Guilty Pleasures, Things That Don't Fit In Tiki Home Bars

Anyone have the kahownas to own up to non tiki items in their home bars that are irrelevant and out of place but some how fit? A few months back I found a very well worn Spuds McKenzie bar lamp and after a little scrubbing and paint I modified an Aloha shirt and sunglasses to fit him and viola a tiki bar guard dog. He gets good reaction and is great for indoctrinating those luke warm tikiphiles on the edge. But I still have a love/hate relationship with it.

[ Edited by: naugatiki 2011-12-29 15:59 ]

Nice concept for a thread. The whole home bar concept is based on "whimsical", humorous (often adult), incongruous items that express the hosts eclectic tastes. Even real bars like the Tiki Ti have some non-Tiki but unique items in their collection (though a beer icon might be a bit too neon beer sign like?). Here is a vintage classic, she is not a Hula girl, but she can shake your cocktail with her hula hips!:

This swinging bat always leaves an impression, too:

Taxidermied animals of any kind are usually a good addition to your home bar!

In my last home bar that was kind of a tiki bar/pirate bar hybrid I had a motorized disco ball.

The horror! How could I!?

But when we had big parties, I would turn it on and hit it with a blue light and the whole room was filled with spinning blue dots. Trippy....

I found this working payphone at a yard sale and mounted it on some tapa remnants, there's a nickle in the coin return and a sticker on the side that says "For a good time call Bubbles TKI0069" and the Jayne Mansfield waterbottle is often filled but not with water.

That's a great pay phone!

My bar is pretty eclectic & includes some breweriana and other liquor items.

Mr. Spock, Science Decanter, enjoys hanging out with his more emotional ceramic brethren.

"Funny" signs are always a good bar tradition, too. Like classic "joke" cocktail napkins, they get funnier the more you get plastered. Here is a great one that actually is real, (and thus involuntarily funny):

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-02-21 16:38 ]

Germans are actually known for their Vulcan-like self-control and their un-emotional pragmatism! :)

Vintage Raffiaware....because my bar is outside and I trust no one with my ceramics..especially myself!!

Our bar is a travel theme and most of the decorations are vintage travel posters and the like but on top of the bar cabinet I have an entire airport laid out... in LEGO.

I won't believe a word you say until I see a photo of it! :)

I would say I have three guilty pleasures.

1. I don't actually have a bar.

2. I drink beer over cocktail. I mostly drink at the local pub The Diamond Knot here in Mukilteo. http://www.diamondknot.com/ Not only do they brew their own beers and ales, they have damn fine food. Has anyone cooked a steak on a 700 degree rock? If not check out the Knot and their food preparation process called Stone Grill http://www.stonegrill.com/

3. I only like a small amount of cocktails. But, when it comes time to drink the hard stuff, I prefer Vodka straight and at room temp. Depending on the atmosphere, from the bottle is fine by me.

Oh, and this is also displayed with my mug collection. I really don't know why, but I like them and can't get ride of them. Who can get rid of a cat band?

[ Edited by: thefuzz 2008-02-21 17:24 ]

On 2008-02-21 17:14, thefuzz wrote:

Is that mug where you keep your weed?

Buzzy Out!

Actually that is where I keep my Human Hair collection. No, its really just my girlfriend's hair. She had it long, but cut it really short, and wanted to save some incase she wanted extensions. Don't ask me, she just told me to keep it, so there it sits out of sight in my Tiki Farm logo mug. I think I will ask her tomorrow if I can dispose of it. Or maybe I really will start a Hair collection. Supercuts here I come!

On 2008-02-21 16:50, rev_thumper wrote:
Our bar is a travel theme and most of the decorations are vintage travel posters and the like but on top of the bar cabinet I have an entire airport laid out... in LEGO.

Yes, it's true! I've seen the airport (truly impressive). We have a vintage penny gumball machine and a espresso maker in our bar.

On 2008-02-21 18:08, thefuzz wrote:
Actually that is where I keep my Human Hair collection. No, its really just my girlfriend's hair.

OK, that wins over the taxidermied bat!

If she doesn't want the hair, you can donate it to children's hospital for kids with cancer. They make wigs for them.

Yep, Locks of Love was the program I was thinking of.

Thanks!

[ Edited by: thefuzz 2008-02-21 18:28 ]

Over my bar. think of it as mistletoe or missile toe.

That's "Hard" to look at!

On 2008-02-21 17:53, Bay Park Buzzy wrote:

On 2008-02-21 17:14, thefuzz wrote:

Is that mug where you keep your weed?

Buzzy Out!

LOL - that's where I keep mine!

On 2008-02-21 18:08, thefuzz wrote:
Actually that is where I keep my Human Hair collection. No, its really just my girlfriend's hair. She had it long, but cut it really short, and wanted to save some incase she wanted extensions. Don't ask me, she just told me to keep it, so there it sits out of sight in my Tiki Farm logo mug. I think I will ask her tomorrow if I can dispose of it. Or maybe I really will start a Hair collection. Supercuts here I come!

