HUKILAU 2002 in Atlanta (Friday & Saturday July 19-20)

I went back to the Atlanta Trader Vic's last night and was rejuvinated... after two months I had already forgotten the true grandeur of the place.. The bartender, Hussein, is a great guy - and a fellow socialist! This is the second time he's given my a free drink after my first couple (not everything is about profit for us socialists). Anyway, I'd like to organize as big as possible a gathering here at the Atlanta TV's. I spoke with the manager and it would be possible to get a pretty good group discount if we could get 50 folks together. That's a little high for this sparsely populated tiki central outpost... but I have a feeling there are enough people in this group in the atlanta area to make for a festive t.v. night...
I'm going to be back there tomorrow night (friday 29th) so if any tiki centralites are up to it, meet me there and we'll squeeze some more free libations outta good ole Hussein

Let's use this thread to organize an atlanta gathering.. anyone who would be likely to come, post here, and check back here as we come up with details!

I also wanna organize a tiki central party in birmingham at the HeadHunter, so anyone who's interested in that post too

aloha,
kahukini
http://magicmartini.com/headhunter

[ Edited by: kahukini on 2002-04-02 19:18 ]

[ Edited by: kahukini on 2002-04-04 20:24 ]

[ Edited by: kahukini on 2002-04-04 20:29 ]

Wow! That sounds like a great idea to me. I thought I was the only one that would want to gather here in Atlanta (since I live here). Although I have already made plans for this Friday, I might be able to get out of them. Hopefully I'll be able to make it down, but if not, another gathering would be in order. As long as there are a few people willing to meet, I think it would be worth while. Let me know if there might be anymore interest and when the next time anyone will be headed to Trader Vic's.

-Matt

Atlanta Vics is high on our list, but we can't get there for a while. Marian and I have two other polynesian pop culture trips planned right now -- this weekend and April 20. Personally, it would help if you set a weekend this summer. That way we -- and hopefully others around the southeast and elsewhere -- could plan (and budget) for the journey. Best of luck.

Hey, this sounds good! If you shoot for a summer gathering, I'll be in Atlanta sometime during the last two weeks of July. I'm just making up my travel schedule now and will know the exact dates within the next week or two. Boy, oh boy, do I hope this'll work out! BTW, Kahukini, those are some fab photos of the spectacular home bar.

-Weird Unc

Well summer it is then. End of July works with my schedule too I think. Say, I just discovered that Junkman's Daughter in Little Five Points carries Tiki Farm mugs and the latest issue of the tiki news. It's all in one "shelf teir" section in the store but it's all good b/c the prices are the same as on the web but no shipping. And you get to pick out your mug yourself, b/c they're all slightly different due to variations in glazing.

End of July should be good. Saturday night, the 27th???

I am so excited! If I can help let me know. As you know, I just moved from Atlanta and have many friends in the area that can help.

Ford, I would love to help out any way I can and assit you in planning. Let me know!

Tiki Kiliki

Hi, all!

I'll be in Atlanta on Saturday the 20th of July. I saw the 27th suggested, but would the previous week work out? It would mean getting into all that fun a whole week earlier! Hope to see you all.

-Weird Unc

The 20th would probably work as well as the 27th for me.

kiliki, see how many folks you could round up for july 20th.. i don't think many of my birmingham friends will want to make the 2.5 hour trip to polynesian paradise & it would be fun to see if we could round up a big enough group for some kind of discount..

I would like to suggest inviting choice folks to the gathering and making it a larger event. There are people from the Luxuria list and Exotica list that I know would love to make it and that live in Atlanta or close enough to plan that far ahead.

That friend of mine that had a Christmas party at Trader Vic's had hula girls perform and fire eaters! And like I said, they hired a DJ for the event. Swanky and I would love to do that, if you and I meet up that weekend in April or soon we could talk to the management together. We have an extensive collection that we could bring to the party.

Aloha,
Tiki Kiliki

Wow! This may turn into quite the scene! Lookout, Westcoast, You SouthEast Tikiphiles are the new wave, I'll say. I sure am looking forward to meeting you all.

