Tiki in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri?

I am seeking tiki bars, restaurants, motels, etc. in Missouri, Kansas or Oklahoma.

Armed with Tiki Road Trip, I called the only entries for those states. Aloha Kai in Shawnee (near Kansas City) KS is apparently out of business as the number was disconnected...same with Terry's Polynesian Room in St Louis. Directory assistance has neither restaurant. Can any locals confirm they are gone and tell us what they were like?

A google search turned up a place in St. Louis called Venice Cafe, which a reviewer said has tiki decor but reggae music. Has anyone been there?

I also called Aloha Taste of Hawaii in Tulsa, OK and was told that they have gone through two name changes and remodels (Two Palms, and now Cancun Cove) and now offer "the best tex-mex."

I guess we're spoiled as our first and only tiki restaurant experience was Omni Hut on a recent trip to TN. Then I saw Kon-Tiki in Tucson and drank in the decor one quiet afternoon. The last Tiki motel I know of in this region was the Tropicana in Joplin, MO which was demolished last year (I did get the tiki head sign). Can anyone tell this tiki junkie where to get a fix?

Update: I went to Cancun Cove in March of this year. As of that time, it was a tropical theme restaurant (a few fake palm trees) that emphasized Filipino food. The place smelled funny, like cooking odors that couldn't escape, but the food was good. There was nothing tiki about the place, though.

We've been to several very good tiki places since this post.

I listed three non-tiki places (one in Wichita, two in Tulsa) that might be assumed to be tiki in this thread: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1441&forum=1&12

[ Edited by: tikijackalope on 2004-09-13 19:47 ]

You're right, not really anything here in KS/MO is still open as far as I can tell.

There's a carver who lives at the NW corner of 81st & Antioch in Overland Park with many tikis in his yard. I dropped by and said hi one day. He's a real nice guy, he said he's sold quite a few of his carvings to people around here. I didn't ask for permission to take photos because I'm such a lousy photographer I couldn't do them justice.

The Bamboo Hut on 40 Highway only has the sign left and a few light fixtures. The sign would photograph well with the cocktail lounge sign next door, which is a neon martini glass. The Bamboo Hut has been around since the 40's I think. My ex father-in-law used to go there after work and said it was polynesian back in those days.

I have to run off to work now, but I'll post more later if I think of anything. Good luck in your search. I like your photos.

For photography there's a swell bowling alley sign called the Tropicana Lanes, 7960 Clayton Road, St. Louis, MO 314-781-0282. The sign is kinda googie, tho... I cannot verify any Tiki inside, I believe there is none.

For archaeological purposes, there is an indisputably tiki artifact located on the side of a parking garage (?) at 4th Street & Washington (Blvd?), a couple blocks from the Gateway Arch. It an A-frame entrance of some sort, approximately two stories high - truly a thing of beauty.

Does anyone know anything about item 2? I've wanted to do some research but never have ~~ Johnny D

There's a bar called Hawaiian Don's in OKC @ 3837 NW 10th St. There's also 2 restaurants called the Aloha Club (3125 S Bryant Ave), & the Aloha Garden Restaurant & Club (2219 SW 74th St # 105), & there's an apartment complex called Bali Apartments (1120 N Tela Dr).

In Tulsa, Ok. there's the Aloha Taste Of Hawaii restaurant (7133 S Yale Ave), & the Tiki Lounge (4325 E Apache St). I checked for the Tiki Lounge on Google & found this site: http://tulsatvmemories.com/tulstiki.html
It looks like Tulsa used to be a swingin' Tiki town, but these look to be the last of it.

In KC, Mo. there's the Tiki Hut Mini Putt (8500 W 151st St).

In KC, Ks. there's Aloha Chopstix (4316 Rainbow Blvd), but I'd guess there's no tikis in there.

I got these from the Yahoo Yellow Pages, anyone else want to try other keyword searches there? I'm going to contact some country cousins in OKC to see if they've ever gone to any of the places there.

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance on 2003-11-05 09:12 ]

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance on 2003-11-05 09:21 ]

Tokyo Gardens at 41st and Memorial in Tulsa is a revamped version of Jade East, a Polynesian Tiki restaurant bar. They have retained the bridge over running water.

All I know about Tulsa Tiki is on my page of the same name: http://tulsaTVmemories.com/tulstiki.html

I just found another place in OKC: Sugar's Mai Kai Bar (2106 SW 44th St.).

I thought I'd update the KC part of this topic for future tiki tourists seeking public sights and perusing this forum, and because we have at least one new KC member who might know more.

The current owner of the Bamboo Hut says it was never Polynesian, though its quite a good example of a roadhouse bar/restaurant and I do recommend stopping in for lunch if you are roaming among the googie remnants of hwy 40. It can be smoky, but the food is good. The sign is nicely vintage and is in violation of the current code so it must be worked on in-place to keep it safe under a grandfather clause:

Before a fire in 1980, it had much more bamboo decor, though the light fixtures kctiki pointed out remain:

I posted Tiki Hut Mini Putt to the Locating Tiki forum:
https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6457&forum=2&0

I posted the Overland Park carver a couple days ago:
https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6514&forum=1&1

Freddiefreelance was right; Aloha Chopstix is indeed just a Chinese restaurant with no tiki decor.

It appears, so far, that the coolest bit of Tiki in the KC area is 8ft tiki's mondo-cool but not publicly viewable find:
https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6515&forum=1&12

Does anyone have anything else to add for KC before I head up there in a week or so?

I thought it logical to add this link to a post in Locating Tiki about Aloha, a place I found in Springfield, MO after my original post in this thread: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=7127&forum=2&10

Update: never mind; Aloha went out of business in early July, 2004.

[ Edited by: tikijackalope on 2004-09-13 19:19 ]

I got to stop by the Bamboo Hut in Independence MO. not far from KC, and it's still open, definitely has seen better days, but still just screams old school bar. I'm thinkin' it was the place to hang out back in the day, and has seen many a bar fight. ... as far as Tiki... well.. it does have bamboo light fixtures which are defintely cool.

Sadly, the Bamboo Hut is now CLOSED.

Saint Louis now has a Tiki Bar called Taha'a Twisted Tiki. It is located at the Grove.
The drinks are the original recipes and the food is pretty good, but the menu is limited.
The music that they have piped in is 1990s pop for the most part, but the management says that they intend to work on that.

There is a growing Tiki Culture group in St. Louis, if you're on facebook, check out Saint Louis Tiki and Taha'a

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Saint-Louis-Tiki/727836400592032?fref=ts

http://tahaatiki.com/

I'm carving a tiki for a dude in St Louis... :)