This tiki bar soft opened in San Pedro Square in downtown San Jose on Monday, December 13th, 2021. Opened to the public on Thursday, December 16th.

Located in the former site of Peggy Sue’s 1950s-style diner.

Designer Notch Gonzalez transformed the venue with thatched-roof booths, bamboo railings and blowfish lights hanging from the ceiling. There are tikis everywhere, including a six-footer that Gonzalez carved in about a week.

Notch hearkened back to classic tiki carver Milan Guanko with his own versions carved in the recognizable Guanko style.

They serve Dr Funk's namesake cocktail (of rum, absinthe, lime, lemon, demerara syrup, grenadine and seltzer) alongside 12 original tiki tipples and eight classics.

There is also a limited food menu with coconut shrimp, Hawaiian ribs, burgers, chicken sandwiches, etc...

Open under this name from about 1967-1975.

This restaurant had a lounge area with large bandstand for live entertainment. It was decorated with tikis, thatching over the bar, and served tropical cocktails. There were also motel rooms in back.

Wing Gwong Chin (1937-2018) started his long career in the restaurant business working at Trader Vics as a bartender, then later as a chef and bartender at other restaurants. He had a dream to own a restaurant so he learned the business and eventually partnered with his cousin Wing Foo Chin and others to open this location which was first named the Ye Cocke and Kettle Restaurant and Motor Inn. From the late 1960’s to 1980’s, the business changed names to Hawaiian Garden and then to the South Sea Restaurant and Motel.

In 1975 there was a big murder case revolving around one of Wing Chin's partners in a new restaurant start-up they were putting together in Marietta, Georgia. Wing Chin was President in the new partnership and his Vice President, a boyhood friend of his named John Oi, was killed by a third member of their partnership, named Armand Therrien (the Treasurer and only occidental involved -- an ex police officer who worked as the Hawaiian Garden's security and general handyman). Armand was judged to have shot John Oi and it was speculated in the trial that he did so because John Oi's death would have resulted in a $200,000 insurance payout to the partnership which would have surely helped the business and indirectly helped Therrien who wanted a higher salary and a greater role in the business. This indirect motive seems barely enough to warrant a murder, but a jury found it enough to convict Armand along with supporting evidence (gun, handcuffs, and shells). Speculation was that there were deeper motives involving gambling and the mob, but the specifics were never proven.

Shortly after this murder, the Hawaiian Garden underwent a name change to "South Sea Restaurant and Motel" and Wing Chin moved to Texas where he lived out the remainder of his life.

This Chinese Restaurant was located directly across from the Kuo Wah Restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Like Kuo Wah, Imperial Palace had its own cocktail mugs, many of which were patterned after ancient Chinese serving vessels.

The Imperial Palace was in this location up through at least the mid 90s. At some point thereafter, they moved around the corner to 818 Washington St., where they are still located as of 2021.

An episode of Season 4 of Beverly Hills 90210 was shot inside the old location, called "Emily" (a.k.a. The Pink Pearl).

Chin Mon Wah (Young family patriarch) and his childhood friend, Chin Kwok Yen, purchased the building in the late 30s. Prior to placing a restaurant in this location it had at the ground floor a photo studio at 942 and stores at 946-950 Grant Avenue with the remaining two floors above being the Gum Mon Hotel.

At this time they remodeled the building to house the Kuo Wah Cafe at 942 Grant Ave which served American Style food and 946-950 to serve Chinese food. The Lions Den Nightclub was in the basement and its entrance was at 942. This is where the bar was located at that time. The Lions Den had shows featuring Chinese performers that would sing, dance and tell jokes just like all the mainstream nightclubs of the era. The Gum Mon Hotel still remained. Sometime after WW II, in the mid to late 1950s, the Lions Den Nightclub ceased to exist due to the changing times and became a dining room. Its bar was relocated from the basement to the main floor location of the Cafe which served American food. Many politicians, heads of state and other dignitaries were hosted.

In the early 60s, Chin Mon Wah's son, Andy Young, had by that time became general manager, and again undertook major construction. The Lions Den basement, main floor Kuo Wah Cafe and second floor hotel rooms were remodeled into a single restaurant called the Kuo Wah Restaurant instead of "cafe". A new bar was built in the basement, the kitchen was relocated from the main floor to the basement. A second remodel of the existing bar took place and the 2nd floor hotel rooms were cleared to make way for a 300+ person dining room. An outdoor courtyard was created at the front entrance of the building so that diners could sit out on nice days to eat or have cocktails.