-Weird Uncle Tiki

Awesome kiliki! Great ideas! We need to give this event a name... It can't be a "crawl" since there's only one stop. Maybe the 1st annual Atlanta Tiki Slosh

atlanta area hula troupe "Hearts of Polynesia"
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Club/5085/index.html

July sounds like a great time to meet. I am excited that so many people are interested in meeting in Atlanta! This concept just still baffles me! :D

I am willing to go whenenever anyone wants to meet (provided I have the cash!) up at Trader Vic's. I don't mind helping with the planning either, so if anyone wants to meet up there before hand and discuss the event over a Mai Tai, please let me know!

Matt

Are there any tiki bars around Atlanta other than the Trader Vic's? Anybody know of any others in the Georgia/South Carolina area? I'm new to the southeast and am on the hunt for new tiki hangouts...

Thanks!

-Jon

Ok - so can Kahukini and Matt meet me in Atlanta at Trader Vic's on the 26th or 27th of April? We will be there to see Cave Catt Sammy at the Star Bar that Friday so maybe Saturday will be easier for us all to meet up. We can all talk about this thing!

I know you are already working on a webpage aren't you Ford! I have some images I would love to share with you. Some stuff I've scanned from 40's Hawaiian records.

This is gonna be great! We should think about sending an invite to the Exotica list and Luxuria list.

Let me know what I can do and when! And let me know about that weekend.

Aloha,
Tiki Kiliki

Hey Unc - I think the tentative date for the Tiki Fete at the Tropics in Palm Springs is July 20, fyi.

I think Kiliki and I could bring a few more things into the mix on this. There is a great Burlesque act there we saw at Tease-o-Rama who does a very Exotica show as Torchy Taboo. She might know a place or way we could work that into the weekend.

We could definitely come up with a list of clubs, shops and restaurants for anyone coming into to plan their weekend. We could give a run down of what to do and see.

It would be nice if we had a venue that would let us take over at some time where we could spin our music and cavort. Trader Vic's would quickly blow your budget if you stayed there drinking too long. Maybe there is an option to have our group move to a place where we could even mix our own drinks, etc.

I'd like to see this made into a more extended event than just some time at Trader Vic's. It will depend on what we can work out with Atlanta club owners, but I think that could be done.

Maybe a Burlesque show with DJ and tropical drinks at a local club, after an evening of ambience at Trader Vic's. That would bring more people than just Tiki-philes.

Of course we can't overlook that Trader Vic's is conveniently located in the Atlanta Hilton, which specializes in special events! They have tons of conference rooms where we could do whatever we want so long as we rent it out.

ALSO quite importantly, the Atlanta Trader Vic's is BIG... they have 2 LARGE back rooms which they often do not open... we can simply request to have one of them for the night

As for the expense, Trader Vic's is actually cheaper than most bars in my opinion in terms of price for liquid... plus if we can guarantee that magic 50 number we can get some sort of discount

We may want to do both - request a TV backroom and get a conference room OR here's a sneaky idea:

We all chip in for a room at the Atlanta Hilton - this can be used for our private liquor stash (get liquored up on the cheap in the room party then come down to TV's and vice versa)

This room(s) would also be convenient for folks who may HAVE to pass out or can't drive or whatever...

BTW there is a good cheaper hotel across the street from the Atlanta Hilton (i forget the name i'll post it and the prices this weekend)... but I think we should definitely have a "group room" right there in the Hilton for convenience...

I am not so big on involving other destinations in a one night event because of the serious drinking (and who's gonna be drivin) and the fact that Atlanta roadways DEVOUR TIME... you'll spend an hour getting to Little Five Points or to Virginia Highlands

Focusing on one spot (the hilton) gives us lounge lizards more face time, more drinking time and more relaxing in style time...

I would say the average drink at Vic's is $3 more than at any other bar. I always figured the price of the mug you are going to steal is figured into the cost. ; )

The place is huge and I have rarely seen a crowd in there. So setting aside a room for us ought to be easy.

Altanta traffic is bad during the day and such, but on a Saturday evening, Little 5 points is just minutes away.

seriously!? TV drinks range $6.50 to $7.50 (most of 'em) and they are HUGE have a zillions ingredients including several shots of rum! What can you get for $3.50 at any bar? A well liquor on the rocks.

