Tiki Bars
Kel Luau - Marina del Rey
Marina del Rey, California, United States (Closed)
Opened in 1964. This was one of a small franchise chain of fast food tiki restaurants.
They served non-alcoholic tiki bowls and drinks.
There was also a Pasadena location at 325 Rosemead that opened in 1968 and lasted through at least 1970.
And there was a third location in North Hollywood.
Boo Loo Lounge
Orinda, California, United States
Opened in November 2023, next to the Orinda Theatre. The bar is the brainchild of the cinema’s manager, Derek Zemrak, who previously managed a wine bar in the Boo Loo Lounge’s location. The wine bar had been closed since the COVID-19 outbreak, during which time Zemrak received a full liquor license from the county and decided to rethink the potential of the intimate space.
The venue is small; there’s room for just over 20 inside with additional seating on the patio.
Decor is dark and classic tiki with heavy nods to Pirate and Creature from the Black Lagoon themes as well.
Boo Loo’s GM is Maxton Kennedy (Tiki Tolteca, Kon-Tiki, Forbidden Island), and reports so far are that the drinks are top notch.
Don The Beachcomber - at the Santa Barbara Inn
Santa Barbara, California, United States (Closed)
The Santa Barbara Inn was built in 1962 and appears to have started out with a pop-polynesian themed restaurant on its second floor, called the Oceania Room. This Oceania Room had live music and sported a tiki menu cover taken directly from The Tahitian (locations in Studio City and Pasadena).
As it had done a few times before, Don the Beachcomber did a "Hermit Crab" move into the previous Oceania Room space, taking advantage of its already Polynesian-themed build-out. This happened in 1976.
It's unclear, but seems that Don's was only open for a couple of years at this location before closing.
It's also unclear whether there was a fire or just neglect in the intervening years, but the structure appears to have remained vacant for a time and was mostly demolished by 2013.
However, the 55-year old boutique resort underwent a complete restoration, beginning in late 2013. They started over with just 1 pillar remaining from the original building, but the building's unique shape, pool location, and the grassy area in front all exist today just as they did before.
The Santa Barbara Inn re-opened to the public in July, 2016.
The Santa Barbara Inn features 70 spacious guest rooms and suites, most with views of the Pacific, while others face the majestic Santa Ynez Mountains. Five fixture bathrooms, 400+ square foot rooms and 700+ square foot suites with Jacuzzi tubs are but a few of the features offered at the resort.
Tiki Bob's - at the Capitol Inn - Sacramento
West Sacramento, California, United States (Closed)
Bob Bryant and Earl Erwin opened this restaurant, often referred to as Tiki Bob's II, on October 24th, 1957 in the Capitol Inn Hotel, Sacramento. Supposedly, Erwin's wife was tired of driving to San Francisco to visit the first Tiki Bob's incarnation, so Erwin brought Tiki Bob's to Sacramento.
In addition to the South Seas Room, this location also had a Carribean, Pacifica, and Gold Room.
Albert's Tiki Village - Sacramento
Sacramento, California, United States (Closed)
This location served Chinese & Polynesian cuisine and cocktails and is notable for the Witco God of Fortune that graced its menu as well as the custom Witco tikis at the location itself.
Tiki Republik - Lake Arrowhead
Lake Arrowhead, California, United States
Opened June 21st, 2024.
Tiki Republik and Sunsets Island Bar & Grill are both next to the Center Stage and each have separate entrances but share a hallway and a deck overlooking the lake.
According to owner Rich Goodwin, Sunset features a wide variety of food including Surf & Turf, Coconut Shrimp, Huli Huli Chicken, Ahi Tartare and Mahi Mahi tacos along with healthy vegetarian and vegan options. Island drinks include Mai Tais, Pina Coladas and Margaritas.
Tiki Republik features drinks such as the Singapore Sling [gin-based], rum drinks, and Dole Whip served virgin or taken with a rum float, said Goodwin. Guests can take selfies with the 9’ gorilla in Tiki Republik.
South Seas Cocktail Lounge - at The Coast Inn - Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach, California, United States (Closed)
The Coast Inn was built and opened in 1929.
The South Seas was established in 1936 as a pre-Tiki bar and most of its decor shown in photos below was in place by 1941.
There were actually two bars at the Coast Inn location. Part of the charm of both bars was that tropical aquarium fish tanks were used for the bar counter tops. The upstairs bar, known as the Tap Room, was quiet, dark and sophisticated. But the downstairs bar, called the South Seas, with its Polynesian atmosphere, invited customers to let down their hair.
The location, according to past owners, started with military servicemen and local young people, surfers, and more of a "straight" crowd, but began to see more and more of a gay crowd in the 70s until it became known as more of a gay bar by the mid 1980s. This coincided with a change of the name to the "Boom Boom Room" in 1978 by the new owner.
The "Boom Boom Room" shut its doors in 2007.
However, the Coast Inn endures as of the present time (2024)...
The Beachcomber Shop
Newport Beach, California, United States (Closed)
This pre-tiki location started out in the 40s at 2701 West Coast Highway and moved @ 1949 or so to 801 Coast Highway.
Primarily a clothing store, the Beachcomber Shop sold bathing suits, yachting hats and caps, Aloha shirts by Shaheen, tog sandals, and other beach attire.
The exterior of the shop was recognizable for its entrance framed by an old boat and signs made out of old nautical rope.
Judging by ads and catalogues, this shop continued at least into the 1950s.
The Bambu Hut - Ontario
Ontario, California, United States (Closed)
This pre-tiki bar with its classic neon palm tree sign outside dates back to the 1940s but eventually succumbed to the wrecking ball some time after the late 1990s.
The Seacomber
Malibu, California, United States (Closed)
Frank Kerwin's restaurant, The Seacomber, “America’s Tropical Showplace,” opened at 22725 Pacific Coast Highway on April 4, 1946.
This pre-tiki showplace included dining and cocktails within The Royal Hawaiian Room, the Coral Sea Cocktail Bar, the Princess Pupule Room, the Marine Deck and the Grand Salon.
Kerwin, a former boxing announcer and sports promoter, had previously managed the Club New Yorker in the basement of the Hotel Christie on Hollywood Boulevard, and The Merry-Go-Round cocktail lounge in the CBS Radio Playhouse on Vine Street.
This venue must have lasted at least through 1950, since newspaper ads proclaim the opening of a sister location on November 1, 1950, when Frank Kerwin opened the Wilshire Seacomber at Wilshire and San Vicente.
It is not clear when these two locations closed.
Today, the original Malibu location is home to a McDonalds.
The Lanai Tiki - at Cravings Food Hall
Eastvale, California, United States
The Lanai Tiki in Eastvale, CA had a soft opening August 22nd, 2024 at Cravings Food Hall.
This venue is from Leonard Chan and, the other owner of Stowaway Tiki and The Lost Inferno in Orange County, Dominic Iapello.
The Lanai Tiki lives up to its name as an outside but mostly covered, long and narrow seating area located on the patio behind Ostrea Oyster Bar. You can sit on the patio to order or at the oyster bar.
One treat that some tikiphiles will be happy to see is some of the salvaged signage from the old Don the Beachcomber in Huntington Beach.
Samoa Lanes
Santa Monica, California, United States (Closed)
Opened in 1960.
24 lanes “equipped with automated pinsetters, a billiard room, children’s playroom, coffee shop, and cocktail lounge”.
The top of their exterior sign was a horned tiki mask, which although it is blurry on their matchbook logo, is clear and crisp on their award ashtrays that were given out to exceptional bowlers.
Closed in 1968.