Tiki Bars
Waitiki - Orlando
Orlando, Florida, United States (Closed)
This was a two-story tiki bar and Polynesian restaurant in Orlando's Wall Street Plaza, owned by a developer who owned six other clubs in the complex.
Waitiki opened in August of 2004, and featured a downstairs bar made of antique ironwood, outdoor balconies, many wood carvings and teak flooring.
It was not an immersive tiki environment, but there was much artwork from modern-day tiki artists like Flounder, Joe & Donella Vitale and local tiki carver Wayne Coombs (Mai Tiki).
Tropical cocktails were available, and the food was a more modern take on Polynesian cuisine, with a focus on seafood.
Upstairs bar was the "Monkey Bar" with the expected theme reflected in the decor.
On December 26th, 2024, the bar re-opened as "Warped Pour". Anything tiki-related was gutted and the new interior is themed around the Vans Warped Tour traveling rock music festival.
Munktiki
Astoria, Oregon, United States
This listing is describing a physical location for the Munktiki business.
Munktiki is a father-son outfit that started in early 2000, and their specialty is crafting beautiful, high-quality tiki mugs. Paul Nielsen (the Dad) has been selling his ceramic crafts since he was in high school in the '60s; his son Miles "Stuckie" Nielsen has similarly been dabbling in clay since he was a child. Paul made his first tiki mug in 1997.
Most Munktiki mugs are of their own design; each mug has a character name on the back, and a number and date on the bottom. Many Munktiki mugs are fiercely collected limited editions, notably the "Shecky" mug based on the Tiki Central mascot designed by Tikifish.
There is also a Munktiki Imports line with their designs crafted in China and then imported to the United States. These are more commonly used with large wholesale orders. These are marked as such on the bottom and are less expensive than the pieces crafted in-house.
Additionally, there are non-tiki lines affiliated with Munktiki, including Münkstein and Yakimon.
Munktiki's original location was in Pacific Grove, California (near Monterey), at 561 Junipero Ave. In 2009, Munktiki moved to Portland, Oregon. In 2017, the business again moved to Astoria, Oregon.
Munktiki also owns and operates Dead Man's Isle, a tiki/nautical bar in Astoria that opened July 14th, 2022.
Munktiki items can be purchased through the Munktiki website, eBay, and a limited number of retailers.
Camelot Resort
Corbeil, Ontario, Canada (Closed)
Opened in 1974. Camelot Resort, with its unpromising name and remote location (four hours north of Toronto), unexpectedly featured some truly lush tiki theming. This small resort had just four self-contained suites in one large house, and was situated on the shores of Lake Nosbonsing. The suites were not themed, and the dining room was themed in a somewhat-medieval style (hence the Camelot moniker).
The attraction for the tikiphile was the indoor pool area, complete with a 5ft. moai waterfall, tiki bar with hanging rattan seats, waterslide, and all the appropriate clutter one would want in a proper tiki grotto. There was also a sauna and hot tub. The bar was not staffed and had no supplies -- it was a BYOB operation.
The resort was created by a now-deceased tikiphile, Dr. Agnew, a chiropractor. Dr. Agnew hired Skilbuilders, Ltd., a local company still in existence, to build the tiki area of the resort. Toward the end, the resort was run by Dr. Agnew's widow Doris, until she retired and re-located. The resort was left to her son and family who thereafter used it as a private residence.
Closed around 2005.
Cacao Coffee House
Los Angeles, California, United States (Closed)
During the '90s and into the early 2000s, Cacao was a retro-themed coffee house decorated with a variety of kitschy items with a Hawaiian & tiki emphasis, combined with sci-fi. Cacao had a typical laid-back coffeehouse atmosphere, serving high-quality coffee beverages. Being a coffeehouse, there were no alcoholic beverages, and the food menu was limited. Cacao provided free wireless internet access, and periodically featured musicians and poetry nights.
Cacao was opened in 1990, but didn't get its sci-fi/tiki theme until new owners Bobby Green and Alastair Newbery took over in 1993. Bobby Green went on to own The Lucky Tiki in Mission Hills, and a thriving group of beautifully themed bars throughout the Los Angeles area. Jeremy Bell, a longtime Cacao patron, took over ownership of Cacao in 2000. Some time around the end of 2017 or in 2018 the name was changed to Good People Coffee Co.
