Indianapolis

Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #109 The Kraken Lounge – Angola IN

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All dressed up and no place to go…

I’ve been to Indiana many times. I’ve literally driven through the entire state from east to west and back again, mostly to go to Indianapolis to visit my tiki friends and visit The Inferno Room. Paula Kasun lives in Angola which is located in NE Indiana almost to the very top corner of the state. Needless to say, if Paula wants to Tiki, she has a long drive ahead of her. It’s about a three-hour drive to The Inferno Room! As they say, if you can’t get to the tiki, you bring the tiki to you. (I just made that up) and that’s exactly what Paula did. Paula built her own tiki bar in her basement. It’s called The Kraken Lounge and here’s Paula’s story…

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Knobby’s Mai Tai Restaurant – A History In Bits And Pieces Compiled By Bob Cripe

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There have been many tiki bars/restaurants that have come and gone over the years. Sometimes the building is demolished and something new is built, sometimes the building gets “repurposed” and becomes another business entirely, or the building is just abandoned and left to rot away. Sadly, when a tiki bar is gone, it’s gone for good and all that is left is the memories of the patrons who were lucky enough to go when the bar was still open …

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #72 Area151 – Indianapolis IN

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Question: If you were really into UFOs and Sci-Fi and you also happened to love tiki, what would you name your home tiki bar?

Answer: Area151!

No one knows for sure what exactly is going on inside Area 51. Could there be top secret vehicles, weapons or planes? Is the government hiding aliens from us? Maybe there’s nothing at Area 51, but I can safely tell you that there’s a whole lot of tiki going on at Area151!

Area151 started as Dan and Donetta Huffman’s backyard deck but with a little help from their in-laws the deck quickly became a whole lot more! Area151 is a very tall A-frame tiki bar that looks like something right out of a movie set. There are a bunch of signs pointing to various far away tiki destinations, but once you step foot inside Area151 and take a seat at the bar, you won’t want to go anywhere!

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #64 Trader Ric’s – Indianapolis IN

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Indianapolis doesn’t have a Trader Vic’s, but it does have a Trader Ric’s!

The basement in the MCM home of Matt McElfresh and Ric Mills used to be their EBay warehouse, until they acquired “the mural”. This beautiful mural originally hung in the men’s bar at the historic Claypool Hotel and it was the inspiration for Matt and Ric to build their home tiki bar. Matt named the bar after Ric, calling it Trader Ric’s, and the rest is history! Here is Matt and Ric’s story …

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #30 Mai Tiki Bar Indianapolis, IN

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Mai Tiki Bar

The Tiki scene in Indianapolis is alive and well in Bob Cripe’s basement. Hidden downstairs in Bob’s home is the Mai Tiki Bar and it’s truly impressive. Bob has been in construction for over twenty years and his skills are shown in the craftsmanship of this hidden Tiki escape. I’ll let Bob tell you his story…

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