Tik Crawl: 3/8/2003

Okay, Mig and I have been discussing it, but I figured I'd just announce it here. (Mig correct me if I'm wrong).

The 3rd Annual Tiki Central San Francisco Tiki Crawl is the weekend of the 8th!

Whoooohoooo!

While the details are not yet it place, it is bound to feature visits at:

The Tonga Room
The Bamboo Hut
Trad'r Sam's

OUT OF TOWNERS:
For the past crawls, on the days leading up to the 8th we've had events at local venues like the ones listed below. We've can't promise any of these events this year but I just want to give people a head's up:

Tiki Crawls 1 and 2 also included:
Live Exotica Music
A dinner at Trader Vic's
A get-together at the world's largest smiley face collection and tiki bar (owned by a Tiki Central member whose name I will not mention)

So plan accordingly! More info due here soon!

Hanford

I'm there!

I haven't been to the previous 2 San Fran tiki crawls so I'm not going to miss this one.

I smell road trip....anyone wanna join me?

March 8th, I was looking for something to do on my Birthday........Road Trip sounds Oh so Sweet.

Outstanding Hanford. Let me know if I can help with anything.

Let's just say that my own Foggy Grotto will be proudly offered as one of the "weekend support venues". Plus it's real close to Trad'r Sams.

This time: To those interested- we should definitely pursue a limo bus. Bar crawls are the perfect event for these things. Imagine having your own chariot decorated tiki style, with a blender and fridge on board, a stereo playing Denny, and a big screen TV showing "The Air Conditioned Eden"

Sounds good, doesn't it?

-martin

I'm a hopeless slacker when it comes to keeping up with TC, but I plan to make the Crawl! I'm happy to offer crash space to out of town guests as well. We're a trek from SF, but we have trasport, and Martiki can assure you we're not serial killers. Most likely.

Heather

Kiliki and I were talking yesterday about coming out to the left coast for this. We think we can get cheap enough air fare, if we can get a free place to sleep/pass out. We hope we can make it and meet you all and see the sites.

Speaking of sleeping quarters, is there anyplace that out-of-town TC'ers are gathering? So far I'm road-tripping it with Hula Hula.

How about Hawaii West? Just kidding. On our trip to San Francisco in late December we
got to visit several places suggested by you bay area TCers. (I was kind of partial to The Owl Tree.) Hawaii West, which was not recommended, but was listed in the Tiki Bar Review Pages, was interesting. Had a slight vomit odor going. Really a small dive with a nice tiki or two and friendly enough help.
I liked the back lit blue sky thing on the ceiling near the bar.
Love that Tonga Room. Have a great crawl.

Oh man, my plane leaves for Alaska on March 6th! I will be back one year later though!! I will be counting the days....

On 2002-12-21 17:13, hanford_lemoore wrote:

OUT OF TOWNERS:
For the past crawls, on the days leading up to the 8th we've had events at local venues like the ones listed below. We've can't promise any of these events this year but I just want to give people a head's up:

Tiki Crawls 1 and 2 also included:
Live Exotica Music
A dinner at Trader Vic's
A get-together at the world's largest smiley face collection and tiki bar (owned by a Tiki Central member whose name I will not mention)

Has anything been put together yet in terms of pre-crawl events? I'm putting the details of my trip to SF together and want to start looking at dates for an itinerary. Any chance the smiley face collection and tiki bar will be open on the Friday before?

PP-

I was plannig on hosting a pre-crawl event at my place, The Foggy Grotto. I'd like to do Friday Night, but don't want to conflict if Smiley is opening his place. Plus- when are we going to squeeze in Vic's?

-martin

Has anything been put together yet in terms of pre-crawl events? I'm putting the details of my trip to SF together and want to start looking at dates for an itinerary. Any chance the smiley face collection and tiki bar will be open on the Friday before?

The Infamous UGH House is available Friday night or?? I think the Foggy Grotto should be done too, so Martin and I will have to do some talking. One possibility is like last year- Friday night Trader Vic dinner(or just cocktails)and then to the Ugh House tiki bar and Smiley Extravaganza. Maybe Thursday night (or Saturday afternoon 5pm?) Foggy Grotto?? Any suggestions, folks. Hangover Sunday at the Foggy Grotto?

