2 Buses,
40 Tikiphiles,
5 Home tiki bars.
This is the Puget Sound Tiki Tour!
It’s always an honor to visit someone’s home tiki bar. You get to experience something that the general public doesn’t get to see. Some home tiki bars are actually better than the real ones! There’s actually quite a few home tiki bars hidden in garages, basements, and spare rooms scattered across the city of Seattle, and Debbie, Elicia, and Mark thought it would be a great idea to check some of these out!
Our tiki journey began at the … Northgate Mall? Well yes, we needed someplace safe to leave our cars as we toured around the Emerald City drinking tiki drinks. Drinking was allowed on the buses and bringing a sippy cup was encouraged!
At 11:00 AM sharp, we boarded the buses and headed out.
There was no time to waste and we had a long day ahead of us. We left the mall and headed West …
Home Tiki Bar Stop #1: Monkey Skull Voodoo Lounge
Our first stop wasn’t too far away. The Monkey Skull Voodoo Lounge is found in the basement of Peter Andrijeski’s home, located in North Seattle.
Every year Peter throws the mother of all tiki parties in his basement tiki bar and hundreds of people attend. It felt great to be able to hang out at the Monkey Skull Voodoo Lounge causally, without the place being filled up with people.
Home Tiki Bar Stop #2: Bamboozled Bungalow
The buses headed South, down to Tangletown, to visit Jeanie and Tom’s Bamboozled Bungalow.
Jeanie and Tom know how to throw a great party as well. The Bamboozled Bungalow has been ground zero for many over-the-top tiki parties for almost a decade. Drinks were served outside and inside.
It felt great chilling on the Frankl couch, but as they say, “The Show Must Go On!”
Home Tiki Bar Stop #3: The Dead Elvis Lounge
Located on a tree lined street on Capitol Hill, we entered the home of Marlow Harris and Jo David.
Marlow and Jo David’s home is truly stunning. Dark wood and fine art surround you and it feels like you’re in a church.
Marlow and Jo David are huge Elvis fans and decided to dedicate a room of their home to him. The Dead Elvis Lounge is their homage to The King and also to Tiki.
There is so much to see and it’s hard to stop turning around and around as something catches your attention out of the corner of your eye.
Home Tiki Bar Stop #4: The RongoRongo Room
A home tiki bar with a view!
We traveled South towards Elicia and Frank Tamburine’s home in Leschi. The bus might have made it down to their home, but it wouldn’t have made it back up, so we walked down. This tiki crew will do anything to enjoy a tiki drink, even walk down a steep hill!
I usually like my tiki bars dark, but The RongoRongo Room has a view of Lake Washington! Elicia and Frank’s home is filled with various tiki artifacts that they have been collecting over the years. I just took my place on the couch and took it all in! It was a lot harder walking up that hill than it was coming down!
Home Tiki Bar Stop #5: Li Po Lounge
Our last stop took us to Beacon Hill, and to The Li Po Lounge.
The Li Po lounge is hidden beneath Elizabeth and Andy’s home on Beacon Hill in their basement. The entire basement was converted into a bar! There were three rooms with three different themes and I honestly felt like I was in a real bar.
The Li Po Lounge felt like a bar that I would have hung out in back in the day!
The Puget Sound Tiki Tour was so much fun! Every home tiki bar is different and what I love the most is seeing each owner’s personality coming through. I’d like to thank all the owners of these incredible tiki escapes for opening up their homes and letting a handful of tiki people peek in!
I’d like to thank Travis for all the pictures used for this post.
Hey Ray
Where does one score tickets to this event? Will there be another one?
yes , please let us know when the next one is so i can pop down for it – what fun!