Kona Club, Oakland, CA (bar)

Aloha From Doug at the Kona Club,

I have not looked at the tiki forums since I opened up but I had a quiet moment and Bruce Woodbury sent me an email to get a sign a link to this forum. Thanks for all the attention about the Kona Club, but let me tell a little bit about it.

I wanted to open a Tiki bar for the longest time. I have held a mystical image of the perfect Tiki bar since childhood. I have been to a lot of Tiki bars on the west coast and in Hawaii and all of the ones I went to did not hold up to my dream of the perfect Tiki bar. Although I was disappointed I still wanted one for my very own.

It took four years to find a great location for the bar. The reality is that no one wants a bar in their backyard so it is almost impossible to open a new one; all you can do is wait until an old bar goes up for sale and jump at the chance to buy it. The old Kings X was on the short list of possible locations. (The Hut on College Ave. was number #1 Congratulations to the Conga on a great location!).

Ok I was lucky to get the X. Now how do you create a bar out of a dream and make it work? Like a lot of you I wanted a place with waterfalls, smokin' volcanos, strong drinks in tiki mugs, scorpion bowls, skull mugs and the like. The walls would be adorned with vintage artwork and there would be exotic music flowing and nightly Hula dancing. Tons of Polynesian "eye candy" would be everywhere and every morning would bring on a heavy hangover from one too many sweet strong libations. Oh oh reality..

The first thing I realized is it is hard to make a real full scale "Tiki-la" - no place is as good as my dream bar but I gotta try. It costs over 10,000 a month just for rent, insurance and utilities. I have my own personal art collection and I know the folks at Oceanic Arts. Luckily I was given the name of Bamboo Ben. We met we saw the same dream and started to build. Ben enlisted the mighty artistic ability of Crazy Al. We worked together for 6 weeks straight starting at 9:00 in the morning and finishing by 1:00 to have quick shot at Thlassa before doing it again. It was fun to create as we went along in the build out no blue prints, no plans just an honest creative effort as we discovered what the Kona would look like. Much thanks to their friends and families for allowing them to disappear for 6 weeks.

We finished and the walls look great all I needed to do was fill 16 bartending slots, hire a day manager, get a juke box, train 14 bartenders, get the product to sell. And make a new logo, custom tiki mug, outdoor sign, matches, napkins, swizzle sticks, post cards, drink menu. I tried to find someone to do the sign and logo just right. I am on my third artist and we have nearly finalized a look that I am happy with. I think that some of you have heard of Sam Gambino; he has been working hard on it and has created something that looks great. Some day, Hawaii Time, (Thanks Ben) we are going to have all that stuff.

About Tiki mugs and a busy bar. First any thing nit nailed down in a bar will be stolen. I had an Easter Island head at the Mallard that was buried 3 feet down and had 100 ponds of concrete to weigh it down and it was stolen. One of the great things about a intimate bar or restaurant is that with a low volume of sales the staff can watch everything and everyone, but in a busy bar you don't know who your friends friends are and if you leave something unattended for minute you may find your own hat on someone else's head. So we will only sell drinks in tiki mugs if you buy the mug. I have asked Crazy Al to dream up a mug for us. If all goes well we will have a new mug every year or so and retire the old ones. I hope that Holden will produce them for us. If you guys want to drink out of tiki mugs you can bring in your own we will put your name on it and leave it on the shelve behind the bar (space is limited) then you can drink out of the best tiki mug you want.

About the sign. Yes it would be helpful to have I sign. For the past 8 years I have heard the same thing about Thalassa. I do think that all of you are right about businesses needing signs every other business I see has one so their must be something to it. Kona Club will have one someday, I don't like seeing Kings X outside every time I go to work, but if I take it down I have to apply for new sign permit and I don't like to deal with the City or "the Man"

About the outside looking closed. I think its fun. I have always been a shorts & Aloha shirt kind of guy. Although I love to look at well dressed beautiful people I am always attracted to what is going on inside them. It is the same thing for my bars. I just want to attract people who want to simply enjoy the moment and don't need to be in the coolest hip spot around. If black windows are a reason not to go into a bar thats cool with me. That being said there is a neon "tiki bar open" sign on the way.