OK, this is almost "beyond tiki", or at least "beyond crawl", but maybe worth mentioning. The Game Developer Con will be in San Jose the same week as the crawl, and my company is having a booth 3/6 - 3/8.

In our idle conversations about the booth, the idea of a tiki booth surprisingly gained some favor. It has nothing to do with the tool we're there to show, but at least (as some of you know) I could contribute some props for that theme. Not the Lanai guy of course - too big and too historical. Anyway, just another possible, very minor tiki attraction in the bay area that same weekend.

Also, further OT, I might post this again elsewhere later, but I think I'll be in Orlando 3/10 - 3/12, and it might be fun to meet up with some Floridians at DW or something!

-Randy

Oops, I forgot to mention - since it has come up once or twice, any interested visitors will be welcome to stop by my house if that should fit in that weekend any times other than the main events. It'll be a little too hectic for serious hosting, but if anyone will be in town and wants to see the Lanai guy and other stuff, feel free to contact me. I'm about 20-30 min south of SF.

-Randy

Let me know once its all lined up. I'm driving up with Hula Hula and we want to hit as much as we can in our short stay in SF. Ideally, I'd like to see Martin's Foggy Grotto, the Smiley Museum & Tiki Bar and of course a visit to the Lanai Guy. I'd need to know the details sooner than later so I can request the vacation time at work.

How's this for a loose pre-crawl schedule?

Friday 3/7 - Martin's Foggy Grotto
Saturday 3/8 - Tiki Central Crawl
Sunday 3/9 - Hangover at Smiley Museum

Randy, maybe I can fit in a visit to Mr Lanai on Friday or Saturday afternoon? I wanna take pics with the big-guy while the sun is out!

We're unfortunately, going to be leaving on Sunday (because of this stupid thing called work) so hopefully we can squeeze it all in somehow. Sorry if this sounds imposing - I've heard so much about all your tikified homes and I feel like this is the only opportunity to get to check them all out!

*** * * The Polynesian Popster * * ***

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2003-01-13 19:22 ]

Hi, PolyPop! it'll be cool to see you again--

As for the Crawl, well, we've got stuff in the East Bay and stuff in SF and the Peninsula. Why not divide them up accordingly--

for example:

FRIDAY:
evening--dinner and drinks at Trader Vic's in Emeryville
then, drinks at the Ugh House Tiki Bar and Smiley Room.

SATURDAY:
afternoon--visit the Lanai Tiki? Are you a M-F worker, Randy? 'cause if so Sat. would be better for you than Fri., right?
then, early dinner at a location mutually agreed upon beforehand in San Francisco or the Peninsula;
evening--warm up at the Foggy Grotto, then--

head off to the Crawl...

don't know how many bars y'all are planning on hitting during said Crawl, but we'll have presumably at least until midnight to hit 'em all!

did someone mention a BUS?? 'cause I can't drive after even one drink, really. Pathetic, I know.

Oh, one more thing: does T. Sam's serve food? (Yes, I am pathetic and ignorant both.) Because if so, we could have cocktails at the Grotto first, and then, gently mellowed, head off to T. Sam's for dinner. Etc...

Just my two cents...it'll be so much fun to see you all! Any of you LA folks heading this way?? Hope so!

SATURDAY:
afternoon--visit the Lanai Tiki? Are you a M-F worker, Randy?

Why yes, vixen, I AM a motherf#%*ing worker. Oh, Monday to Friday worker? That too.

Haw haw. Anyway, yes, that Saturday afternoon would be fine. That particular Sat I may be at a conference in SJ until 3 or 4, but after that I'd be delighted to host anyone who wants to visit. There already is an informal micro-gathering possibly scheduled for that time, so everything's jake.

-Randy

FRIDAY:
evening--dinner and drinks at Trader Vic's in Emeryville
then, drinks at the Ugh House Tiki Bar and Smiley Room.

SATURDAY:
afternoon--visit the Lanai Tiki? Are you a M-F worker, Randy? 'cause if so Sat. would be better for you than Fri., right?
then, early dinner at a location mutually agreed upon beforehand in San Francisco or the Peninsula;
evening--warm up at the Foggy Grotto, then--

head off to the Crawl...

don't know how many bars y'all are planning on hitting during said Crawl, but we'll have presumably at least until midnight to hit 'em all!

