Tiki Adventures in LA - General Tiki

C CincyTikiCraig Tiki Socialite Cincinnati, Ohio USA Joined: Mar 31, 2009 Posts: 467	C CincyTikiCraig Posted posted on Thu, Oct 22, 2009 9:02 PM My Wife & I had a great time on our vacation in LA & Palm Desert. Lots of swimming & great cocktails at our house (well, our rental house anyway!) in Palm Desert. And then it was Tiki Time for us in LA! We hit Oceanic Arts first. The staff there were really cool and so very friendly. They double packed everything we bought so we could ship it home, and then they introduced us to the owners, LeRoy Schmaltz and Bob Van Oosting. What a couple of truly great guys! We talked to LeRoy and Bob for nearly an hour, Bob pulled out some rare old bottles of rum that he's collected over the years and we shared some tiki recipes that we both liked. We picked up some really great stuff at OA, including some cool Tiki Farm mugs. Unfortunately we were in LA on Monday & Tuesday, so the Tiki Ti was closed. We did make it to Trader Vic's at the LA Live (and had a GREAT time there). Since we were staying at the Beverly Hilton we closed up the Trader Vic's bar there one night. Our camera batteries were dead by the time we got to the LA Live location, but I got a few pics at the Hilton TV location. They had a newbie tending bar at the Hilton location on Tuesday Night, and frankly her mixological skills weren't the best. I asked her to make our Mai Tais from scratch and she claimed that she didn't know how to make them. So I wrote out the recipe on a cocktail napkin for her and insisted that she make it. Viola! fresh Mai Tais! At $12 a pop I expect to get a top notch cocktail, not some HFCS laden mix. Still, my Wife & I had a great time there and had ate some tasty dishes off of the restaurant menu. The bartender at the Hilton's Lobby Bar was absolutely top notch btw. Friendly, a class act and a superb mixologist as well. We bought some more mugs at Wacko (both Tiki Farm and some others), and we had already picked up a few mugs at M. Modern in Palm Springs. We shipped our bounty back to Cincinnati and now it resides in our living room by our bar: It was a great trip, and we can't wait to get back to the West Coast next year. You guys who live in the Tiki Capital Of The World are a lucky bunch-there's no tiki here in Ohio at all. Except for at my house of course! Mahalo, Craig [ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2009-10-22 21:48 ] [ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2009-10-22 21:52 ]
T Thortiki Tiki Socialite Maryland (Land of Pleasant Tiki Living) Joined: Jul 29, 2006 Posts: 407	T Thortiki Posted posted on Fri, Oct 23, 2009 5:35 PM Glad you all had a good time we were in LA about a month ago 1st time visitors. We also hit Oceanic Arts, Don the Beachcombers, Tonga Hut & the Tiki Ti. We skipped Trader Vics parking fee too high! After being there a week we learned stay the heck off the LA Freeway as much as possible. Thortiki PS We would like to visit again!
C CincyTikiCraig Tiki Socialite Cincinnati, Ohio USA Joined: Mar 31, 2009 Posts: 467	C CincyTikiCraig Posted posted on Fri, Oct 23, 2009 7:39 PM Glad you had a good as well Thortiki. I wanted to thank all of the TC'ers who helped us with suggestions where to shop, eat & drink while we were in SoCal. You're the best! Mahalo, Craig

C

CincyTikiCraig Posted posted on Thu, Oct 22, 2009 9:02 PM

My Wife & I had a great time on our vacation in LA & Palm Desert. Lots of swimming & great cocktails at our house (well, our rental house anyway!) in Palm Desert.

And then it was Tiki Time for us in LA!

We hit Oceanic Arts first. The staff there were really cool and so very friendly. They double packed everything we bought so we could ship it home, and then they introduced us to the owners, LeRoy Schmaltz and Bob Van Oosting. What a couple of truly great guys! We talked to LeRoy and Bob for nearly an hour, Bob pulled out some rare old bottles of rum that he's collected over the years and we shared some tiki recipes that we both liked. We picked up some really great stuff at OA, including some cool Tiki Farm mugs.

Unfortunately we were in LA on Monday & Tuesday, so the Tiki Ti was closed. We did make it to Trader Vic's at the LA Live (and had a GREAT time there). Since we were staying at the Beverly Hilton we closed up the Trader Vic's bar there one night.

Our camera batteries were dead by the time we got to the LA Live location, but I got a few pics at the Hilton TV location. They had a newbie tending bar at the Hilton location on Tuesday Night, and frankly her mixological skills weren't the best. I asked her to make our Mai Tais from scratch and she claimed that she didn't know how to make them. So I wrote out the recipe on a cocktail napkin for her and insisted that she make it. Viola! fresh Mai Tais! At $12 a pop I expect to get a top notch cocktail, not some HFCS laden mix. Still, my Wife & I had a great time there and had ate some tasty dishes off of the restaurant menu. The bartender at the Hilton's Lobby Bar was absolutely top notch btw. Friendly, a class act and a superb mixologist as well.

We bought some more mugs at Wacko (both Tiki Farm and some others), and we had already picked up a few mugs at M. Modern in Palm Springs. We shipped our bounty back to Cincinnati and now it resides in our living room by our bar:

It was a great trip, and we can't wait to get back to the West Coast next year. You guys who live in the Tiki Capital Of The World are a lucky bunch-there's no tiki here in Ohio at all. Except for at my house of course!

Mahalo,

Craig

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2009-10-22 21:48 ]

[ Edited by: CincyTikiCraig 2009-10-22 21:52 ]

T

Thortiki Posted posted on Fri, Oct 23, 2009 5:35 PM

Glad you all had a good time we were in LA about a month ago 1st time
visitors. We also hit Oceanic Arts, Don the Beachcombers, Tonga Hut &
the Tiki Ti. We skipped Trader Vics parking fee too high! After being
there a week we learned stay the heck off the LA Freeway as much as
possible.

Thortiki

PS We would like to visit again!

C

CincyTikiCraig Posted posted on Fri, Oct 23, 2009 7:39 PM

Glad you had a good as well Thortiki.

I wanted to thank all of the TC'ers who helped us with suggestions where to shop, eat & drink while we were in SoCal. You're the best!

Mahalo,

Craig