Tiki Bars
South Seas Restaurant & Lounge - Boston
Boston, Massachusetts, United States (Closed)
This restaurant was located in Boston's Chinatown and ran from about 1958-1983. Henry Oi was the owner and operator there for many of those years. He passed away in 2015.
There was a sister location in West Hartford, Connecticut.
There are moai mugs that list both locations on back. The mugs also list "The Hawaiian" in Boston.
Belles Beach House
Venice, California, United States
Opened October 19th, 2021, at the site of the former Larry's gastropub.
Belles comes from the Wish You Were Here dining group, the group behind the Eveleigh in Sunset Strip, Kassi Club (which closed and resurfaced in Las Vegas’s Virgin Hotels), and the Elephanté in Santa Monica.
The interior gives the feeling of being at a Hawaiian resort, bright and airy with high open ceilings, lots of bamboo and natural materials, and intimate clusters of couches and coffee tables for lounging in small groups. There is a large tiki carving and giant clamshell in front as you come in. The bar has several unique looking ceramic pendant lights with the appearance of large tiki mugs.
Not a lot of densely layered art or bric-a-brac like traditional dark-interiored tiki bars, but clean and upscale in appearance with a few signature pieces on each wall.
Belles focuses on Hawaiian izakaya (snacky bites) but also has a selection of sushi and main dishes as well. Their cocktail list has many traditional cocktails (margaritas, mules, old-fashioneds) and there is a house mai-tai, but they are not trying to offer a menu of traditional tiki cocktails. Other than the mai-tai, the other drinks with Hawaiian or tropical influences are frozen slushie drinks.
There is also a large outdoor patio space.
Shanghai Lil's
Chicago, Illinois, United States (Closed)
Opened circa 1968. This Polynesian Restaurant was owned by E. Robert (Bobby) Baer.
They had a brilliantly plumaged macaw that greeted guests -- named Judy Garland.
Shanghai Lil's was named after the famous location in Shanghai that was a gathering for the diplomat corps and other international travelers.
This locale is best remembered for its live entertainment, including The Royal Hawaiians and their hula review.
Every Sunday had a luau feast.
They did serve tiki cocktails in tiki mugs. However, their ashtrays with signature wahine logo are probably more numerous out in the wild.
It closed about 1981. The property was razed no later than 1990 and the site now houses condos.
The Samoa Restaurant
Cocoa Beach, Florida, United States (Closed)
The Samoa Beach Restaurant was located in Cocoa Beach, Florida, off of Highway A1A and one block south of the Cocoa Causeway.
It was located in a strip mall with Causeway drugs and other shops on either side but stood out because of a grass thatched A-Frame entrance that jutted out from the otherwise normal-looking rectangular building.
Created by Mr. and Mrs. Guy Hovia. Opened June 23rd, 1960.
Nani Maka, the Hawaiian star and dancer (who also performed at the Yankee clipper and Mai Kai among others) often performed here during their early years -- doing the "Tahitian Twist".
The restaurant caught fire in 1960 due to a short-circuited flood light that caught the thatching on fire, but this did not apparently harm operations.
In later years, hula dancing seemed to be less of a draw and ads from 1968-1970 show that they brought in magicians and topless Go-Go dancers...which together with their house band formed quite a nightly bill of entertainment.
Unclear when they eventually closed...
Today, the site appears to be home to Ron Jon Surf Shop.
Tiki Hotel -- Surfers Paradise
Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia
Originally named Tiki Village, the Tiki Hotel is an iconic Apartment Hotel located on the banks of the Nerang River at the end of Cavill Avenue in Surfers Paradise, Australia.
Built by Bernie Elsey (around 1965), who also built the Surfrider Hotel and the Surfers Paradise Beachcomber. Bernie's in-house entertainments were legendary. The pyjama parties and Hawaiian nights pushed the edges of the law, filling national papers with copy and his establishments with patrons. He also famously introduced the Surfers Paradise Meter Maids, clad in gold bikinis and armed with sixpences employed to rescue motorists from expired parking meters. They became internationally famous and still operate, nearly fifty years later.
Tiki Village was the first purpose built Timeshare Resort in Australasia and ran as such from 1982 until December 2018 when it was relaunched as a Full Service Hotel and renamed the Tiki Hotel Surfers Paradise.
Gray's Nursery
Westminster, California, United States (Closed)
Milan Flores Guanko (1906-1994) had a carving shop at Gray's Nursery on Beach Boulevard in Westminster.
Guanko learned to carve from his father in the Philippines before immigrating to the U.S. in 1928. During WWII, he began carving full-time. His tikis appeared at Disneyland, the Western Hills Hotel, the Royal Hawaiian Restaurant in Laguna Beach, The Islands Restaurant in Phoenix, Ren Clark’s Polynesian Village in Fort Worth, Texas, and many more restaurants, hotels and apartments throughout the world.