Vixen,
Yes, it would be nice to meet up again! Your itinerary sounds good to me. I really want to make sure I at least see the Smiley House; Mig says it will make me want to stop collecting - I'm betting it will do just the opposite! Also want to see the Lanai Guy again, but in the light this time.

I think this schedule would work out great. mrsmiley, will this work for you?

BTW - We rented a bus for the OC Mini Crawl with participants splitting the cost. Maybe someone can set that up for the SF crawl and "charge" each participant their portion to board the bus. It should be much cheaper than taking cabs.

Looking forward to seeing everyone again. Can't wait for the Crawl!

Hopefully I'll make it down by Friday night.
Ahhhh, to see all my tiki buddies again!!! Wheeeee. And Trad'r Sams! YAY! And if we go to Mr Smiley's, I wanna pet a goat this time, and see the volcano in action. Oh pleeeeeese!

This just in:
SugarCaddyDaddy will be joing Hula Hula and I in our road-trip. Looking forward to seeing all the SF Centralites!

sweetpea sez "Hopefully I'll make it down by Friday night.
Ahhhh, to see all my tiki buddies again!!! Wheeeee. And Trad'r Sams!
YAY! And if we go to Mr Smiley's, I wanna pet a goat this time, and
see the volcano in action. Oh pleeeeeese"

---you can catch a flight straight to the Oakland Airport and we are about 6 minutes (in a car) up the hill. You can make it -even if you work Friday day. We will be partying till the wee hours(hopefully)--bruce

My wahine, (The Sheriff), has just told me that this Tiki Crawl sounds like fun. (That's the first step). Now she has to get that weekend off, (second step). Funny because we will be in San Francisco the weekend before on March 1. It's tentative, but we'll try to join all of you and we'll help pay for a bus. JT

Sweetpea: Good to hear from you again! I have your "business" card and have always wondered what was up with you.

The Lo-Cal posse & jungle trader: Look forward to having you people up to our fair city.

The itinerary sounds good to me (we'll have to see what Hanford & Mig want). So Friday at Vic's/Smiley's, Saturday Randy's/Martin's/Crawl. Sunday=?

Thurs: I think it will be too quiet to open my place, but we had an Ape concert last year, so some kind of pre-party should be in order for those who will be around.

Friday: Sounds great, but we should get a feel for how many people are interested in dinner at Vic's so we can make a reservation for one of the private rooms. 10? 20? 40? Last year there were too many people for the room booked.

Saturday: I'm happy to open the Grotto, but I'm a little worried about the time situation. Will we have enough time to have a drink at my house after people have dinner and get to the Tonga before the cover charge? I'm just assuming that Mig/Hanford will want to start at the Tonga again. Of course, we'll be close to Sam's, so it might be better to start there, especially as it gets so crowded later in the night.

Regardless, I'll take care of renting the bus. It seats 22-24 people, and it will be a blast. It can start at my place, and drop people off around SF at the end of the night. I'll get the costs and everyone can transfer funds to me in advance with PayPal. This thing is expensive, and there's no way I'm getting stuck with the bill, so this will be a case of pay in advance or forget it. A little Denny on the stereo, a little Hawaiian Eve on the VCR, and we'll be all good. Mmmm...tiki bus.

Sunday: Hangover Lunch somewhere?

That's it for now. Shouldn't this thread be in Tiki Events?

-martin

Count me in! And maybe a couple of Tiki-lovin' friends/fiends as well!

You know, I went to the Bamboo Hut the other night (it was pouring rain) and it was completely empty, but for my wife and I. We talked to the bartender for little while, though and learned that they will reserve the bar for private parties. I'm not sure if that excluded weekends (probably!), but you only need to guarantee a bar tab of 750 bones! I think the TC crew could muster that handily.

I'm trying to come up with an excuse to have a big party!

Martiki6? Did you figure on costs yet for the bus? My wife is going to try to get that weekend off, still tentative, but she usually gets what she wants, heh, heh. If we started out at your place, like you stated, are you near a hotel/motel? We would like to get a room nearby. Must see Tonga Room. JT

Woooohooo,
Mr. Smiley!!!! and martiki!!!
YAy! So it sounds like Friday night at the Smileys, and I can cab it from Oakland Airport! kewl... actually I'm flying down there this Friday too, gonna visit my auntie, and git to see MIG!!! Gonna try to do Trader Vics on Sat evening...