About a drink menu. Oh man we so need one ASAP. It too is on the way. Interesting to note. TC'ers that like a certain type of tropical libation. The ones that have come in like their drinks sour and strong. I live in Hawaii part time and I am always in search of the perfect Mai-Tai. My tastes are different than my other friends and what I like is not always what they like it does not mean either one of us is wrong its just that I hate anchovies on pizza. I think the POG in a martini glass was made with pomegranate juice, Pearl pomegranate Vodka and other fruit juices. It is drink that one of the bartenders made up and it has been on of the most popular or our "house" drinks. Its ok not to like it (I hate Tequila). I am sure that the bartender would have made something else. We are having fun making up new drinks and will have a drink menu with nice words and graphics some day. If you want to give us your favorite recipe we might and it to menu (Thanks for The-Jab's knockout punch.) If any one requests it I make a mean drink with Passion, Orange and Guava juice. It gets a great response by the third one at my house parties.

Bartenders, I wish I could clone Robin at the Mallard for the Kona club. There are a lot of great bartenders that work at the other bars and someday there Mojo will rub off on the new staff. But in the meantime I hope that all the Bartenders are friendly and treat you like family. I can teach them how to make good drinks but it hard to teach people how to be genuinely nice and friendly. To all of you TC'ers let me know if someone is not nice to you, that is something I can't have.

Some things I can't help. For many of you these are the bad things at the bar. First a TV yes I have one, old surf movies, Gidget, Gilligan's island, etc. at night. We have a variety of music. about 25% of the music is Hawaiian or Polynesian, throw in a few Reggae albums and soon to be on new release Martin Denny and you have the mood selection. I don't think I can take Eminem so if he is on there I will take it off. The problem is that most folks don't know or like island music or exotica. So I gotta pay the bills and the Music will vary.

I will be working on the place as best I can and it will get new stuff. If you want to make changes to the place I am super open to suggestions. JUst write down what you think and give it the bar tender. I will get them. I wish everything was done so I could be in Hawaii surfing but there is time enough in the meantime enjoy the life and don't forget about watching sunsets.

Mahalo
Doug

something was very wrong Thurs night.... i never puked.... is that something i should work on or the bar owner?????

On 2006-03-04 15:35, DuckTiki wrote:
I do think that all of you are right about businesses needing signs every other business I see has one so their must be something to it.

:lol:
Really nice post, Doug.
I'm a theatre rat, what do you say to wish a new bar well...break a mug?

http://www.balihijinks.com
"Here am I, your special island
Come to me, come to me"

[ Edited by: purple jade 2006-03-04 16:19 ]

Wow, Doug.

Thanks for taking the time to address the issues brought up on this forum.

I think it can accurately be said, that we all want you to succeed, and I think everyone here is in 100% agreement, that your place is damn straight gorgeous.

I hear you about the theft of objects that aren't locked down. I had a pet lock broken in my bathroom (POUR bar and bistro) and toilet paper stolen. Sheesh, I can't imagine the pain one would feel to have artistic tiki artifacts taken.

On the mug issue, I happen to like what NYC's Otto's Shrunken Head does. On their menu, it reads, "all drinks are served in plastic cups...unless you buy a mug for $6. You can keep the mug or return it for a refund."

One of my employees suggested a "left shoe policy" where a patron, upon ordering a scorpion bowl must leave a shoe which is strung up with a pulley system. Not sure how the health Dept feels about shoe-less patrons though.

Anyway, good luck on getting all the bugs out, and next time I'm in the bay area, I will stop by again.

Robertiki

On 2006-03-04 15:35, DuckTiki wrote:
If you guys want to drink out of tiki mugs you can bring in your own we will put your name on it and leave it on the shelve behind the bar

... and wait for somebody to steal it! Awwww, just kiddin. I think it's an excellent idea. It really gives people the sense of having some ownership in the bar, like it's not just your bar their visiting, but their bar too.

Doug, we are all rooting for you. Break a mug indeed.

Doug you sound like a pro. Good luck, I know you will do well.

They've made some welcome changes at the Kona Club. Some special tropical drinks are available. There are about a dozen or so, plus 2 bowl drinks. There is no printed drink menu yet but the bartenders will show you their recipe sheet. Included are the Knockout Punch by yours truly and Kick_the_reverb's Reverb Crash.

