This Trader Vic's was opened in the Caribe Hilton in 1961. It had a large A-frame entrance, with the front of the A-frame painted with rows of small, simple tropical-motif scenes, and an even larger, matching, swooping A-frame structure over a section of the restaurant that overlooked the ocean. The space is now called the Lemongrass Restaurant, and still has the larger, swooping A-frame structure.

Owned by local restaurant moguls “Jake” and “Mama Jo” Tavenner, the Kahlua Hut was operated by Bernie Atkins and Bob McGeehan from spring 1967 until 1973.

Located in a former ice cream shop at Riggs Road and East-West Highway (built in 1955), its décor was “that of a South Pacific hut—thatched roofs, hurricane lights, can-like fixtures and, at least once a week, a hula band.” It seated up to 140 patrons, leaving floor space for seven-nights-a-week dancing. The Kahlua Hut’s pan-Asian and “continental” cuisine was initially prepared by Chef Yee M. Kiang. The restaurant staff fielded a team of duckpin bowlers competitive locally and nationally.

Featured on its drinks menu was the “Kahlua Tiki Tumbler,” offered in such a mug: “an exotic mixture of the finest rums and passion fruits, gin and vermouth.” For $2.15 total, the mug was yours to take.

After 1973, this location became The Outrigger, presumably with the same Pop Polynesian theme intact.

Today, as of 2023, this original 1955 building is still intact and house three businesses (Dry Cleaners, Bakery, and Pizza Bolis).

Opened in 2006.

The Muse du Quai Branly (or, the Quai Branly Museum, for us English-types) is a museum dedicated to non-Western art, from Oceania, the Americas and Africa. The museum has a large, permanent collection of Oceanic art from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and more. The artifacts in this collection are traditional and not Polynesian Pop, but are an excellent example of the influences that Polynesian Pop grew out of.

From June 24-September 28, 2014, the museum held a special exhibition, "Tiki Pop," curated by Sven Kirsten, author of The Book of Tiki and Tiki Modern. Kirsten collected specimens of Polynesian Pop culture to tell the story of the rise, fall, and rebirth of American Polynesian idealism. The Mai Tai Room, was part of this exhibit -- a complete tiki bar that Cheeky Tiki installed and which featured a carved tiki by Jamie Wilson. The tiki is now currently residing with Sven Kirsten at his home bar in Silverlake, CA. To complement the exhibit, a companion book and documentary were also produced.

The museum is very near the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.

Vera's White Sands began in 1960 as a private club, White Sands Yacht Club, owned by Dr. Effrus Freeman and his wife, Vera, and opened on a small part of 800 acres of land they owned. As the years progressed and the area was developed, the once-private club was opened to the public, sometime in the '70s.

Vera's White Sands has varying seasonal hours, open more during the summer months, and slips are still available for rental. For many decades, the main attraction was Miss Vera herself (Dr. Freeman passed away in the '70s); the well-traveled woman added a touch of glamour and exotica to the proceedings, and played the perfect hostess to the guests. She passed away January 23, 2007, at the age of 93.

In 2006, Vera transferred ownership of Vera's White Sands to a new owner, who has removed most of the classic Polynesian Pop touches, in favor of a more Maryland Crab Shack or Jimmy Buffet-flavored tropical scene; the changes have been poorly received in the tiki community.

For all intents and purposes, Vera's White Sands Beach Club as tiki fans remember it is gone. The new restaurant may have "Vera's" in the title but that's about it -- there are a couple of cartoony tikis flanking the stage in back where they have live music and bikini contests. A few other details remain, but nothing like it was before.

Solomons Island Tiki Bar opened in 1980, and is a more 80s-style tiki bar -- it's open-air, heavy on the party, and light on the tiki. There have been more additions of tikiness starting in early 2006, and of particular note is the addition of many Bosko carvings and a couple of large moai. It's open seasonally, from April through October, and opening day is a major event, drawing up to 10,000 people.

The bar started as an addition to the Island Manor Hotel, by original owners John and Kathy Taylor.

