Trader Mort's is a liquor store, in operation since 1964 when it was opened by Lance "Mort" Morton. It serves as a sort of gateway to tiki-heavy Shelter Island, where you can also find Humphrey's Half Moon Inn and Bali Hai Restaurant. This is a small liquor store, and the selection isn't fantastic, but its vintage feel makes it charming nonetheless. An iconic tiki outside at the corner was carved by Eli Hedley. The upstairs wine area is easy to miss, but features a few more tiki artifacts. The store has had their own tiki mugs for sale off and on over the years.

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.

When Bali Hai first opened, it was called The Hut (1953-1954), and was a subsidiary of Christian's Hut in Newport Beach. The business didn't do well initially, until the manager Tom Ham took it over and renamed it Bali Hai. Atop the building, you can still see "the Goof," a funny-looking guy who was the mascot for Christian's Hut. Bali Hai developed their own mascot, Mr. Bali Hai, whose droopy-lidded face can be seen at the front door, and on the tiki mugs. Today, Bali Hai remains a popular Polynesian restaurant, with many fine examples of Polynesian art both indoors and out.

Bali Hai is located on Shelter Island in San Diego, along with Humphrey's Half Moon Inn 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.

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.

Opened around 1972.

Until 1999 when it closed, this restaurant was part of the adjacent Kon Tiki Inn.

The Inn was then home to a seafood restaurant called Steamers from 2000 to 2016. From 2017 to 2020, this location was home to a restaurant called Flagship, which appears to have been unable to withstand Covid closures. Flagship was replaced by Vista Steak and Seafood (current as of 2024).

The 40-room hotel opened in 1974 and expanded to 86 rooms in 1985.

If there were once any tiki elements at this site, they appear to have been long removed.

This hotel used to hold Trader Nick's, but in 1999 Trader Nick's was closed.

The old Trader Nick's location was home to a seafood restaurant called Steamers from 2000 to 2016. From 2017 to 2020, this location was home to a restaurant called Flagship, which appears to have been unable to withstand Covid closures. Flagship was replaced by Vista Steak and Seafood (current as of 2024).

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.

Opened November 18th-19th, 1961. Aloha Jhoe's was created by Lyle R. Wheeler, a prolific Hollywood Art Director who won Oscars for his work on Gone with the Wind, Anna and the King of Siam, The Robe, The King and I and The Diary of Anne Frank, and was nominated another 24 times (many years, against himself). Wheeler was an Art Director on South Pacific four years before the opening of Aloha Jhoe's.

Featured on pages 28-29 of Sven Kirsten's The Book of Tiki.