Solomon's Island Tiki Bar ==== Land of Bosko - General Tiki

I ikitnrev Tiki Socialite D.C. / Virginia Joined: Jul 27, 2002 Posts: 1325	I ikitnrev Posted posted on Fri, May 26, 2006 8:05 PM Earlier today, I drove to Solomon's Island and Whites Sands, both located in Southern Maryland, to check the two tiki locations there (Vera's, and the Solomon Island Tiki Bar) Big changes have happened to both places. This post will focus entirely on the Solomon's Island Tiki Bar, another post will give the news about Vera's. The Solomon's Island Tiki Bar was an open air tiki bar, and well known for its opening weekend party, when thousands of people would show up. I had vistedthe bar a few times, the mai-tais were red colored and too sweet, and pre-mixed and poured out of gallon jugs. The decor was OK, but the whole nearby boating scene made me equate the place with Buffet, and I could not then with a good conscience recommend the place. My, how times have changed. Over the winter, major renovations were done on the bar and immediate surrounding area. I'm not kidding when I can say that they could change the name of this place to the 'Land of Bosko' Believe it or not, there are probably over 100 different Bosko carvings now on site. It is still an 'open-to-the-elements' bar, but all of the Bosko makes the place look, well, much more like a real authentic tiki bar. I don't make a point of visiting too many open-air bars, but this might now be one of the best tiki-decor open bars in the country. The first thing you will see, when driving or walking up the road, are the new signs - carved by Bosko. If you look underneath the roof, you will see various other of his carvings hanging from the support poles. Some of the posts have a Bosko carving on each face of the pole. The bar itself features many Bosko elements. There are 8 tiki posts providing roof support - all of them carved by Bosko. A closeup of one of the tiki poles At the left side of the bar, at the property line, is this Bosko decorated fence And the walkway to the bathrooms has a really cool painted mural of Easter Island - the Bosko carvings on the door appear as if they are part of the landscape. And that is only the beginning of the changes made. At the right-side of the bar, there used to be a driveway, which was used as a parking lot. This area was a former one-story motel. The new owners, who bought the bar in July 2005, closed this area off, imported palm trees and lots of sand, and even commissioned some giant Moai heads. This one here is 20 feet tall, and is viewable as you drive by the bar. This whole area was created to handle some of the crowds that the bar gets on summer weekend nights. Further back is another, smaller Moai head. This photo gives you some sense of the former motel. Take a closer look, and you will see some a couple of red matted plaques, each with a 5 or 6 foot tall Bosko carving on it. This side of the sanded area is quite impressive. There are 14 unique Bosko carvings all spaced out along this former motel-front. It was quite impressive in the daytime, and I was told even more so at night, when an individual spotlight highlights each one. These carvings were simply wonderful. All 14 deserve to be seen, but I will share with you here 4 of my favorites. Also notice the wall backing - it is crushed bamboo, and that is new too. On the other side of the former driveway is one of the most incredible tiki murals I have ever seen - and my favorite work that Bosko has ever done. You are seeing the whole wall - from the ground, to the eaves of the roof above further up this wall are a couple of small stores. One selling cigars was not open, but this one, that sold Tiki Farm mugs, tiki shirts and sweatshirts, and other tiki items was open. The Moai head with the red hat was a good sized one, but it did have a bizarre neck. And further along are a couple more bathrooms, with Bosko's interpretations of tiki man and tiki woman. There were also two other outdoor hatched hut bars in this sanded area - closed when I was there. I talked a bit with one of the managers of the place. He said that he studied and learned more about tiki in this past year than ever before, and I sensed that what he learned was good. The owners visited several carvers, and several carver's websites, and had rough sketches done by several designers in the area (most who offered a more commercial look), but they liked Bosko's ideas the best. Bosko flew out to take a look at the place, and the result is, as I've said above, the 'Land of Bosko' They do have plans to add a couple of A-frame structures, and I was shown some outlines for a new custom mug that was in design phase --- it looked very cool. They are somewhat limited in what they can do in an open bar setting, that is closed for half of the year, that is often visited by large, sometimes rowdy crowds - thus, no glass floats will be seen on the premises. But the new owners definitely seem to be heading in the right direction, tiki-wise. Now, the bad news. The Solomon's Island Tiki Bar is going through some legal difficulties. Apparantly, all of the above work was done without the proper planning and zoning permits in place, and there has been some talk that the county could force them to remove all of the above renovations. I doubt this will happen, but there is a good chance that the big Moai heads, and all of the sand in the courtyard will have to go, and the driveway may reappear. Also, some of the neighbors have complained about the large crowds, and they filed a petition to have the liquor license for the tiki bar pulled. I doubt this will happen, but one never knows. A couple of months ago, a major fire destroyed some historic buildings not too far from the tiki bar, and I can imagine that some long-time residents are mourning the loss of their formerly quiet, historic community - not to mention still getting used to a very popular tiki bar. Drink-wise, not much seems to have changed yet, and this may not changed due to the volume of business. The red (not brown) mai-tais are still pre-mixed and poured from gallon jugs. The Kokomo drink, though, was quite tasty, with a brown color and a coconut rum and vanilla flavor. There is no food served on the premises, although there are plans for a small restaurant to open adjacent to the bar area. Overall, I was quite shocked to see how much things had changed. All in all, definite improvements have been made. Later in the day I visited the nearby Vera's Restaurant, a great vintage exotic tiki place - only to learn that big changes were happening there too. Read about it here http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=15661&forum=2&start=last&5 Vern [ Edited by: ikitnrev 2006-05-26 21:36 ]

Earlier today, I drove to Solomon's Island and Whites Sands, both located in Southern Maryland, to check the two tiki locations there (Vera's, and the Solomon Island Tiki Bar) Big changes have happened to both places. This post will focus entirely on the Solomon's Island Tiki Bar, another post will give the news about Vera's.