New owner, Terry Clark, removed the hotel in 2005 to expand the bar into a restaurant, and to accommodate the Tiki Bar's massive weekend crowds; and Terry was responsible for the stronger emphasis on tiki. A small store was also added that sells t-shirts, sweatshirts and mass-produced modern tiki items.

On September 19th, 2018, Terry Clarke passed away suddenly at the age of 54. There was some confusion at that point as to whether someone would continue the bar, but it worked out with new owners.

A Howard County couple, Sarah and Peter Bates, purchased the bar for $2.4 million from Terry's widow.

Opened by William Chin and ran from 1961 to 1965.

Tiki Kai had a very large and dramatic A-frame entrance, flanked by Milan Guanko tikis.

The Tiki Kai was succeeded by a second tiki establishment, The Golden Lei, which was opened by local realtor Fred L. Fredericks and lasted a very short time.

By the late 60s there was an entirely different themed restaurant in its place.

The building was demolished to make way for a Pizza Hut in 1971 and from 2008 until most recently the location is being used as a medical office.

Ungawa was a small tiki bar in a small village on the Po river in the middle of northern Italy. It hosted live music, mainly rockabilly acts.

They opened in 2005 and closed in 2017.

This Trader Vic's location opened on December 31, 2006, and it was the first in China -- where one has to wonder if the famed Chinese ovens were advertised as such in this new location, and whether they had the same exotic impact.

The location was on a corner in the Jing'an district, at the heart of Shanghai. The entry of the location was flanked by two large Maori-inspired tikis, and the interior was light and airy, but did have an assortment of flotsam & jetsam hanging from the vaulted ceiling.

The location closed @ February 15th, 2008.

*NOTE: Their drink menu was a standard Trader Vic's style cocktail menu which has remained much the same since the 60s, but prices were listed in Chinese Yuan. Nowhere on the actual menu did it actually say "Shanghai, China" but it did have a list of all the international locations on the inside cover -- so was probably just the standard template for several international locations at the time.

The Trade Winds Tropical Lounge has been in its current location since 1964; it had been located at 1 Aviles Street from 1945 until it was moved to unearth the ruins of an early hospital on the site.

The bar houses some lovely paintings and murals of wahines, and has a non-functional Witco fountain. No tropical drinks are offered; they have hard liquor, but this is more of a beer bar.

This was the original Queen Anne location of Hula Hula, which re-opened in a new Capitol Hill location in April 2017. The tiki-kitsch bar and limited restaurant was located at the base of Queen Anne Hill near the Seattle Center. It opened in December 2006, and closed ten years later in March 2017, due to planned redevelopment of the site. Before becoming Hula Hula, this space was Watertown, and for many years before that, it was a nightclub called the Romper Room. Hula Hula was managed by the same group that owned the neighboring martini bar, Tini Bigs, which also closed.

Hula Hula served tropical cocktails and a short menu of pupus. The drink menu was filled with the expected names, like the Mai Tai, Zombie, Navy Grog and Shark's Tooth, but the recipes seemed to have little relationship to the names (the Navy Grog, for instance, had pineapple juice). The walls and ceiling were lined with lauhala and bamboo, and some of the seating was in poolside-style lounge chairs. Karaoke happened nightly.

This tiki bar in South London's Clapham Junction, with decor by Cheekytiki, opened in 2007. It has an impressive amount of decor, including an A-frame style entrance, plenty of tiki carvings, a cave-like area, ceilings covered in netting and glass fish floats, and a series of individual huts with booths for patrons.

Aku Aku was a "Polynesian Room" located in the Town House Motel, and hosted major acts between its opening in 1960 and its closure in 1970. Performers included Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Duke Ellington, Henny Youngman, and Phyllis Diller. The Glen Covington Trio was the house band in the early 1960s. The club was owned by Irving "Slick" Shapiro, a bookmaker with a number of arrests under his belt by the time the Aku-Aku opened. The club was popular with both city leaders and the mob.

While the Aku Aku has an impressive history, and some stunning use of tiki iconography in its menu and advertising, the room itself was actually streamlined modern, and not the themed, immersive faux paradise more commonly aspired to in the '60s.