Tiki Bars
Maleville's Coral Reef Lodge
Sacramento, California, United States (Closed)
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.
Smorgy's - Ringwood
Ringwood, Victoria, Australia (Closed)
Created by Eric Schwaiger, Smorgy's was a chain that was started in the mid 1980s, expanded in the 1990s with more elaborate build-outs, and closed in the early 2000s. The food was all-you-can-eat buffet style and the decor featured some animatronics and many had Disney-esque style volcano entrances or waterfalls surrounded by jungle style shrubbery.
Otto's Shrunken Head
Manhattan, New York, New York, United States
Otto's Shrunken Head opened in 2002 and is a tiki-meets-punk bar on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Live music acts play regularly in the back room. The music styles range from rock to metal to exotica, and it's often loud. The front entry of the bar has cases filled with tiki mugs and knick-knacks. Over the bar is a row of pufferfish lamps. There are carvings by Wayne Coombs and Crazy Al. Drinks are served in mugs that are available for sale, including a custom shrunken head mug.
In late 2010 a fire damaged the back room of Otto's, but repairs were able to be made swiftly.
Minnie's Restaurant
Modesto, California, United States (Closed)
Opened in 1954 and closed in 2020.
Minnie's was a Polynesian restaurant with immense charm, and was deservedly beloved by many. The Chinese food was typically dressed-up (for instance, the appetizers were labelled "tidbits of delight"), but the shocker here was that the food was actually fairly good. The restaurant featured carvings and artwork throughout, most notably a large number of beautiful oil and black velvet paintings by the Leeteg-esque artist Tyree.
There were two bars at Minnie's: a vast outdoor patio bar, and a dimly lit indoor bar encrusted with dollar bills and business cards all over the walls and ceiling, left by patrons over the years. The tropical cocktails at Minnie's left something to be desired, but it was about as good as you were likely to find in Modesto anyhow.
Parking was free in the lot at the rear of the restaurant. After dinner service closed, the front door to Minnie's was locked, and you entered the bar using the rear parking lot entrance (there was no sign at the front to let you know this, unfortunately).
Minnie's was just down the road from the Tropics Motel and Tiki Lounge.
The following is according to the Modesto Bee:
Sacramento-based owner TJ Bruce and his Splash Bar, Inc., took over from Stuart Mah at the start of 2018. Mah’s family had run Minnie’s as a Chinese restaurant and tiki bar since 1962, when they bought the business from original owners Hop Louie and his wife Minnie Woo — the spot’s namesake. Bruce ran Minnie's basically as it was for a year before closing the restaurant portion in 2019. In January 2020 he decided to close Minnie's and transform it into another of his Splash Bar dance club locations.
However, according to Bruce, the site’s tiki look will not be changing. Bruce said much of its existing theme fits in with the Splash Bar concept.
“We like that it’s kitschy, and tiki is a fun thing for bars,” he said.
So expect the large wooden tiki-head totems outside to remain in place, as will much of the interior and exterior look — save for some painting and needed updating. They plan to install a dedicated dance floor in the half-partitioned space in front of the bar area, as well as more video screens throughout.
The bar’s signature velvet paintings of nude Polynesian women were taken down after it was sold, as were its large fish tanks. But Bruce said he still has them and they may make a reappearance in the new Splash Bar.
But all those old dollar bills that have lined the bar’s walls for decades are coming down.
The new Splash Bar will have drag shows every Friday night as well as themed nights for karaoke, throwback nights and more. The weekends will have video DJs spinning music.
Lee's Hawaiian Islander - Lyndhurst
Lyndhurst, New Jersey, United States
Lee's Hawaiian Islander is a Chinese restaurant that opened in 1974 (building was built in 1962). There are tiki masks mounted on rock-lined walls with a weeping water effect, an outrigger canoe hangs from the ceiling, and there is a special hut booth. An upper balcony holds more tables with bamboo framing. Drinks are served in mugs, and there is a flaming pu-pu platter. Mr. Lee can be found there often, happily playing host and greeting patrons.
There is another Lee's Hawaiian Islander location in Clifton, but it closed due to a fire in 2003.
In 2023, the property with liquor license was put up for sale. However, as of late 2024, there have been no takers and the restaurant is still open.
https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/768-Stuyvesant-Ave-Lyndhurst-NJ/31574898/
Clifton's Pacific Seas (Original) - on Olive Street - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California, United States (Closed)
Clifton's opened in 1931, and after a remodel to add Polynesian theming in 1939 was rechristened "Clifton's Pacific Seas." The name "Clifton's" is a portmanteau of founder Clifford Clinton's name. Clifton's was a massive cafeteria, and aimed to serve inexpensive meals to all social classes, and promised to turn no one away, even the penniless. A neon sign flashed, "PAY WHAT YOU WISH."
This was the first Clifton's location, today most are familiar with the forest-themed Clifton's Brookdale location at 7th & Broadway, which still operates today. In November 2016, a new tiki bar was opened in that location, in tribute to the original Clifton's Pacific Seas, appropriately named Pacific Seas.