Count Mrs. Pineapple and I in for the festivities. Missed it last year, but I remember making an unintelligible phone call to Hanford while he was in the middle of it. Sounded like fun.

So, what hotels are everyone staying at? What's near the action?

I'd like to get booking on mine right away, just don't know the area or where the events will take place.

Any tips?

Laura

For those folks in the greater San Francisco Bay Area it is time to watch Evening magazine on Wednesday February 5 on channel 5 at 7pm. The world famous UGH House will be featured with quick glimpses of the Tiki bar, Smiley Face Room and others. This will be a good chance to see what you are in for on that Tiki Crawl Friday. Sit back and enjoy!!

Tikicutie asked this"So, what hotels are everyone staying at? What's near the action?

I'd like to get booking on mine right away, just don't know the area or where the events will take place.

Any tips?

Laura"
Maybe someone can be of more help-here is my general action. The Friday action will be in Emeryville(Trader Vic's) and East Oakland above the Oakland Airport(The UGH House). Saturday night also looks like it will be Spread out most likely between Nob Hill(Tonga room), North Beach(Bamboo Hut). and the Richmond district(Trader Sam's)and possibly a daytime viewing in San Mateo of the Lanai Tiki. I don't think a schedule has been finalized yet. Please folks add?correct what you can to help our out of town guests.

Regarding lodging, we've got our room booked already. My group will be me, Hula Hula and SugarCaddyDaddy. I just used Expedia to find our hotel. We're staying in South San Francisco because the rates were slightly cheaper - about $60.00 per night + tax at the Best Western.

MrSmiley, your itinerary sounds like whats been talked about so far. I hope it stays that way, as it will allow us to see everything during our short stay.

CAN'T WAIT!!!

Shelley and I are flying into Oakland on friday night. we'll be too late for Trader Vic's ,but hopefully, early enough for Smiley's. I need to know a few things.

Martin and Rebecca's address
Bruce's address
The Paypal account # to pay for the bus.

and anything else I haven't thought of.
Mahalo,
Al

Here's the OFFICAL page.

http://www.tikicentral.com/misc/index.htm

Sorry this took us so long to get together. it's a little harder to organize than it was last year!

~Hanford

Plans are still GO for roughly 4pm at my place in Belmont on Saturday, for anyone who wants to come.

I guess I should mention that work might require me to go to San Diego with short notice around then (to be an observer for a training exercise on an aircraft carrier). We might find out at the last minute when/whether the navy is doing the exercise, vs. being engaged in more serious matters, and there's a SMALL chance it'd be that week.

That would suck to miss the whole tiki crawl weekend, but anyway, that's the reason if I have to do a last minute change of plans. I'll post when I know for sure, which should be at least a week ahead of time.

-Randy

I'm sorry to be late on the information- things have been very busy, and I'm on business in the central valley right now. (I'm visiting you courtesy of a $.20/min. connection at Kinko's and everyone here thinks I'm nuts. They haven't even seen Bosko's tiki on the back seat of my hella-swanky Buick, either)

The first thing I need from all parties is a head count of everyone who would be interested in the limo bus. I will get final prices soon, but assume it will be about $45 per person for the whole night including tip. Let me assure you: It's going to be great. We can all converge at my place (The Foggy Grotto), get the bus there, and then have the guy drop everyone off at various places/hotels around SF when we're finished. I need a head count to look at various types of vehicles and rates.

So please, post to this thread right away if you're interested. Make sure you include spouses/sig. others for the totals. I'll make up laminates or something for those on the bus so you can feel extra cool.

And the bus will definitely stop at Post and Taylor in SF, where Tiki Bob has just come out of his scaffolding and is lookin' sharp.

BTW, I'll post my info soon, after I get with Hanford and Mig on some more logistics. I live very close to Trad'r Sam's.

martin

Martin,

Sign me up!

--cyn

:drink:

I'd love to be a part of all this!! I can't think of a better way to get to know you all then to have my first true Tiki experiences with a bunch of pros! That is, if you don't mind me taggin along....I just hit 21 by the way, he he he.

-TikiStitch

P.S Are these all 21 and over joints? Or are just the bars themselves off limits because my girlfriend would come as well, if there are no age restrictions.

