The Lili-Kai Club of Metro Detroit

Fantastic job. I love that you prioritized the sound system, and I think your idea of having simultaneous ambient sound along with your playlist is really great. I've got 2 ceiling speakers in my smaller bar, and would love to have maybe ambient sounds on a smaller system. Great Idea.

On 2016-09-02 10:14, W8N2Surf wrote:
Fantastic job. I love that you prioritized the sound system, and I think your idea of having simultaneous ambient sound along with your playlist is really great. I've got 2 ceiling speakers in my smaller bar, and would love to have maybe ambient sounds on a smaller system. Great Idea.

Thanks! The ambient setup is working great. Right now I am looping a tropical rainforest. The CD came with 2 tracks, and it's in stereo, so each speaker gets a different source (One pair plays track 1, the other pair plays track 2.) I'm using 2 ipod shuffles I bought off of eBay for $10. They are powered by a cheap USB charger, and will auto-loop via a switch on the back of the unit. Super simple setup, works great.

Thanks! The ambient setup is working great. Right now I am looping a tropical rainforest. The CD came with 2 tracks, and it's in stereo, so each speaker gets a different source (One pair plays track 1, the other pair plays track 2.) I'm using 2 ipod shuffles I bought off of eBay for $10. They are powered by a cheap USB charger, and will auto-loop via a switch on the back of the unit. Super simple setup, works great.

So if I'm reading you right, each of the 4 speakers is actually playing different ambient content...brilliant! Do you mind sharing the name of the CD? Youtube has some good tracks that can be streamed...

t

So if I'm reading you right, each of the 4 speakers is actually playing different ambient content...brilliant! Do you mind sharing the name of the CD? Youtube has some good tracks that can be streamed...

Exactly! It works pretty well. Each speaker is in about the corner of the room, so it sounds like you're surrounded by the jungle.

The CD is called "Sounds of the Earth: Exotic Paradise."

There are other CDs in the series that I haven't heard yet, but may try out soon.

Thanks! Best "sound" advice I've seen in the forum! :)

Keep posting!

New addition to the family:

Teko Teko by Hottiki (Tom Green)

He looks great in his new home. Thanks again for sending him my way!

It's nice having my carving flanked by some Brad Tiki Shark Parker art. Glad to see the agents of the U.S. Mail took care getting the Teko Teko to you in one piece. Looking forward to checking in on the Kili-Kai Club decorating updates as it looks like one of the bigger rooms out there. Thanks for working with me on my first major mailing event. ( picture me toasting my Mai-Tai glass to you...Cheers !!!! )

I was wondering who got that great HotTiki piece.
Congratulations, everything looks great, I love that your Tiki Bar is huge.
Hats off to you, family and friends for all the hard work.
It all looks great. Love the night shots.

So what is your "bar drink of choice" ?

Cheers
Jon

On 2016-10-01 20:15, hottiki wrote:
It's nice having my carving flanked by some Brad Tiki Shark Parker art. Glad to see the agents of the U.S. Mail took care getting the Teko Teko to you in one piece. Looking forward to checking in on the Kili-Kai Club decorating updates as it looks like one of the bigger rooms out there. Thanks for working with me on my first major mailing event. ( picture me toasting my Mai-Tai glass to you...Cheers !!!! )

Glad to have it! It's an awesome piece, and will be enjoyed by all.

On 2016-10-10 18:30, hang10tiki wrote:
I was wondering who got that great HotTiki piece.
Congratulations, everything looks great, I love that your Tiki Bar is huge.
Hats off to you, family and friends for all the hard work.
It all looks great. Love the night shots.

So what is your "bar drink of choice" ?

Thanks! It's a huge space indeed. We thought about making it smaller, but there was no good way to do so. I'm not complaining now though. :)

We have 2 specials that are really popular - both of them are custom drinks by my wife and I. The first is our twist on a "tiki white russian," and the second we made in honor of a painting we acquired.

Caffeinated Kama'aina
Method – Shaken
Glass – Old fashioned
Garnish – Coffee bean

coffee liqueur (homemade or Tia Maria) 2 oz.
Instant espresso powder (Ferarra) 1 tsp.
whole milk 1 1/2 oz.
macadamia nut liqueur (Trader Vic’s) 3/4 oz.
pimento dram 1 tsp.
Angostura bitters 1 dash

1. Add all the ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice.
2. Shake, and strain into an old fashioned glass.
3. Garnish with a coffee bean.

