, all close to retirement, decided it was easier to shut up completely. They eventually sold the site in 1991 to Northern Hotels who at the time unveiled major plans to re-establish a tourism operation on the prominent headland and adjoining hillsides.
But no plan to redevelop the site has ever materialized...
Black Marlin Bar - at Shangri-La's Fijian Resort & Spa
Fiji
This resort was originally just referred to as "The Fijian", or technically, "The Fijian Yanuca Island Resort".
On June, 25, 1966 the formal laying of a foundation stone for the first 36 of the 108 lagoon wing rooms was officiated by Sir Derek Jakeway, the last Governor of Fiji before Independence.
It was built in 18 months at a cost of F$1.7 million.
A year later on October 22, 1967 the resort was officially opened by Ratu George Cakobau, the Paramount Chief of the Kubuna Confederacy.
When opened, it had the 108 rooms, a pool, the Lagoon Restaurant, Golden Cowrie Restaurant, Black Marlin Bar, and about 130 staff. It's original logo symbol was a conch shell.
Eventually, the resort was sold in 1974 to Malaysian-Chinese business magnate Robert Kuok. Kuok had introduced a luxury hotel brand in 1971, named Shangri-La, after the fictional utopia in which inhabitants enjoy unheard-of longevity. Robert Kuok is a highly respected businessman in Asia - a legendary Chinese entrepreneur, commodities trader, hotelier and property mogul. Kuok's wealth is rooted in palm oil and shipping. At age 94 Kuok's personal wealth was $18.9 billion according to the Forbes’ 2018 The World’s Billionaires list. With the change in ownership, the resort came under the management of the Kuok owned Shangri-La International Group and the davui conch shell was replaced by the Shangri-La logo. Over the years Shangri La invested heavily in the resort
In 2017, the resort celebrated its 50th Birthday as the Golden Lady in the Fijian tourism industry.
The Resort has grown from 108 rooms to 442.
It is home to five restaurants, six bars, a spa, a nine hole golf course, three pools and most recent addition – Fiji’s largest inflatable water park – all combined, these facilities makes the resort, the largest single hotel in Fiji.
Of the six bars, The Black Marlin, has been here in one form or another since the very beginning and is the most iconic.
From their website:
"Every last detail of Black Marlin Tropical Bar has been carefully considered from the high ceilings featuring classic Fijian architecture and intricate local 'Masi' decorations to the colonial Caribbean feel of the private room. Whether you’re looking for a private corner to enjoy a rum-inspired cocktail or a vibrant tropical bar for a boogie, Black Marlin has it all. With over 100 rums on offer, including two varieties created exclusively for the resort, Yanuca Island small batch rum, take your pick from the many tiki classics."
Although The Black Marlin is wholly remodeled from what the original bar looked like (see photos below), they have attempted to give it a more classic tiki bar feel, including of course, several large carved tikis at the back of the bar, cocktails served in tiki mugs, and a huge emphasis on rum.
The Black Marlin is not to be confused with the sleeker, brightly lit, and more modern looking Golden Cowrie Lounge also on premises. Or the Bilo Bar, or the Beach Bar & Grill, or other poolside bars also on premises.