Post #28138 by ZuluMagoo on Wed, Mar 26, 2003 9:53 PM

Here's the story about Aloha Glorya's. Several years ago (1997ish) I was in Pueblo (pretty dumpy town) on a Sunday driving around historic downtown and saw this place. I parked the car and went to go in. It was closed! At the time, it did not have the awning announcing that it was a Gentelman's Club (and bars are closed in Colorado on Sundays). I thought the worst, I figured it was yet another tiki establishment to get the axe, so I got back in the car and drove home. Later that week, I looked them up in the phone book and called them. Mr. Sylvia (the owner) answered and informed me that they were still in business. Later that week I was back in Pueblo and revisited the place. I arrived about one in the afternoon and the doors were locked, but the new awning was up. What's this I thought, a tiki titty bar? I knocked on the back door down the alley and Mr. Sylvia answered. I explained my mission and he invited me in and showed me around. He explained that Aloha Glorya's (named after his wife) originally opened as a polynesian resaturant and piano bar in the early 1980's. However, due to the local demographics (Pueblo generally consists of blue collar steel mill workers) they could only stay operational for ten years. After that, the Sylvia's changed the place into a strip club and have been doing fine ever since. The best part is that the decor had not changed. They still served their drinks in tiki mugs from behind a thached bar. Tikis, masks, spears and lava rock waterfalls adorned the walls. The basement portion of the club was used as an additional dining area and piano lounge, but at the time was just used for storage. Upon leaving, Mr. Sylvia informed me that someday he was going to get rid of all that clutter in the basement (tiki decor)when he was ready to remodel down there. I asked him to call me before he got rid of anything, but I never heard from him.

Update (March 2003). I have driven past this place several times over the last five years just to check up on it whenever I happen to be in Pueblo. I always take a quick look around to see if the tiki guardians are still standing out front and if Mr. Sylvia has thrown out of of his "clutter" yet. Unfortunately, I stopped in to visit last month, and am sorry to report that the interior has been 98% remodeled (glitter balls and mirrored stages, etc. typical strip club atmosphere). The old coat room still has a Tonga sign above it and the stairs that lead to the basement are still lined will tiki fence poles from OA, but that's about all that's left. I asked the bar tender about the basement and he told me that it had been gutted and was going to be remodeled within the next month. I guess Mr. Slyvia forget to call me, maybe he lost my phone number! All that "clutter" ended up in the dumpster. Note to Gecko - don't let the Tahitian Lanai "clutter" suffer the same fate.

Last additional side note - the outdoor guardian tikis must have known their fate because they are indeed both holding their mumus. In fact the nipples on both of them are painted red for extra effect, they must be female tikis.