The Solomon's Island Tiki Bar was an open air tiki bar, and well known for its opening weekend party, when thousands of people would show up. I had vistedthe bar a few times, the mai-tais were red colored and too sweet, and pre-mixed and poured out of gallon jugs. The decor was OK, but the whole nearby boating scene made me equate the place with Buffet, and I could not then with a good conscience recommend the place.

My, how times have changed. Over the winter, major renovations were done on the bar and immediate surrounding area.

I'm not kidding when I can say that they could change the name of this place to the 'Land of Bosko' Believe it or not, there are probably over 100 different Bosko carvings now on site. It is still an 'open-to-the-elements' bar, but all of the Bosko makes the place look, well, much more like a real authentic tiki bar. I don't make a point of visiting too many open-air bars, but this might now be one of the best tiki-decor open bars in the country.

The first thing you will see, when driving or walking up the road, are the new signs - carved by Bosko. If you look underneath the roof, you will see various other of his carvings hanging from the support poles.

Some of the posts have a Bosko carving on each face of the pole.

The bar itself features many Bosko elements. There are 8 tiki posts providing roof support - all of them carved by Bosko.

A closeup of one of the tiki poles

At the left side of the bar, at the property line, is this Bosko decorated fence

And the walkway to the bathrooms has a really cool painted mural of Easter Island - the Bosko carvings on the door appear as if they are part of the landscape.

And that is only the beginning of the changes made. At the right-side of the bar, there used to be a driveway, which was used as a parking lot. This area was a former one-story motel. The new owners, who bought the bar in July 2005, closed this area off, imported palm trees and lots of sand, and even commissioned some giant Moai heads. This one here is 20 feet tall, and is viewable as you drive by the bar. This whole area was created to handle some of the crowds that the bar gets on summer weekend nights.

Further back is another, smaller Moai head. This photo gives you some sense of the former motel. Take a closer look, and you will see some a couple of red matted plaques, each with a 5 or 6 foot tall Bosko carving on it.

This side of the sanded area is quite impressive. There are 14 unique Bosko carvings all spaced out along this former motel-front. It was quite impressive in the daytime, and I was told even more so at night, when an individual spotlight highlights each one.

These carvings were simply wonderful. All 14 deserve to be seen, but I will share with you here 4 of my favorites. Also notice the wall backing - it is crushed bamboo, and that is new too.

On the other side of the former driveway is one of the most incredible tiki murals I have ever seen - and my favorite work that Bosko has ever done. You are seeing the whole wall - from the ground, to the eaves of the roof above

further up this wall are a couple of small stores. One selling cigars was not open, but this one, that sold Tiki Farm mugs, tiki shirts and sweatshirts, and other tiki items was open. The Moai head with the red hat was a good sized one, but it did have a bizarre neck.

And further along are a couple more bathrooms, with Bosko's interpretations of tiki man and tiki woman.

There were also two other outdoor hatched hut bars in this sanded area - closed when I was there.

I talked a bit with one of the managers of the place. He said that he studied and learned more about tiki in this past year than ever before, and I sensed that what he learned was good. The owners visited several carvers, and several carver's websites, and had rough sketches done by several designers in the area (most who offered a more commercial look), but they liked Bosko's ideas the best. Bosko flew out to take a look at the place, and the result is, as I've said above, the 'Land of Bosko' They do have plans to add a couple of A-frame structures, and I was shown some outlines for a new custom mug that was in design phase --- it looked very cool.

They are somewhat limited in what they can do in an open bar setting, that is closed for half of the year, that is often visited by large, sometimes rowdy crowds - thus, no glass floats will be seen on the premises. But the new owners definitely seem to be heading in the right direction, tiki-wise.

Now, the bad news.

The Solomon's Island Tiki Bar is going through some legal difficulties. Apparantly, all of the above work was done without the proper planning and zoning permits in place, and there has been some talk that the county could force them to remove all of the above renovations. I doubt this will happen, but there is a good chance that the big Moai heads, and all of the sand in the courtyard will have to go, and the driveway may reappear.

Also, some of the neighbors have complained about the large crowds, and they filed a petition to have the liquor license for the tiki bar pulled. I doubt this will happen, but one never knows. A couple of months ago, a major fire destroyed some historic buildings not too far from the tiki bar, and I can imagine that some long-time residents are mourning the loss of their formerly quiet, historic community - not to mention still getting used to a very popular tiki bar.

Drink-wise, not much seems to have changed yet, and this may not changed due to the volume of business. The red (not brown) mai-tais are still pre-mixed and poured from gallon jugs. The Kokomo drink, though, was quite tasty, with a brown color and a coconut rum and vanilla flavor.

There is no food served on the premises, although there are plans for a small restaurant to open adjacent to the bar area.

Overall, I was quite shocked to see how much things had changed. All in all, definite improvements have been made.

Later in the day I visited the nearby Vera's Restaurant, a great vintage exotic tiki place - only to learn that big changes were happening there too. Read about it here
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=15661&forum=2&start=last&5

Vern

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2006-05-26 21:36 ]

Post #234201 by ikitnrev on Fri, May 26, 2006 8:05 PM