Today, no tiki theming remains.
Hawaiian Room - Bellflower
Bellflower, California, United States
The Hawaiian Room opened in the 1960s (1964 has been mentioned but not verified), and was outfitted by Oceanic Arts.
Much of the original decor remained in place, but was covered with typical sports bar banners and posters. It has been slowly devolving over the years with less and less of its original patina left each year...
In September 2003, a group of people temporarily removed all the sports bar ephemera and returned it to its prior glory for a one-night "resurrection" party.
In 2015 it was purchased by the owners of the Bottoms Up Sports Bar chain and began a re-branding as the Bottoms Up Tiki Lounge, even though they left the old stand-alone post sign for the Hawaiian Room in place. The newer roof sign reads "Bottoms Up Tiki Lounge."
By all accounts, as of 2025, this destination has devolved completely into a dive bar and their social media is loaded up with shots of bartenders in skimpy outfits.
Bahi Hut Lounge
Sarasota, Florida, United States
Bahi Hut was opened in 1954 by Bill Johnson, and remains a beloved neighborhood bar and local landmark. For many years it operated as more of a beer bar, although some tropical drinks were available.
In 2018 it underwent a grand restoration and by all accounts was quite successful.
Two new tiki poles grace the front exterior, Mai and Tai, carved by Jeff Chouinard.
They kept a couple of their previous cocktails on the menu (especially their version of a "mai tai" which was beloved by locals for being strong...even if considered unbalanced and inauthentic by most tikifiles used to Trader Vic standards) but have revamped the rest of their cocktail menu and have climbed back from being just a beer bar.
It is part of the Golden Host Resort, a vintage roadside motel.
Polynesian Cocktail Lounge - at The New Chinatown Restaurant
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States (Closed)
The Polynesian Lounge opened in 1990, as a newly themed bar for the New Chinatown Restaurant. It was owned by Freddie and Jane Baker. Freddie "Kekaulike" Baker was born in Hawaii and moved to the mainland in 1949, he was an extra in Hollywood for some time, before forming a band. His band played hapa haole and other Polynesian-tinged tunes all over the country, including the Aku Aku in Las Vegas. He started headlining at the Tiki Kai Supper Club in the '60s, where he met Jane. The couple performed at the lounge regularly, along with a hula dancing friend, Evalani.
The New Chinatown was co-owned by the Ong family, and opened circa 1976. The restaurant was built using hundreds of green tiles which were brought over from China and are much coveted today (but these tiles were destroyed when the site was later leveled). When first opened, it advertised a Pagoda Bar and Kung-Pei Cocktail Lounge (one or both of these was probably coverted over to the "Polynesian Lounge"). It sat 400 people and they touted it as the finest Chinese restaurant in the Southwest.
When the New Chinatown Restaurant changed hands in 2003, the Polynesian Lounge was also sold, and the new owners turned it into a non-tiki, cabaret joint, and re-branded the restaurant as Mr K's Oriental Restaurant & Bar.
That was short-lived. This site has been re-developed (some time prior to 2015) and is now home to Labor Finders and Albuquerque Distilling (as of 2022) on the footprint of where the New Chinatown Restaurant used to be.
The Reef - Casper
Casper, Wyoming, United States (Closed)
When The Reef first opened in 1961, it was advertised as Wyoming's first Polynesian lounge.
The Reef was designed by Lou and Cliff Sawyer, a husband and wife decorating team based in Palm Springs, CA. They also decorated the South Pacific Room and Beachcomber Shops in Palm Springs and the South Sea Club/Surf Room Restaurant in Anchorage, AK.
A newspaper article celebrating the exotic new hot spot describes the scene:
“On the Center Street entrance there are two picture windows. The window to the left of the door contains a five-foot Tiki god standing amid jungle flowers and sea shells. To the right of the door stands an eight-foot Tiki god. Above the door is a small shelf running the width of the building filled with rocks collected from Wyoming rock beds by local rockhound clubs.”