Now, here are my criticisms. Unfortunately, they altered some of the original recipes. I'm not sure if they did this to make them easier to make, or because they did tastings and liked them better. I was particalarly disappointed that they changed the recipes for the Blackbeard's Ghost (which didn't taste nearly as good as the real thing) and Don the Beachcomber's Zombie (which cannot be called a zombie at all because it's too weak). I plan on bringing the real recipes for these in next time so I can have them make them properly. I think if you want to offer a zombie then it better be strong and you should charge accordingly ($10 or more). My Knockout Punch recipe calls for passion fruit syrup but they have passion fruit juice so they should have increased the amount quite a bit. Also, I wish they were a little more careful with drink consistency: they should measure more carefully instead of eyeballing it, especially when adding small quantities of ingredients.

Enough of my drink complaints. All in all, the drink menu has some great drinks on it. Some of their own inventions look very tasty. They have far more rums now including Myers's Platinum in the well, Velvet Falernum, Trader Vic's and Fee Brothers orgeats, passion fruit and guava juices. I showed them how to make as close to a proper Mai Tai as possible, and they did a great tasting one with Appleton Estate, Orinoco rum (Rhum St. James has been ordered), Cointreau (no curacao still!), fresh lime, and orgeat. The house "Mai Tai" is still made with pineapple but with guava added so it's probably a tasty drink even if it's not a Mai Tai.

In addition, there is far more stuff on the walls now, mostly artworks, and all very appropriate for a classic tiki bar (in other words, sticking to Polynesia and not verging into caribbean or other themes). I think they added some hanging lamps - it seems like there were more this time.

And they put the new Martin Denny compilation on the jukebox.

WWJD? Go to the Kona again!

They've made some welcome changes at the Kona Club. Some special tropical drinks are available. There are about a dozen or so, plus 2 bowl drinks. There is no printed drink menu yet but the bartenders will show you their recipe sheet. Included are the Knockout Punch by yours truly and Kick_the_reverb's Reverb Crash.

Now, here are my criticisms. Unfortunately, they altered some of the original recipes. I'm not sure if they did this to make them easier to make, or because they did tastings and liked them better. I was particalarly disappointed that they changed the recipes for the Blackbeard's Ghost (which didn't taste nearly as good as the real thing) and Don the Beachcomber's Zombie (which cannot be called a zombie at all because it's too weak). I plan on bringing the real recipes for these in next time so I can have them make them properly. I think if you want to offer a zombie then it better be strong and you should charge accordingly ($10 or more). My Knockout Punch recipe calls for passion fruit syrup but they have passion fruit juice so they should have increased the amount quite a bit. Also, I wish they were a little more careful with drink consistency: they should measure more carefully instead of eyeballing it, especially when adding small quantities of ingredients.

Enough of my drink complaints. All in all, the drink menu has some great drinks on it. Some of their own inventions look very tasty. They have far more rums now including Myers's Platinum in the well, Velvet Falernum, Trader Vic's and Fee Brothers orgeats, passion fruit and guava juices. I showed them how to make as close to a proper Mai Tai as possible, and they did a great tasting one with Appleton Estate, Orinoco rum (Rhum St. James has been ordered), Cointreau (no curacao still!), fresh lime, and orgeat. The house "Mai Tai" is still made with pineapple but with guava added so it's probably a tasty drink even if it's not a Mai Tai.

In addition, there is far more stuff on the walls now, mostly artworks, and all very appropriate for a classic tiki bar (in other words, sticking to Polynesia and not verging into caribbean or other themes). I think they added some hanging lamps - it seems like there were more this time.

And they put the new Martin Denny compilation on the jukebox.

WWJD? Go to the Kona again!

One more observation: It has a great vibe. Last night the people there were friendly, the staff and clientele. Nobody was obnoxiously loud or rowdy. It had a lounge atmosphere, appropriately dark with the music just loud enough to hear but have an easy conversation without raising your voice. It was full (most of the tables and seats at the bar occupied), but the crowd thinned out fairly early.

Oh, and the bartender remembered my name. I always dig that.

Jab-

You should ask Doug if you could guest bartend on like Sundays. Start something like TV's on Mondays. " True Trops with the Jab!" Get your bud to come and do the trivia!! Start a new tradition, kinda like that football thang the X used to have.

Damn you. I escaped the night before I bailed the island and went to the Kona for 1 beer. Then went to Thalasa for 1 beer and to check out that giant Tiki mask ( wich is freaking giant!!!!). Everyone up there got me so paranoid about having a few and driving on the island. Sooo i went back to my hut and crashed out.

p.s. watching you mix that night at your pad...... you need to be behind a bar!!!