He died at age 87 in Glendale, where he’d moved his shop in later years.
*NOTE: The large dark-stained tiki with hands crossed on the far left can still be seen at the Kon-Tiki in Tucson although it has been painted a few times and stood outside for many years (now in their covered outdoor patio).
Canoe House
South Pasadena, California, United States
Previously Wild Thyme Restaurant, Canoe House opened in January 2012.
The restaurant design layout features a canoe hanging from the rafters as you would expect. They also have several very nice tiki lamps throughout the building, paddles, Hawaiian art prints, and at least one large Papua New Guinea tiki mask.
Big screen TVs at the bar and throughout the restaurant kill the island ambience somewhat but it brings in a sports crowd.
Food is sort of Hawaiian fusion -- not as high-end as a Roy's -- although you can get herb crusted mahi mahi -- but with a wide variety of sandwiches, burgers, and tacos it feels more like a Hawaiian-styled Applebees.
They have a very limited cocktail menu and don't feature traditional tiki cocktails, but do have an island style mai-tai made with Gosling's and Malibu rum as well as pineapple and orange juice.
The restaurant also has a very nice outdoor patio with a fire pit.
Chan's Waikiki
Paramus, New Jersey, United States (Closed)
Dates uncertain, but open at least as early as 1968 and as late as 1972.
Chan's had three dining rooms and a bar‐lounge separated by bamboo dividers to maintain an intimate atmosphere. The Polynesian decor included island masks on red walls, some chunk resin swag lamps, artificial flowers, stuffed birds, a fountain and a fish pool, and a background of soft Hawaiian music.
Now home to Chakra Restaurant.
Julian's
Ormond Beach, Florida, United States (Closed)
Opened in 1967.
The restaurant was started by Cuban immigrant Julian Lopez and was renowned for its high-end dinner entrees, which included pork chops, steak and prime rib, salmon, lobster, and other fresh seafood.
The building had a distinctive A-frame structure in front attached to a much larger building.
The interior had room for a dance floor in addition to the dining space and the back wall, past the central bar area, had a long Hawaiian mural beach scene.
Brightly colored tropical masks decorated some of the other walls.
Closed in 2012.
Luau Room - at the Hotel del Coronado
Coronado, California, United States (Closed)
The Luau Room (1949-1969) was a restaurant and bar at the Hotel del Coronado.
The Hotel del Coronado was built as a seaside vacation resort in 1888 on Coronado — a natural, sandy spit of an island in the bay — now considered by many as the crown jewel of San Diego.
The Luau Room opened in the summer of 1949 in the hotel’s Ocean Terrace mall, and immediately became popular with vacationists curious to experience the Hawaiian atmosphere, entertainment and exotic drinks.
The Luau Room’s cocktail list came complete with recipes for its tiki drinks, now attributed to head bartender Ebert William ‘Bert’ Chan (1916-1974).
Bert reportedly started his career at Trader Vic’s in San Francisco before tending bar at the Hotel Del — the later position he held for over 18 years.
After the close of The Luau Room, many restaurants have occupied the space.
Currently, the space once known as The Luau Room is now home to Serẽa Coastal Cuisine.
Lola Lo - Lincoln
Lincoln, United Kingdom (Closed)
This Lola Lo location opened in April 2012 in what was previously the space occupied by Sakura bar and closed in November 2016. It was replaced by Lincoln Fever (a disco bar).
Set in a basement in the heart of Lincoln, one of the biggest challenges for the design team was how to incorporate a historical Roman wall through the middle of the space that had to remain visible but untouchable, so incorporating the elements of stone, a silhouette of Moais was incorporated on the glass to allude to their natural origins.
The main club room with flaming bar front and reclaimed timber wall had unique hand-painted volcano graphics and was surrounded by other tropical décor well known at Lola Lo’s such as the puffer fish lanterns and fisherman’s floats lights, fish traps and tapa cloth and vintage Hawaiian print seating. Seating area tables had glass-topped curiosity boxes showing off shrunken heads.
Lola Lo - Cambridge
Cambridge, United Kingdom (Closed)
Opened May 25th, 2011.
This location was a dance club with themed parties 5 nights a week, decked out in hand-carved wood with Tiki booths. It was one of several in a chain of Lola Lo bar/restaurants (including Bristol, Cambridge, Manchester, and Reading) with only Bristol and Reading remaining after late 2024.
September 5th, 2024, the Lola Lo bar announced a change of ownership and that they would be named "Kiki's" going forward (presumably keeping the same Tiki/Hawaiian theme).