[ Edited by: TikiStitch on 2003-02-09 00:59 ]

Any fun, tiki lovin' person is "invited" to the Tiki Crawl-but, if you greenhorns expect us knowledgable old-timers to give you the time of day you have to pay us $20 each!

Just kidding....

you actually have to pay us $20 each AND buy all our drinks!

Ok I still just--we don't need to be bought--hope to see you there and enjoying the festivities. Who knows, Hanford just might say "I love you guys" !!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAW!
I just got my plane ticket. I'll be gettin into oakland about 10:30 pm then makin my way over to Mr. Smiley's house!!! Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
See ya downstairs in the tiki bar.
Who's bringin the sailor Jerry rum this year?

A certain couple from way Southern Ca went to the "top secret" tiki crawl in SFlast weekend (that's a joke). How did you two do? Now that you are warmed up, are you going to the official crawl March 7 & 8, 2003? Maybe you can get an earlier flight you two.---mr smiley

I am looking forward to seeing you all next month at the Tiki crawl and it's festivities!
Remember fans of Mr. Smiley, I can't make it to Palm Springs.

That top secret couple had a swinging time at Trad'r Sam's, followed by a brief visit to my humble Foggy Grotto, and then staggered out the door to Vic's. I hope Vic's was good as always. I hope very much that they will return next month.

Folks- Is there really no interest in the limo bus? I'm a little suprised actually. It will make life much smoother and it means the party never really stops, not when there are 22 to 24 of us on the thing at the same time. Do I need a new tread to see more clearly if there is interest for this? Hanford, Mig, anyone- help me out here.

So glad to hear that so many people are interested in coming from parts abroad...we'll have to show some good old fashioned SF hospitality: Overpriced everything, no parking anywhere, and aggressive panhandling. We know how to make you feel at home.

-martin

Folks- Is there really no interest in the limo bus? I'm a little suprised actually.
-martin

Hi Martin. We'd be interested, but we have no way to get back to the east bay once the wiki wiki bus drops us off at the end of the night. Stoopid BART only runs til midnight and we certainly don't want to drive. We are flummoxed.

There is a transbay bus that runs all night but I have never been desperate enough to take it.

Hey, I got my accomodation for the Crawl!

I'll be staying at the Grant's Plaza Hotel in Union Square, apparently only 5 minutes from one of our crawl stops.

I got the room for $58 a night from Expedia.com. There were at least 4 other hotels nearby with the same price....dig deeper my friends! If you need specifics, email me, I'll share the info.

So now I need to know TIMES for meet-ups.

So far I have surmised that we are meeting at Trader Vic's for dinner and then hopping to MR. Smiley's (a private home?) afterwards on Friday.

Then Saturday it's somebody's house at 4pm, then Trad'r Sams, Tonga Room and Bamboo Hut?

Sounds good, just need to know times, directions.

Anything going on for Sunday? Perhaps an infirmiry meet up? (Hee hee) "The Headache Club" "Hair-of-the-Dog Day"

Don't know about the "bus". It may be a bit too steep for my college budget.

See you there!

Tiki-Cutie Laura

On 2003-02-13 16:56, mrsmiley wrote:
A certain couple from way Southern Ca went to the "top secret" tiki crawl in SFlast weekend (that's a joke).

So its true! I heard about this from Floratina. Well, I hope you two had a good time. Hopefully, you guys will still be able to come up in March. Hey, remember I'm still road-tripping it. If you guys want to set up a caravan let me know - it will be fun. I think Tina is looking for some folks to drive up with.

Hey ya TikiCutie,

Re: "I'll be staying at the Grant's Plaza Hotel in Union Square, apparently only 5 minutes from one of our crawl stops."

Grant and Pine?

Well, how do you feel about Chinatown? The travel sites sometimes get a bit liberal in their descriptions. Could be worse, you could be staying in the "theater district". But it is just a few minutes walk to Union Square, it's basicaly Chinatown/Financial District area.

Will be easy to get to Martin and Rebecca's out in the burbs, hee hee. Reasonably cheap cab ride to TV's as well. We "may" be going to TV's and can always share the taxi. Your hotel is within walking distance from Fairmont Hotel and Broadway/Columbus...two crawl sites.

midnite

On 2003-02-13 19:07, martiki6 wrote:
Folks- Is there really no interest in the limo bus?

Hey! I'm interested! I don't want to drive this year, and I don't want to ride Muni either. 8)

--cyn