Upstairs, they had a burlesque dance review based on a number out of the hit play (1958) and film (1961), Flower Drum Song. In the film, “Fan Tan Fannie” was performed by the strip-teasing female comic lead, Linda Low, played in the film by sex symbol Nancy Kwan. Their postcards advertised the dancing girls doing 3 shows a night along with "togetherness dancing" whatever that meant...

Between 65' and 68' there was a nightclub in the basement called The Drag'on A' Go-Go, which featured local bands. This is when they started to offer free tiki mugs with any of their exotic Polynesian cocktails. These mugs were exclusively from Otagiri Manufacturing Co. This continued until 1975 at which time they sold the restaurant to investors who rebuilt once again to make a Hong Kong style dim sum eatery. At this time the restaurant was still called Kuo Wah.

Since then the restaurant changed hands at least two more times. Its name for 20 years or so was Grand Palace.

Then, in 2021, owners with a love of history decided to bring back a version of The Lion's Den Club as the new Lion's Den Lounge and Bar. The address for this newer club is 57 Wentworth Pl, San Francisco, CA 94108, but it occupies the same footprint as the old club and honors its style and memory.

Inside Passage opened on June 25th, 2021 after a long delay because of the COVID pandemic.

It is owned by Pike Street Hospitality Group (the group behind Rumba, Agua Verde Café, and Tango Restaurant).

You enter by going through Rumba.

The interior was designed by Notch Gonzalez — and is more nautical than "tiki" in nature -- mixing tropical aesthetics (thatching, lighting, drink mugs) with Pacific Northwest seafaring history (including the name). That’s reflected in the rubber-and-foam octopus (which the bar nicknamed Kiki), as well as rustic wood accents throughout that recall an old ship.

Initially, the owners of the bar very pointedly tackled the concept of "tiki" on their website (in a section entitled "The Tiki Thing" which has subsequently been removed) and declared that they were not a tiki bar but an "immersion bar". They have tried to resist using any depictions of tikis, weapons, or sexualized native wahines (but topless mermaids and ship figureheads are nautical and okay apparently).

Despite this, if you are a fan of tiki bars, you will probably find much of their decor and their cocktail menu VERY familiar...

Originally built in 1953 as a meager 40-room roadside lodge, Town and Country is now a bustling, full-service resort with a nostalgic and playful celebration of its mid-century roots.

It is located 5 miles from the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park.

The Tiki Hut (aka Tiki Pavilion, Tiki Room) is an event space built on the grounds. The octagonal shake-covered building was designed by Hendrick and Mock (also designers of the Islands Restaurant and Hanalei Hotel -- at the site of the current San Diego Crowne Plaza) as part of a 1962 expansion project that brought 80 more rooms to the hotel complex. The pavilion was topped with a William Westenhaver Witco Mainlander carving named “Riki Tiki.”

On special occasions, Tiki torch flames or fireworks would be set off from his head. Riki caught fire a couple of times even though he was protected from the flames via a sheetmetal dulì (Chinese farmer’s hat).

San Diego Fire Department officials soon put a stop to that, and Riki Tiki was relocated to good ol’ terra firma. The pavilion and Riki Tiki have survived under various names to this day.

Starting in 2021, the Town and Country became host to the growing Tiki Oasis event, previously hosted at the Palm Springs Caliente Tropics (2001-2005), then at the San Diego Crowne Plaza (2006-2019), and briefly at San Diego's Paradise Point (2020).

Just a stone's throw from Hollywood is Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, which opened in 1906. It is the final resting place for hundreds of celebrities from Walt Disney to Sammy Davis Jr to Sunny Sund (wife of Don the Beachcomber). The sprawling cemetery is also home to "Henry", a thirty-one inch Moai head from Easter Island. Although the figure hasn't been authenticated, it was obtained in 1954 by park founder Dr. Hubert Eaton who affectionately named it after his friend Henry Wendt. On a trip to Easter Island, so the story goes, Wendt and Eaton received the head in a legal transaction between Rapanui fishermen who were using it as ballast for a boat.

