Tiki Bars

Tiki Bar Review #20 Lee’s Hawaiian Islander Lyndhurst, NJ

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Lee's Hawaiian Islander

Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

It’s a city that’s a 45-minute train ride from downtown Manhattan. It has no claim to fame and I can’t see anyone needing to or wanting to go there—unless you happen to be my buddy Matt who lives there.

I was in Pennsylvania visiting my parents and long story short, I missed my connecting flight that would get me back to Seattle. I asked the man at the flight desk what my options were. He said I could come back the next day and fly out at 5:00 AM (no, I wasn’t doing that!) or I could fly down to Newark right then and fly out from there the next morning at 8:00 (okay, that’s much better). So that’s what I did.

Matt picked me up at the Newark airport and started heading back to his place. “Are you hungry?” Matt asked. “If so, there’s someplace you need to see.”

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Tiki Bar Review #18 Tiki No North Hollywood, CA

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Tiki No
Tiki No

The San Fernando Valley has many names. Some people refer to it as “the Valley.” Others may call it “North Hollywood.” The “No” in Tiki No is a reference to North Hollywood. The Valley has the oldest Tiki bar in So-Cal, which is the Tonga Hut. Now the Valley has the newest one with Tiki No. Visiting two great Tiki bars is totally worth the trip to North Hollywood!

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Tiki Bar Review #17 Tonga Hut North Hollywood, CA

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The Tonga Hut North Hollywood
The Tonga Hut North Hollywood

The Tonga Hut is a Tiki bar that turned into a dive bar, then turned into a Tiki bar again. It’s the oldest Tiki bar in Los Angeles, opening for business in 1958. Tiki was very popular back in the ’50s, but by the time the late ’60s rolled around, people had moved on to other things like polyester pants and underpowered automobiles.

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Tiki Bar Review #15 Tiki Ti Los Angeles. CA

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Tiki Ti
Tiki Ti

I have a guilty pleasure: Kodachrome pictures!

Time machines haven’t been built yet, so the closest you can get to going back in time is looking at old pictures. Sadly, most pictures were taken in boring black and white back in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. Usually the film was cheap and those pictures have faded away anyway. Kodachrome pictures are different. They look vibrant, colorful, and alive. These pictures really are the closest you can get to seeing what the past was like. Or maybe there is another way to experience the past:

By tasting it!

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Tiki Bar Review #14 Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar Anaheim, CA

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Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar
Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar

One of my favorite things to ask people is, “What got you into Tiki?” For some people, their first step was going to a Tiki bar for the first time. Another thing people tell me is a trip to Hawaii or someplace tropical got them interested in living the Tiki lifestyle. There is one last reason that is quite common, especially out on the West Coast, and that is Disneyland!

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Tiki Bar Review #13 The Golden Tiki Las Vegas, NV

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The Golden Tiki menu
The Golden Tiki menu

It’s all about escapism. It really is.

We all work hard and we all get into our own routines. One day turns into the next and before you know it you’re a decade older. Sometimes being able to escape from your day-to-day life and pretend you’re somewhere else is not only fun, but I think needed! Besides Disney, no place does escapism better than Las Vegas, NV.

Just walk down the Las Vegas Strip and choose your own adventure. Want to stay in a medieval castle? Want to be whisked away to Paris? How about New York City? Or even spend a weekend in a pyramid? You can do all these things and after a couple drinks, you’ll forget that you’re in the middle of the desert!

Yes, the people who design the hotels in Las Vegas have escapism down to a science. If you run a Tiki bar there, you have to up your game! Branden Powers, the owner of the Golden Tiki, rose up to the Las Vegas escapism challenge and came back with a full house! The Golden Tiki is awesome!

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Tiki Bar Review #12 Frankie’s Tiki Room Las Vegas, NV

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Frankie's Tiki Room Las Vegas
Frankie’s Tiki Room Las Vegas

The punk rock/Tiki connection is alive and well with Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas, NV. If you’re a touring punk rock band, you’re well aware of the Double Down Saloon, which is “the” place to play in Vegas. Punk shows at the Double Down are legendary and the man behind such a cool place is P. Moss. P. Moss got together with Chris Andrasfay and bought Frankie’s, an old Vegas bar that only locals knew about, and made it what it is today: an incredible Tiki bar!

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May The Fourth Be Tiki at Rumba Seattle 5/4/16

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Chewbacca and a Tiki Drink at Rumba
Chewbacca and a Tiki Drink at Rumba

If you didn’t already know, the sci-fi fans of the world have proclaimed May 4th to be May the Fourth Be With You Day, celebrating the coolest movie ever: Star Wars!

I grew up with Star Wars and it is indeed my favorite movie of all time. I still have all my action figures from back when I was a kid! With the release of The Force Awakens, Star Wars might be bigger than ever!

May 4th landed on a Wednesday this year and every Wednesday is Tiki Night at Rumba. Rumba had a great idea: combine Star Wars and Tiki! A special menu was created that had Star Wars and Tiki themed drinks. Here were some of drinks…

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