Tiki Bars
Aloha Beautiful
Orlando, Florida, United States
Aloha Beautiful, in downtown Orlando, did a soft opening March 17th, 2021 and a full opening on March 18th-20th, 2021.
The space was formerly inhabited by Joysticks Arcade Lounge and traces of the arcade remain with a monopoly top bar and a few pinball games.
The bar has tons of room and a free-flowing eclectic nature with various areas for patrons, including a full karaoke stage, the main bar, several lounge areas with couches and rattan chairs, and private VIP Karaoke rooms.
Though not a traditional tiki bar, there are lots of tiki elements, including a 6' tall fiberglass Ku Tiki with glowing red eyes, rattan, fish floats and netting on the ceiling, and shrunken heads hanging over the bar.
Castaways Cove Restaurant and Tiki Bar
Breckenridge, Colorado, United States
Opened November 15th, 2020.
Castaways Cove is located in the basement of River Mountain Lodge, and replaced the old Tiki Mana bar.
Owners Michael Beseda and Justin Guadagnoli, longtime Summit County locals, aspire to a cocktail bar that will be “representing the golden era of tiki” in the 1950s, according to Beseda, with 30 types of rum.
Tahiti Motel - Miami Beach
Miami Beach, Florida, United States (Closed)
Judging by postcards, this motel was built in the 1940s-50s.
Advertising from its later years boasted: "King Size Rooms & Kitchenette Efficiencies - Completely Air Conditioned & Heated - 'Tiki' Coffee Shop - Recreation Room - Heated Fresh Water Swimming Pool - Shuffleboard - 200 Feet Private Beach - Free TV - Free parking at your Door - Open All Year."
It began with a relatively simple facade and pastel/pink color scheme. Later, they went full "Tiki" with several masks out front and the "Tiki Coffee Shop."
This building was torn down to make way for Jade Signature Condos in 2018.
Mothership
San Diego, California, United States
Opened August 2nd, 2022.
Mothership is a sci-fi tropical themed bar in San Diego, CA that is a partnership between the owner of Kindred and CH Projects (False Idol, Polite Provisions, Raised By Wolves and more).
Designed by Ignacio “Notch” Gonzalez, Mothership imagines a restaurant and cocktail lounge build from the ruins of a crash landed ship on a tropical alien planet.
From the Mothership website:
"The Ancient Astronaut Shuttle Crew, aboard the A.A.S.C. MOTHERSHIP, boldly explores the darkest, furthest edges of the tropical-flavor galaxy. Cosmic rays blast from a solar flare and blow the MOTHERSHIP’s electronics into disarray. The psycho-space marauders are left with no option but to execute emergency landing protocols on the nearest planet. Off-board, the tight-knit Crew explores the lush surroundings. They discover no sentient life, but unexplainable events occur and a lurking presence is felt. The mysterious, uncharted ecosystem has few resources to repair the ship -- but ample plant life and curious, intoxicating spirits. In time, the Crew accepts that they are marooned in a sinister, fertile paradise. They establish a colony and fashion the ship into a base camp, including quarters of leisure. Together, the fearless crew members commit to adventurous coexistence with the natural life of the planet, not in desperate peril, but on a ...PERMANENT VACATION."
Royal Hawaiian - Anaheim
Anaheim, California, United States (Closed)
This was the sister location built in the late 1950s after the first location in Laguna Beach was already thriving.
The plans were announced publicly in the Santa Ana Register on January 16th, 1957.
It was located on South Los Angeles Street and Ball Road in Anaheim, which is now re-named Anaheim Boulevard. It was a converted home previously known as the Flynn Residence.
Plans were stated to include 5 acres of tropical gardens, swimming pool, luau parties, ukulele parties, aquaria with tropical fish, and Hawaiian and Cantonese foods.
Today, this location is occupied by the Anaheim Global Medical Center.
Hotel Tahiti
Fa'a'ā, French Polynesia (Closed)
Once the residence of Princess Pomare, daughter of the last King of Tahiti.
Hotel Tahiti was celebrated as the largest hotel in French Polynesia at the time it was built in 1960. The double bungalows provided 18 deluxe suites and two 2-story plantation type buildings, each with 24 veranda suites, provided a total of 66 units on 53 acres bordering a blue lagoon 1 mile from the capital, Papeete. The interior of the original Hotel Tahiti's cocktail lounge bar had many floor-to ceiling tiki poles, a wood canoe hanging from the ceiling, and a thatch roof over the bar with lots of bamboo and other decorations familiar to fans of Mid-Century Poly Pop. This hotel was demolished in 1997.
