Kona Club, Oakland, CA (bar) - Locating Tiki

D DuckTiki Member Joined: Mar 04, 2006 Posts: 1	D DuckTiki Posted posted on Sat, Mar 4, 2006 3:35 PM Aloha From Doug at the Kona Club, I have not looked at the tiki forums since I opened up but I had a quiet moment and Bruce Woodbury sent me an email to get a sign a link to this forum. Thanks for all the attention about the Kona Club, but let me tell a little bit about it. I wanted to open a Tiki bar for the longest time. I have held a mystical image of the perfect Tiki bar since childhood. I have been to a lot of Tiki bars on the west coast and in Hawaii and all of the ones I went to did not hold up to my dream of the perfect Tiki bar. Although I was disappointed I still wanted one for my very own. It took four years to find a great location for the bar. The reality is that no one wants a bar in their backyard so it is almost impossible to open a new one; all you can do is wait until an old bar goes up for sale and jump at the chance to buy it. The old Kings X was on the short list of possible locations. (The Hut on College Ave. was number #1 Congratulations to the Conga on a great location!). Ok I was lucky to get the X. Now how do you create a bar out of a dream and make it work? Like a lot of you I wanted a place with waterfalls, smokin' volcanos, strong drinks in tiki mugs, scorpion bowls, skull mugs and the like. The walls would be adorned with vintage artwork and there would be exotic music flowing and nightly Hula dancing. Tons of Polynesian "eye candy" would be everywhere and every morning would bring on a heavy hangover from one too many sweet strong libations. Oh oh reality.. The first thing I realized is it is hard to make a real full scale "Tiki-la" - no place is as good as my dream bar but I gotta try. It costs over 10,000 a month just for rent, insurance and utilities. I have my own personal art collection and I know the folks at Oceanic Arts. Luckily I was given the name of Bamboo Ben. We met we saw the same dream and started to build. Ben enlisted the mighty artistic ability of Crazy Al. We worked together for 6 weeks straight starting at 9:00 in the morning and finishing by 1:00 to have quick shot at Thlassa before doing it again. It was fun to create as we went along in the build out no blue prints, no plans just an honest creative effort as we discovered what the Kona would look like. Much thanks to their friends and families for allowing them to disappear for 6 weeks. We finished and the walls look great all I needed to do was fill 16 bartending slots, hire a day manager, get a juke box, train 14 bartenders, get the product to sell. And make a new logo, custom tiki mug, outdoor sign, matches, napkins, swizzle sticks, post cards, drink menu. I tried to find someone to do the sign and logo just right. I am on my third artist and we have nearly finalized a look that I am happy with. I think that some of you have heard of Sam Gambino; he has been working hard on it and has created something that looks great. Some day, Hawaii Time, (Thanks Ben) we are going to have all that stuff. About Tiki mugs and a busy bar. First any thing nit nailed down in a bar will be stolen. I had an Easter Island head at the Mallard that was buried 3 feet down and had 100 ponds of concrete to weigh it down and it was stolen. One of the great things about a intimate bar or restaurant is that with a low volume of sales the staff can watch everything and everyone, but in a busy bar you don't know who your friends friends are and if you leave something unattended for minute you may find your own hat on someone else's head. So we will only sell drinks in tiki mugs if you buy the mug. I have asked Crazy Al to dream up a mug for us. If all goes well we will have a new mug every year or so and retire the old ones. I hope that Holden will produce them for us. If you guys want to drink out of tiki mugs you can bring in your own we will put your name on it and leave it on the shelve behind the bar (space is limited) then you can drink out of the best tiki mug you want. About the sign. Yes it would be helpful to have I sign. For the past 8 years I have heard the same thing about Thalassa. I do think that all of you are right about businesses needing signs every other business I see has one so their must be something to it. Kona Club will have one someday, I don't like seeing Kings X outside every time I go to work, but if I take it down I have to apply for new sign permit and I don't like to deal with the City or "the Man" About the outside looking closed. I think its fun. I have always been a shorts & Aloha shirt kind of guy. Although I love to look at well dressed beautiful people I am always attracted to what is going on inside them. It is the same thing for my bars. I just want to attract people who want to simply enjoy the moment and don't need to be in the coolest hip spot around. If black windows are a reason not to go into a bar thats cool with me. That being said there is a neon "tiki bar open" sign on the way. About a drink menu. Oh man we so need one ASAP. It too is on the way. Interesting to note. TC'ers that like a certain type of tropical libation. The ones that have come in like their drinks sour and strong. I live in Hawaii part time and I am always in search of the perfect Mai-Tai. My tastes are different than my other friends and what I like is not always what they like it does not mean either one of us is wrong its just that I hate anchovies on pizza. I think the POG in a martini glass was made with pomegranate juice, Pearl pomegranate Vodka and other fruit juices. It is drink that one of the bartenders made up and it has been on of the most popular or our "house" drinks. Its ok not to like it (I hate Tequila). I am sure that the bartender would have made something else. We are having fun making up new drinks and will have a drink menu with nice words and graphics some day. If you want to give us your favorite recipe we might and it to menu (Thanks for The-Jab's knockout punch.) If any one requests it I make a mean drink with Passion, Orange and Guava juice. It gets a great response by the third one at my house parties. Bartenders, I wish I could clone Robin at the Mallard for the Kona club. There are a lot of great bartenders that work at the other bars and someday there Mojo will rub off on the new staff. But in the meantime I hope that all the Bartenders are friendly and treat you like family. I can teach them how to make good drinks but it hard to teach people how to be genuinely nice and friendly. To all of you TC'ers let me know if someone is not nice to you, that is something I can't have. Some things I can't help. For many of you these are the bad things at the bar. First a TV yes I have one, old surf movies, Gidget, Gilligan's island, etc. at night. We have a variety of music. about 25% of the music is Hawaiian or Polynesian, throw in a few Reggae albums and soon to be on new release Martin Denny and you have the mood selection. I don't think I can take Eminem so if he is on there I will take it off. The problem is that most folks don't know or like island music or exotica. So I gotta pay the bills and the Music will vary. I will be working on the place as best I can and it will get new stuff. If you want to make changes to the place I am super open to suggestions. JUst write down what you think and give it the bar tender. I will get them. I wish everything was done so I could be in Hawaii surfing but there is time enough in the meantime enjoy the life and don't forget about watching sunsets. Mahalo Doug

