Tiki and Las Vegas

Hey now what tiki ness happens in Las Vegas now a days. I heard a bunch of places shut down. I know about the Aku statue at Sunset park. And I heard Taboo cove shut down - true? But is there rum village at mandlay bay or something like that - also any vegas thrift action? Any help would be great I'm heading there for NAB (its a television expo type thing) in Mid april. Thanks in advance!

Red Rooster Antiques has a whole tiki section filled with mugs, art, etc. Vegas in general is very good pricewise for tiki and/or mid-century stuff.

It is the Rum Jungle at Mandely Bay. Nothing tiki, during the day it is a Brazilian restaurant, at night, a club with a tiny dance floor, drinks are expensive, but good.

Thanks for the help
Keep it coming... I figured Rum Jungle was just that, but hey maybe they'll have some rum that I've never had? As far as antiques I'll look it up thanks.
Is Antique place near the strip?

Stayed at Mandalay Bay recently and Rum Jungle has every type of rum and rum drink you can imagine, some great tiki classics too, but there's nary a tiki to be seen in that place. It looks like a place to hook up, but it being Vegas these hookups will probably be with pros, so you will not only be having expensive drinks, but also expensive sex.

Tikipug and others posted the following on the Hawaiian Marketplace, which has tikis, and the Tropicana Hotel, which doesn't:

https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=9148&forum=1&start=15

The following thread is on the California Hotel downtown. Hawaiian themes, but no tiki: https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=12642&forum=1

I don't suppose any new tiki establishments have arisen in Vegas since the last post?

The Imperial Palace has a poolside luau (on Thursday afternoon, I think).

And, yes, Taboo Cove is no longer.

Ava at the Mirage also has a tiki vibe.

there was a cheesy tiki bar in the golden gate casino on fremont street. last casino on the left, just before the plaza hotel/casino(which incidentally makes good tropical drinks!!) i haven't been in a few years so who knows what's left of it. if not the golden gate then one of those casinos in that area had it....if i was there i could point directly to it but a hazy memory keeps me from being able to tell you with exactness which casino it was.

When we went to Vegas in Feb 2004 some guys were handing out flyers for a free tiki mug with lunch at the Kahunaville in Treasure Island (now Ti for some stupid a$$ reason). Free tiki mug was standard, but hey its FREE, and we bought a volcano mug and a palm tree mug, both are huge. In our Feb 05 trip went by and the mug cabinet was sparse. Might be worth checking if your in the area. The food was not worth the trip and the dueling pianos were a bit too loud.

On 2005-05-19 05:43, minitor wrote:
When we went to Vegas in Feb 2004 some guys were handing out flyers for a free tiki mug with lunch at the Kahunaville in Treasure Island In our Feb 05 trip went by and the mug cabinet was sparse. The food was not worth the trip and the dueling pianos were a bit too loud.

Nice to know that Ferrante and Teicher are still working!!!

On 2005-05-19 05:43, minitor wrote:
When we went to Vegas in Feb 2004 some guys were handing out flyers for a free tiki mug with lunch at the Kahunaville in Treasure Island (now Ti for some stupid a$$ reason). Free tiki mug was standard, but hey its FREE, and we bought a volcano mug and a palm tree mug, both are huge. In our Feb 05 trip went by and the mug cabinet was sparse. Might be worth checking if your in the area. The food was not worth the trip and the dueling pianos were a bit too loud.

Allow me to offer a different opinion. I thought the cuisine in the restaurant was deliciouis, although most of the Bosko tikis were limited to one particular area, the elevated area on the right immediately as one walks in.

When I went on a weekend night, the bar was a dance bar, without a piano in sight. There are two excellent tiki paintings in the rear.

On 2005-05-18 10:13, Tipsy McStagger wrote:
there was a cheesy tiki bar in the golden gate casino on fremont street. last casino on the left, just before the plaza hotel/casino(which incidentally makes good tropical drinks!!) i haven't been in a few years so who knows what's left of it. if not the golden gate then one of those casinos in that area had it....if i was there i could point directly to it but a hazy memory keeps me from being able to tell you with exactness which casino it was.