The In Search of Tiki exhibition was held at the Forest Lawn Glendale Museum from August 8th, 2009 to January 4th, 2010. The show was curated by Doug Nason and Jeff Fox, and featured traditional oceanic art, Polynesian pop, and modern Tiki art. The group exhibition included Josh Agle (SHAG) whose original acrylic on board painting In Search of Tiki was used as the name and advertising print for the show. Henry the Moai is portrayed on the far right of the painting.

Les Valentine's large Holo Wai Miniature golf course (next to Holy Family Cathedral) lasted from sometime in the 1960s until the late 1970s or early 1980s. It was apparently wiped out to make room for a freeway exchange.

Adjacent to Holo Wai was the A-frame Chinese restaurant, Kim's, at 574 South Glassell. Both Kim's and Holo Wai appear together in early advertising on matchbooks and other ads. Kim's apparently was re-christened as Yen Ching's in 1979 and stayed in business until New Year's Eve 2018. The restaurant was bought by a national senior living company that plans on tearing the restaurant down and building a 35-room permanent memory care facility.

Burnt Ends opened in March 2021, above the Dr. BBQ Restaurant, located in the EDGE District of St. Petersburg.

Frank Simontics, known as the Tiki Rancher, was called on to blend classic tiki design with Dr. BBQ’s smokehouse roots in the second-floor bar. Design elements included charred end cuts of wood with red backlighting, and simulating glowing embers. There was also a thatch and bamboo awning and an 8-foot moai-like figure of Ray “Dr. BBQ” Lampe greeting guests at street level.

Closed December 2022. Though quite popular, the restaurant was only leasing the space and the owners were offered a deal to sell the property which they could not turn down.

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.

David Tallichet's Ports O' Call Restaurant, housed in a Polynesian longhouse and surrounded by a forest of tropical foliage in pure Adventureland tradition, opened February 8th, 1961 and proved an immediate success. A lagoon at the entrance, ringed jungle-thick with tropical plants, had a Chinese sampan boat partially sunken in it. Rooms inside were themed to Hawaii (Waikiki), Tahiti, the Hong Kong Yacht Club and a Japanese "Tea Room" - a concept lifted wholesale from Steve Crane's Kon-Tiki Ports chain in Hiltons across the country.

The restaurant sat in the larger Ports O' Call Village -- a seaside plaza that featured souvenir and gift shops, along with restaurants, sweetshops, fish markets and quick-bite eateries. This New England-style seaside village encompassed 15 acres of shops, restaurants and attractions. A meandering promenade of cobblestone streets connects the specialty shops.

More than 40 surrounding merchants were in place when the entire complex held its grand opening on July 13, 1963. When the Whaler’s Wharf section, south of the restaurant, opened in 1967, there were 85 businesses operating in Ports O’ Call Village.

The village drew a good number of people who passed through San Pedro to visit Marineland, a high-profile aquarium/theme park attraction next door, in Rancho Palos Verdes, that closed in February 1987.

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, village merchants began to complain about their leases and the upkeep.

By 1984 Tallichet was forced to make some changes and address concerns. The Ports O' Call Restaurant was given a new look and they added a second level with banquet facilities, although the Polynesian theme was done away with almost entirely. Described as "Nautical Victorian", photos of the place which survive online resemble more an 80s retirement home recreation room with bits of tropical decor here and there.

The refurbishments weren't enough and the village continued a slow decline over the years...

The Ports O' Call Restaurant hung on until 2018, when it was forced to close.

Currently, as of 2022, this area is scheduled to be re-developed and has been re-branded as West Harbor (with restaurants, shops, and fresh markets). The $155 million project is scheduled to complete in three phases, with the first phase introducing new restaurants, shops and bars with a finish date of 2024.

Opened February, 2020.

The interior is notable for two large moai statues on the way to the front bar where hanging basket lights provide a warm glow. Rattan seating throughout. At least a couple of different seating areas in back, including one with bright leaf print wallpaper in peach and tan beachy tones and another with a tiki fountain and blue-painted walls with a chandelier made from netting, a puffer fish, and glass fish floats.

The name Water Witch is an homage to the Navy’s USS Water Witch that was taken by the Confederates during the Civil War. Eventually, the Water Witch was burned to prevent recapture and still remains underwater off the Savannah coast.

The bar serves classic and original tiki cocktails and does have a small food menu also, including a pupu platter.