Aloha From Doug at the Kona Club,

I have not looked at the tiki forums since I opened up but I had a quiet moment and Bruce Woodbury sent me an email to get a sign a link to this forum. Thanks for all the attention about the Kona Club, but let me tell a little bit about it.

I wanted to open a Tiki bar for the longest time. I have held a mystical image of the perfect Tiki bar since childhood. I have been to a lot of Tiki bars on the west coast and in Hawaii and all of the ones I went to did not hold up to my dream of the perfect Tiki bar. Although I was disappointed I still wanted one for my very own.

It took four years to find a great location for the bar. The reality is that no one wants a bar in their backyard so it is almost impossible to open a new one; all you can do is wait until an old bar goes up for sale and jump at the chance to buy it. The old Kings X was on the short list of possible locations. (The Hut on College Ave. was number #1 Congratulations to the Conga on a great location!).

Ok I was lucky to get the X. Now how do you create a bar out of a dream and make it work? Like a lot of you I wanted a place with waterfalls, smokin' volcanos, strong drinks in tiki mugs, scorpion bowls, skull mugs and the like. The walls would be adorned with vintage artwork and there would be exotic music flowing and nightly Hula dancing. Tons of Polynesian "eye candy" would be everywhere and every morning would bring on a heavy hangover from one too many sweet strong libations. Oh oh reality..

The first thing I realized is it is hard to make a real full scale "Tiki-la" - no place is as good as my dream bar but I gotta try. It costs over 10,000 a month just for rent, insurance and utilities. I have my own personal art collection and I know the folks at Oceanic Arts. Luckily I was given the name of Bamboo Ben. We met we saw the same dream and started to build. Ben enlisted the mighty artistic ability of Crazy Al. We worked together for 6 weeks straight starting at 9:00 in the morning and finishing by 1:00 to have quick shot at Thlassa before doing it again. It was fun to create as we went along in the build out no blue prints, no plans just an honest creative effort as we discovered what the Kona would look like. Much thanks to their friends and families for allowing them to disappear for 6 weeks.

