2 cool tiki/hawaiian places in the south bay

the first is a hawaiian shop called "kilohana" at 214 avenida del norte in redondo beach. they have all kinds of cool hawaiian stuff and some really cool bedding they make in house. teresa is the gal that runs the place, and she is super nice people. the second place is a hawaiian resturaunt named"back home in lahaina"in manhatten beach. cool tiki decor (3 tikis spotted), cute gals and great food.the good news is its very reasonable on the wallet,the sad news is its a beer/ wine/saki place for now.i think the thing to get around that is you go here for food, then drive 5 mins to the purple orchid in el segundo (high tipsy factor)and do your drinking in the presence of more cute gals and cool tikis!. i know i am not the first to "discover" these places so hold the wise-cracks!.peace

i know i am not the first to "discover" these places so hold the wise-cracks!

And it was so tempting too!

yo pop, got any feedback on these places....opinions?

Kilohana is just down the block from my place (and just around the corner from "The Tikis" apartments on PV Blvd - BOT page 221) and I've been in there a couple of times. It's all new stuff - nothing vintage. The folks that run the place are pretty cool and they do have really nice bedding that the owner makes, some of Bamboo Ben's artwork and a stock of TikiFarm mugs, but I find it a little too pricey for me. Nice to have a Hawaiiana store in my neighborhood; however shops come and go in the 'Riviera Village' rather quickly, so I hope this one will stay around...

As far as "Back Home in Lahaina" goes - it's part of a small chain that includes one off of Artesia in Torrance/Lawndale ("The Loft at Lahaina"), and another new one on Hawthorne in Torrance (called simply "The Loft", I think...). I haven't been to any of them yet, but Z-Girl used to go to the original Loft when it was in Gardena and she says that their 'Spam Musubi' is out of this world!

Purple Orchid? Great decor, interesting drinks, "portable" mugs, but definitely the wrong music (it's a jukebox that apparently plays Van Halen every other song...), and a crowd that, for the most part, has no clue what the decor is all about. But it's still a good meetin' place for TC'ers & it's only been open for a year, so it still has room to 'grow' from the beer bar it used to be into the tiki bar it wants to be. It just needs our help...

i have been in the purple orchid 4x now and you are correct about the music and the crowd, but remember that this was an existing bar so WE are going to have to work to bring the customer standards up a bit by hanging about and slowly nudging them in the proper direction. one thing i noticed and mentioned to the sun pm bartender(cute red head gal!)that the drinks are a bit inconsistant between bartenders!.the real tall gal makes so-so scorps, but the best blue hawaii,while the red heads blue h are twice as strong but the taste...i guess thats why we all for the most part have our own bars at home!

Have any of you seen a pic. of David Lee Roth latley? He looks like one of those old tikis in front of the Royal Hawaiian!! So, if you down a scorp bowl and 3 blue hawaiians and think of him being one of those old tikis, it might help with the tunes!

someone said that when van halen was going to reunite and held a press conf, that david lee roth (who seemed to be coked to the gills with that JOKER grin) looked like Carol Channing!(unrelated, but a funny visual)

[ Edited by: twowheelin'tiki on 2002-12-31 13:40 ]