Bahi hut NO LONGER being ruined with clown tikis

Calling all able bodied folks. The Bahi Hut, a totally intact, if a little shabby, 1954 tiki bar is Sarasota is under new management. They said they are redoing it and mentioned that they want to do it right. I was feeling pretty good about it until they posted the photo of their new decor on facebook last night. This is real, it's not a joke. It's Party City tikis from hell. If you are on facebook, please, please, please go to the Bahi Hut's page and tell them this is NOT cool. I am sure they spent the wad to have this made, so to get them to abandon it is going to take an outcry. Please Outcry now or we lose another authentic place.

https://www.facebook.com/BahiHut/photos/a.1610615992343550.1073741830.511181388953688/1610615965676886/?type=3&hc_location=ufi

Robotiki
Mira Mar League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

[ Edited by: robotiki 2017-08-17 10:32 ]

[ Edited by: robotiki 2017-11-14 06:50 ]

Kinda reminds me of this guys work...
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=45248&forum=18&306

People said he was doing ok, I'm confused?

PS, I don't like either of them.

"But hey keep up the good work, your stuff keeps getting better and better"
"Maybe if you just.....

He died off too.
Must be in the Genes.

UUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH.

My folks bought a winter place in Treasure Island Beach a few years ago, and on our last visit we wanted to visit the Bahi Hut very badly... the weather was terrible, so we didn't make the trip. My folks went after we left and told us what a great little weird time capsule the place was.

We were very excited to go back this winter on our next visit.

Obviously, we can scratch that from the itinerary if this is the kinda garish crap the new owners think is going to work.

I am reminded of the colorful monstrosities that now reside out of the hallowed bamboo halls of our beloved Hala Kahiki... thankfully the inside is still much as it always has been (the addition of gambling machines as you walk in is unfortunate, but they did it in such a way it's not TOO distracting or overwhelming) but looking at these two grinning clown Tikis as you walk in now makes me cringe every time...

Fortunately, the current owner at Hala Kahiki grew up in the place (his grandparents were the original owners) so he definitely understands what a special thing they have there. Why the clown Tikis, I don't know. I suspect it was a case of "Oh, my nephew is an artist and wants to make something for the bar" kind of a thing. I don't like to shit on anybody's work, but these things are so terribly out of place.

I hope the Bahi Hut doesn't circle the cartoon Tiki toilet... good God that thing is horrible.

If the place is going to be gutted and covered in spring break Party City crap, they may as well tear it down now and get it over with. There's so little vintage Tiki left in FL outside of the Mai Kai, this would be tragic....

--Pete

the sad thing is that those look to be sandblasted cedar or high density urethane with a woodgrain screen - a sign that size is not cheap - probably $1,000 - $1,500 in foam - a little more if good quality cedar - i used to do these quite a bit - upside is, if they're wood, she could strip the paint and do the torch technique on them, although it wouldn't get rid of the hideous grin

Photo feedback left, and a private message sent. Then, 3 maidens sacrificed in my backyard volcano - I hope it helps.

It gets worse, here are the other ones.....

The photos in this thread made me throw up a little in my mouth.

The Bahi Hut is so beyond sanity, I will not even comment. But oh my god, what is going on at the Hala Kahiki !? I just listed it among my five favorite Tiki bars because I felt it is not getting enough recognition!

PLEASE don't have them pull any of those "wood spirit" abominations inside. The exterior of the place has always been kind of simple, but those are gonna repulse people!

Signed,

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2017-07-28 11:29 ]

You're right on HK, Sven...

It is one of my absolute favorite places we've ever been. When we lived in Chicago, we went once a week, or more, for years. It was one of the first Tiki bars we ever visited a dozen or more years ago, and really set our whole obsession in motion. It's a magic place, and there aren't many of them left.

Many of the changes they've made recently have been highly positive... Most notably, they have a solid rum selection now, for one thing, and have been working hard to improve their cocktails. Tailwinds Distillery in IL has even made them their own Navy-strength rum (which is quite delicious.)

In terms of decor, the interior is pretty much exactly the same as it's always been, except for the aforementioned gambling machines near the entrance now, which caused some re-jiggering in the seating in the bar area. Instead of the old, low cocktail tables & chairs, there are now bar tables to stand at (which help fit in more people.) Aesthetically, I'm not crazy about it personally, but I understand the motivation and the need, and they did consult our own Tipsy McStagger to aid in making the change as unobtrusive as possible (and he did a good job with it, I'll add.)