We finished and the walls look great all I needed to do was fill 16 bartending slots, hire a day manager, get a juke box, train 14 bartenders, get the product to sell. And make a new logo, custom tiki mug, outdoor sign, matches, napkins, swizzle sticks, post cards, drink menu. I tried to find someone to do the sign and logo just right. I am on my third artist and we have nearly finalized a look that I am happy with. I think that some of you have heard of Sam Gambino; he has been working hard on it and has created something that looks great. Some day, Hawaii Time, (Thanks Ben) we are going to have all that stuff.

About Tiki mugs and a busy bar. First any thing nit nailed down in a bar will be stolen. I had an Easter Island head at the Mallard that was buried 3 feet down and had 100 ponds of concrete to weigh it down and it was stolen. One of the great things about a intimate bar or restaurant is that with a low volume of sales the staff can watch everything and everyone, but in a busy bar you don't know who your friends friends are and if you leave something unattended for minute you may find your own hat on someone else's head. So we will only sell drinks in tiki mugs if you buy the mug. I have asked Crazy Al to dream up a mug for us. If all goes well we will have a new mug every year or so and retire the old ones. I hope that Holden will produce them for us. If you guys want to drink out of tiki mugs you can bring in your own we will put your name on it and leave it on the shelve behind the bar (space is limited) then you can drink out of the best tiki mug you want.

About the sign. Yes it would be helpful to have I sign. For the past 8 years I have heard the same thing about Thalassa. I do think that all of you are right about businesses needing signs every other business I see has one so their must be something to it. Kona Club will have one someday, I don't like seeing Kings X outside every time I go to work, but if I take it down I have to apply for new sign permit and I don't like to deal with the City or "the Man"

About the outside looking closed. I think its fun. I have always been a shorts & Aloha shirt kind of guy. Although I love to look at well dressed beautiful people I am always attracted to what is going on inside them. It is the same thing for my bars. I just want to attract people who want to simply enjoy the moment and don't need to be in the coolest hip spot around. If black windows are a reason not to go into a bar thats cool with me. That being said there is a neon "tiki bar open" sign on the way.

About a drink menu. Oh man we so need one ASAP. It too is on the way. Interesting to note. TC'ers that like a certain type of tropical libation. The ones that have come in like their drinks sour and strong. I live in Hawaii part time and I am always in search of the perfect Mai-Tai. My tastes are different than my other friends and what I like is not always what they like it does not mean either one of us is wrong its just that I hate anchovies on pizza. I think the POG in a martini glass was made with pomegranate juice, Pearl pomegranate Vodka and other fruit juices. It is drink that one of the bartenders made up and it has been on of the most popular or our "house" drinks. Its ok not to like it (I hate Tequila). I am sure that the bartender would have made something else. We are having fun making up new drinks and will have a drink menu with nice words and graphics some day. If you want to give us your favorite recipe we might and it to menu (Thanks for The-Jab's knockout punch.) If any one requests it I make a mean drink with Passion, Orange and Guava juice. It gets a great response by the third one at my house parties.

Bartenders, I wish I could clone Robin at the Mallard for the Kona club. There are a lot of great bartenders that work at the other bars and someday there Mojo will rub off on the new staff. But in the meantime I hope that all the Bartenders are friendly and treat you like family. I can teach them how to make good drinks but it hard to teach people how to be genuinely nice and friendly. To all of you TC'ers let me know if someone is not nice to you, that is something I can't have.

Some things I can't help. For many of you these are the bad things at the bar. First a TV yes I have one, old surf movies, Gidget, Gilligan's island, etc. at night. We have a variety of music. about 25% of the music is Hawaiian or Polynesian, throw in a few Reggae albums and soon to be on new release Martin Denny and you have the mood selection. I don't think I can take Eminem so if he is on there I will take it off. The problem is that most folks don't know or like island music or exotica. So I gotta pay the bills and the Music will vary.

I will be working on the place as best I can and it will get new stuff. If you want to make changes to the place I am super open to suggestions. JUst write down what you think and give it the bar tender. I will get them. I wish everything was done so I could be in Hawaii surfing but there is time enough in the meantime enjoy the life and don't forget about watching sunsets.

Mahalo
Doug

Post #218899 by DuckTiki on Sat, Mar 4, 2006 3:35 PM