Is this bar still there?

I'd boycot that joint on pricipal.

cheesy cheesy cheesy

the Rainforest cafe is actually better! And believe me the rainforest cafe is utter crap.

plus, a huge sin, they have reproduced my buddy Josh Agles work into their menues and whatnot without his permission.

Robert

On 2006-03-26 09:29, christiki295 wrote:

On 2005-05-18 10:13, Tipsy McStagger wrote:
there was a cheesy tiki bar in the golden gate casino on fremont street. last casino on the left, just before the plaza hotel/casino(which incidentally makes good tropical drinks!!) i haven't been in a few years so who knows what's left of it. if not the golden gate then one of those casinos in that area had it....if i was there i could point directly to it but a hazy memory keeps me from being able to tell you with exactness which casino it was.

Is this bar still there?

I tried to find this bar in the casino. I don't remember the outcome; either I couldn't find it because it is not there
OR I found it and it was so bad that I promptly forgot it. (I did see a really bad , very half-assed "tiki" bar in downtown--it might have been this one).
I DO recommend checking out all the casinos in the downtown area as many a very old (the Golden Gate is a early 1900's building) and about four of them have been bought recently and will be undergoing some sort of changes. GO to the Plaza and have a drink in the main restuarant(the one with the big bubble window facing Fremont Street.) It is a great view at night!!

I did not see this bar at the Golden Gate, nor did any bar staff seem familiar with the tiki bar concept.

However, Mickey Finzz, down the (Freemont) street, is the real-deal tiki bar.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=19118&forum=2&0

On 2005-03-11 14:37, sneakyjack wrote:
Hey now what tiki ness happens in Las Vegas now a days. I heard a bunch of places shut down. I know about the Aku statue at Sunset park. And I heard Taboo cove shut down - true? But is there rum village at mandlay bay or something like that - also any vegas thrift action? Any help would be great I'm heading there for NAB (its a television expo type thing) in Mid april. Thanks in advance!

I got all the details and reviews of places and clubs such as "NINE""Body English" "Caramel" from localites and also people who are staying there from last 35 years.These reviewed really helped me to enjoy the best of the sin city night life. I aslo could ask for vip request from them. These was great I enjoyed it.If you wanna see the reviews of the places and clubs then just visit http://www.insidervlv.com as i got a lots of good info from here

We just got back from Vegas, and I tried to take as many pictures of Tiki and Retro locales as possible. Since you asked, we had an amazing time and actually won some cash!

For instance, if you're driving, along the way you HAVE to stop here;

And in Baker the exquisite -

Which has a guardian Tiki out front! Who carved it?

More to come, I'll post a batch at a time.

We stay at the Flamingo Hotel, mostly because of this, an enormous south-seas palm shaded waterfall laden pool complex sitting in their backyard that would even give Ona-tiki a few ideas-

They carry some nice shirts inside, too -

But back outside, this waterfall is just for show-

This waterfall is for go -

And if you want more, they got'em (yes, those people are sitting at the new floating tables, drinking Mai Tais)-

Even at the little kid's wading pool -

Sneaky Tiki houses hide the pumps;

And there's even an all night firepit with a bar attached;

Inside again, a few of the slot machines have been strangely bamboo'ed out -

More later.

Next stop is the Mai Tai bar at the very back left of the Imperial Palace, it has 3D images of tropical drinks on the wall that you gotta see. Mi Mai Tai was extremely strong, but had no flavor. I stopped drinking it about halfway, when my nose started getting numb.

Next stop was the Red Rooster Antique Mall. Here's the Tiki section! It's much better than this one shot shows it to be, there's a display case of old Vegas casino goodies against the other wall. In this picture, the left side is old stuff, the right side is mostly Tiki Farm;

And here's a closeup of the left side -

Then we went to Luv-it Custard. The street side's (the left edge here)windows are painted out, so it looks closed as you approach it! This place was AMAZING.