They've added old newspaper clippings and some history on the place, framed and hanging in the entry way as well, which I thought was a really nice touch. Their menus were updated (they're super modern looking, but at least celebrate the history of the place and forced them to do away with the old 90's clip art jobs they had for years) and the door mats, match books, and some other things celebrate that they've been in the same family and open since 1964.

They also updated the music a bit, which I would put in the negative column personally... I do really miss the old (and I mean OLD) crackly Hawaiian music they would play on an endless loop... there was this kind of ethereal, creepy time warp feel to that aspect. Nut again, I understand the update. And it's tasteful, mostly... some Hawaiian music mixed with the Beach Boys and some exotica and surf tracks. Nothing too jarring.

And then, the tiki mugs. They finally have their own tiki mugs from Tiki Farm. A first since the Orchids of Hawaii ones they had 1960's.

So... mostly all positive changes, fueled by a need for a slight amount more modernity to stay competitive (but done in a way that doesn't ruin everything.)

But ... then those hideous eyesores appeared outside.

They are a mystery.

A hideous, clown-like, eye-hurting mystery.

So long as they don't come inside (and believe me, the Chicago Ohana has made it abundantly clear that ain't nobody cool with them things...) but even outside, you said it... the low-key, humble nature of everything outside and the mystery of what lies within is something that has always contributed to make the place so wonderful. With these two things greeting you on your way in now, I feel like I need to be blindfolded until I'm inside.

Maybe they're a motivation to make people drink more to forget them?

--P

We went there last night to intervene. They seemed to have good intentions, it's a case of not knowing what they have. Steve, the new manager in charge of the renovations has done a good job cleaning up the gardens and generally making it a little less skanky. But he does not know a tiki from a hole in the ground. He was devasted when we showed him the 80 or so facebook posts all hating them.

ITS"S WORKING--GO TO BAHI HUT FB PAGE AND COMMENT!!!!

Meantime, in a show of goodwill, we took him some wood tikis for the bar.

Nice gesture, educating and giving real carvings as gifts. Thumbs up!!

This just in from Bahi Hut Facebook page....

Cody Nelson "So the link you refer to is simple.
All this says is someone other than you. Had the opinion on the Bahi Hut. And that showed it was a great place to be.
So now when new management puts up some tiki figures that grabs people's attention and brings them in. They would agree.

Did you realize the White House of the United States has been burnt down. And does not resemble the original. But yet still is iconic. They have destroyed the twin towers in NYC. And yet what they have built there

You said it best."

And this is from Bahi Hut
"Look out it's coming and it's going to be fantastic!!!"
10 hrs

And this...
" the hard core tiki crowd are not an important demographic to pander to. Because they do not pay the bar bills. Just take up space and chase out paying customers. If they were a important demographic more bar owners would want them back. "

So the change will happen.
What I don't get is none of these styles match, day glo just does not work with bamboo and natural wood tones.

Pick one of the color schemes and work with that.
The new bright colors would work for a Hawaii cartoon style Chucky Cheese, not kidding that's what it looks like to me.

I do gotta say the post up top is kinda right, the hard core tiki crowd in most cases don't spend money at the bars I have seen them at.

These places are not there only to be in photographs you want to take of the places, or for the events we throw and get high or drunk out in the parking lot putting no money in the till.

Harsh but true from what I have seen in Ohio.

Let this place go, try to buy any good tiki as the cartoony ones go up.

And for Pete's sake BUY A F-ING DRINK EVERY NOW AND THEN.

Skip, your post made me go back and read Cody's post. Then I replied. But since Facebook tends to "hide" replies deeper inside of the main thread, I'm pasting what I wrote.

By the way, when I find a good bar, I go back multiple times when I'm in the area. I did this with Frankie's Tiki Room the last time I landed in Las Vegas, and the I caused my group to almost miss our return flight cuz we were hanging out at Frankie's. I could not do this in a clownish tiki bar - I'd visit, have a couple drinks, then likely not return.

