Fong's Pizza opened January 26th, 2009 as a partnership between Jeff Bruning (part owner of several other Des Moines bars) and Gwen Schlepphorst. Bruning had dreams of opening a tiki bar, Schlepphorst had dreams of opening a late-night pizza joint. Fong's Pizza took over a space vacated by King Ying Low, a Chinese restaurant that had operated for over one hundred years.

Fong's was a funky mix of Chinese, Polynesian and uniquely American touches. Tiki drinks were served in tiki mugs from Tiki Farm (when secured with an appropriate deposit). Pizza was available by the slice until well past midnight; during lunch and dinner service a wider menu was available with some traditional Chinese and Polynesian offerings.

Three more Fong's locations followed after this first one, starting in 2015, but the expansion did not last and each of the three closed shop until only the original remained by 2023.

The second location in the District at Prairie Trail in Ankeny opened 2015 and closed in 2023, a third location in Cedar Rapids NewBo entertainment district opened in 2018 and closed in 2022, and a fourth location in Des Moines on Forest Avenue opened in 2019 and closed in 2021.

At last, however, the original location closed on March 9th, 2025. This closing was part of a planned relocation with plans to reopen in early April in the former Peace Tree Brewing Co. space in the Market District.

The new location offers double the seating capacity, expanded parking, a patio, and a pick-up window.

Chef Dennis Epps plans to expand the menu with new noodle and rice dishes, salads, appetizers, and late-night options.

Kukui was a modern tiki nightclub in Oxford, England, opened in 2008. Being a nightclub in a college town, its target audience was a young crowd, and was set up for music and dancing rather than lounging and conversing.

To give one example, they invited controversy at their first ever Halloween party in 2008, when an online listing promised “one of the naughtiest nights of the year” with “KY Jelly wrestling — naked” and “fetish snake shows involving a 12ft albino python”.

Capacity was set for 800 persons.

The space was an unusually successful melding of sleek, modern lines with Polynesian Pop. This same combination has been attempted many times before, and usually lands with a thud; in the hands of interior design firm CheekyTiki and graphic designer TikiRacer (responsible for the interior and graphics for Mahiki in London), the result was beautifully proportioned and worked well.

It was divided into six distinct areas, including the private blue-domed Castaway Room, seating 35 and sealed off from the main space by a 4m tropical fish tank. Alternatively, you could book the Californian Room, with a 15m tropical rainforest wall screen.

'Hula Hula Girls' and 'Honolulu Hunks' served the keenly priced cocktails, designed for sharing.

Kukui closed in May 2011.

A second Kukui location opened in Bournemouth in 2010 and then closed 6th February 2012, re-opened as Lola Lo Bournemouth on the 9th February 2012, before closing once more in July 2014 only to be re-opened as a non-tiki themed establishment afterwards.

The Beachcomber was a restaurant on the historic Malibu Pier. The restaurant itself was not tiki but rather was designed to look like a 1930s restaurant. However the restaurant's bar, the Malibu Pier Club, had a special nook with a round table that seated about ten available for special reservations. This nook was called the Tonga Lei Room, and it was decked out as a tribute to the Tonga Lei restaurant, which was located across the street.

The bar and restaurant opened in 2008, and for the Tonga Lei Room the owners enlisted the assistance of Bamboo Ben, Tiki Farm and Tiki-Ray to help deck the place out. The Beachcomber closed in 2012.

Paradise Club (or Club Paradise, depending on which sign you read) has been under the same ownership since about 1991. It has gone through at least two name changes since its opening in 1954, when it was first known as Gene Kamp's Island Home. For a while it was known as Gracie Dee's Sneaky Tiki.

Lauhala matting is used throughout (and the bar appears to still have its original ceiling treatment) but the tiki/tropical vibe has been toned down over the years.

Drinks, once selected from the single tropical drink menu on the premises, are served in tiki mugs. They are known for their original, called the "Banana Spider".

The bar reportedly has a bit of a dive bar feel, and caters to the area's robust Polish population.

Ming's is a Chinese restaurant with an attached bar area that is semi-Polynesian themed. There is a heavy use of lauhala mats, and all the lamps are made of tapa & bamboo and look like they are probably from Orchids of Hawaii. There are dark wooden masks throughout, but they look like generically-exotic Indonesian imports of recent manufacture. Tiki mugs are behind the bar. The restaurant has a dramatic Chinese facade that looks like it has been there for many decades; the bar feels like it acquired its Polynesian bent in the late '60s or mid-'70s. The restaurant itself apparently dates back to the 1880s.

And now the sad news: Ming's was purchased by a new owner around 2002; this new owner's immigration status precludes him from having a full liquor license, and now Ming's serves only beer and wine. The bar area is still intact, but no longer in active use.