More to come.

Just got back from LV myself and will be there again in no time.

Stopped at the Stardust (preparing to meet the wrecking ball in October)which has a little kiosk selling 8x10 photos of the openning day of the Aku Aku...

The Tropicana still has beautiful pool and garden complex nestled between it's twin hotel towers. I understand this place is destined to be bulldozed also. So Sad.

The Florida Cafe has exceptional Cuban food and drinks and is housed in the HoJo's just beyond the Strat near the remains of the old Thunderbird Casino. Have to go there every time.

I noticed Don The Beachcomber's is gone from the Venitian so I can only assume some progress is being made on their free standing property... but what about the rumored LV Trader Vics? Hmmmm...

And here is Mickey Finz, across from Neonopolis, this is Tiki Diablo's work. I was there too early to swig some, but the inside looks very Californian-Pacific Beach surferish with some really nice Tapa Canoes hanging around.

This is the first thing you see there, it's kinda hard to miss;

And at the door, check out the detail, Diablo worked in little five sided shamrocks as an Irish/hibiscus hybrid, real nifty -

Here he is up closer,I love the dark stain and the unfinished forehead area. This is one of the nicest tiki carvings I've ever seen, actually;

And the outside firepit, with Fremont looming behind. I think this looks pretty cool, with the torches sticking up. It looks pretty comfy, y'know?

Hilo Hattie's at the Aladdin. We saw it at the start of the summer, and it's been really picked over now. All the Tiki Farm mugs are gone, they have about 1/2 the shirts they did two months ago, etc.

Here is the Aladdin story; it's CURSED. No kidding, it's an ancient Las Vegas curse, the whole property is cursed and has been since the horse and buggy days. Every local knows about it. The Aladdin itself spent hundreds of millions building utself into a perfect Middle Eastern replica, right before 911. It's CURSED, see. It's been in financial trouble since reopening, and has been sold to Planet Hollywood now, and is in the middle of redoing the whole casino as a PH design. Except they don't seem to be planning on adding any Hollywood memorabilia! CURSED! And the Trader Vics going in will be right at the Northern entrance, the second shop in and the first bar you see. But their space is SMALL! It may go up two stories, but I don't think so. They may be putting in a small bar instead of a whole restaurant, but again, from the planning drawings it looks about 1/3 the size of the clothing shop next door. Maybe that's good, a small Vics bar might be kind of cool...

More coming....

I've stayed at the Aladdin twice, and I must say their financial troubles may have something to do with their crappy service. On the first visit, with my parents, my mom found a pink polished toenail clipping between her sheets upon arrival. The bed in my room was quite hard and the sheets had a thread count of about 50. The complementary shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel all had a rather unpleasant, overly spicey scent. While there, we had dinner at one of the "high-end" restaurants above the casino, but I can't remember the name of it and it is apparently gone now. It was way overpriced for the quality and quantity of food, and the service was extremely slow. We also had to wait in line about 30 minutes to check out (we couldn't do TV check-out for some reason). Standing in line for 30 minutes sucks when you're really hungover from a long night out with a local friend. I chalked most of it up to growing pains since the hotel had only been re-opened for about a month.

On the second visit (I went back because I was offered a great rate and free gambling money and hoped the initial problems were just because it was new at the time), I was able to get an upgrade to what they call a "spa room" by tipping the front desk person as I asked for a view of the Bellagio. I think they call it that because the bathroom area is quite large and you can watch the Bellagio fountains from the bathtub. However, the bed was again quite uncomfortable and for what I paid for the room, they could afford to put softer 2-ply tissue in the bathroom. I know that's knit-picky, but let's be real, who wants to use thin, scratchy TP? The room service food was also quite bad.

I go to Las Vegas often and when friends ask me which hotels to stay in and which to avoid, Aladdin is always the first on my "avoid" list. But I'll admit I enjoy browsing around the Desert Passage. It's a pretty cool atmosphere and there is plenty of seating for when your feet get tired or swollen from the desert heat. Trader Vic's should fit in quite nicely. It's just the hotel part that really sucks.

