Bruce T. Marston was a Californian serving in Tahiti as a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. There, he met Louise, who was from Tubuai, just south of Tahiti. They fell in love, and moved to the town of Hanalei on the north side of the island of Kauai in Hawaii. There, in 1963, they opened Tahiti Nui.

Tahiti Nui became the go-to gathering place for Kauai's north shore, with musicians, hula dancing, and occasional singing from "Auntie Louise" Marston herself. Louise passed away in 2003, and Tahiti Nui is now run by Bruce and Louise's son, Christian.

Tahiti Nui makes an appearance in the 2011 film The Descendants.

The restaurant serves a mix of Hawaiian seafood standards and Italian food. The drink menu is limited, but they do have their own Mai Tai recipe, which they've been serving since they first opened. They still have live music and hula dancing.

The walls are lined with lauhala matting and bamboo, with Oceanic art pieces hanging here and there. The small round tabletops are painted with Polynesian designs, and the barstools are carved tikis. There is a small curio shop attached to the restaurant.

Vera's White Sands began in 1960 as a private club, White Sands Yacht Club, owned by Dr. Effrus Freeman and his wife, Vera, and opened on a small part of 800 acres of land they owned. As the years progressed and the area was developed, the once-private club was opened to the public, sometime in the '70s.

Vera's White Sands has varying seasonal hours, open more during the summer months, and slips are still available for rental. For many decades, the main attraction was Miss Vera herself (Dr. Freeman passed away in the '70s); the well-traveled woman added a touch of glamour and exotica to the proceedings, and played the perfect hostess to the guests. She passed away January 23, 2007, at the age of 93.

In 2006, Vera transferred ownership of Vera's White Sands to a new owner, who has removed most of the classic Polynesian Pop touches, in favor of a more Maryland Crab Shack or Jimmy Buffet-flavored tropical scene; the changes have been poorly received in the tiki community.

For all intents and purposes, Vera's White Sands Beach Club as tiki fans remember it is gone. The new restaurant may have "Vera's" in the title but that's about it -- there are a couple of cartoony tikis flanking the stage in back where they have live music and bikini contests. A few other details remain, but nothing like it was before.

The Tahitian Terrace was a restaurant in Disneyland's Adventureland. It began as part of Main Street's Plaza Pavilion, as the Pavilion Lanai, before becoming the Tahitian Terrace in the summer of 1962. The Tahitian Terrace had a daily dinner revue, complete with dancers. Clips from a performance at the Tahitian Terrace can be seen on the Walt Disney Treasures Disneyland DVD, in the special Disneyland After Dark. The Tahitian Terrace was adjacent to the Enchanted Tiki Room, which opened soon afterward.

A memorable part of the Tahitian Terrace was the 35' tall "Dineyodendron" Tree with its fiery-colored blossoms which shaded the stage and much of the audience and was the second largest in the park next to that at the Swiss Family Treehouse.

The terrace was originally sponsored by Stouffers, and later by Kikkoman's (1980-closing).

In 1993, the Tahitian Terrace closed, and in its place was erected an architecturally-incongruous Aladdin-themed building (initially for a dinner show, later used for storytelling or character meeting and called "Aladdin's Oasis"). In December 2018, Aladdin's Oasis was replaced by a new Polynesian themed food counter, named Tropical Hideaway.

Hong Kong Disneyland has a Tahitian Terrace. While it does have tikis, it is not as elaborate as the original.

Fry's Electronics was an American big-box store and retailer of software, consumer electronics, household appliances and computer hardware. Fry's had in-store computer repair and custom computer building services. The company had a chain of superstores headquartered in Silicon Valley. Starting with one store located in Sunnyvale, California, the chain operated 34 stores in nine states by 2019, and as of June 2020 operated 31 stores. Most of the stores in the Fry's Electronics chain had themes. For example, the Burbank store which opened in 1995 carried a theme of 1950s and 1970s science fiction movies, and featured huge statues of popular characters such as the robot Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still and Darth Vader from the Star Wars movie series. The Woodland Hills store was Alice in Wonderland themed. This Manhattan Beach store was the only tiki themed store and featured a giant Moai head at the entrance to their theater in back, a koi pond outside with several weathered wooden tikis, and bamboo and tiki embellishments throughout the store and at checkout.

