Sports Bar Using Torches from old Tiki Establishment!!!

Both beer or Planters Punch can be enjoyed with this tiki/beer mug hybird and no one gives you a second look.

Amazing how much fire you can get from a simple Tiki torch.

Bigbrotiki, the Bavarian flip side of Tiki would be the Beer Palace in St. Louis known as Bevo Mill and it's sister counter-part down the road, Grant's Farm. In almost every way comparable, the German Beer Palaces of the Mid-west mirror the Tiki Palaces in their attempt to create a paradise that never was but oddly seems to linger in the recesses of human memory as if they really were reality. The Bevo Mill is to the Tonga Room in the same way that Grant's Farm is to the many acred Tiki Palaces that allowed guest to roam about in an escapist pleasure setting. I don't know if your familiar with either Grant's Farm, http://www.grantsfarm.com/, or the Bevo Mill, http://www.bevomillstl.com/,but they are so surreal in their portrayal of German Beer Culture that you are immeditely put in a place of great awe.

The comparisons of a tiki bar to a sports bar are incongruent to each other. A better comparisson is the tiki bar and the Bavarian Beer Hall. So similar are they that an enthusiast of either one would feel comfortable in either setting. For the Urban Archeologist, the differences are comparable to the differences in unearthing a Mayan Temple versus an Egyptian Tomb.

Tiki.......................................... Bavarian

A-fram entrances..................... Windmills
Tiki Mugs..................................Steins
Mai Tai......................................Pilsner
Rumaki.....................................Potato Pancakes
Ribs, Chicken of the Gods.........Sauerbraten, Bratwurst, and Rouladen
Exotica......................................Polkas
Tapa Cloth, bamboo..................Stone and millwork
Sarongs.....................................lederhosen
Tiki's........................................ Bevos and funny-looking animals wearing German outfits

The list could go on and on but I think you get the point.

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

[ Edited by: telescopes 2007-08-05 10:45 ]

The comparisons of a tiki bar to a sports bar are incongruent to each other.

Again, you guys are straying from the point of my original post which was the stripping down of a Tiki landmark into a commonplace sports bar. They should have just removed the A-frame and the torches because now it makes a mockery out of something a lot of us here cherish.

On 2007-08-05 11:07, Tikinaut wrote:
They should have just removed the A-frame and the torches because now it makes a mockery out of something a lot of us here cherish.

That's like suggesting we should tear down the remnents of the grand theaters in the Jewelry district in downtown town LA because they no longer fit in with their current usage. The fact is usage is fluid - it is our live spans that are not. And while it may appear to be incongruent with the theme of a sports bar to utilize the past tiki props and infrastructure, places like the Tonga Hut would never have returned to their past purposes.

Actually, the destruction of tiki infastructure is the real crime. I'd rather see a Walgreens in the old Kahiki then the sad realization that the Kahiki is no longer. Things have a way of returning to their original purposes if the restorationist are allowed the time it takes to convince the public of the need to preserve something of archetectual uniqueness. By not destroying the tiki background of this site, the owners of this establishment are buying time for a new owner to return the site to something everyone on this site would be thankful to see.

We are a young country, and all too often we eredicate our young past in the desire to make something new. If we continue to do this, we won't have any vestiges of our past to remind us of who we once were and are.

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

[ Edited by: telescopes 2007-08-05 12:13 ]

On 2007-08-05 10:31, telescopes wrote:
In almost every way comparable, the German Beer Palaces of the Mid-west mirror the Tiki Palaces in their attempt to create a paradise that never was but oddly seems to linger in the recesses of human memory as if they really were reality.

I concur! (...s touched on here):

On 2007-08-03 11:57, bigbrotiki wrote:
...which also brings up the sad fact that the decline and disappearance of Bavarian themed restaurants and delis in the American urban landscape almost parallels that of Tiki establishments! But that is another thread, sometime, somewhere else...

I LOVE that list! Please ad:

Hula dancing..............Shoeplattln (you know, that slapdance thing)
Mystery Girl............... Bierstein waitress
Luau...........................Oktoberfest
Pork............................Pork

And (pardon for veering further off the subject), but there is another connection between the American rendition of German folk art and Tiki:

When viewing the 1938 Disney classic "Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs" (based on a German fairy tale), I was struck by the fact that the "Bavarian folk art"-style carved beams and furniture in the country cottage began to dance and sing: This was clearly the precedent to the concept of animating the Enchanted Tiki Room's Tikis (which, in turn, became the model for all of Disney's audio-animatronics attractions).

