Tiki Bars
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.
Tiki Apartments - Canoga Park
Canoga Park, California, United States
Built in 1964, the Tiki Apartments in Canoga Park was a multi-family 2 story construction with 5+ units (17 beds and 47 baths).
It is unclear how long many of the tiki elements held on, but most were certainly gone after the Northridge Earthquake in 1994.
As of 2025, the only vestiges of its original construction are the sections covered by lava rock and the A-frame in the center.
Tiki B's - at Barney's Beanery - Pasadena
Pasadena, California, United States
This speakeasy tiki bar opened in 2022 in the basement of the Barney's Beanery in Pasadena.
It is a large space and is lined with several booths, a wall lined with coconut monkeys, and many float lamp lights suspended from the ceiling for atmosphere.
It doubles as their live events space with
KARAOKE NIGHT: Thursdays from 10pm to close, Fridays and Saturdays at 9:30pm
and
COMEDY NIGHT: Every Wednesday Home Cookin Comedy! Hosted by Leonard Smith Jr. & Pasadena's Best Free Comedy Night
The Lobby Tiki Bar & Grill - at The Brick House
Oceanside, California, United States
Opened at the beginning of 2025 in what used to be the lobby of Oceanside's Brick Hotel (established in 1988), The Lobby Tiki Bar & Grill replaces the former Q&A Restaurant and Oyster Bar.
Owned by Pete Cich, of Grind & Prosper Hospitality.
The space is decorated with lauhala matting on the walls, fake foliage, and tiki masks.
They have a full cocktail menu and serve cocktails in tiki mugs.
Early reviews report that although the interior decor may not be as extensive/immersive as some tiki venues, the food and cocktails are both on point and, exotica music is often played.
So, overall, a good strong start.
Mollinesian Motel
El Cajon, California, United States
Built in 1963.
This motel drew its name from a mash-up of "Polynesian" and "Mollison" Avenue in El Cajon.
The A-frame with lamp theme seems borrowed from the Half-Moon Inn in nearby San Diego.
Eventually, Best Western purchased the motel and decided to add their corporate crown logo to the top of the sign instead of the original torch.
Best Western continues to operate this site today, as of 2025, but through a series of progressive remodels (most recently in 2019), it bears no resemblance to the original construction.
Tiki Mirage
Los Angeles, California, United States
The Tiki Mirage cocktail bar started in 2019 as a pop-up in West Los Angeles. It's now a bookable cocktail experience for parties and collaborations, re-located to Chinatown for the time being.
Founders Max Masuda-Farkas, Aaron Girard, and Nick Newberg, decked out a box truck with a detailed tiki interior and crafted it into a show with its own original story.
Those who book the $85 gratuity-included tickets will be asked to meet at a Google-pinned location in Chinatown and get escorted over to the truck. Once seated, bartenders will assemble a cocktail menu by World’s 50 Best Los Angeles bar Thunderbolt while the trio tells a narrative based on tales of a fictional sea explorer named Daniel T. Coleridge.
Lanai Liquors
San Mateo, California, United States (Closed)
This liquor store was re-located to this location at 8 41st Avenue when the Lanai Bar & Restaurant closed in 1988 -- later to become a Walgreens.
Before this, from @1960-1988, it was located between the Villa Chartier and The Lanai (right next to the main entrance), in the Villa Square.
The store had a beautiful neon sign and a Barney West tiki out front at one point.
The Barney West tiki was sold off due to the owner's financial difficulties when their liquor license was revoked in 2002.
Closed @ 04/2024. Later became Phillips Liquor, and more recently King's Liquors.
Unnamed Tiki Apartments - Duarte
Duarte, California, United States
These unnamed Duarte Apartments probably had a very Polynesian or Island-themed name when they first opened, but have switched hands several times and are often just named unimaginatively as "Duarte Apartments" or after whichever managing company owns them from year to year.
This is a 30-unit courtyard-style multifamily property built in 1966, with 23,917 square feet of building and an oversized lot of 52,024 square feet. The property has a mix of two three-bedroom/two-baths, nineteen two-bedroom/one-baths, and nine one-bedroom/one-bath units. The property features two A-frame main entrances with tiki poles forming the frames. A round glass swag lamp hangs from the tallest points.
There are also tiki railings (or there used to be) leading up to these entrances.
Inside is a tiki roof decoration over the tenant mailboxes.
In back is a community pool.
The Hawaiian Hut - Hollywood
Los Angeles, California, United States (Closed)
The Hawaiian Hut was a pre-tiki venue which opened in late 1936/early 1937, and was originally operated by Tony Guerrero with Bill Ornellas, whose nickname was “Whistling/Whislyn/Whislin’.” Built in 1928, the building had previously housed a series of short-lived cafes and clubs before the Hawaiian Hut came along.
Hawaiian-born Tony appeared in a few films and was married to former child actor Charlotte “Peaches” Jackson. He sold his interest in the Hawaiian Hut by 1940 and the couple moved to Honolulu where they operated a restaurant, The Tropics at Waikiki.
Ornellas’ Hawaiian Hut featured not just mere rain on the roof but an entire tropical storm effect. On July 13, 1942, the hut was damaged by an arson-set fire; it reopened September 2, 1942 and continued here through 1945.
Gin Rummy
Venice, California, United States
Gin Rummy, an island-inspired cocktail bar in Venice, CA, opened its doors on Friday, May 26, 2023.
It is not a tiki bar, but does serve tiki cocktails and has some tiki decor, including a few small tiki carvings scattered throughout, some rattan furniture on the patio, and lots of leafy tropical foliage.
It is what tikiphiles might refer to as "tiki adjacent" or "tiki friendly".
Bar proprietor Jared Meisler says, "I’ve always loved the cocktails that come from beach cultures, just as much as I love the imagery and feel of beachy bars. I see a through line between a Tiki Bar, a Cuban Rum Bar, a Mexican Cantina, a Brazilian Quisque, a Spanish Chiringuito and a Venice Beach watering hole. They’re all timeless, relaxed, and fun, serving fantastic and unique drinks. Gin Rummy is an homage to all things Beach Bar, from Nautical to Tropical, in a vintage parlor.”
Gin Rummy is a Venn Diagram of those themes.
It has a very spacious feel with the large outdoor seating area flowing into the indoor bar area as one huge open space.
There is also a section filled with vintage style pinball games.
Creeky Tiki Bar & Island Grill
San Luis Obispo, California, United States (Closed)
Opened circa 2010.
This was not a classic tiki bar but more like a college/sports bar lightly skinned with tikis and beach decor.
It had both an inside seating area and a back outdoor patio with its own bar.
The interior walls were painted solid colors over the years (light gray or orange) or covered in bare brick (patio exterior). The ceilings sported exposed beams with track lighting. Lots of TVs around the room playing sports.
They placed some inexpensive tiki masks and carvings around, along with a few old surfboards and a Sailor Jerry's Hula Girl Statue, but the overall vibe of the place still screamed college bar or sports bar.
It didn't help that they had a very limited selection of non-craft tropical cocktails and did heavy promotion of their "Shot-Ski" where shots are lined up for several drinkers to lift and drink at once as a group activity off a literal ski.
Their closing was also rather abrupt in 2023, but probably not terribly missed by people looking for an authentic tiki experience.