Here's what I replied to Cody:
Couple thoughts, Cody. 1).... Nevermind, aw hell, forget it... You either get it, or you don't. Or you're just trying to increase business volume, which I completely understand. And if your'e doing it by bringing in garish clown tikis, then I wish you good luck cuz you'll need it. You see all around us that we have Florida Tiki which is the style of painted carvings and graphics, but mostly NOT tiki. Also all around us in Florida we have Jimmy Buffett island bars which are tropical and islandish, but not really tiki either. So if by being one of those Florida tiki bars you're going to increase traffic to your bar, I get it. But you have an opportunity to remain in the groove of the rare - the true tiki - and then figure out other things to draw people into your place. Of course, the clown tiki route will become your legacy, your team will be known as causing another abandonment of something truly cool and meaningful, in favor of the garish. My question is - can you do it without the Party City garishness and all the clown stuff? I wish you would. But on the other hand, if it's only about money and business volume, you could remodel as a sports bar like others have done when in search of more coin. Personally, I think you'll survive no matter what you do in this case. But you'll gain only negative "style points" for your efforts. And I have no clue how it will (or will not) improve your bottom line. Personally, I will tell you that a dive tiki or tropical bar is better than one with clown tiki installed. But that's just my opinion. And I spend a fair amount of money in dining and drinking establishments. But that's just me, alone, and my friends.... Again, good luck. I will always hope the Bahi Hut will make a return to something cool instead of something garish and clownish geared to make more money."

On 2017-07-29 05:49, tikiskip wrote:
And this is from Bahi Hut
"Look out it's coming and it's going to be fantastic!!!"
10 hrs

And this...
" the hard core tiki crowd are not an important demographic to pander to. Because they do not pay the bar bills. Just take up space and chase out paying customers. If they were a important demographic more bar owners would want them back. "

Weird. Who exactly are they trying to pander to? If anything is going to "take up space and chase out paying customers", it's going to be those giant clown masks. They seem to be repulsive to just about anybody, no matter what they know about Tiki.

[ Edited by: Hakalugi 2017-07-29 12:38 ]

I guess you learn something new every day... Tiki always struck me as one of the more expensive hobbies to be in to, where the experience of the food and drinks and souvenir mugs was kind of a big deal. Didn't know there was a reputation of cheapness there, or is this yet another case of sour grapes on the part of a bar owner because they made poor choices that alienated a key demographic?

Regarding the facebook posts...I think the guy Cody does not work there but a friend of the new manager, Cheeze (Steve)

Steve is a nice guy and is really trying, he just comes from a Vegas style bar background with all the tossing of glasses and flipping of bottles, and no knowledge that there even is such a thing as the tiki scene. He cleaned the place up a lot but stylistically seems to not have the eye to be able discern the difference between the clown tikis and the stuff we consider true.

That being said, I reached out directly to the owner of the property. I did a small tiki event there years ago and he remembered me. He said he valued my input and he agreed to stop on all work and invited me to come talk with him about what he should do.

I'd like to show him my opinion is not merely mine. Anybody in the Tampa bay area available to come with me on a mission of education and good will?

robotiki, great gesture to meet with and help the owner talk it through. I'm 3.5 hours drive away, so hoping you get some good help from the local Tampa Bay ohana.

Btw, I attended your killer Room Crawl Odyssey at the Hukilau in 2010, and I bought one of those cool robot patches. I had never before seen such a cool patch with gold thread and stuff.

Back to tiki bars taking steps backwards --- I'm expecting other bars may come to do the same, and I hope us tiki folks will again come together to work with owners. We are in a good position to raise awareness and provide guidance so long as we do it out of sincere friendship and with respect. I'm hoping the Bahi Hut remodel becomes a success story for all of us. I will go visit in the near future when I hear they've settled on a long-term course which is in line with the "tiki" we all know and love.

Cheers!

I spoke with the owner and he truly wants the place to stay authentic, and said he was not on board with what his new manager is doing, and vowed to stop anything unsympathetic. I'll meet with him this afternoon. Here's hoping this one will be a success story.

That being said, If I can get them back on track, I think it behooves the tiki community to show some support. Mention to the bartender you are there to see the intact Bahi Hut. I will try to get some more VINTAGE tikis (sorry but Florida has enough chicklet toothed shit with turtles on their foreheads)

Better yet, when you visit, bring them a small tiki from your collection. They will go up on the ledge that circles the bar. But do visit.

Robotiki
Mira Mar League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

[ Edited by: robotiki 2017-07-31 10:09 ]

Sounds great, robotiki, those are awesome efforts.