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2007-08-05 14:47 ]

Uh oh, I smell another book "brewing". :wink:

By the way, for those who were wondering, this is a bevo.

On 2007-08-04 13:04, MrBaliHai wrote:

On 2007-08-04 10:29, Tom Slick wrote:
I didn't expect people to get their underwear all bunched up.

Not a problem for me, since I go commando,

No need to expose your shortcomings here on TC, MrBaliHai, but in all seriousness, I think my jokes fell a little short, but I'm sure you'll understand... :lol:

Quote:

On 2007-08-04 10:29, Tom Slick wrote:
...Beer and Tiki truly don't mix well...

---

Well, yeah, I do hope I will never have to taste a beer and Tiki mixed drink!

Check out this recipe:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=25119&forum=1&vpost=323441&hilite=pirate%20grog

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2007-08-09 09:12 ]

I beg forgiveness to resurrect this ol' thread for such an un-Tiki post, but I visited my favorite Bavarian kitsch palace last night, because, ironically, it IS closing, at the end of this month, as I just found out! After 40 years, the Lowenbrou Keller will be no more. :cry:
To demonstrate to the uninitiated what the heck me and others were talking about here in terms of the parallels between Polynesia Americana and Bavaria Americana, I submit these photos. Behold the splendor of the Lowenbrou:

Right next to Brian's Backyard Jungles post here now, Bavarian Brewery catacombs! That's what I love, culture clash extreme!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2007-08-09 10:04 ]

Wow Big Bro- that place is absolutely Der Ort, zu sein! :wink:
What an unbelievable loss, for it to close.
I use to go up to Van Nuys to the Matterhorn Chef for a good German time, until I moved back to New Hampshire this year!

If anybody hears anything about this opening again, let GROG know because this was one of GROG' favorite restaraunts. GROG went here on GROG birthday and it was closed, and GROG heart-broken. GROG understand it was bought and is supposed to open again as "Medusa". GROG hope they keep the interior the same. GROG doubt the food will be as good, because the previous owner's widow was the cook and the food was AWESOME.

Pretty good news, it reopened with most of the original interior. But it no longer serves German food and it's called the Medusa Lounge.

From http://la.eater.com:

Confirmation just came in: The cleaner, spiffier but still odd Medusa Lounge, the once and only Lowenbrou Keller, reopened this week. It's been quiet---mostly friends and family to work out food and service kinks (still not completely erased)---but the vaulted ceilings, the fantasy, the Teutonic decor are very much intact. We don't have the full exact story yet, but the rumor goes something like this: The new owner, an artist, was a fan of the original Lowenbrou and knew owner George Eder, a former set designer who built the restaurant. There's something about a handshake and a promise to buy the restaurant whenever the Eders were ready to sell, and not to long ago, widow Renate Eder was ready. The menu has Asian and French influences now, no longer the homemade taste of schnitzel and sausages. Still, for all who lamented the possible loss of the Lowenbrou decor, cheers. Opens at 5pm daily, Sundays are dark. [3211 Beverly Blvd.]

From http://la.eater.com:

When the Lowenbrou Keller closed in September, fans of the teutonic bliss were worried that the decor, designed and built by George Eder, would be razed. Fear not, friends. The people who took over the space gave it a buff and a polish, restored it back to its glory, ranamed it Medusa Lounge and made a few changes. The menu isn't very German any more, although there are a few hints to its past (sausage plate, Spaten and other German beers on tap). It's mostly a mishmash of French, Italian, Californian and Japanese influences, and only served until 10pm. Michael Forsyth, the new GM, plans to do special nights (he feels something Goth is a natural fit for the room) with DJs, etc. Eventually, a new nightclub will be added, taking over some of the parking lot. But the original: It will remain the same.

It looks a lot less cluttured and it's too brightly lit, but if I didn't know what it looked like before I would be pretty thrilled with the decor as it is now.

[ Edited by: thejab 2008-02-06 17:19 ]