...Or make a Shrunken Head with it. I'd say one that artistically resembles her, but that might cause her to shrink YOURS.. :wink:

I've always had a thing for "Rumph" mugs (& other related paraphernalia)...

Oooo.

On 2008-02-21 18:39, Mr. NoNaMe wrote:
Over my bar. think of it as mistletoe or missile toe.

OK...a few too many peni in that photo....

C'mon guys, this is such a great opportunity for PICTURES! Maybe the header for this thread is not clear enough " Things That Don't Fit In Home Bars" is to mean "Things That Don't Fit In TIKI Home Bars"....as mentioned in the first post, "Un"-Tiki objects in a Tiki bar, am I right? Now there MUST be more funny/funky/odd stuff out there, no !?

Well with limited room, all of my tiki stuff and hot rod/old car stuff all gets mixed in together. It's odd and eclectic, just like me :lol: About to move in a couple of weeks, everything is dissappearing into boxes. But I've got plans for a faux luala covered wall with a thatch roof, which will be freestanding, to hang all of my art from. :D

Shakesphere in a tiki bar?

but what's this...?

Holy, who turned on the lights, Batman.

That is sooooo cool!!

Totally second that.

"All's Tiki That Ends Tiki"

That is sooo boss I'm kin'a stunned-like...

Oooo.

Naugatiki,

That Shakespeare statue is awesome!!! Where did you find that?

The statue is a Batman item, right?

On 2008-02-26 22:35, Fugu wrote:
Naugatiki,

That Shakespeare statue is awesome!!! Where did you find that?

It's a repro of the Batman bust they pop up on ebay once and a while, but the real trick would be to have one hooked up to a sliding bookshelf and that would be the entrance to the Tiki Room, someday.

[ Edited by: naugatiki 2008-02-27 06:27 ]

Nice bust beer stein bigbrotiki.
Most of the breweriana I have is from local (now defunct) places, though I have a few German pieces. This is my favorite non-tiki piece in my bar:

Dates from the sixties & is lit with blacklight. There are a lot of bowling & outdoorsman type ads from the sixties, but I haven't run across any that jumped on the Tiki bandwagon.

You know your from the South when.......

Ah. Well that explains a lot, Bohemiann. :wink:

I don't have any weird pictures because I don't have the bar anymore - too expensive to ship! Plans are well underway for Picture of Paradise II - will letcha know when she's built.

Suzanne

It looks like we all have non-Tiki things that just seem to work right along with our Tiki Bars. Here's mine including taxidermy and Rat Fink bar stools!

I found a few things as of late so I thought I’d dust off this old chestnut of a thread with a few shots of the LoLo Lounge, first for the geeky tiki- this USS Enterprise swag that while searching for new life and civilization stumbled upon the tiki galaxy and may never escape. I like the way the lamps look like planets.

Also this framed bunny tail, if Hef can use Witco turnabout is fair play.

[ Edited by: naugatiki 2011-12-29 16:01 ]

Here's a Hasko Mystic Board and it's Mystic Hand planchette, a sort of Ouija board from my grandparents - def not TiKi - but seems to fit in... love the tail, starship & bat-button too

OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD... she said excitedly... I bought one of these lamps for my husband in 1980 from the JC Penney Christmas catalog! He still has it. It hangs in his futuristic office!

Not tiki, but will always have a place in the bar.

On 2008-03-07 13:46, Tiki Tinkie wrote:
It looks like we all have non-Tiki things that just seem to work right along with our Tiki Bars. Here's mine including taxidermy and Rat Fink bar stools!

O.K. who's with me: I wanted to start a TAXIDERMY thread here for some time now. Though the subject is not directly Tiki (more "Safari") , I would call it Tiki-related. Blowfish lamps and turtle shells are a form of taxidermy, and occasionally stuffed animals have appeared in classic Tiki temples.

On 2012-01-12 23:55, ErkNoLikeFire wrote:
Not tiki, but will always have a place in the bar.

OMG! I am completely jealous of that collection. You are killin' me.

I just picked up a Rumph Cross-Eyed Tankard mug with the manufacturer's label. I know it's not tiki unless it has been re-characterized. If anyone is interested in a trade let me know.

A chihuahua-sized T-shirt from Mexico emblazoned with bizarre gibberish, given to me by a friend.

A cheeky little plaque from Blighty, given to me by my sainted mother.

Vintage sign for a British vacuum-tube manufacturer called (I kid you not) Robotron, that I picked up for $2 at a flea in Oakland. Really dug the Mid-century Modern vibe, so I built a lightbox around it, and hung it over the bar.

I really dig that Robotron sign!