You should have called me Ben! I would have been the driver. Perhaps when you come back. Have you been to the Alley or Heinhold's First and Last Chance yet? They are my 2 favorite old bars in Oakland.

Does anyone know when they will get some outside signs? I've been raving about the place to my friends for months (since November!), but I always have to say "But it says King's X on the outside". Very odd.

You were in Seatle eating BIG food!!!

But I still think you should guest host bartend some of the bay area bars, including the Kona.

Would be cool, on, like, Sundays!.

"the Jabs Mixen' Tiki Drinks Night."

Maybe RoberTiki would have you up to Portland? to make his new tiki bar perfect??

I Will let you know the next time I'm up there and we'll tie one on fo sure. And eat Big food the next day too!

You're a cool cat!

I believe the Kona Club sign isn't finished yet. They are leaving the Kings X sign in place for now, to avoid having to get another sign permit from the city.

A new tiki bar from the owner of Club Mallard in Albany and Thalassa in Berkeley.

That makes sense. Thalassa is one of my favorite pool halls and I've always been struck by the great tiki paraphernalia.

We just went to Kona for the first time last night. I've not been hanging around with the right crowd. I had no idea it was even there.

Actually when we drove up it looked like it was closed because all the windows were blacked in. If it weren't for someone walking out the front door we might have driven away.

Totally excellent club. Love the mobile hula girl statue and I WANT WANT WANT the velvet tiki art collection.

Hi Melissa. It's cooler when it's not obvious from the outside, like a speakeasy :wink:

I think I saw you there last night. There were a few Tiki Central members there. I was the drunk guy wearing black spectacles 8)

Anyway, welcome to Tiki Central, but watch the spamming, or you may get a warning from one of our friendly moderators (I'm not one)

Welcome to TC, retrodiva! Hanford & I were there last night with the Jab, here is a picture of Jab and me:

We had a fun time there last night. Decor-wise, they've made a number of small changes that have had a big impact on the overall feel of the place. The jukebox is waaay out of the way now, and the new art additions fill the place in a bit more. There's even an old paint-by-numbers painting that is exactly like one Hanford has! That was cool to see. The drink list has now been printed up for customers, and it's got some great items on it, but the bartenders are still learning how to make the drinks. Like many places, they don't use jiggers or measure, and you can't really make a good, balanced tropical cocktail by eyeballing it. Tiki-Ti, Trader Vic's -- even though the bartenders have been slinging spirits for longer than I've been alive, they measure with jiggers. The Kona Club bartenders were very friendly, and eager to hear feedback about how the drinks could be better, so it's still promising. My feedback was limited to stuff like "easy on the Falernum," but I probably should have pointed out the jigger thing -- though assaulting a bartender's choice of technique is perhaps not the coolest thing to do. Emblematic of why we don't spend more time at Kona Club: at one point, "Friends" was playing on the television at the bar, while "Cheeseburger in Paradise" was playing on the jukebox. But like I said, overall, we had a fun time last night.

More pictures:

http://photo.humuhumu.com/v/konajab/

:up: Jab and bartender Nanrissa

It was a good episode of Friends, though.

I ended up at the Kona Club on Saturday since FI was full.
What a beautiful place inside, I agree with Humu though... The T.V. and jukebox are in need of SERIOUS reprogramming.
The drinks are decent for the price and the vibe was mellow. Overall a very nice bar.
Aloha,
:tiki:

On 2006-04-24 22:13, Tiki Royale wrote:

What a beautiful place inside, I agree with Humu though... The T.V. and jukebox are in need of SERIOUS reprogramming.
The drinks are decent for the price and the vibe was mellow. Overall a very nice bar.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I'm glad to read your positive comments.

As far as the music, there are some great CDs on there. You just have to program it yourself. I have been to bars with worse music. For example, there is the new Martin Denny compilation, an Ape CD, Dick Dale, tons of Hawaiian music (that I'm not familiar with), and plenty of great lounge, 60s soul, etc. If you rely on the customers to play it you may be disappointed. It's hard to please everyone with music but I think that's what they're trying to do.

I have been in there when they had the movie "Gidget" on the TV, and another time they were playing old surfing films. Other times I wasn't happy with what was on ("Friends") but I bet if you asked the staff they would play an old movie. At least the TV is small enough and the bar big enough that you can get away from the TV if it's distracting. Also, they keep the TV's sound off.