Hawaiian Bill's was the reincarnation of the Reef Bar at the Caliente Tropics hotel in Palm Springs. The Reef Bar had been remodeled by Bamboo Ben when it was still operated by the hotel; in 2006, the bar was transferred to independent owners, and the name was changed to Hawaiian Bill's. Traditional Hawaiian food was served, with live musicians playing Hawaiian music on Fridays and Saturdays.

Hawaiian Bill's closed in the summer of 2008. Today the space is again The Reef Bar.

Not a lot of photos around from Hawaiian Bill's today, but below is a photo showing Rory Snyder, Doug Horne, and Hawaiian Bill at Hawaiian Bill's circa 2006 (holding brown Doug Horne Tiki Farm Grog mugs).

Owned by local restaurant moguls “Jake” and “Mama Jo” Tavenner, the Kahlua Hut was operated by Bernie Atkins and Bob McGeehan from spring 1967 until 1973.

Located in a former ice cream shop at Riggs Road and East-West Highway (built in 1955), its décor was “that of a South Pacific hut—thatched roofs, hurricane lights, can-like fixtures and, at least once a week, a hula band.” It seated up to 140 patrons, leaving floor space for seven-nights-a-week dancing. The Kahlua Hut’s pan-Asian and “continental” cuisine was initially prepared by Chef Yee M. Kiang. The restaurant staff fielded a team of duckpin bowlers competitive locally and nationally.

Featured on its drinks menu was the “Kahlua Tiki Tumbler,” offered in such a mug: “an exotic mixture of the finest rums and passion fruits, gin and vermouth.” For $2.15 total, the mug was yours to take.

After 1973, this location became The Outrigger, presumably with the same Pop Polynesian theme intact.

Today, as of 2023, this original 1955 building is still intact and house three businesses (Dry Cleaners, Bakery, and Pizza Bolis).

Opened in 2006.

The Muse du Quai Branly (or, the Quai Branly Museum, for us English-types) is a museum dedicated to non-Western art, from Oceania, the Americas and Africa. The museum has a large, permanent collection of Oceanic art from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and more. The artifacts in this collection are traditional and not Polynesian Pop, but are an excellent example of the influences that Polynesian Pop grew out of.

From June 24-September 28, 2014, the museum held a special exhibition, "Tiki Pop," curated by Sven Kirsten, author of The Book of Tiki and Tiki Modern. Kirsten collected specimens of Polynesian Pop culture to tell the story of the rise, fall, and rebirth of American Polynesian idealism. The Mai Tai Room, was part of this exhibit -- a complete tiki bar that Cheeky Tiki installed and which featured a carved tiki by Jamie Wilson. The tiki is now currently residing with Sven Kirsten at his home bar in Silverlake, CA. To complement the exhibit, a companion book and documentary were also produced.

The museum is very near the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.

The Castaways restaurant, which was part of the Castaways Inns & Suites, opened in 1971. It retained its original tiki decor until it closed in early 2013. A large tiki pole from the Castaways could be seen at Liki Tiki in nearby Colorado Springs until its close in 2019.

Thatch opened in northeast Portland in January 2007.

It featured a sunken bar, booths rescued from a nearby original Armet & Davis Denny's, lots of bamboo, and of course, thatch. Some of the tiki decor came from the nearby Jasmine Tree, which in turn got its decor from the Portland Kon-Tiki when it closed.

Thatch closed in late spring 2012, and reopened in late August 2012 under new ownership as Hale Pele.

Hale Pele is a tiki bar in Northeast Portland, opened by Blair Reynolds, who ran Hale Pele until 2016 when the failure of his second bar enterprise (Americano) forced him to sell his share in Hale Pele to Martin Cate and step away. However, Blair Reynolds has another claim to fame in the world of tiki mixology: his line of flavored syrups sold under the name B.G. Reynolds which is still thriving.

Hale Pele opened in late August 2012, in a space that had previously held a tiki bar named Thatch. At the entrance, you cross a bridge past a small water feature, and are greeted by a large, sunken bar -- this allows seated bar patrons to be at eye level with their bartender. Behind the bar are a trio of large cannibal tiki carvings, these originated at Portland's Kon-Tiki and also lived for many years at the Jasmine Tree. At the very back of Hale Pele is the elevated Chieftain's Hut, a semi-private large booth, which can be reserved in advance.

The drink menu focuses on both classic tiki drinks and new creations. The bar has a small kitchen, so food is available in addition to the drink menu.

Opened in 2004, the Reef is a tropical restaurant in downtown Boise, with Latin, Caribbean and Polynesian cuisines mixed together, and furnishings from Indonesia. The restaurant has a huge outdoor patio with lots of round thatched huts, a stage for live music, and at least one tiki. They also have several prints on the wall that celebrate tiki bartending history (one for Don the Beachcomber, one for Trader Vic, one for Ray Buhen, etc...). In addition to their house tiki mug which premiered several years ago and was an adaptation of an older Tiki Farm "Warrior" design by Squid, they sometimes have promotional tie-ins like the more recent Zafra Rum tiki mug available.