Some key dates in the property timeline:
May 1960, Inauguration of the Hotel Tahiti, owned by Spencer F. Weaver (of SpenceCliff Corporation, who did so much building in Hawaii especially)
1997, Demolition of Hotel Tahiti
July 1999, Opening of Outrigger Hotel, owned by Mr. and Ms. Wane
2000, Outrigger becomes Sheraton Hotel Tahiti
2009, Sheraton becomes Hilton Tahiti
July 2010, Closing of Hilton Tahiti
November 2021, Grand Opening of Hilton Tahiti Resort
Today, the Hotel Tahiti site is home to a luxury resort, just opened in 2021 by Hilton. Hilton’s extensive renovations have transformed the property, with an emphasis on open-air public spaces, natural light and ocean views. Design details feature light woods, a neutral color palette and a modern take on island-inspired decor. The re-imagined property offers 200 rooms, a boutique spa, the largest pool in Tahiti and three dining venues. Additional new features include cabanas and a poolside restaurant with views of Moorea Island. The hotel has two bars: the Heiva Lounge in the open-air lobby, offering spectacular ocean views and a bespoke collection of wine; and the Vaipuna poolside bar that offers unique, tropical libations as well as traditional cocktails. There are a few tikis on the grounds and some generic mugs used at the bars, but, Hilton, as one would expect, is more interested in offering a luxury resort experience than catering to Mid-Century Poly Pop fans.
Quinn's Tahitian Hut
Papeete, French Polynesia (Closed)
Opened in 1933, founded by an American from San Francisco named Robert. E. Quinn.
It was originally an ice cream parlor located on the Quai du commerce facing the harbor, but later became a notorious bar.
Considered pre-tiki, although it did have tiki poles on the front entrance which can be observed in some photos.
From 1941-1952, Eddie Lund, the musician and composer was manager, before Marcelle Quinn and Bouzou Frogier (both well-known musicians) regained control.
For legions of visitors, Quinn’s was Tahiti. It was the watering hole of dope heads and derelicts, French sailors, French Legionnaires, runaway husbands and shiploads and jet-loads of travelers who came to see where the action was. Beer bottles were heaved by its habitues: Susie No Pants, Vili Vala and dozens of other colorful characters. Without question, Quinn’s was the dirtiest, stinkiest, most shameful and beloved bar in all of French Polynesia. Paint peeling off the ceiling fell into the customers’ drinks. Nothing was ever repaired. Whatever broke was tossed out--or ignored altogether.
Quinn’s roared night and day. It was a bamboo jungle, a habit, a drug, a curse, with the most wicked reputation in French Polynesia. Fights broke out regularly. Women battled women--biting, clawing, scratching, cursing. The band played on while tourists crouched at ringside tables or watched from the relative safety of booths in the background. It wasn’t merely the fighting or the marathon drinking that gave Quinn’s its reputation. There was the communal rest- room, a boy-girl facility that was separated from the bar by a flimsy piece of cloth. More than one unsuspecting vahine ran out screaming after having had the wits scared out of her by some big, happy-go-lucky Tahitian who stumbled in, flashing a broad grin.
Quinn’s regulars would fill the pages of an X-rated novel. The place didn’t have a thread of a conscience. It was a grimy, crowded waterfront joint, permeated by the odors of stale beer and disinfectant, too much cigarette smoke and too little fresh air.
As the most notorious bar in French Polynesia, Quinn's was where the painter Leeteg belted one too many one night, then climbed aboard his moped and spun off on a trip to eternity, colliding head-on with a tree.
When they tore down Quinn's it was like disassembling the Eiffel Tower. Or uprooting the cable cars in San Francisco. Quinn's was a tourist attraction, an institution, the watering hole of Tahitians and tourists, French sailors and foreign legionnaires.
Nearly every tourist who ever set foot in Papeete rushed headlong to Quinn's to kick back and join the wicked who made Quinn's their home base. Well, the timorous did a detour, maybe, but the adventurous were fascinated with the motley crowd that kept the cash register ringing.
Without a doubt, Quinn's was the most shameful bar in the entire Pacific.