I feel like I'm always defending this place, but I would really like to see it succeed as is, otherwise they may feel a need to compromise the atmosphere, or do away with the drink menu, etc.

As much as I LOVE Forbidden Island, I still intend going to the Kona Club regularly. I think that both places can survive, as they are both very different in their approaches.

Also, I think it's somewhat of shame (and I don't understand why) that many of the folks on TC who live fairly close by still have not seen one of Bamboo Ben's masterpieces.

On 2006-04-25 11:01, thejab wrote:

On 2006-04-24 22:13, Tiki Royale wrote:

What a beautiful place inside, I agree with Humu though... The T.V. and jukebox are in need of SERIOUS reprogramming.
The drinks are decent for the price and the vibe was mellow. Overall a very nice bar.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I'm glad to read your positive comments.

As far as the music, there are some great CDs on there. You just have to program it yourself. I have been to bars with worse music. For example, there is the new Martin Denny compilation, an Ape CD, Dick Dale, tons of Hawaiian music (that I'm not familiar with), and plenty of great lounge, 60s soul, etc. If you rely on the customers to play it you may be disappointed. It's hard to please everyone with music but I think that's what they're trying to do.

I have been in there when they had the movie "Gidget" on the TV, and another time they were playing old surfing films. Other times I wasn't happy with what was on ("Friends") but I bet if you asked the staff they would play an old movie. At least the TV is small enough and the bar big enough that you can get away from the TV if it's distracting. Also, they keep the TV's sound off.

I feel like I'm always defending this place, but I would really like to see it succeed as is, otherwise they may feel a need to compromise the atmosphere, or do away with the drink menu, etc.

As much as I LOVE Forbidden Island, I still intend going to the Kona Club regularly. I think that both places can survive, as they are both very different in their approaches.

Also, I think it's somewhat of shame (and I don't understand why) that many of the folks on TC who live fairly close by still have not seen one of Bamboo Ben's masterpieces.

very well said jab. the one time cleen and i went we had a great time. it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful bars i have ever been to. with the help of humu and hanford we took the juke over for our entire visit and that solved the music issue.

when we went it was not long after it opened so there was no drink menu yet. we drank gin and tonics(tiki? no! good? yes!). they were inexpensive considering the money the owner put into the place and made with premium booze!

my point is that no matter where you go there is always going to be advantages and disadvantages. if the place is gorgeous inside and you don't want it to change you have to support it. you may have to drink a cocktail, listen to music or god forbid ignore a TV that doesn't "fit" with the atmosphere. this in my opinion is a very small price to pay to keep a work of art like the kona UNCHANGED and more importantly in business.

i ain't drunk.......i'm jus drankin. albert collins

[ Edited by: the drunken hat 2006-04-25 13:14 ]

Mahalos for da kine words guys !!!!!!

Just remember that the Kona Club is a
" Work in Progress, Home Tiki Bar, Open to the Public."

As Doug says in the Spring 06'Vol.2 No.1 issue of Tiki Magazine, "It takes a little while for a bar to develop a personality of its own. It will be fun watching the little bugger grow."

As we ALL know, Home Tiki Bars are always growing.

Gratzi!!! Gratzi!!!

Jab and Hat,
Indeed! Next time I will take more time to fully scope the jukebox. The T.V. is unobtrusive and can be easily ignored, especially when sitting in the room around the corner.

Ben,
The interior is truly AMAZING! The details are beautiful and the craftmanship is unsurpassed. I am glad to have finallly been able to see your work in person and up close.

Aloha,
:tiki:

I heard through the grapevine that there is a sign coming soon to the Kona Club. Be on the look out.

I think it's gonna be real similar to this picture below....

..........After one more of these....

[ Edited by: RevBambooBen 2006-06-01 21:28 ]

[ Edited by: RevBambooBen 2006-06-01 21:31 ]

See you there tonight!

I heard through the grapevine that this may be the sign?

Any east bay'ers seen anything?

Rev we were by there yesterday and that looks like what I remember the sign being. We had some time so we wandered in and had a couple of drinks. This place looks fantstic and the drinks were plenty good too. We'll visit there on our return to the Bay Area.
-Sam

Some things don't change much with time. As of this afternoon
the Kona Club on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland still has Tiki
decor, still proclaims itself a "Tiki Bar" via a small neon sign in
one window, and is still surrounded by crematoria, columbaria,
and a major cemetery.