Well, if you come to Knoxville, I can line up all the triple pour highballs you want for $4.75 with call brand liquor. Or we can go have a martini with call brand gin for $3.

While it is true there is a bit more prep in the TV drinks, I personally do not think it's that much more. Compare it to a L.I.T. or various frozen concoctions. I have their Mai Tai mix, and they use the powder, not the liquid, so you pour the stuff in a glass. How much is that worth? If it's not $4, it's really too much. No more prep there than a Tom Collins, etc.

But all the Tiki bars seem to have high prices.

In my world, I expect to pay about $3.50-$4.50 for a drink. Not $7+

For what it's worth, I don't mind spending $7 per drink if I am going to drive 7 hours from Orlando. There's a certain cosmic charm to the equation, as long as I don't have 7 drinks...

I recall when I was at Hala Kahiki and I had a few of those wonderful and expensive drinks. I kept thinking I was being cheated because I could not taste any liquor in them. Then I stumbled out into the snow and realized there was indeed alcohol in those libations!

An old drink page of mine

The average Polynesian type drink at TV's here in L.A. is about $9.00, if memory serves...

Well, I'm confirmed to be in Atlanta on the 20th, so consider this the first R.S.V.P. Spending the evening at Trader Vic's sounds just fine. I've never been to the Atlanta branch, but the others make some of the finest cocktails around and those along with meeting up with y'all is what sounds good to me. Throw in some hula dancers and music? Okeedokeee!

-Weird uncle Tiki

If we (I ?) make a website for the event, it would be cool to have a "Guest List" - people who R.S.V.P on the site would have their name added to a list viewable on the site along with whatever comments they want to make to the side... And then we would know too what kind of clout we would have with trader vic's for discounts...

Ok a website is in the works. It will feature all the details and hopefully this who's who at HUKILAU 2002 thing... it will be at http://www.hukilau.info

Aloha!

At Kahukini's request I've created a forum just for this event. As big as it's starting to shape up as, it sounds like it's going to need one!

At some point we might move this topic over there, but for now we'll leave it here!

Click here to go to the Hukilau 2002 Forum!

[ Edited by: hanford_lemoore on 2002-04-05 00:22 ]

Be prepared for brutal prices at Trader Vic's in London. The cheapest start at around $9 and go up from there. Over the past couple of years the price of a Tiki bowl has gone from £7 to £7.50 to £11! (That's about $16) No wonder when the Brit's go abroad we drink the place dry.

Trader Woody

Like I said, I think the price of the Trader Vic's drinks includes the glass. I never steal, but looking on Ebay tells me how many do. The nice thing is, at the Atlanta Trader Vic's you can buy the glasses at a cheap price ($3-4). When we asked once, they were a little shocked and said something about how most people just steal them. They have a red, sort of lantern shaped one we really want a pair of. Just what we need, more glasses!

I checked reservation dates for a few hotels downtown and they were full. We didn't pick the weekend of the Klan convention, did we? I wonder if they hate tiki?

We'll find plenty of places! I'll post 'em on the site as we get 'em.

I was just online perusing the schedule for a certain nutty entertainer(whose name I won't divulge incase a surprise is in the works) and saw that for July 19/20 the booking said "Atlanta-some sort of tiki party thingy!" If this is true, we are in for a koo-koo kinda treat. You guys are really turning this into something! I can't wait to get into town on the 20th.

-Weird Unc

Weird Uncle, it's no secret, RICHARD CHEESE is dying to come and we're dying to have him! As he says on his site it's not confirmed - World-Class Cheese is pricey so we're trying to figure out how we could do a money-making Cheese show in conjunction with our event to cover his costs. We're working with 99x and the Star Bar as the venue...
that said there are lotsa surprises in the works, not all will be divuled here on tiki central or on the HUKILAU.INFO website!

Current plans are for R.C.'s concert to be friday night but not to worry if you're arriving the 20th... he'll be hanging with us Saturday night at TV's and will perform there "impromptu." :)