Post #653495 by paranoid123 on Wed, Sep 26, 2012 4:37 PM

Yes, apparently it was a huge surprise for everyone, possibly including the employees. One of our own TC members reported that he went on the Monday before closing, and it was business as usual. It happened to be one of the fantastic "Tiki Mondays" hosted by Brian Miller, where he and a guest bartender from local bars would serve up original and classic tiki libations, with happy hour prices for some drinks for the first hour. Oftentimes a liquor sponsor would throw in a pupu platter for guests to knosh on.

The next day it was simply shut down and closed. Some digging around revealed that it to become a lesbian bar, possibly by members of a lesbian reality show. What associations the bar has with the show I'm not sure. I read that they were selling items the following Saturday. I peeked around and they were only selling plants and the teak chairs used in the dining area. I didn't have any heart to buy anything. We were told that the nice "Lani Kai" hanging sign was to be resurfaced and reused for the new bar.

In retrospect, I'm not sure if Lani Kai was ever doing booming business. I heard that Fridays and Saturdays were very busy, but I've been there on a Friday and it wasn't that busy. To me, Brian Miller's Tiki Monday was by far the busiest time they had.

I've met a lot of great bartenders there, and seen them come and go at Lani Kai. I was glad to take and meet up with local and out of town TC members here. We had a lot of great drinks there. Tiki Mondays will be sorely missed around here in New York.