Kraken's Wrath
Method – Built
Glass – Old fashioned
Garnish – Lime wedge

pineapple 1 large chunk / 20-25 gr. / 1”x1”x2”
falernum 1/2 oz.
rum #22 (spiced - homemade or Kraken) 3/4 oz.
rum #3 (Demerara - El Dorado 8 ) 3/4 oz.
lime juice 3/4 oz.
Tiki or Angostura bitters 2 dashes

1. Put pineapple and falernum into glass. Muddle pineapple.
2. Add all other ingredients and ice.
3. Stir and serve.

Note about the pineapple: I designed the drink around fresh pineapple, 20-25 gr., around 1”x1”x2”. Some alternate options would be Dole pineapple chunks in can, around 3 of them, or less than 1/4 oz. pineapple juice.

Stop by our home bar, The Lili-Kai Club.

[ Edited by: Jeff Bannow 2016-10-14 12:37 ]

Still finishing off the trim. We've been playing with burning the trim, first with a small plumbers torch, which provided a lot of control but took too long, and finally with this beast:

From Harbor Freight, $20 (tank not included). This takes care of the job in no time. We will still use the small torch for the edges I think. Here's the outcome:

We will then put a clear coat over the top, and it's ready to hang.

Have a Solomon Islands Nguzu Nguzu War Canoe Idol coming. Should make a nice addition to the collection.

The bar is taking shape. Keep up the good work.

Found an older photo of the bar as soon as we moved in, after setting up the important stuff:

My, how it has grown in the last 18 months.

A good friend had these made up for us as a joke, as he has terrible allergies to our cats that patrol the house.

I've threatened to make a cocktail based on the concept - I'm thinking something like a white russian with smoked catnip, served in a cat dish, that you must lap up with your tongue.

On 2016-12-08 05:25, Jeff Bannow wrote:

I've threatened to make a cocktail based on the concept - I'm thinking something like a white russian with smoked catnip, served in a cat dish, that you must lap up with your tongue.

I may have to pass on that, but in the world of craft cocktails, you never know. This continues to be a fantastic project, and I remain a great admirer of you ambient + music multi-speaker sound system. Tiki is all about the ambience, for sure, and sound can be a key component of that.

On 2016-12-12 07:37, W8N2Surf wrote:

On 2016-12-08 05:25, Jeff Bannow wrote:

I've threatened to make a cocktail based on the concept - I'm thinking something like a white russian with smoked catnip, served in a cat dish, that you must lap up with your tongue.

I may have to pass on that, but in the world of craft cocktails, you never know. This continues to be a fantastic project, and I remain a great admirer of you ambient + music multi-speaker sound system. Tiki is all about the ambience, for sure, and sound can be a key component of that.

Thanks! It continues to be a fun project for us too, and the sound system has been working great. There will be some small tweaks to the setup soon - more details to follow at a later date.

Got a new muddler for the bar by Will Carve (Will Anders). It looks amazing, and will be put to good use making lots of drinks. Thanks Will!

Made some more progress today, with the continued help of Daniel.

The steel pole is wrapped with 150 feet of manilla rope (the darker on the bottom) and 150 feet of sisal rope (the lighter on the top.)

And we got the back bar shelving in place! The alcohol can now go back, and with better sorting this time. The shelves are simple laminate over particle board, with bamboo trim nailed along the edge.

Enjoying your build so far! What diameter rope did you use on the support pole?
I have a couple of those poles in the basement bar and have been curious how many
feet it would take to wrap them.
Mahalo!
Eric

On 2016-12-13 12:43, SufferinSimon wrote:
Enjoying your build so far! What diameter rope did you use on the support pole?
I have a couple of those poles in the basement bar and have been curious how many
feet it would take to wrap them.
Mahalo!
Eric

Thanks! It's 1/4" rope, and the pole is about 4" in diameter I would guess, and about 7 1/2' tall.

Finalizing the bar surround with Eva & Daniel ...

And finally, the finished product! I think it came out great.

"Stop by our home bar, The Lili-Kai Club."
I just may do that, thank you.

Will

On 2016-12-14 03:42, Will carve wrote:
"Stop by our home bar, The Lili-Kai Club."
I just may do that, thank you.

Will

Please do if you are in the area. I've got a beautiful new muddler to show off. :)

Picked up a pair of Clee Sobieski acrylics for the bar:

Today, the trim finally got completed! The bar also got reassembled. It's amazing how much more finished the space looks now that it's trimmed out.