*Fry's Electronics abruptly shut down its 31 stores on February 24, 2021, citing the pandemic and changes to retailing.

Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is one of the high-end places to stay on property at Walt Disney World, just outside of Orlando. The resort is near the Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World's analogue of Disneyland), and is situated on the Seven Seas Lagoon. It opened on October 1, 1971, the same day Walt Disney World opened. Between 1985 and 2015, it was called simply "Disney's Polynesian Resort."

The resort underwent a huge refresh in 2015, with the lobby features changing dramatically (tropical plants and waterfalls were replaced with a large logo tiki), and the addition of Trader Sam's Grog Grotto, a tiki bar patterned after Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar in Anaheim.

The hotel is a sprawling complex, with 11 "longhouse" buildings named for Polynesian islands such as Rarotonga, Tahiti, Hawaii and Rapa Nui. Each building is two or three stories tall, and houses dozens of guest rooms; in all, the resort has 847 rooms. The heart of the hotel is the Great Ceremonial House, a massive two-level building that holds the hotel's reception desk, several stores and cafes, and 'Ohana restaurant.

'Ohana restaurant, and its adjacent Tambu Lounge, are on the upper level of the Great Ceremonial House. The restaurant is an all-you-can-eat affair, with great spears of meats brought around to your table for you to choose from regularly, and a pu-pu platter brought to your table to kick things off. There are activities for children, and it can get pretty loud. Tropical drinks are available, including one served in a pineapple, and a Tropical Itch, which comes with a backscratcher (see menu below).

The hotel's pool area is small, but a looming volcano with built-in water slide gives it some oomph. The grounds are landscaped with tropical plants and many tikis, giving it a very lush feel. Many tikis are copies of those found at the Enchanted Tiki Room's pre-show lanai in Anaheim, including Pele, Ngendi, Rongo, and even Uti. (Orlando's Enchanted Tiki Room has a few of these tikis around, but they are not part of the pre-show). There is a dinner-show luau performed regularly at the resort, called the Spirit of Aloha Show.

The monorail to the Magic Kingdom stops at the Polynesian Resort.

Bali Ha'i at the Beach opened in 1958 and was located near the entrance of the Pontchartrain Beach amusement park, which was open from 1939 to 1983. It was known as Pontchartrain Beach-Combers before a lawsuit from Don the Beachcomber resulted in a 1959 name change to Bali Ha'i at the Beach.

The exotic experience began even before arrival at the restaurant. A bamboo-decorated “Sampan Taxi” would pick diners up from the parking lot and deliver them to the Bali Ha’i entry port, an impressive bamboo A-frame peak. There were also shuttles running from the restaurant to downtown New Orleans, complete with onboard Tiki drinks.

The bar menu was glamorous and theatrical. There was even a large carved volcano that dispensed drinks to customers.

The Cantonese menu brought new dishes to New Orleans diners, including moo goo gai pan, chow mein, rumaki and eggrolls. The new spices and sauces livened up familiar seafood, but American standards were also available for the less adventurous diners.

Bali Ha’i became the place for celebrations for decades – weddings and anniversaries, proms and graduations and, of course, the perfect first date. Private parties could book the Bora Bora Hut, the Lanai Hut or the Samoan Hut.

Although Pontchartrain Beach closed in 1983, the restaurant stayed open for a few more years. By 1988, the furnishings and memorabilia had been sold off to the public.

Two tikis and an A-frame gazebo with a sign from the Bali Ha'i have been relocated to Veterans Memorial Park in Kenner, LA. The Bali Ha'i signature mug was a copy of the logo mug from Tiki Bob's in San Francisco.

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.

This was the second Bahooka location (opened in 1976), and the one that lasted into the new millennium. The original location in West Covina operated from 1967 until 1980.

The exterior was decorated with pier pilings and long lengths of thick nautical chain strung between them. Also on display was an anti-aircraft cannon. The chain and cannon were painted white.

