Post #217811 by Sabina on Mon, Feb 27, 2006 8:08 PM

This thread just made my heart sink. Our one night only visit to the Hale Tiki was one of our most magical modern Tiki visits.

Brad spent the time he could that evening lovingly sharing details of the artifacts, and talking story, and made a special point of helping us understand the history of the space itself and the ways in which parts of it were being preserved from the restaurant side to even taking us upstairs and showing us the secrets of the Hale. A gentleman and a beachcomber he surely was that evening!

We talked about Augusta, and his future visions of all he hoped to accomplish on the Hale. We talked well on into the night over finely crafted cocktails and for a brief shining moment, I saw all that a modern commercial Tiki place could be- the many hours of HARD work the TC build out crew had lovingly put into every details, the amazing contributed items, all of it- it just breaks my heart.

He spoke of how he had worked in the climate he was in to keep the liquor flowing, and about his loyal regulars. Perhaps I'm missing details here, after all, I only saw the one evening, but in Brad's post he said very specifically that the business end didn't seem to be the reason for the closing- that the reasons were personal, not business. Maybe there's some backstory on that, maybe it was doing fine economically, I won't speculate- I'd just point out that before we start a thread on 'another one bites the dust/all the reasons modern tiki isn't commercially viable' that's not the reason Brad gave for the closing.

As far as TC and Hale Tiki- was there internal politic between Brad and BK, yeah. And that too, is very sad. Me, I just try not to take sides in things I don't know anything about. Was there major resentment over the mug mess- yeah, clearly that did a lot to sour many TCers on the whole thing. Just getting that right might have gone a long way to make other TCers alot more supportive. The thing is, and again, I could be wrong here, he was really running a local bar- and didn't rely on national and international TC support for an ongoing nightly business- Augusta was just plain in a place off many TCers routes of travel. Could getting the mug thing right in the first place and TCers supportive from afar been helpful- probably, but I'm honestly not sure how much that ultimately affected this decision.

As one of the few TCers who actually saw it full swing, we were treated as royalty- Brad went WAY out of his way for us. I don't know about the experiences other TCer who made the pilgrimage had, but we at least had a one perfect evening. And the local crowd, (many of whom were younger folks who enjoyed the strong drinks) treated us to some 'tribal' drumming.

Say what anyone will, I can only go by what we firsthand experienced- and that was that Brad and Hale Tiki was the kind of place that quite literally shared their spare Tapa with us, and sent home napkins and stir sticks for the MD/DC Tiki Ohana, we were sent away with fine rum and a souvenirs. So a tiny part of Hale Tiki will live on at the Lounge of the Seven Pleasures and we very sadly mark the Hale Tiki's passing.

Thank you Brad the Beachcomber.

And thank you to all the TC Ohana who made Hale Tiki what it was.

It will be sorely missed.

For those who;d like to linger over the memories or 'visit' one last time, our full Hale Tiki Album lives here- http://www.sevenpleasures.org/gallery/Hale-Tiki