It closed in 1973.
*NOTE: Not to be confused with a later Quinn's at the Sheraton Hotel Tahiti (2000-2009) that was much more civilized and upscale. The Sheraton Hotel Tahiti was first opened in 1960 as the Hotel Tahiti, then completely demolished in 1997 and rebuilt in July 1999 with Polynesian-style architecture, including thatched roofs. This would probably have been when they added their "Quinn's" sign and changed the name of their bar to capitalize on the mystique of the original Quinn's bar. This second Quinn's is also now long gone. Today, as of 2021, Hilton has turned this location into a totally newly imagined resort.
China Paradise
Wayne, New Jersey, United States (Closed)
Opened in 1968.
This location looks to have undergone a major "renovation" in the 80s or 90s that stripped it of much of its Tiki/Pop Polynesian flavor.
While the rattan chairs, some masks in one room, and at least a couple standing tikis remained, the white and pastel paint job along with the glass block host entrance and other touches transformed this into a bland and generic Chinese restaurant for the most part.
Despite this, they continued using their original branded ceramic OMC drink ware right up to the very end, with coconuts, rum barrels, and surfer girl mugs that they refused to sell to collectors, but kept in steady rotation.
Closed on Sunday, January 31st, 2016.
This space is now home to a Maggie's Town Tavern location.
Hawaii Moon
Lodi, New Jersey, United States (Closed)
Hawaii Moon opened in 1972 on Route 46, Lodi, New Jersey, 1 mile west of Teterboro Airport.
Owned by Wah Seid (last photo in front of painted exterior tiki logo mural).
Known for its 40 foot volcanic waterfall (which, judging by the photos was being measured length-wise), tropical drinks, and Hawaiian dance reviews.
This location lasted at least into the 1980s.
Lotus Lounge - at Soji Modern Asian
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Soji opened July, 2018 and Lotus Lounge opened April 16th, 2022.
Before opening Lotus Lounge, Soji had regular tiki nights and tiki-themed events, but finally decided to make a dedicated bar area that was specifically tiki-themed.
When bar-goers come to Lotus Lounge, they have the option to drink at the bar, a table in the lounge or a larger VIP table seating eight to 10 people.
The ceiling is covered in lauhala matting and illuminated by a long panel of blue lights, Bosko masks decorate the wall next to the booths, and a wall across from the bar is covered with fake tropical foliage and a "LL" monogram in neon. Large paintings of wahines in a tropical setting flank either side of the bar which hosts an impressive array of rums.
The cocktail menu has several classic and original cocktails and they have a rotating menu of plates from the regular Soji kitchen next door.
Pete's Tiki Tiki
Rosemont, Illinois, United States
Opened Sunday, May 29th, 2022.
Located in Rosemont’s Parkway Bank Park entertainment district, Pete’s Tiki Tiki is the latest addition to the Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar family.
Pete's boasts 30 varieties of rum and more than 50 colorful cocktails, including the classic Tiki options, like the Mai Tai, the Zombie and the Jungle Bird.
Pete’s Tiki Tiki is open seven days a week starting at 5 p.m. and is located at 5510 Park Place Blvd, next to Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar.
In addition to seating for 50 indoors, Pete’s Tiki Tiki also features an outdoor patio under a thatched roof with additional seating for up to 200.
*NOTE: The large tiki outside previously graced the Kona Kai at the Chicago O'Hare Marriot. It is a surviving Ed Crissman carving purchased through Oceanic Arts and dwelled for a time in the collection of Duke and Amy Carter.
Oriental Garden
Haverhill, Massachusetts, United States
This is one of those cases where a site is not closed or fallen into disrepair, but for the interested tikiphile, there's not much here worth checking out.
Oriental Gardens is a typical Chinese restaurant today but at one time it was adorned with tikis, thatched roofs and authentic looking decor.
The only thing apparently left from its tiki heyday is the rock pond/fountain as seen below in vintage photos...and a lengthy tropical cocktail menu still in effect.
It's located in a strip mall, has a small lounge and a decent size dining area. It looks as though it was remodeled around 2000 or so and doesn't really show any signs of neglect. If you are looking for a decent Chinese restaurant or tropical beverage and are in the area, it could be worth a look, but don't expect to see any tiki decor.
*NOTE: Cocktail menu is current as of 2022.