Post #590835 by Club Nouméa on Thu, May 26, 2011 7:20 AM

Part 7: Los Angeles

L.A. offered the ultimate tiki challenge: we only had 24 hours in that city. Could we get to the heart of L.A. tiki culture in just one day?

We kicked off what was shaping up to be an all-day bar crawl by paying homage to the master barfly himself: Charles Bukowski.

The Huntington Library in Pasadena was holding an exhibition devoted his life and works called "Poet On The Edge" and it was too good to miss.

The exhibits included his typewriter, an old wine glass, and even the radio he used to listen to when he was doing his writing.

From there we had quite a distance to drive to get to Huntington Beach - you'd think the library and the beach would be closer together given they have the same name... On the way a fleeting glimpse was caught of one of the original Golden Arches:

We reached Don The Beachcomber in time for a late lunch, in a nearly empty restaurant, with just one other table occupied.

Everything was looking very festive. The foyer was very cheery:

Lunch was kicked off with the best Mai Tai I have ever have, followed by some tasty Asian cuisine, which included the hottest chili pepper I have ever had the misfortune to inadvertently swallow. Copious amounts of water and three glasses' worth of ice later, I had stopped literally seeing red and was able to stagger around the place snapping lots of photos:

The Waitiki 7 and Robert Drasnin (Mr Voodoo himself!) were scheduled to play as part of the Waitiki New Year's Festival that evening, and we were lucky enough to hear their music drifting through the premises as we dined. That's Mr Drasnin in the back of the room:

Don's is an absolutely incredible venue - so much space, so many facilities, and fantastic decor, but it was only the first stop on our L.A. tiki tour...

Ms Nouméa did sterling work getting us from point A to B in one piece. Our next stop was Whittier Boulevard:

I was just as impressed by their collection of artifacts as I was by the range of goodies they had on sale.

From Whittier, we moved on to Rosemead:

Any place that has an anti-aircraft gun at the entrance is bound to impress me, so all the fish tanks inside were like the icing on the cake.

While the decor at the Bahooka was great (one of a kind!), the drinks were watery, although not unreasonable for the price, as we arrived during happy hour.

The night was still young in any case, and there was more to see yet. It was time to head over to Hollywood...

... and visit the Tiki Ti's bustling, cosy bar.

Apart from the incredible variety (around 90) of the impeccably made drinks, I was particularly impressed by their zombie puffer fish:

What topped off Tiki Ti for me was the fact that they were playing Neil Young's album "On The Beach" in the background, which may not have been tiki, but was perfect for that particular time and place.

Trying to get back onto the freeway to get to North Hollywood, we accidentally stumbled across this treasured tiki landmark:

Somewhat disappointed that they were no longer offering "live naked girls" on their shingle, I decided it was time to move on to North Hollywood.

Tiki No was the polar opposite of the crowded, jostling Tiki Ti; a quiet place where you can go and sit and chat. We took up position at the bar and admired the view.

And they had a nice collection of carvings up the back which gave the place some atmosphere.

The drinks were fine - I had a Blue Hawaiian that hit the spot nicely. What I liked about Tiki No was that they were taking an old formula and trying something new with it. Not a place to suit everyone's tastes, but a sign that tiki bars in L.A. are still coming up with new approaches.

Having not only driven over a hundred miles, but also having visited four bars and been drinking intermittently over a period of several hours, it was definitely time to have dinner, so the day was rounded off with a visit to Ernie's Taco House, where I sampled a culinary legend: the Skylab Burrito.

Before:

After:

Thus ending what has to be one of the finest days in my life: thank you L.A.!

CN

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Toto, j'ai l'impression que nous ne sommes plus au Kansas !

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2011-05-26 07:27 ]