Tiki Bars
Hula's Island Grill & Tiki Room - Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California, United States
This is the second location of Hula's Island Grill & Tiki Room, the first being down the coast in nearby Monterey. This newer location, which opened in late 2006, goes even further with the tiki theme than the original spot. The owners got assistance with the decor from Bosko, 'Onatiki, Tiki Tony, Polynesiac, Oceanic Arts and Munktiki, and consulted with Forbidden Island's Martin Cate in developing the bar. The space is warm, lined with lauhala matting and filled with carvings, floats and tapa lamps.
Then, Hula's Modern Tiki opened in Phoenix (2009-2018) followed by Hula's Modern locations in Scottsdale (2014) and High Street (2020). The first Hula's Modern Tiki in Phoenix re-located on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018 to a new location on Seventh Street north of Camelback Road, less than a mile away from the original.
Tiki's Bar & Grill - Rotterdam
Centrum, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Tiki's Bar & Grill opened in summer 2006 in Rotterdam, in the South Holland province of the Netherlands. Tiki's is located just off of Witte de Withstraat, in the heart of Rotterdam. The space is lined with bamboo, tapa designs, rockwork, and tropical scenes, and thatch covers the bar area. There is a hula girl mosaic in the ladies' room. The music is an eclectic mix of oldies, Rockabilly, and '70s punk. The food is created by a cook from Malaysia, and tropical drinks are served.
Rummy's Polynesian House
Douglassville, Pennsylvania, United States (Closed)
Rummy's Polynesian House was located in Berks County. The menu from this Polynesian restaurant features imagery lifted from other restaurants, including the Kon Tiki, and the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The restaurant had tikis, a large fish tank, and plenty of bamboo and pufferfish lamps. The restaurant probably opened some time in the '60s (open at least as early as 1968), and closed in the early 1980s when its owner (Warren "Rummy" Steinle) passed away. The building was unused for a few years, later re-opening as a bar; today (as of 2024) it is a strip club called "Utopia Cabaret Diva's Gentleman's Club." Menus and matchbooks from Rummy's list its location as simply being on Route 422 in Monocacy; today's modern address for this spot is 395 Ben Franklin Highway in Douglassville. A menu also lists what appears to be a second location, in nearby Douglassville (so nearby that the "Monocacy" location today is in the now-grown Douglassville), on a nowhere-to-be-found Route 2.
Young's Cafeteria
Glen Dale, West Virginia, United States (Closed)
Young's Cafeteria, a longtime family restaurant, first opened in 1968 in Wheeling before moving locations twice, ending up at its final location along Wheeling Avenue in Glen Dale in 1976.
It had a back room that was tikified, with tikis, lauhala matting, lamps and bamboo.
It was in Glen Dale on the main road through town, adjacent to the town of Moundsville. Since it was a restaurant only, there were no tiki drinks to be had here -- at least, not any alcoholic ones.
Young's closed at the end of 2016.
Yue's Cantonese Restaurant
Gardena, California, United States (Closed)
Helen Yue and her husband (Cheeda) opened Yue's Cantonese Restaurant in Gardena in 1957.
This Chinese restaurant had a large tiki outside the entrance and a large vertical sign with bamboo details.
The Yues were entrepreneurs and later opened a Redondo Beach restaurant called Lahani Haloha (circa 1979-80) that sat on the International Boardwalk in an octagonal building with a Barney West tiki out front which was later moved to The Polynesian.
Helen and her husband sold Yue's Cantonese Restaurant and retired in 1983. Her husband passed in 2003.
The Yue's Cantonese Restaurant site, since at least 2019, is now home to the Grand Premier Banquet Hall - a banquet rental facility.
Raglan's Bistro
North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Opened in 1999.
Small neighborhood restaurant, with a sort of beach/surf theme (it's named for the famous surf spot in New Zealand).
Decorations include bamboo, tin roofs, images of tikis, and a carved Rastafarian head with a joint in his mouth. They pull from several islands for inspiration and have tropical drinks, but for those expecting a traditional tiki bar, they might want to look elsewhere.
