Canadian Tiki - General Tiki

T tikifish Member Toronto,Canada Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 2720	T tikifish Posted posted on Tue, Sep 10, 2002 8:12 AM Tiki bars in Canada? Oh, I hear someone ringing my bell! Toronto: Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. We used to have a Trader Vic's in the Hilton, but it has been replaced by a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Never got to see the Trader Vic's, my tiki epiphany came too late. There was a half assed attempt to open a tiki bar in the old Boom Boom Room on Queen West but it closed. The mixture of dance music, industrial goth stairways and concrete floors just didnt mix well with the 3 tiki statues they had, under strobelights. A supremely misguided attempt. Quickly went out of business. Thank god. Strangely, Toronto does have a giant life sized moai head outside the Tilley Endurables head office on Barber Greene Road at Don Mills and Eglinton. Good for photo ops! But where the hell did it come from? My friend swears there used to be 2 of them... it makes for some fun conjecture. Niagara Falls: I went to niagara falls for the Moai mini-golf, only to find it had been closed for years. Searched diligently for tiki all over the Falls, but no dice. You'd think it was a shoe in, but I guess they're trying to 'update' the image of Niagara Falls. Still lots of camp and kitsch though. A restaurant shaped like a flying saucer is always a good sign. Montreal also had quite a few stellar tiki palaces back in the day, (check the BOT for some pix) but is now reduced to just the Jardin Tiki as far as I know. The Jardin is probably the best Tiki bar in Canada west of Vancouver at this point. Do the road trip, make sure you hit the Jardin at night, but be sure to go the extra kilometres to the Coconut Hotel/Motel in Trois Rivieres, Quebec. http://www.coconuthotelmotel.com/ I'm not a geography major, but once you have gone that far it may be worth crossing the border and driving a couple hours to the Howard Johnson's Tiki Resort in New York State... there's quite a bit of good information on that place in other Tiki Central threads. If you are heading south, there's nothing worth mentioning until you hit Detroit (and that's 4 hours from Toronto so, say 6 hours from Peterborough) - check out the ruins of the Chin Tiki on Cass Ave (the source of endless re-opening rumours, as all the furnishings are still intact inside) and also the location of a scene in Eminem's new movie. http://www.basementgamers.com/tiki/chin_tiki_in_detroit.htm There was a Trader Vic's in Detroit, but it's boarded up and abandoned, and there's nothing left to see of the facade, so move along... Pay your respects at the gravesite of the Mauna Loa Detroit, the Midwest's greatest and shortest-lived tiki bar 1967-1968 (and generator of some of Ebay's priciest mugs) at West Grand and Cass. Theres nothing there anymore, as it has been torn down, but maybe you can feel the wind in the fake palms, hear the trickling of the waterfall and the tinkling of cocktail glasses, and smell the Pall Malls if you close your eyes and breathe deeply. Then, scour nearby thrift stores for one of those $150 mugs. St. Claire Shores (near Grosse Ponte, MI) is home to a newfangled tiki bar called Waves - It's pretty corny, but still fun. No tiki mugs but you get drinks in a giant fishbowl, and they do have some moais and you eat under thatched huts. Beware, mullet-sporting disco dancers begin to boogie at 9 or 10, when the place turns from a Mai Tai market into a Meat Market. Then make your way to Chin's in Livonia (a suburb of Detroit), but make sure you bring your Tum's, as the food is deadly, and the drinks are sickly sweet. Check out my review on tikifish.com - http://www.tikifish.com/chins.html Heading west across our fine country, I beleive there is nothing to be had until Vancouver, in which case you can hit the Polynesian Room at the Waldorf Hotel and - I may be wrong - there is still a Trader Vic's somehere in Vancouver too. I have no idea if there is East Coast tiki, but I highly doubt it. I'se the bye that builds tha Moai? Hardly. If I've frogitten anything, I'll be sure to add it, but I think that's the scoop. My advice? Grab some friends and do the 10 hour drive down to Chicago, for the Hala Kahiki, Tader Vic's, and more. But all is not lost! At least we have something to read. This just in from Otto's mailing list - a must have zine for the hoser set. MAI TAI magazine #8 WILL FINALLY BE AVAILABLE DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF SEPT! #8 features an expanded "BAMBOO BITS" section, as well as TIKI FICTION, a report on SWIZZLE STICKS, a WILDWOOD update, and more! FOR TIKI FANS IN THE MONTREAL AREA - you can pick up your FREE COPY at all the usual spots (St. Laurent/Duluth area, Mont-Royal book and record shops, C'Dment on Ste-Catherine St., and at other hot spots). MAI TAI WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE at the bar in the COCONUT MOTEL in Trois-Rivieres, as well as at the KONA KAI MOTEL in Wildwood Crest, NJ! Finally, for those of you elsewhere around the world, MAI TAI is available by mail by sending $1 plus postage (48 cent stamp in Canada/65 cents to the US) to: Mai Tai 6361 20th Avenue, Suite 301 Montreal, QC H1X 3P8 Canada So... too much information?

