CLOSING NIGHT SAT. 04/18! TONIGHT! Kona tiki art show sat. feb. 28 salute to the swordfish! - California Events

T tikiyaki Tiki Socialite The Exotic Port of REDONDO BEACH, CA Joined: May 18, 2004 Posts: 2725	T tikiyaki Posted posted on Wed, Feb 4, 2009 2:31 PM On 2009-02-04 14:03, lucas vigor wrote: I think the crucial difference between Caliente Tropics and Kona is simple: Caliente Tropics is a hotel. people will always need a place to stay while in palm springs, or, when the economy is in the toilet, I could see caliente tropics going the way of all the cool tiki and googie hotels in Anaheim. They are still operating, but now house transients, poor families and meth labs. But at least they are still open for business. Eating out is a luxury, though. No one HAS to go to Kona, when there are so many options around instead (like just eating top ramen at home. But, I will be sad when the place does shut down. I wish things were different. Kona is the coolest place left. They should look at maybe subdivding the property. Whe the Smoking Menehunes played the OC Weekly party there a while back, they had it basically divided into "scenes". I wonder if they could do that permanently. The bar, the hidden village, the restaraunt all could have different owners. Maybe it would not work, but there is a place in Tustin that did this succesfully. Big building, divided into three separate businesses. Good point. Soccer Tiki always said that the bar should be run as a separate business. A good idea, if you ask me. It already has a very Tiki name - "The Outrigger Bar" - I suggested to Chuck that he play up on the retro Tiki vibe and serve drinks on fire , and large bowl drinks etc.... If people go there for the kitsch factor, so be it...whatever brings them in the door. For that huge property there needs to be lots of income streams to keep it floating. I even suggested to Chuck that he use the parking lot and hidden village for an Antique Swap meet on weekend mornings,and car shows etc.... and turn the candle room into a full time art gallery displaying works for sale...not just tiki art, but all kinds. With those rich folk across the street, there is potential for that to work, and it has more than enough space to accommodate that sort of thing. The thing is, he already has $80,000 worth of banquets booked for next summer with school reunions and what not. Either way, there is alot of space not being used for anything there, when it should be used to earn money. Atthe end of the day, the economy is in the shitter right now, and that is the main problem.

On 2009-02-04 14:03, lucas vigor wrote:
I think the crucial difference between Caliente Tropics and Kona is simple: Caliente Tropics is a hotel. people will always need a place to stay while in palm springs, or, when the economy is in the toilet, I could see caliente tropics going the way of all the cool tiki and googie hotels in Anaheim. They are still operating, but now house transients, poor families and meth labs. But at least they are still open for business.

Eating out is a luxury, though. No one HAS to go to Kona, when there are so many options around instead (like just eating top ramen at home.

But, I will be sad when the place does shut down. I wish things were different. Kona is the coolest place left.

They should look at maybe subdivding the property. Whe the Smoking Menehunes played the OC Weekly party there a while back, they had it basically divided into "scenes". I wonder if they could do that permanently. The bar, the hidden village, the restaraunt all could have different owners. Maybe it would not work, but there is a place in Tustin that did this succesfully. Big building, divided into three separate businesses.

Good point. Soccer Tiki always said that the bar should be run as a separate business. A good idea, if you ask me. It already has a very Tiki name - "The Outrigger Bar" - I suggested to Chuck that he play up on the retro Tiki vibe and serve drinks on fire , and large bowl drinks etc.... If people go there for the kitsch factor, so be it...whatever brings them in the door.

For that huge property there needs to be lots of income streams to keep it floating. I even suggested to Chuck that he use the parking lot and hidden village for an Antique Swap meet on weekend mornings,and car shows etc.... and turn the candle room into a full time art gallery displaying works for sale...not just tiki art, but all kinds. With those rich folk across the street, there is potential for that to work, and it has more than enough space to accommodate that sort of thing. The thing is, he already has $80,000 worth of banquets booked for next summer with school reunions and what not. Either way, there is alot of space not being used for anything there, when it should be used to earn money.

Atthe end of the day, the economy is in the shitter right now, and that is the main problem.

Post #432510 by tikiyaki on Wed, Feb 4, 2009 2:31 PM