Lou and Cliff sold The Reef in 1970 and the new owners fought against a changing neighborhood which grew rougher and rougher with a reported knife assault in 1973 and in 1975, a drunk patron shot and killed one of the owners, resulting in the sale of The Reef in 1978.
It was replaced by a disco club.
Hawaiian Room - at the Emerson Hotel - Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland, United States (Closed)
Opened around 1958.
The Hawaiian Room was in the Emerson Hotel, until the hotel was demolished in 1971.
The space in the hotel that housed the Hawaiian Room had previously been a rather posh barbershop.
Their logo on menus and other printed items was taken directly from Ren Clark's Polynesian Village -- the Milan Guanko Tiki.
Don the Beachcomber - Palm Springs
Palm Springs, California, United States (Closed)
Early menus and other items are labelled "120 Via Lola," which maps to the south face of the site rather than the east face. The Palm Springs location site dates back to at least 1941, but this Don's was opened there on March 2nd, 1953.
Frank Sinatra was a regular here, and was reportedly a big tipper, but also a demanding customer. He liked the Navy Grog.
Today, this same spot houses Bootlegger Tiki.
The now restored rooftop tiki torches from the old Don the Beachcomber's now form the logo for the adjacent Ernest Coffee Co., which opened in June 2014. The two entrepreneurs behind this independent coffeehouse, photographer Jaime Kowal and designer Chris Pardo, also paid tribute to the history of this site by calling it after Don the Beachcomber’s real name: Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt. (They also own neighboring bar Bootlegger Tiki, a nod to Don’s occupation before he essentially invented the tiki bar.)
Kona Kai - Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (Closed)
Opened July 13th, 1961.
This was the flagship restaurant in a chain of Kona Kai restaurants, with locations in Chicago and Kansas City. It was in the City Line Marriott, at the start of the "Golden Mile" of hotels in Bala Cynwyd.
Created in a ‘not to be outdone’ competition between the titan hotel empires, Marriott commissioned this as the jewel in an elaborate chain of its own Polynesian themed restaurants. As a shot across the bow to Hilton’s Trader Vic’s and Sheraton’s Kon Tiki, The Kona Kai was arguably the most obscenely extravagant of the challengers on the field. No expense was spared and rather than utilize stock or simply procured décor for its outfitting, practically every decorative element of the Philly location was custom designed and created. Wall treatments, tropical carpeting and signature figural Tiki carvings were all fashioned from tailor-made blueprints furnished by the prolific architects.
The Kona Kai Frigate Bird from the front roofline was carved by Southern California tiki artist Jim Casey. Jim’s work is quite recognizable and can be seen in other venues such as Aloha Jhoe’s and Pacific Ocean Park. Aloha Jhoe's had a very similar frigate bird in front of their restaurant.
The hotel closed in 1985 and was demolished. However, many of the carvings were saved and ended up in the collection of Jordan Reichek. Jordan later put up these pieces for auction at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA in 2017 where they were purchased by Mark Sellers, the owner of Max's South Seas Hideaway in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and incorporated into that bar and restaurant where they can still be viewed in all their tiki glory.
Club Trade Winds
Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States (Closed)
Club Trade Winds was the restaurant in the Tulsa Trade Winds Motel at 51st and Peoria (1120 E. Skelly Drive), which later became Trade Winds West as other Trade Winds motels opened in the area.
At one time, Tulsa was home to three Trade Winds motor hotels. They were located at 51st Street and Peoria Avenue (1120 E. Skelly Drive), 51st and Harvard, and 3141 E. Skelly Drive (added in 1968 and still open as of 2021). There were also two in Oklahoma City and one in Muskogee.
This Club Trade Winds, at 1120 E. Skelly Drive, later became The Tiki Nook (operated during the 70s - 80s).
Frankoma was contracted in 1960 or 1961 to create mugs and serveware for Club Trade Winds. Some of the mugs tend to be oversized. Frankoma reused the designs a decade later (in a more normal size) for a short-lived Tulsa restaurant, The Cultured Pearl. All of these Frankoma tiki ceramics remain highly collectible. Years later, Wendy Cevola would secure the trademark/copyright to reproduce more Frankoma pieces, especially the War God. She did collaborations with Gecko and other artists, including with the Frankoma company itself.