On 2006-08-23 11:52, hodadhank wrote:
Just got back from LV myself and will be there again in no time.

Stopped at the Stardust (preparing to meet the wrecking ball in October)which has a little kiosk selling 8x10 photos of the openning day of the Aku Aku...

The stardust also has room keys with photos from their past. The Aku Aku is one.

hey hodadhank, was this the same image of the 8x10 photos?

On 2006-08-25 05:37, Cammo wrote:
And the Trader Vics going in will be right at the Northern entrance, the second shop in and the first bar you see. But their space is SMALL! It may go up two stories, but I don't think so. They may be putting in a small bar instead of a whole restaurant, but again, from the planning drawings it looks about 1/3 the size of the clothing shop next door. Maybe that's good, a small Vics bar might be kind of cool...

More coming....

rumor has it trader vic's is approx 9,000 sf including kitchen. the current plan is that it is on 2 levels, with an outdoor terrace and bar right on the strip, with waterfall wall and an inside bar as well.

That makes a lot of sense, the ground floor may be just an entrance to the wonderland above.

Next stop, the World's Biggest Gift Shop to stock up on skulls!

And they don't have Tiki Mugs there, but they have THESE;

For a relaxing time, go to the Mirage's salt water tank, behind the check-in area;

I'd argue that the entire Mirage is a gigantic Tiki Bar, with all the Tikis removed and Balinese gods nailed into their places. You enter over a bridge, past waterfalls, and immediately are presented at least 3 places to order tropical drinks, before you reach the gambling!

Don't forget, this is the place that has an erupting volcano every night out front.

See? -

And finally we arrive at our destination, the luckiest casino in Las Vegas, the home of all that is truly Hawaiian, the secret of secrets, the California Hotel;
Here is their upstairs meeting room, nice mural;

And the famous Pau Hana ('quittin time') slot machines -

They have a great little plate lunch place;

Here is Don Ho's Kahune Kash!

But my fave is Tiki Torch, which is fun to play and I always win a bit on -

This one here is the BEST though. Ya gotta play it, they only have one, this is the only one I've ever seen in Las Vegas, and it's freaki Tiki-tabulous!

The Easter Island slot machine. While playing, the Tikis dance around, and every Tiki is a wild card. I'm addicted to it, and the payout rates are so gooood at the California, you win win win. I actually tried to lose on this once and couldn't do it!

They also have a big bar upstairs called Dave's Bar, it's never very busy and they actually make nice drinks.

And don't forget those matches, they're great to fill Blood Bowls with during the daylight hours!

Does anyone have an idea of when the Trader Vic's LV is going to open? I've heard December but was hoping it would be a little sooner. I'll be there just before Thanksgiving.

By the way, Cammo, thanks for the tour. Great photos and commentary. I can see dozens of Tikiphiles paying $8 a head to attend your seminar at Hukilau 2007 entitled "In Search of the Desert Tiki".

[ Edited by: Ukulare 2006-10-21 13:07 ]

I'm finishing a weeklong trip to Vegas and stopped at the site. It's gonna be a few months for the Vegas Trader Vics. It's still just a framed out space. The sign says "Opening Soon".

I'm staying at the Imperial Palace, which has the slowest elevators on the strip. They have a Luau three times a week. It's a kitschy tourist thing, but its fun. There's also a bar in the casino called "The Mai Tai Bar". Not too bad. Strong, too. And happy hour is 2 for 1!

Thanks for the update. I guess I won't get my hopes up for this trip.

I REALLY hope TV opens here-but the current flavor of Vegas can be so fleeting, I won't believe it until I see it!

PS-I haven't searched recently for this-but where is the new info on Vegas' new Don The Beachcomber?!?!?

Trader Vic's web site now says the that Vegas location won't open till June '07 -- which sucks because I had been planning to go to Vegas in Jan or Feb and wanted to go there.

