Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #136 Hidden Jungle Lounge – Arlington WA

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Hidden Jungle Lounge

The family that Tiki’s together, drinks Mai Tais together!

The Hidden Jungle Lounge is located in a little town about a solid hour north of Seattle called Arlington. Bill Gray, his wife Bridget and their son Max, have created what I’d to call a tiki bar on a pirate ship. When you first walk into the Hidden Jungle Lounge bar but if you go to the left and head down a couple stairs, you will enter a room that literally feels like the inside of a pirate ship!

Normally when it comes to tiki bars, you want to block the outside world from coming in, but in the Hidden Jungle Lounge there’s a giant open window that lets you look out into a beautiful deck with a fish pond and skeletons, what a combination! Here is the backstory of the Hidden Jungle Lounge told from Bill’s son, Max…

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #135 8Ball’s Grotto – Charleston WV

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8Ball’s Gr

The pirate, or should I say dead pirate that you will meet in Johnny Carter’s home Tiki bar is named 8Ball, named after what’s replaced one of his eyes. 8Ball’s Grotto is a cross between Tiki, Pirate and a little bit of Indiana Jones thrown in for good measure! 8Ball welcomes you into his Grotto, but will you make it out alive….

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #134 The Knotty Pono – San Diego CA

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The Knotty Pono

Knotty Pono, not Knotty Pine!

The name of Jessie and Shawn’s home tiki bar is called the Knotty Pono which is named after their home which is literally made from Knotty Pine. They had an extra room in the back of their home that was begging for a remodel, so they went to work on turning it into a tiki bar. First they found an old bamboo bar then they started to resurface the floor with cork tile, and proceeded to fill the space with more and more tiki artifacts. Here is the story of The Knotty Pine, I mean The Knotty Pono!

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #133 The Luna Lagoon – Santee CA

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The Luna Lagoon

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…

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #132 The Tiki Playground –  El Cajon CA

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The Tiki Playground

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!

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #131 Gecko’s Grotto – La Mesa CA

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Gecko's Grotto

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…

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #130 Lei Low Lounge – El Cajon CA

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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… 

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Looking for a Lost Paradise in Three Parts – Part 1 New York’s Lower East Side and East Village Bars by Stephen Curran

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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.

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Home Tiki Bar Spotlight #129 The Hula Hideaway – Chesterfield MI

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The Hula Hideaway

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!

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