The interior of Bahooka was lit quite dimly, which contributed to its labyrinthine feel. The building was appraised at 8,598 square feet and had seating for 350 patrons and a banquet room that served 80. Aquariums were everywhere -- over 100. The decor could perhaps be described as more nautical than truly tiki, with many items salvaged from the same Navy scrap yard in Long Beach where they obtained the chain and anti-aircraft cannon outside.

Some of the more eclectic items included an old set of post office boxes flanked by Marquesan tiki poles in the front lobby, a vintage standing visible gas pump with glass cylinder at top, and an old set of sliding metal jail cell doors that could "lock up" patrons eating in the "jail booth".

Tikis could be found throughout Bahooka. Some of them were vintage pieces and some by more modern carvers.

They would make any drink a flaming drink -- even non-alcoholic ones.

Near the entrance was an aquarium holding a rather large, decades-old fish, a Pacu named Rufus, who ate carrot sticks. The pacu is a close relative of the piranha, and has become known as "the testicle-eating fish" after some unfortunate incidents in Papua New Guinea's Sepik River. Rufus was much beloved, however, and stuck to carrots.

Bahooka was also featured briefly in the film Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas.

At the beginning of 2013, it was announced that the owners of the building had sold it to a group intending to gut it of all decor and turn it into a Chinese buffet. The decorations were sold, with much of it winding up at Clifton's Pacific Seas (the jail cell doors, the gas pump, the largest tiki on premises...).

The current whereabouts of Rufus are unknown, despite a massive fundraising to re-home him and an offer by Damon's in Glendale. The new owners of the building were unwilling to produce him, however, leading to speculation that Rufus did not survive the transfer from his old tank.

The Bahooka closed in March 2013.

After the building's remodel, it was home to at least one or two short-lived Chinese restaurants. As of July, 2022, it is home to a Boston Lobster restaurant.

The Caliente Tropics Resort began its life as simply "The Tropics" when it was opened in 1964 by Ken Kimes. Kimes owned 40 motels, and five of them were the Polynesian-themed Tropics chain with locations in Blythe, Indio, Modesto and Rosemead. The Kimes family later earned headlines when Ken's wife Sante and son Kenny were wanted, and later tried & convicted, for a variety of crimes including murder and kidnapping.

In its '60s heyday, the Tropics, especially its Congo Room steakhouse and underground Cellar bar, attracted the celebrities of the era who lived and vacationed in Palm Springs, including members of the Rat Pack. The front of the resort held a Sambo's coffee shop. In later years, the Cellar bar was closed, and the Congo Room (1964 - 1971) became the Reef Bar.

The Tropics fell into rough times in the '80s, attracting unsavory characters who disrespected the hotel. The hotel was rescued by new owners in 2000, and after a $2.2 million renovation, it was restored to its former tiki glory.

A couple years later the Reef Bar was remodeled to bring it up to speed with the newly refreshed hotel, with bamboo work by Bamboo Ben. In 2006, the Reef Bar was transferred to independent owners, and was called Hawaiian Bill's.

In 2009, the Reef Bar/Hawaiian Bill's had been gutted of all tiki details, and the hotel was advertising the restaurant/bar space on site as available for lease. They were planning on making some major architectural changes to the building, including the removal of an A-frame entrance to the bar and restaurant. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

In 2015, new hotel owners reinvested in the tiki theming, having the artist Bosko complete large tiki signs ringing the courtyard, representing different Polynesian islands. The grounds still have several detailed vintage tikis by carver Ed Crissman.

In February 2017, Rory Snyder took over and refreshed The Reef Bar overlooking the pool.

In Summer of 2022, Snyder added Sancho's Mexican Restaurant and a second bar, Le Fern.

*This site was the original host of the ever-growing Tiki Oasis event (2001-2005), before it moved to the San Diego Crowne Plaza (2006-2019), and was briefly held at San Diego's Paradise Point (2020) before moving to San Diego's Town and Country in 2021.

**Since 2009, Caliente Tropics resort has been host to the annual Tiki Caliente event (as well as other tiki events like Circa Caliente) which some describe as a smaller and more intimate version of what Tiki Oasis is like now. The resort also sees a great deal of traffic during Palm Springs' Modern Week.

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.

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...

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.