On 2016-12-14 05:37, Jeff Bannow wrote:

On 2016-12-14 03:42, Will carve wrote:
"Stop by our home bar, The Lili-Kai Club."
I just may do that, thank you.

Will

Please do if you are in the area. I've got a beautiful new muddler to show off. :)

I have to say, that muddler is off the chart. Great update pics, you guys have really done it.

I have to say, that muddler is off the chart. Great update pics, you guys have really done it.

Thanks! It's been a fun project so far.

some final updates from last weeks work:

The rum library has a new home! These are the rums that we don't use as often - my standard mixing rums are on the bartop for easy access. All rums are now marked with the rum number, ala the Smuggler's Cove book.

And the wine rack is up! This one was a long time coming, and it feels good to have it completed.

Thanks again to Eva and Daniel for the help with the wine rack!

Some photos from last weekend's party:

We prebatched cocktails and served them in 1.25 gallon Arrow Slimline Dispensers. We built a wooden stand to hold 4 of the Arrows, and lift them off the table high enough to pour under. Worked out great! I went to the hardware store and bought O rings for the Arrows, as people had complained a bit of leaking. I had no issues at all. We did 3 punches, 1 non-alcoholic punch, and spiked eggnog.

Now, the bar really needs more hanging lights, and more artwork.

Did some rearranging recently, making things a bit more streamlined.

Just got a new Christmas gift from my dad and stepmom ....

A shave ice machine! It's a Great Northern Ice Cub. Pretty excited to give it a try and see how she shaves.

That's a great real working wet bar, which not all tiki bars can be. With the amount of bitters, etc. you have on hand, I can tell you are a true Craft Cocktail enthusiast! My passion as well. Love the ice shaver, a tiki bar that can do hawaiian shave ice is "pretty cool brah". We MUST visit....

On 2016-12-30 09:42, W8N2Surf wrote:
That's a great real working wet bar, which not all tiki bars can be. With the amount of bitters, etc. you have on hand, I can tell you are a true Craft Cocktail enthusiast! My passion as well. Love the ice shaver, a tiki bar that can do hawaiian shave ice is "pretty cool brah". We MUST visit....

Thanks! Come on by any time.

Made some bottled Caffeinated Kama'aina for gifts this year.

Just add milk. The rest of the cocktail is in there.

Lookin good Jeff!
You have lots of options to hang lights from those can lights in the ceiling.

An up light right behind that tiki at bottom of steps would be cool.

Also these are nice for your artwork on the wall, not really tiki but hey they add cool lighting.
I would say get lights like this that you can dim.
You can buy and add inline dimmers for each light and dim them as needed.

14-Inch, 30-Watt Incandescent Slimline Picture Light
https://www.amazon.com/14-Inch-30-Watt-Incandescent-Slimline-Picture/dp/B00JB2K6H0/ref=sr_1_21/151-5382347-1228111?ie=UTF8&qid=1484705826&sr=8-21&keywords=picture+lights+Incandescent

Lutron TT-300H-WH Electronics Plug-In Lamp Dimmer, White
https://www.amazon.com/Lutron-TT-300H-WH-Electronics-Plug-Dimmer/dp/B0000BYEF6/ref=pd_cp_60_4/151-5382347-1228111?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MBFNMP03AG0YDCFYS5NH

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2017-01-17 18:24 ]

On 2017-01-17 18:14, tikiskip wrote:
Lookin good Jeff!
You have lots of options to hang lights from those can lights in the ceiling.

An up light right behind that tiki at bottom of steps would be cool.

Also these are nice for your artwork on the wall, not really tiki but hey they add cool lighting.
I would say get lights like this that you can dim.
You can buy and add inline dimmers for each light and dim them as needed.

14-Inch, 30-Watt Incandescent Slimline Picture Light
https://www.amazon.com/14-Inch-30-Watt-Incandescent-Slimline-Picture/dp/B00JB2K6H0/ref=sr_1_21/151-5382347-1228111?ie=UTF8&qid=1484705826&sr=8-21&keywords=picture+lights+Incandescent

Lutron TT-300H-WH Electronics Plug-In Lamp Dimmer, White
https://www.amazon.com/Lutron-TT-300H-WH-Electronics-Plug-Dimmer/dp/B0000BYEF6/ref=pd_cp_60_4/151-5382347-1228111?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MBFNMP03AG0YDCFYS5NH

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2017-01-17 18:24 ]

Thanks! Both are good suggestions. I've been looking at LED battery based art lighting, I'm just having trouble spending the $90 a piece on them. Might work out something custom (and cheaper).

