The Sharkbait Bar

We had a 350 square foot storage room off of the pool. The wood was rotten and the corrugated fiberglass siding had to go. Time to make way for the Sharkbait bar!

Sorry in advance to all Tiki snobs... Our bar is a hybrid of Poly-pop and Mexican surf shack. We are about 5 miles away from Tijuana after all. Anyway cool Costal weather (OK, OK, OK....Cool for California) Prompted us to build a big fireplace to cook in and keep us snuggly warm one chilly 50 degree nights.

For a couple of our walls we decided to steal an idea from Knotts Berry Farm. We wanted daytime moody lighting and decided to build bottle walls. We asked all of our friends to start saving their booze, wine and beer bottles. (Sailor Jerry Rum bottles earned special places in the walls) We decided to capture as much natural light as possible and cut the bottles in half. Once cut we taped the wider bottoms together to use them as bricks in our wall. Youtube is an amazing place to learn how to do anything. Anyway we started building walls out of bottles. Almost 1000 bottles were used in construction... a sneak peek

Nice “bones” for a bar Tam. I’d never tell anyone how to build THEIR bar. You might consider posting your progress in the “Beyond tiki" thread . I’d like to how the Sharkbait turns out.
Btw, there’s a couple of fellows in Rosarito that sell carved palm tikis at a decent price.
Good luck!
Tam, I saw your bottle wall after I posted my reply, Now that is cool! Good start!

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2015-02-09 21:04 ]

On 2015-02-09 21:00, nui 'umi 'umi wrote:
Nice “bones” for a bar Tam. I’d never tell anyone how to build THEIR bar. You might consider posting your progress in the “Beyond tiki" thread . I’d like to see how the Sharkbait turns out.
Btw, there’s a couple of fellows in Rosarito that sell carved palm tikis at a decent price.
Good luck!
Tam, I saw your bottle wall after I posted my reply, Now that is cool! Good start!

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2015-02-09 21:04 ]

We ripped out the wall that looks out towards the pool. The opening would eventually become a walk up portion of the bar from the pool area. Yes the pool is huge 70X23...

Construction with pressure treated lumber, not very tiki but the termites here in Cali can be a bear.

very very cool!!! im guessing your in california since you mentioned Knotts berry farm??

Yes Paul, a suburb of San Diego.

With the Fireplace built, time for a roof and walls.

very very cool!!! hey we are neighbors !!! lol

Nice start...love the bottle walls and your pool looks awesome. Have fun and keep posting pictures.

Thanks VampRN, with the bottle walls done time for a roof, a poly pop wall and a bar!

very cool, i see where your going with the wood ammo box on the wall as a ready made shelf!! done that myself many a time, prob is those damn crates are getting hard to find!!!

My wife found it at a yard sale $2. She said now that she regrets buying only one....

Once the roof was on the beauty of the bottle wall started to become apparent. During different times of the day different walls lit up.

Shelves for the all important Tiki mug collection. Light strip from Home Depot makes for nice illumination.

Worried about earthquakes though....the ground shakes here on the westcoast. Maybe earthquake putty under the mugs? The expensive mugs stay in the house until I figure a solution. :)

very very cool!!! Im thinking the bottle idea was something Id want to do in the future.

What would a Tiki bar be without some Poly Pop accents. We decided on a wall.

Start with some router experimentation...

Stuff from Oceanic Arts.... That store rocks!

at night....

That looks great! Nice idea...the bottles...!

I love those bottle walls! Every time I go to Knotts Berry Farm, I just stand and stare at the little room with bottle walls there. So cool.

Definitely quake hold putty and possibly fish line around the mugs.

Thanks Fez and Carver, need to protect the mugs!

We need a bar...

We sort of copied the front a bar in Costa Mesa. But beyond the Tiki in front we made it our own...

Bar top ice bin, speed rail for house liquors and a nice fridge....decent start.

boy, you dont mess around! thats alot of construction in a little amount of time! Love the giant shell light, that is insane! where did you get the tapa cloth from thats on your wall? id love to be able to find some myself

Hey Paul thanks for the compliments. We got the Tapa Cloth at Oceanic Arts in Rosemead. That place is so worth the trip!

Decorating the Sharkbait bar...

The Sharkbait bar has to have some sharks...

and some mugs

and of course Shark Jaws (ebay of course)

A little wine rack I bought on ebay, Router the base and insert a Home Depot light strip pretty cool Rum rack

Oceanic Arts is the best ever!!! when I lived closer i use to go about once a week, I was only like 30 miles from there, now Im like 70 miles from it!!

love your shark head and shark jaw really really awesome!!! great work, cant wait to see more!!!!

You have some really great ideas. It has more of a beachcomber look.

Lookin Good TJ. Where did you get the Shark head? One like dat would be perfect in my Sharkbite Bar.
Mahalo and keep the pix coming.

looks really good. Digging the bottle wall...looks great when the light comes in. Good job!

I really like it. Kudos for going your own way and building what YOU want. The bottle wall is inspired. Well done!

Kudos on all the good work!

Love the shark touches and the nifty lighting on the back-bar looks nifty! And, as others have noted, the bottle wall is a terrific aspect of the whole.

Keep at it -- it just keeps gettin' better and better!

Need to add more pics of the Sharkbait

Images from last years Grand Opening party...

more..

[ Edited by: tamminjoe 2020-03-03 11:49 ]

Greetings All !!! After a long ugly court battle, I am back. Now divorced from Satan's uglier daughter, I have been hard at work building my new bar, Vitu Waitui. Sadly, someone else is enjoying the Sharkbait Bar. Tiki Central wont let me change my user name so it appears that in addition to ridiculous alimony, I am still encumbered by the hell that is my ex-wife. I was looking for input as to start a new bar thread or do a whole phoenix from the ashes (my bank account) and showcase my new slice of Heaven? I would prefer a new user name......HINT HINT Administrator!!!!

Too bad, looks like a great bar (especially that bottle wall).

I'd start fresh with a new thread.

On 2020-03-03 14:32, MauiRose wrote:
Too bad, looks like a great bar (especially that bottle wall).

I'd start fresh with a new thread.

Thanks for weighing in Maui !