tiki cocktail lounge, modesto, ca, (bar)

Wow! Excellent "Before and After" photography! And the outrigger beam is still there!
So what is the building on the left of it, the Tiki Lounge, or the back of the Motel...? Is my memory also faulty in that the Modesto Tropics is indeed U-shaped and not just an L-shaped building? I beg forgiveness, I have not been there in more than 10 years, and back then was focused on the Tikis, mainly.

On 2009-03-04 12:59, bigbrotiki wrote:

So what is the building on the left of it, the Tiki Lounge, or the back of the Motel...? Is my memory also faulty in that the Modesto Tropics is indeed U-shaped and not just an L-shaped building?

Tikicleen,

Thanks for those photos. From the looks of the postcard, the building to the left of the Sambos would have been the A-Frame reception building for the hotel. The painting also shows that the motel was in fact L-shaped, with the Sambos building abutting the open side of the L.

Here are a few more postcards from the different Tropics Hotels. Here are two from Palm Springs.

You will notice that the postcards from Blythe and Indio use the same picture of the A-Frame port-cochere that is from the Palm Springs location. Some more trickery from Ken Kimes!

DC

interesting.. i will check this one out!

[ Edited by: chilli9 2009-08-03 10:18 ]

Hello, Everyone. I'm new to Tiki Central, but I must say I have a GREAT update on the Tiki Cocktail Lounge. I have befriended the owner, Mitch Maesetti and he has informed me that he has owned the Tiki Cocktail Lounge for a bit over 20 years. I took a stay at the Tropics Motel (now the Rodeway Inn) behind the bar one night and went in from the rain to have a Blue Hawaiian. QUITE the tasty (and strong) cocktail if I do say so myself and the fire pit warmed me (and my soaked jacket) to the bone. It was very cozy indeed. I must say that Humuhumu is correct in mentioning that the Tiki Cocktail Lounge is now a gay-friendly bar and YES, there is a rainbow flag above the back entrance. The bar is FULL of gorgeous velvet paintings and thatch booths and the fire pit is to die for. Mitch has decided to move some of the hut booths back a bit and take out one of the large booths to create a dance floor. That will be taking place soon. As for the Tropics Motel, owner Meeran Saxena has spent the last 2 years updating all of the rooms and is going out of her way to renovate the place. She really wants to keep it as TIKI as she can. She recently re-paved the parking lot and is looking to put in a new fence between the bar and the motel.
I spoke to Mitch recently about his lack of rums and he has informed me that he will be purchasing several new rums to help try to bring the bar back to it's original glory. Right now, they specialize in vodkas. He is open to suggestion. He and I and Meeran are working together this October to host the ROCK-A-HULA POOL-A-PARTY which will be an all day event with a complete luau and pool party. We'll have live bands playing Exotica and DJs spinning the best in tropical sounds.
I really think these two places are back on the road to recovery. Hope you all get to visit these two awesome historical places!

Aloha and welcome to TC RockaHula. Thanks for the update. Here is a rather current pic of the Tiki.

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2009-08-15 17:13 ]

I visited the Modesto library today and tracked down these phone book ads of the Tropics Motel.

1966, the layout is a bit different than the layout on DC's postcard.

1975, this one mentions that "Sambo's and Tiki c#cktail lounge on premises.

1994, no more Ken Kimes Logo.

[ Edited by: abstractiki 2011-01-08 08:09 ]

On 2010-12-23 20:49, abstractiki wrote:

1966, the layout is a bit different than the layout on DC's postcard.

Abstract,

Nice phone book research. The layout in the phone book ad looks pretty close to post card if you ask me. The motel sign is on the other side of the port cochere and the exterior of the A-Frame building is a little different, but all-in-all pretty close given the artistic license that was given to the post card artists.

DC

Thanks DC, and I agree, it's pretty close. I should have said "a little bit different". :)

Great job Dave...who knew that phone books would be of such historical importance to researchers. Thanks for posting those pages!!!

On 2009-03-04 12:59, bigbrotiki wrote:
Wow! Excellent "Before and After" photography! And the outrigger beam is still there!
So what is the building on the left of it, the Tiki Lounge, or the back of the Motel...? Is my memory also faulty in that the Modesto Tropics is indeed U-shaped and not just an L-shaped building? I beg forgiveness, I have not been there in more than 10 years, and back then was focused on the Tikis, mainly.