Tiki bars in Canada? Oh, I hear someone ringing my bell!

Toronto: Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. We used to have a Trader Vic's in the Hilton, but it has been replaced by a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Never got to see the Trader Vic's, my tiki epiphany came too late. There was a half assed attempt to open a tiki bar in the old Boom Boom Room on Queen West but it closed. The mixture of dance music, industrial goth stairways and concrete floors just didnt mix well with the 3 tiki statues they had, under strobelights. A supremely misguided attempt. Quickly went out of business. Thank god.

Strangely, Toronto does have a giant life sized moai head outside the Tilley Endurables head office on Barber Greene Road at Don Mills and Eglinton. Good for photo ops! But where the hell did it come from? My friend swears there used to be 2 of them... it makes for some fun conjecture.

Niagara Falls: I went to niagara falls for the Moai mini-golf, only to find it had been closed for years. Searched diligently for tiki all over the Falls, but no dice. You'd think it was a shoe in, but I guess they're trying to 'update' the image of Niagara Falls. Still lots of camp and kitsch though. A restaurant shaped like a flying saucer is always a good sign.

Montreal also had quite a few stellar tiki palaces back in the day, (check the BOT for some pix) but is now reduced to just the Jardin Tiki as far as I know. The Jardin is probably the best Tiki bar in Canada west of Vancouver at this point. Do the road trip, make sure you hit the Jardin at night, but be sure to go the extra kilometres to the Coconut Hotel/Motel in Trois Rivieres, Quebec. http://www.coconuthotelmotel.com/

I'm not a geography major, but once you have gone that far it may be worth crossing the border and driving a couple hours to the Howard Johnson's Tiki Resort in New York State... there's quite a bit of good information on that place in other Tiki Central threads.

If you are heading south, there's nothing worth mentioning until you hit Detroit (and that's 4 hours from Toronto so, say 6 hours from Peterborough) - check out the ruins of the Chin Tiki on Cass Ave (the source of endless re-opening rumours, as all the furnishings are still intact inside) and also the location of a scene in Eminem's new movie. http://www.basementgamers.com/tiki/chin_tiki_in_detroit.htm

There was a Trader Vic's in Detroit, but it's boarded up and abandoned, and there's nothing left to see of the facade, so move along...

Pay your respects at the gravesite of the Mauna Loa Detroit, the Midwest's greatest and shortest-lived tiki bar 1967-1968 (and generator of some of Ebay's priciest mugs) at West Grand and Cass. Theres nothing there anymore, as it has been torn down, but maybe you can feel the wind in the fake palms, hear the trickling of the waterfall and the tinkling of cocktail glasses, and smell the Pall Malls if you close your eyes and breathe deeply. Then, scour nearby thrift stores for one of those $150 mugs.

St. Claire Shores (near Grosse Ponte, MI) is home to a newfangled tiki bar called Waves - It's pretty corny, but still fun. No tiki mugs but you get drinks in a giant fishbowl, and they do have some moais and you eat under thatched huts. Beware, mullet-sporting disco dancers begin to boogie at 9 or 10, when the place turns from a Mai Tai market into a Meat Market.

Then make your way to Chin's in Livonia (a suburb of Detroit), but make sure you bring your Tum's, as the food is deadly, and the drinks are sickly sweet. Check out my review on tikifish.com - http://www.tikifish.com/chins.html

Heading west across our fine country, I beleive there is nothing to be had until Vancouver, in which case you can hit the Polynesian Room at the Waldorf Hotel and - I may be wrong - there is still a Trader Vic's somehere in Vancouver too.

I have no idea if there is East Coast tiki, but I highly doubt it. I'se the bye that builds tha Moai? Hardly.

If I've frogitten anything, I'll be sure to add it, but I think that's the scoop. My advice? Grab some friends and do the 10 hour drive down to Chicago, for the Hala Kahiki, Tader Vic's, and more.

But all is not lost! At least we have something to read. This just in from Otto's mailing list - a must have zine for the hoser set.

MAI TAI magazine #8 WILL FINALLY BE AVAILABLE DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF SEPT!

#8 features an expanded "BAMBOO BITS" section, as well as TIKI FICTION, a report on SWIZZLE STICKS, a WILDWOOD update, and more!

FOR TIKI FANS IN THE MONTREAL AREA - you can pick up your FREE COPY at all the usual spots (St. Laurent/Duluth area, Mont-Royal book and record shops, C'Dment on Ste-Catherine St., and at other hot spots).
MAI TAI WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE at the bar in the COCONUT MOTEL in Trois-Rivieres, as well as at the KONA KAI MOTEL in Wildwood Crest, NJ!

Finally, for those of you elsewhere around the world, MAI TAI is available by mail by sending $1 plus postage (48 cent stamp in Canada/65 cents to the US) to:
Mai Tai
6361 20th Avenue, Suite 301
Montreal, QC
H1X 3P8 Canada

So... too much information?

Post #7997 by tikifish on Tue, Sep 10, 2002 8:12 AM