You know I was going to say "hey get one of these"
But DAMN they are like $57.00 bucks now?

I would make more just selling the old part I have and skip the work making a light.
At times I would just put these on a light for nothing.

You can find picture lights for less on eBay, at garage sales, church sales keep lookin.
I have found them for less.

B&P Lamp White Inline Cord Slide Dimmer Switch....
https://www.amazon.com/Lamp-White-Inline-Dimmer-Switch/dp/B01LWPZ692/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1484879498&sr=8-15&keywords=inline+dimmer

Here's one, it is a kind I like.

Look batteries not so good, to me, led not so good.
These cast a nice old school warm glow.

Two 15 watt incandescent bulbs they last forever.

INCADESCENT RULES!!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Classic-Picture-Light-14-2-Light-assembly-25T10-2-25-Watt-Lamps-Included-UL/192046553106?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D40808%26meid%3Dfd1950c7cb8f491e9febdc1e19ed4a69%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D112244432755

http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-adjustable-brass-gold-tone-picture-light-8-bed-desk-portrait-art-lamp-/122312757787?hash=item1c7a68921b:g:EqsAAOSwImRYfBfO

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2017-01-19 18:50 ]

On 2017-01-19 18:44, tikiskip wrote:
Here's one, it is a kind I like.

Look batteries not so good, to me, led not so good.
These cast a nice old school warm glow.

Two 15 watt incandescent bulbs they last forever.

INCADESCENT RULES!!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Classic-Picture-Light-14-2-Light-assembly-25T10-2-25-Watt-Lamps-Included-UL/192046553106?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D40808%26meid%3Dfd1950c7cb8f491e9febdc1e19ed4a69%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D112244432755

http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-adjustable-brass-gold-tone-picture-light-8-bed-desk-portrait-art-lamp-/122312757787?hash=item1c7a68921b:g:EqsAAOSwImRYfBfO

---

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2017-01-19 18:50 ]

Wow, that's a good price. Ok, I've ordered one to test out. Can't beat that. Thanks!

"Wow, that's a good price. Ok, I've ordered one to test out. Can't beat that. Thanks!"

Ok so did you get yer light?
Hey I found two at thrift stores since we talked about this.
AND I want to tikify them, cork on ends rattan ect...

These are the lights I was talking about.

Lookin Good!

•:''':•:''':•:''':•:''':•:''':•:''':•:''':•:''':•:''':•:''':•:''':•:''':•
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY from TIKISKIP! Now buy your lover a Light!!

Lights for home and
commercial TIKI bars.

Here is one of the thrift store lights.

‹(•¿•)›‹(•¿•)›‹(•¿•)›‹(•¿•)›•:TIKISKIP:•:MAKES:•:FLOAT:•:LIGHTS:•‹(•¿•)›‹(•¿•)›‹(•¿•)›‹(•¿•)›

‹(•¿•)›‹(•¿•)›‹(•¿•)›‹(•¿•)›‹(•¿•)›

New bar added to the Lili-kai Club! The gentleman pictured is the seller of the unit, not myself.

Looks like a Witco / Witco clone to me.

Jeff,

I really appreciate all the documentation you did to show the construction of the bar. I think half the fun is designing, constructing and then looking at what you have done. The other half is in your pictures. Sharing your bar with your friends. You have a place to be proud of.

Nice bar addition, Jeff! It does look like a Witco knockoff (to me, at least, but I'm no expert), and a cool one at that. Those stools are out of this world!

On 2017-04-20 10:12, MaukaHale wrote:
Jeff,

I really appreciate all the documentation you did to show the construction of the bar. I think half the fun is designing, constructing and then looking at what you have done. The other half is in your pictures. Sharing your bar with your friends. You have a place to be proud of.

Thanks! Lots of plans still coming for the space in the future too.

New display cabinet score - brass faux bamboo, bought from the original owner who purchased it new in the 1960s. It will now house our Detroit tiki collection.

Got the bar in place. I think it looks good in the corner there.

And we expanded the rum library a bit. Now there's room for the new bottles, and for the library as well.

Stop by our home bar, The Lili-Kai Club.

[ Edited by: Jeff Bannow 2017-04-26 06:15 ]

Really like that display cabinet,would love to find one like it.