Post #814453 by MrFab on Mon, Dec 16, 2024 8:16 PM

Kelbo’s on Pico was probably as tiki as anyplace. Pretty big, with several rooms inc the Cocobowl (dancing under a giant coconut shell.) I even DJed there a bit, trying to get an exotica/lounge thing happening there in its final days (1994).

Rollerblading lounge revival/parodist Joey Cheezy aka The Wonderful World of Joey used to play there. Korla Pandit often was part of his show.

The still-standing Damon’s in Glendale was also around, but strictly as a restaurant. They served liquor, but not a “bar” or nightclub as such.

I visited the Tonga Hut around that time, and I think it was pretty tiki. The cocktail napkins had a cool tapa pattern, the jukebox played actual 45s of stuff like”The Girl From Ipanema.” Not quite as heavily decorated/self-consciously kitschy as it is now, but still fairly tiki-fied, or so it seemed to me at the time. An authentic survivor of the original mid-century era.

[ Edited by MrFab on 2024-12-16 20:19:45 ]