A modest proposal --a question really

Hi TC,

I live in Valencia, California a piece of Northern Los Angeles suburbia. Our biggest claim to fame is Six Flags Magic Mountain and Cal Arts. With Cal Arts in our backyard, you would think the entire town would be running with hipsters. So many graphic and visual artists graduated from Cal Arts and had to walk around town to buy their groceries. Notable alumni are: Eric Fischl (painter), John Lasseter (Pixar), Tim Burton, Michael Richards (Kramer from Sienfeld), and Paul Rubens (Pee Wee Herman), yet the entire town is full of squares.

Despite lack of culture of the squares, I still love this place and call it home.

Hypothetically speaking, if a tiki bar opened in Valenica would YOU come up here to have a drink once in a while? I realize that a bar needs a steady stream of customers --usually the locals, but in my case they're all squares, so I'm counting on Cal Arts. However, most of them are students thus money is tight.

If so, how often?

The vision for the bar would be similar to Tiki-Ti. It would be very small; probably a maximum capacity of 20-30 people. No beer, just tiki drinks. No hip hop, just exotica. Obviously, cool tiki art from Tiki Central artists. The goal is to be half as cool as Tiki-Ti. Come on, let's be honest, if a place could be half as cool as tiki-ti, then they already succeeded.

in summary:

1. Would you come up?
2. If so, how often?
3. Where are you from?

Thank you.

1. Would you come up?
   I wouldn't. I would come down/south.

2. If so, how often?
   We generally make it to So/Cal once a year.

3. Where are you from?
   Seattle, WA area

Thank you for your honesty TTums

Of course we should eat Irish Babies! Sorry wrong Modest Proposal :wink:

Best of luck to you and your tiki bar! The world would be a better place with more of them, for sure. Some of us on Tiki Central, however don't even live in California. (Gasp!) Now, should you open one in Goshen, Indiana, I might become one of your regulars. I'll take the bar stool on the end, next to the cannibals tiki.

Interesting idea.

You could look into getting bands from Cal Arts to play there (what's the entertainment taxes like? San Diego just eliminated all of theirs) and draw them in that way, or have a wall/gallery of Cal Arts pieces people could buy with some alumni work too? Or do any sort of events there, anything to pull the kids in. Low priced before-7 drinks? Movie/animation night?

If there were some cool events a LOT of TC people would show up.

1. Would you come up? - Yes!
2. If so, how often? - Probably once every 6 weeks.
3. Where are you from? - Los Angeles.

On 2012-02-25 07:38, Bora Boris wrote:

1. Would you come up? - Yes!
2. If so, how often? - Probably once every 6 weeks.
3. Where are you from? - Los Angeles.

Me too.

I think the best way to look at it is this:

How often do you travel over the hill and go to tiki bars?

Now ask yourself how often would you travel to these bars if there was a tiki bar you loved down the street from you?

And then now ask yourself how often would you travel to the other bars if there was a BUNCH of tiki bars you loved that you could go to before you even made it over the hill?

These are the the thoughts that will be going thru a lot of SoCal tiki enthusiasts heads before they make it over the hill to Valencia.

It will be a tough sell. Back in college, I would have had a hell of a time trying to afford the drinks at Tiki-Ti. I'm sure a lot of the students at Cal-Arts would be in the same boat.

But if you can find a place with cheap enough rent and bartenders that can mix a great drink... ya never know. If you try and do it, I do wish you the best of luck. I'm sure it's a dream that most of us on here have!

I am from Sacramento and head down to San Diego a couple of times a year and would definitely stop in if you are open mid-day as that is usually the time I pass through your spot on the globe. Best of luck to you on your venture...might be able to sway the locals into the Tiki spirit.

Monit..s..

1. Yes (if it is you who are opening one)
2. at least once a month for sure (which is saying a lot these days, havent been to the Ti in way too long). I would venture to say later evening after traffic in that direction has died down.
3. currently North Hollywood

Hola TC,

Thank you for the input. This is exactly what I was looking for. Please keep them coming.

1. Would you come up?

If you did it "right", yes I would. Assuming I could find a designated driver, which I probably could.

2. If so, how often?

Sadly, not very. Only when I am in LA visiting my sister.

3. Where are you from?

DC, which explains #2.

I wish you luck. However, I would be weary of opening a joint that might depend on whether or not students from a local art college might find it worth their while.

Great idea and an even better idea to do some research first. I live in HB and here are my answers.

1. Would you come up? yes
2. If so, how often? prolly every 3 months or so.
3. Where are you from? HB

1. Would you come. Yes
   2 How often. Once every 2 or 3 months.
2. Where do you live. San Fernando Valley

Thank you everyone for the feedback. Please keep them coming.

This will be controversial....but please consider that 99% of the population do not like exotica or hawaiian music....and that is why most old tiki bars started playing hip-hop. it was only OUR tiki revival that got them to start playing good music. Seriously, if you are hoping to cater to the college crowd, best just serve beer and have the hip hop and alt-monkey, shoegazing crap that they love.

I love going to trader sams in disneyland, where they are playing Arthur Lyman, martin Denny and Tikiyaki non-stop....but the realist in me says that eventually, even they will revert to the crap music the lumpen masses enjoy. The base, trivial crap that the 99 percenters like. ughhhh! I have been to trader sams many times now, during the weekend, during the afternoons, mainly...and it is rarely filled or crowded. Only a matter of time.

From my experience, a successful new bar/restaurant locates where there is a NEED for an additional bar/restaurant first and foremost. One of the best ways to determine this is to find existing bar/restaurants that are doing more business than they deserve to be doing. The quality/value quotient offered must compete at a level that creates no barriers to guest acceptance. I have come to believe that the theme needs to be one that has culture that communicates passion. Can a tiki bar fit these parameters? You bet. But my point is that the need needs to be there first, then and only then, will the vision of the ownership have a chance at success. Too many get this backwards.