Clifton's Pacific Seas was themed on a grand scale. It had an elaborate, multi-story external facade with cascading waterfalls and tropical plantings. Inside there was another large waterfall, huts, and artificial palm trees.
Clifton's Pacific Seas closed June 17th, 1960, and the building was razed. It is now a parking lot.
Chin's Chop Suey
Livonia, Michigan, United States (Closed)
More of a Chinese restaurant than a Polynesian one, Chin's Chop Suey was opened in 1955 by Marvin Chin, who opened the very Polynesian Chin Tiki in Detroit 12 years later -- Chin Tiki closed in 1980.
Marvin's son Marlon owned and operated Chin's in Livonia, and some of the tiki decor from Chin Tiki was relocated here.
Uncle and son team, Marlon and Steven announced that the restaurant would close at the end of April 2025.
The restaurant is intended to be kept intact, but not open for business.
Sam's Seafood - Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach, California, United States (Closed)
Sam's Seafood started in its original location in 1923 at 2501 Coast Highway and, up until its Polynesian remodel in 1960 it was just a seaside seafood joint.
At 3 a.m. on Feb. 17, 1959, a fire burned the original Sam’s Seafood to the ground. Forced to rebuild, then-owners Ruth, Nick and Dick Katsaris glommed on to the midcentury fad sweeping Southern California: Tiki!
In 1960, they invested $1 million and hired architect Don Davis to design the new face of Sam’s and introduced Surfside to “Sam’s Seafood and Hawaiian Village.”
Sam's Seafood contained several dining rooms. The brightly lit main dining room had a large wall mural on one side and a dramatic tiki & waterfall display at the back. A pair of smaller side dining rooms were also bright and more aviation themed.
Of more interest to the tikiphile was the Hidden Village (Hawaiian Village) banquet room area in the back available for event rentals, which was large and moodily lit, with glass floats, waterfall displays, A-frame covered seating areas, and a small bar. On Friday nights from April to November, Sam's Seafood had a Polynesian Dinner Show in the Hidden Village. Last but certainly not least was the excellent main bar at Sam's. It was dark and full of excellent carvings, pufferfish and float lamps, and thatch.
A small bar with some tiki carvings inside, Turc's, can be found just down the street.
At the end of May 2006, Sam's Seafood was sold to developers who aimed to build retail spaces & condominiums on the site. Red tape appeared to be holding off any development on the site for years. Sam's closed for several months until June 2007, when the property owners allowed a new group to come in and keep the restaurant running in a somewhat modified form until the development could move forward.
In 2007, Sam's Seafood became Kona. In 2009, Kona closed and the restaurant reopened as Don the Beachcomber (no connection to the historic chain), which then closed in 2018.
Tiki's Grill & Bar - Honolulu
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Tiki's Grill & Bar opened in 2002 in the heart of Waikiki, in the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel. It offers a modern take on Polynesian Pop, with lots of art by modern pop artists and carvings. There is both outdoor and indoor seating.
Pandora's of Grayton Beach
Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, United States (Closed)
Opened in 1978.
Whatever tiki elements may have once been at Pandora's are now gone. The restaurant continued to operate for many years with more of a nautical, odds-and-ends look.
In 2016 the name changed to AJ's. That restaurant still lives on, but from the point of view of a traveling tikiphile, the Polynesian Pop here is history.
Damon's
Glendale, California, United States
Large family restaurant in Glendale, with a bar in the rear. This is Damon's second location; the original was opened in 1937 at 118 S. Central Avenue in Glendale, and this location, at 317 N. Brand, opened in 1980. A short list of tropical drinks is offered, and food sticks to old-school, meaty classics. The food quality improved a bit with the arrival of a new owner and chef in 2004. The decor is more on the elegant end of Polynesian Pop, with lots of bamboo and beautiful painted murals (painted in 1987 by Bettina Rakita Byrne in the style of Eugene Savage), and lighting comes from a number of different styles of traditional Poly-Pop light fixtures. In 2014, Bamboo Ben was brought in to do a "tune-up" of the decor, with some fresh thatch, tapa cloth, and bamboo and rope repair work. In the past, it has been targeted by the city of Glendale for an "update" of its facade, but that danger seems to have passed.
Smorgy's - Geelong
Geelong, Victoria, Australia (Closed)
Created by Eric Schwaiger, Smorgy's was a chain that was started in the mid 1980s, expanded in the 1990s with more elaborate build-outs, and closed in the early 2000s. The food was all-you-can-eat buffet style and the decor featured some animatronics and many had Disney-esque style volcano entrances or waterfalls surrounded by jungle style shrubbery.
This location was more nautical than the other locations.
One of the most remembered attractions at this location was Salty, a talking animatronic seal whose head moved left and right and could talk and sing. When the show wasn’t playing, it was covered by a boat sail tarp, which revealed the seal when it was time for the show. King Neptune, another animatronic, was like a living statue that also woke up for the show. They had a lot of banter back and forth referencing whether AFL football legend Gary Ablett senior was a god and other things people in Geelong liked. During the show, there were lots of effects including rain that went down the windows, thunder and flashing lightning.