I Has Returnded! -Hollywood, CA to Hollywood, OR- The Novella

After five weeks spent living, playing, and of course working in LA, I'm safe and sound back in old Portland.
Didn't get to fit in too much tiki unfortunately. I didn't have a car. My place was close enough to work that I could RIDE A BIKE. Yes, I'm one of those idiots who rides a bike around Hollywood, but kudos to LA drivers for not honking ONCE. So no Bahooka. No Lucky Tiki. Didn't even make it to Clifton's this time.
I did make it out to Vic's in BH for an evening of bliss. Though I managed to spill one trademark Mai Tai. The frosty tumbler slipped right through my fingers. I almost cried. Did it right in front of our waiter too, who cleaned it up and replaced it lickety-split, no charge. We sampled much of the appetizer menu, but Vic's hamburger was the crowd favorite. A lack of souvenir mug options was the 2nd saddest event of the evening. Why Vic's? WHY? Soo many mugs you could be selling to hokey tourists like me...
Tiki Ti was closed for the season as I'm sure we're all aware, but I did make it over to the Good Luck Bar for a mega-dose of thematic drinking. I'd never been. It could be my new favorite bar in the world. Though I was there early on a monday night so the place wasn't PACKED with people. Didn't think too much of their themed drinks. There seemed to be too much "flavored" this and "creme de" that going into them. To get the best bang for my buck I began ordering the "Double Happiness", a shot of Chinese Whiskey (which I'd never had) and a Chinese beer for $8. Not sure I "liked" my drink choice, but it fit the evening perfectly. Also, that place has the best damned jukebox I've ever encountered.
Finally, before catching my plane, my friends took me to the Purple Orchid. Despite the blaring presence of college football on the toob we had a splendid evening of tiki immersion. Their drinks are ALL GOOD. Strong, too. Love the Purple Orchid. We even bought a couple of mugs, and what better way is there to cap off an evening of fruity drinking?
Now that I'm back I'll be running more mugs and hopefully releasing them onto the evilBay soon. We're up to five designs, actually I just put the bottom on mold #6 last night. I left my camera cable in LA so I can't upload any new pictures right now, but SOON! Still running only 50 of each thankfully. Primo's mold is falling apart at #45 making cleanup of the pulls a real chore.
Anyway. I've missed TC and look forward to whiling away my spare hours catching up on all the old posts. I hope you all find yourselves healthy and surrounded by warm loved ones this holiday season.

-Joe

Sounds like you had a great time in CA Rum Demon. Portland huh? My niece lives there, and my sister. From what they've told me it sounds like a pretty interesting place. Holiday wishes to you. Be sure to keep toasty warm.

On 2005-12-14 17:03, Rum Demon wrote:

 Finally, before catching my plane, my friends took me to the Purple Orchid.  . . .  we had a splendid evening of tiki immersion.  Their drinks are ALL GOOD.  Strong, too.  Love the Purple Orchid.  

Did you ride over to the Lava Lounge?

An excellent send-off. Hope your keeping the tiki torch burning bright at the Alibi.

[ Edited by: christiki295 2006-01-14 19:06 ]

Haven't been over to the lava lounge yet. I'm actually back down in LA again at the moment. Same stomping grounds as before. No tiki yet, but plan to hit the Ti on wednesday.

Lava lounge looks interesting. I may try and see it tonight. Thanks for the heads up!

-Joe

Will you be riding your bike over there?

hey.. anyone else in the pacific northwest notice ~ Rum Demon returns, and we have nonstop rain.. the day he posts he's back in So Cal.. our 27 day rain streak ends?

coincidence?

Hey Dogbytes, when I was in the service our ship pulled into Seattle for 1 week. The sun popped out the day we pulled in, some of the local people told us we brought the sun with us from socal as it had been cloudy for some time there. It stayed sunny and warm the entire week we were there.

It was cool because that was when the Worlds Fair was in Vancouver and I got to check it out on one of my days of leave.

Wouldn't you know it, it started raining as we were pulling out of the Sound.

You guys up there need to construct a huge Sun tiki (is there such a thing?) that faces west and diverts some of that juice our way!

P.S. Dogbytes, congratulations on the SeaHawks kicking some football butt lately!

Arr! Not been to the Lava Lounge yet. Was supposed to go to the Tiki Ti tonight, but my friend bailed. The rest of my week is busy and I fly home saturday... so... no tiki for me this time. I'll be back down at the end of feb, hopefully something will work itself out. Meanwhile I have the beloved Alibi to look forward to.

I'm sure it'll get really wet and crappy when I get back to Portland. Last winter I was in LA and it rained like crazy, more than it was back in the NW. Ah well. Good thing I'm down with the wetness, sorry to everyone else.

-Joe