On 2005-05-18 10:13, Tipsy McStagger wrote:
there was a cheesy tiki bar in the golden gate casino on fremont street. last casino on the left, just before the plaza hotel/casino(which incidentally makes good tropical drinks!!) i haven't been in a few years so who knows what's left of it. if not the golden gate then one of those casinos in that area had it....if i was there i could point directly to it but a hazy memory keeps me from being able to tell you with exactness which casino it was.

Not there.

I usually make it to LV once a year, plue it's a nice drive from the Bay Area. I typically stay at the Flamingo....I too am amazed by the tropical backyard and pool areas. Now that I have a timeshare, I can stay at a nice little condo resort over by Hooters. I love to go shopping....especially at the Aladdin (cause I can't afford Caesers). If TV is not going to open till the summer...I will try to put my visit off until after the opening.....keep us posted. Thanks all for the great pictures. :)

Goin' next month.
Stayin at the good ol Trop.
Gonna hit Fremont, so I'll check out Micky Finz, didnt make it there on the last trip.
Also, if anyone is up for a Rockabilly show,
Friday night 1/12 The Sugar Daddys and Brian Jay and the Barnburners will be at The Aruba. I'm pretty sure I'll be there.
Debating on a saturday night dinner or Drinkfest with all the vegas kids I Know. I'll have mom with me too, so maybe an early drinkfest... hahahahahahaha
I'll give more info soon!
Pea

yew hew,
anyone wanna meet up at the Aruba on Friday night in Vegas?
I'll be there all weekend, and can meet up pretty much anytime.
Lemme know, and I'll pass on the cel #

Hey, Smiley and i will be around, maybe we'll drop in!

Thanks to Inky and Smiley for coming out to the Aruba and staying as long as ya did!

Can't believe the bands waited so long, and I can't believe how freakin' cold it was! it had snowed friday during the day! arrrrrgh.
I did hit Fremont Street, and when ya got under that roof, it turned into a crazy arctic wind tunnel! ayeeeeeeee
Did some ABC store shoppin, and went into Micky Finz looked at the drink menu and walked back out. Giant room with sports on and sorority girls at the bar and frat boys working the door.
Just couldn't bear to stay even to have a drink. foo. Did take a pic with the tiki outside...

The spa at Excalibur is pretty nice! I'd go again.
Sunday I hung out at one of the bars at the Tropicana and watched the Seahawks get beat by Chicago in overtime. Thank goodness for all the free and 2 fer 1 coupons I had for coctails. That many margaritas and it doesn't matter who wins or loses.

Last night, Inky and I had dinner with the man who tore down the Sands and the man who is building the Las Vegas Trader Vics while Kevin Spacey sang Boby Darin songs. And , no, we didn't talk to any of them.

Nobhill, a restaurant in the MGM Grand, is considered by many to have the best bar in town - and check out the item on their drink menu: Hinky Dink's Mai Tai (Appleton Rum, Mt. Gay Eclipse Rum, Orange Curacao, Fresh Lime Juice, Orgeat & Rock Candy Syrups - $10)... http://www.michaelmina.net/nobhill/menus_cocktails.html... Not a perfect recipe, I know, but still; props for the Hinky Dinks reference... I'm hoping to check it out this week, because a solitary item with Hinky Dinks in the title is probably the best tiki drinking Vegas has to offer until TV opens...

now that we have official TV insiders on board . . .

anyone know the latest on the vegas TV?

We're looking for a Vegas place to celebrate our recent wedding with friends who will be at Viva Las Vegas over Easter but who couldn't make it to England for our wedding luau at the turn of the year http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=22745&forum=15&7

We're not throwing a party but it'll be a meeting up place for a celebration drink or two.

Recommendations anyone?

Thank you!
Liz & Chris

If you are looking for a great tiki place in Vegas try Tahiti Joe's. Its on the strip at the Tahiti Village. I was there and it was amazing the food and drinks were unbelievable and it was all reasonable with prices. This place is the closest I have found to sitting on the beach.