In this Part 2 of our New York City’s Lower East Side bar crawl, we visit a magical alley.
Continue reading “Looking for a Lost Paradise in Three Parts – Part 2 The Road to Paradise is Paved with Good Street Art – Freemans Alley by Stephen Curran”
Paige and Christian Luna both have a love for tiki and goth. Outside behind their home in Santee CA, you will find a little shack. It used to be a home office, now it’s the Luna Lagoon. The Luna Lagoon is named after their favorite Universal Monster movie, The Creature From The Black Lagoon and their last name, “Luna” which in Spanish means moon. Paige and Christian created a cozy spooky tiki goth bar that showcases their passions and it’s what makes The Luna Lagoon so special. Here is Paige and Christian’s story…
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #133 The Luna Lagoon – Santee CA”
I was pretty much born and raised into the tiki lifestyle…
When Kailani was growing up, she spent her summers on O’ahu where she learned Hula. She performed as a child and never stopped! Maybe you can see Kailani dance in the San Diego area or you can come to Kailani and Alan’s Tiki Playground. The Tiki Playground is an outside tiki bar that looks over an impressive view over El Cajon. Hanging on the walls are pictures of Kailani’s family and various tiki and Hawaiian items that Alan has found over the years. Kailani and Alan are very welcoming and The Tiki Playground might be one of the most relaxing home tiki bars I ever visited. Aloha!
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #132 The Tiki Playground – El Cajon CA”
Traveling to Hawaii is not cheap, especially if you have three kids!
So, what do you do? Well, Steve and Amy brought Hawaii to them and built a tiki bar in their home. After their kids moved out, they converted one of the empty rooms into Gecko’s Grotto. With the help of Buzzy, they built a home tiki that’s truly stunning at night or even during the day! Here is how the Gecko’s Grotto came to be…
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #131 Gecko’s Grotto – La Mesa CA”
Frank and Kathy are into many different things. Kathy likes to collect gumball machines (she has a lot!) while Frank loves music (he’s a drummer) and Star Trek. They both love Disney and they both love Tiki! Their home tiki bar is a place for Frank and Kathy to show off all the things they love. The name of their bar is Lei Low Lounge, it’s located in El Cajon and they pretty far out in the country so they don’t have many neighbors. This is a good thing because they built a stage right outside of their tiki bar and they have bands play regularly. There’s a lot going on at Frank and Kathy’s Lei Low Lounge and here is their story…
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #130 Lei Low Lounge – El Cajon CA”
For those of us of a certain age and a penchant for visiting New York, Manhattan’s Lower East Side conjures up a certain dirty, gritty, “real” New York. This wistful view of the good/bad-old-days is summed up in Anthony Bourdain’s season 12 episode 7 of his show “Parts Unknown” where he looks back on his druggie days in the Lower East Side — a look-back made more poignant because this was Bourdain’s last TV episode, airing after his 2018 suicide.
Continue reading “Looking for a Lost Paradise in Three Parts – Part 1 New York’s Lower East Side and East Village Bars by Stephen Curran”
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!
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #129 The Hula Hideaway – Chesterfield MI”
Do you know what’s better than reading about people’s tiki adventures? Watching those adventures on TV! Tiki Hunting is Cacalito and Monserrat’s YouTube show where they travel across the country visiting tiki bars. From their videos, you get an overview of what the bar looks like outside and inside, a wide sampling of the cocktails and a little history of the venue thrown in for good measure! I’m always blown away by the production quality and editing each video has and Cacalito and Monserrat’s chemistry is fun to watch. Keep an eye out for Tik Hunting because they might be coming to your city soon!
Continue reading “Tiki Vlogging #1 Tiki Hunting (Cacalito and Monserrat)”
Why did you move to Tucson? 350 days of sunshine!
I’ve known Kym back when she lived in Seattle. This was a couple years ago. And then Kym moved away, she moved to Tucson. I have to be honest, I really didn’t know that much about Tucson. I knew two things, It’s in the desert, and Kon Tiki is there. I finally made a trip down to Tucson and met up with Kym and she showed me her home. It’s perfect combination of Tiki, Atomic Age and Mid-Century Modern!
Kym was correct, there’s over 300 days of sunshine in Tucson and she has a tiki lanai in her back porch to enjoy all that sun, but during the summer, it gets hot, really hot, to the point where you just stay indoors. Kym’s got that covered, she has not one, but two bars in her home. And did I mention that her living room is tiki themed? Kym has a name for her home, it’s called Chiqui-Flamingo Casa and her is her story…
Continue reading “Home Sweet Tiki Home #8 Chiqui-Flamingo Casa – Tucson AZ”
Pakele Lounge means the Escape Lounge…
Tucson is a beautiful city but during the summer months it gets hot, really hot! What most people do is stay indoors to escape the heat. When Paula and Paul Gregg decided to build a tiki bar, they decided to build one inside. They took their fourth bedroom and converted it into the Pakele Lounge. Tiki Bars are all about escapism, sometimes its escaping the heat or life’s stresses but sometimes a home tiki bar is a place to go and relax and have a good time. Here is Paula and Paul’s story…
Continue reading “Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #128 Pakele Lounge – Tucson AZ”