San Jose's Smoke Tiki closed

If you live in the South Bay, you may be saddened to have read the on 1/1/10 Smoke Tiki closed it's doors. The building is being gutted and sold, so if you want a great deal on carved poles or palm trees, bamboo stuff, tables, chairs, signs, bar stuff... go now. It's all being loaded in trucks right this minute.

The guy running the clean-up is Daniel McIntosh and his # is 408.483.5801

There are tons of stuff left, but don't be slack, on my way home a couple of people flagged me down wanting to buy my Tikis, and I directed them to the bar too.

It's sad as hell that another Tiki Bar is going under, but you might as well go get some stuff to remember the place.

[ Edited by: Gigantalope 2010-01-10 00:52 ]

[ Edited by: Gigantalope 2010-01-10 22:10 ]

Shit... Sad to hear, and even sadder, its the NORTH South Bay...Cali has a few too many South Bays!

Thanks a bunch Gigantalope, a great example of us South Bay Tiki Centralites taking care of their own. This stuff is on its way to a flea market. There are still a few Tiki's left so check it out. He is ready to deal.

I am sorry for the Smoke owners. I never went in there because it seemed like they were not fully committed to it being a Tiki Bar. And when passing it one night and seeing they had a dress code in their early years I was so put off that I never returned. Still it must be so sad to see all this stuff hauled away and your dream dying. My sympathies.

I got there just before he was going to leave. I pulled the Tiki off the corner where it was screwed in. I was going through the pictures stacked against the wall and picked up a so so framed photocopy of old Waikiki and decided to buy it. And as an afterthought sorted through the rest of the frames and spotted the Shag litho at the bottom. For the three I paid $91.00. I am pretty happy right now.

I am confused. Why wouldnt the owners take out all the salvagable stuff and sell it directly--I am sure they are well aware people want what they had.

With this guy cleaning the place out does this mean what noone bought he just threw out?

I was just curious if either of ya got any additional info when you were there.

I am hoping that people came and got a lot of what they had and its not currently sittng in a trash bin

Liz, I really don't think they are aware that people want what they have. Smoke Tiki was a stop at last summers TC Crawl. I really liked the outdoor patio area. It was tiki enough for me. Ya gotta take what you can get. There's just not very many public Tiki Style places out there. This could be one reason why so many people are building there own private Tiki bars.

I am pretty sure that the salvagers are called in by the landlords usually. Rent has not been paid and owners are hoping for a last minute miracle and don't want to gut the place just in case. And I am sure that often its just too painful to go through the stuff and mementos are just a painful reminders of a failed dream.

Nothing of possible worth is going in the dumpster. The salvager is going to be there tomorrow (Sunday) and possibly Monday. After that he is going to sell the removable stuff at a flea market. Some carved pieces are tacked down pretty well against the wall and the bar and if he does not take them they will probably end up in a dumpster. Oh, and he has used bar blenders for $30.00.

[ Edited by: SuperEight 2010-01-09 21:52 ]

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=17492&forum=2

I think the place opened in 2004 or so. The two guys who opened it originally spent a lot of money on the place. Several years back a bloke named Tim took over the business and ran it until New Years, last week. Smoke Tiki was never a typical Tiki bar and of late, it seemed to drift further and further the direction of a loud Nightclub.

Tho not my favorite Tiki spot, I was always happy it existed, and really loved the decore, especially in the back yard area.

In recent times the Crooks who run San Jose have decided that they want to build a revenue generating Parking Garage where the bar is (Just like the Joni Mitchell song) so guests at the bar have been getting hassled by the cops, The city has cited Smoke Tiki for bogus code violations and making it hard to do business.

What seemed to happen was the 2nd owner walked away, the previous owners are stuck with the property. The carrot for the City would be to buy the Commercial land from a distressed sale with no active business open thanks in large part to them.

The old owners needed to get as much as they can out of what's in the building and there is more money in the industrial refrigerators and stoves than in the tiki stuff.

From the perspective of a Tikiphile, it seems shallow that some business owners would not realize how much we value the stuff that transforms a bar into a Tiki Bar.

I am sad the place is gone, but kinda happy a few of us were able to get some of the stuff.

[ Edited by: Gigantalope 2010-01-10 22:09 ]