Harvey's Top of the Wheel
Stateline, Nevada, United States (Closed)
This was the restaurant on the top floor of Harvey's Wagon Wheel Hotel and Casino, also known as Harvey's Lake Tahoe. The Top of the Wheel featured a Polynesian lounge with decor by Eli Hedley, and had a logo "Sneaky Tiki." Mugs from Harvey's are still quite easy to come by.
The lower floors of the casino were heavily damaged by a bombing in 1980, part of a failed extortion attempt. The Top of the Wheel closed sometime in the early-to-mid 1980s. Harvey's Lake Tahoe has since rebuilt, but there is no tiki bar there today.
Fry's Electronics - Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach, California, United States (Closed)
Fry's Electronics was an American big-box store and retailer of software, consumer electronics, household appliances and computer hardware. Fry's had in-store computer repair and custom computer building services. The company had a chain of superstores headquartered in Silicon Valley. Starting with one store located in Sunnyvale, California, the chain operated 34 stores in nine states by 2019, and as of June 2020 operated 31 stores. Most of the stores in the Fry's Electronics chain had themes. For example, the Burbank store which opened in 1995 carried a theme of 1950s and 1970s science fiction movies, and featured huge statues of popular characters such as the robot Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still and Darth Vader from the Star Wars movie series. The Woodland Hills store was Alice in Wonderland themed. This Manhattan Beach store was the only tiki themed store and featured a giant Moai head at the entrance to their theater in back, a koi pond outside with several weathered wooden tikis, and bamboo and tiki embellishments throughout the store and at checkout.
*Fry's Electronics abruptly shut down its 31 stores on February 24, 2021, citing the pandemic and changes to retailing.
Kelbo's - Pico - Los Angeles
Los Angeles (Pico), California, United States (Closed)
This Kelbo's was the first of two, built in 1947. Two men, Thomas Kelley and Jack Bouck, combined the first syllables of their last names and invented Kelbo’s, a small chain of Hawaiian barbecues whose food was not all that Hawaiian: burgers, barbecue meat sandwiches and some miscellaneous seafood. The concession to the islands was that every plate was garnished with a piece of pineapple and the fried shrimp was coated with coconut. They also served very sweet (but very good) barbecued ribs and had a menu of tropical drinks, some of which came flaming or served in a skull mug. Eli Hedley was the main designer and he was also responsible for the interior of other tropical-themed restaurants like Don the Beachcomber. Kelbo’s felt like a place that had been decorated in the thirties or forties and then no one changed anything. The second Kelbo's was on Fairfax in La Brea, opened in 1950 across from CBS Television City, and was later torn down. It was a popular hangout for crew members who worked across the street at CBS Television City in the fifties and sixties. This first Kelbo's was over on Pico at Exposition. After this Pico location was shuttered, the building was converted into a bikini bar called Fantasy Island for a time. Much of the Kelbo’s advertising art was done by Bob Hale who otherwise turned up on Los Angeles TV from time to time as a cartooning weatherman. (He was also active in Seattle where he owned a popular hobby shop that bore his name.) Hale’s drawings of a fat Hawaiian guy in native garb could be seen on Kelbo’s napkins and menus, and both of the outlets had huge Bob Hale murals on the outside.
Closed in 1994.
NOTE: Fourth photo is of Jack Bouck in aloha jacket. Seventh photo shows Sonny Heideman at bar. Last photo shows Tom Kelley on the right.
Billy's at the Beach
Newport Beach, California, United States
Billy's at the Beach started out as a somewhat generic Hawaiian/tropical restaurant, but has upped the tiki angle in recent years, adding more pieces from Oceanic Arts and hiring Bamboo Ben to make some improvements.
Jack's Cannery Bar
San Francisco, California, United States (Closed)
A short-lived tiki bar added to Jack's Cannery Bar, found in The Cannery at Fisherman's Wharf.
It appears a few orange-painted Tiki Bobs endured after the rest was removed...
Johnny's Tiki Hut
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States (Closed)
Opened in January 1962.
This restaurant, along with The Hawaiian in Salt Lake City, was owned by Johnny Quong.