Get Your Tiki On!
In 2022 Erika decided to start an Instagram page where she would post a new tiki drink every week for a year. Well, that changed Erika’s life! Pretty soon she was posting about everything tiki in her life. Fast forward to now and Erika’s Get Your Tiki On Instagram page has over two thousand followers. She knows a lot of Tikiphiles across the country and they know her!
Erika and Jeff originally decided to call their home tiki bar, Tiki Underground, but that name was taken, so they went with The Hula Hideaway since Erika used to be a dancer. You might have seen Erika’s videos on Instagram of her bar, but seeing The Hula Hideaway in person is truly incredible!
What is the tiki scene like where you live?
Erika- It’s really active and there are so many people that are just passionate about all aspects of tiki. This past week alone we had 4 events! Although we don’t have many commercial tiki bars, there are some of the most amazing home bars all over Metro Detroit. From the outside these are nice but normal looking houses, and you’d have no idea what’s inside!
What brought you into the tiki lifestyle and how long has it been part of your life?
Erika- I like to say we were tiki people waiting to happen. We went to the Mai Kai for our honeymoon in 1995. In the early 2000’s we discovered Tiki Ti and fell in love. But besides that, we were always into anything tropical, and if tiki had been a thing during the 90s and 00s (before the revival) we’d have been all over it! In 2022 I decided to start an Instagram page called Get Your Tiki On.
The plan was to post one new tiki drink a week for one year—but it turned into so much more. Next thing I knew I was posting about the events we attended, tiki artifacts in our bar, other home bars, and a few tropical food reels. I have met so many friends through Instagram with an interest in tiki or their own tiki bars. I now follow and am followed by thousands of tikiphiles, bartenders, and cocktail enthusiasts all over the world, which is so fun to me!
Can you give a little history of how it all came together?
Erika- In my 20s and 30s I was a Polynesian dancer that performed with groups all over the area at restaurants, house parties, country clubs, and senior homes. So of course, we made it a priority to visit the Mai Kai and see their incredible Polynesian show while on our honeymoon, which I think kind of lit the spark of our interest in tiki. Around 2010 Jeff built a home bar in our basement. It was more of the Florida tiki style: palm trees, parrots, Jimmy Buffett type beach bar feel.
Years later in 2022 we attended Tiki Inferno, a really fun event, where we met some passionate people who encouraged us to join Detroit Friends of Tiki. Once we did that, everything changed. We started transitioning our home bar to more traditional tiki, attending bazaars and events, and getting invited to amazing home bars all over the area. It’s been a blast, and we’ve made so many friends with common interests. We also have many artist friends through tiki, and if you look around, you’ll see a lot of their work in our bar.
Any story behind the name of your bar?
Erika- It took us a while to settle on a name. First, Jeff came up (on his own) with Tiki Underground, since our bar is in the basement. Then we discovered there’s already a well-known place in Ohio with that name! For a while, it was going to be Sunken Tiki. We finally settled on The Hula Hideaway, which is a nod to my dancing days, as well as the fact that it feels like a bit of an escape or hideaway. My sister, Lorelei, is a talented artist and made our sign and logo.
How far have you driven to buy something tiki that you saw online?
Erika- We haven’t gone as far as many people, but we once drove about 100 miles to buy two really cool Witco pieces for our wall called “Male and Female Dancer”. That was an exciting find and well worth the trip.
What is your favorite Tiki drink? What do you think makes the perfect cocktail? What is your favorite Tiki bar? Not including your own!
Erika- Jeff’s favorite tiki drink is the Painkiller. As for me, I am terrible with picking favorites when I love so many. It’s like trying to pick a favorite child, I just can’t do it! That said, I love any tiki cocktail with those classic flavors of lime, rum, and cinnamon. I love the cinnamon and spice flavors! When at home if I want something simple, I’m likely to mix up something like a Planter’s Punch or Donga punch. If I’m feeling ambitious I’ll make a drink with a lot of ingredients. And if I’m out and see a Rum Barrel or Puka Punch on the menu, that’s what I get!
The perfect cocktail is balanced with lots of complex flavors. I think we’ve gotten very spoiled with these tiki drinks. Before I “went tiki” I used to love a simple Malibu and coke. Now, I need more complexity than that!
As for favorite tiki bar, Jeff’s is the Tiki Ti in LA, where he will order the Ray’s Mistake. Me…surprise, surprise, I can’t really pick, ha! How do you compare the Mai Kai to Tiki Ti to Max’s, to Trader Vic’s and on and on…you see what I mean? They are all different but wonderful. Some have the full package including great food (such as Trader Vic’s) and others are more dive bars where you just hunker down and have some cocktails. But I will say, some of our best experiences have had to do with awesome bartenders! We love chatting with them, which is part of the reason we sometimes like going when a bar is not too crazy busy. And the drinks have to be good! Atmosphere, cocktails, people, music…it all has to come together. If one of those aspects is all wrong, it’s never quite perfect.
Outside of great drinks, what do you think are essential elements in creating the perfect Tiki environment?
Erika- Ideally it should be dim or dark, and mysterious. It needs to completely take you away from the outside world. There should be some kind of exotica or surf or Hawaiian music playing (depending on the vibe of the bar, or maybe retro cocktail lounge type music).
What does the future hold for you and your home tiki bar?
Erika- Just like all the other tiki people we meet, we are always on the hunt! I am always interested in fun little finds to bring home from an antique shop or estate sale, and especially interested in finding more vintage pieces, which are pretty hard to come by unless you want to spend a LOT of money! We look forward to hosting more future gatherings with our fellow tiki people.
Anything else you would like to add?
Erika-We both really hope the tiki scene stays vibrant and continues to grow, and that future generations will carry it on. It’s such a wonderful feeling of escapism, combined with creative, friendly people. You can’t be in a bad mood at a tiki bar: it’s impossible
Great article! Great bar! Great couple!