The building to the left of "Car Toys" building is the Tiki Lounge, to answer that particular question.

Tiki lifeguard at the Tropics Modesto ....
Photo from Flickr

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2011-03-03 23:04 ]

Here's the Tiki that stood by the entrance to the bar in the 90s:

I liked the fact that this place was actually called the "Tiki Lounge"- but the hours sign was the only one where it was spelled out. There were few other outright Tiki Lounges: The Hawaiian Village had one, that Motel in Denver, and the Hawaiian Isle in Miami.

On 2010-12-30 09:46, bigbrotiki wrote:
Here's the Tiki that stood by the entrance to the bar in the 90s:

I liked the fact that this place was actually called the "Tiki Lounge"- but the hours sign was the only one where it was spelled out. There were few other outright Tiki Lounges: The Hawaiian Village had one, that Motel in Denver, and the Hawaiian Isle in Miami.

I just checked on Google street view, and it shows that Tiki still in place:

Now that's good news! I was assuming that since nobody had photographed it it was a goner, but thank god for the dry desert climate. Plus luckily nobody ever had the bright idea to paint it in party colors.

MoDestO is not dry desert climate bigbro. It's actually pretty wet lately. That tiki is still there for sure. Snugged in real tight.

Wild wild west in MOdesTo. 3 men were kicked out at around 12:30 am. They fired shots into the patio area, one man was hit but not critically injured. The 3 were arrested.
I know it's bad news, but people deserve to know the facts. Advice: Get away from angry people as fast as ya' can, no matter where you are. It's just not worth it.

Man, folks are really getting edgy, this economic stress is grinding them down...

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2011-01-10 17:20 ]

Wow, pretty crazy - here's a news clip:
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=116146&provider=top

We lost some pics up there, here is the close up of the Tiki Lounge Tiki, and more:

I was going thru my matchbook folder, and noticed how close this matchcover rendering....

... is to the way I found the place in the mid-90s:

That is weird how the front became the back patio and the back became the front entrance.

Bigbro,

I like that photo - matchbook comparison. I always wondered where the Rudi Solario's Tiki Lounge matchbook was from.

Here is another nice matchbook Tiki rendering from the Modesto Tropics.

DC

And I always wondered if that bowl-holding logo Tiki from the Tropics matchbooks (which once was copied by San Diego's "Mr. Tiki") actually existed in one of their 5 locations...

I came across this ad for the Grand Opening of the Tiki Lounge from April of 1964.

Looks like it was started by Johnny Ramos and then Rudy Solario took over later.

DC

I found some more great newspaper archive stuff on the Tiki Lounge and the Tropics in Modesto.

Here is an opening day photo from the Tiki Lounge from April 1964. What a great looking place.

And the construction of the motel and restaurant in February of 1962. You can see a big Tiki out front on the right.

An article describing the facilities - 6 large hand carved Tiki Gods!

But wait there's more! The Tikis! A great photo of Ed Crissman putting the finishing touches on one the the Tikis in April of 1962.

Grand opening ceremonies in June of 1962 with Miss Modesto and Mr. Tiki!

Great to see the photos of the Tikis brand new.

DC

Arrgh! How great would it be to have a good quality, glossy 8 X 10 of that Ed Crissman shot!

Tony Monaco sure didn't last long! Wonder why...and what's up with all those Italian names:

Tony Monaco, Johnny Ramos (I guess that's Hispanic) , and Rudy Solario - real classic Americanized immigrant names.

Given that it's Modesto, they could be Portuguese surnames as well. Perhaps Hispanic . . .

[ Edited by: The Blue Kahuna 2012-02-05 10:05 ]

DC those are great discoveries! Nice work! This really helps with the history of these two temples. I guess The tikis are about 50 years old now and still standing. That's great.

Any recent pictures of the inside of that place?
I went by there once, back when I was in college in 2001… Never been back since.

I made the Great Modesto Tiki Trek today. I had never been before and I needed to see Minnie's, Tropics Motel (now called Tiki Lodge) and this place. This place still exists, but was closed when I went by. It is apparently a gay bar now. They had a rainbow flag made of strung-together bamboo hanging in the back. I never got inside...it didn't open until 5 pm. i could have waited the three hours, but then I'd have a 2 hour drive home in the dark. No thanks. I did get these exterior shots though:

[ Edited by: Hakalugi - rotated images - 2017-11-29 21:58 ]