Has anyone reached out to Jeff Chouinard? He's a carver that lives in Tampa, and who I remember has in the past frequented the Bahi Hut. Jeff might have some stuff laying around for which we could contribute some bucks AND have him carve "Tiki Central" into the base or something like that. Then he cold deliver AND enjoy a couple good drinks on us.

On 2017-07-31 09:37, AceExplorer wrote:
Sounds great, robotiki, those are awesome efforts.

Has anyone reached out to Jeff Chouinard? He's a carver that lives in Tampa, and who I remember has in the past frequented the Bahi Hut. Jeff might have some stuff laying around for which we could contribute some bucks AND have him carve "Tiki Central" into the base or something like that. Then he cold deliver AND enjoy a couple good drinks on us.

i would be down to donate for that

this was my comment on the facebook post:

"all i would comment is:

1. slamming Scott for his opinion is not really valid Cody, the original post says "What do you think Scott Spear" - obviously they value his input, or they wouldn't ask. it may not be what they wanted to hear, but don't ask if they don't truly want to know.

2. unless you represent ownership or management,you probably shouldn't speak for them - you're actually doing more harm for them than good - i can't imagine they would want a regular customer who had been going since 1978 to "stay away". if they truly feel that way, then the clown tikis aren't the real problem, and the bar probably won't survive."

On 2017-07-31 09:37, AceExplorer wrote:
Sounds great, robotiki, those are awesome efforts.

Has anyone reached out to Jeff Chouinard? He's a carver that lives in Tampa, and who I remember has in the past frequented the Bahi Hut. Jeff might have some stuff laying around for which we could contribute some bucks AND have him carve "Tiki Central" into the base or something like that. Then he cold deliver AND enjoy a couple good drinks on us.

I was FB messaging with Jeff just before I posted all this. He is totally on board.

Keep up with the FB posts BTW, they are working

On 2017-07-29 12:35, Hakalugi wrote:

On 2017-07-29 05:49, tikiskip wrote:
And this is from Bahi Hut
"Look out it's coming and it's going to be fantastic!!!"
10 hrs

And this...
" the hard core tiki crowd are not an important demographic to pander to. Because they do not pay the bar bills. Just take up space and chase out paying customers. If they were a important demographic more bar owners would want them back. "

Weird. Who exactly are they trying to pander to? If anything is going to "take up space and chase out paying customers", it's going to be those giant clown masks. They seem to be repulsive to just about anybody, no matter what they know about Tiki.

[ Edited by: Hakalugi 2017-07-29 12:38 ]

Yeah, this ^^^ is what I don't understand. I "get" the impression, from a business perspective, to not pandering to the hardcore tiki crowd, especially if there is a perception that they are niche and frugal. I don't agree with it, but I "get" it.

But then...

a) Exactly who the hell is a clown tiki themed place trying to appeal to? Is the average bar-goer truly more attracted to a day-glo parody of a tiki than an authentically styled one? Seems to be shooting yourself in the foot to try to cash in on the "tiki craze" and miss your mark so far as to be a mockery of what you are trying to cash in on. Again, are Jane and Joe Normal really that much more attracted to clown tikis than they are something more authentic? I highly doubt it. You can't convince me that clown tikis provide more appeal to the mainstream than the novelty of getting an authentic experience. I completely understand starting out by trying for authenticity and then making concessions with the music and drink selections, I see that in tons of places, but I simply don't get coming from the other direction and thinking that works in the long term.

b)Why open a tiki bar in the first place? There are plenty of other themes for an establishment that has a much wider mass appeal and are much more stable business models. Why invest on gambling on a trend that might be on the rise at the moment but fade back into the realm of the niche in a few months if you aren't committed to hopefully building a legacy within that movement. Just want to cash in on it? Then make a decent mainstream bar and have "Tiki Thursdays" or whatever like everybody else does. I got no problem with some local pub n' suds busting out the clown tikis for that, I won't go there, but I won't expect a bigger, better commitment from them either. For a place hoping to style itself as a complete and authentic tiki experience, especially one with an existing legacy? It's just a bad business model plain and simple.

"Exactly who the hell is a clown tiki themed place trying to appeal to?"
Frat types who like a guy named "cheesy" They might drink a bunch, who knows.

And the "What do you think Scott Spear" came after the first post of the clown tiki, so that question was about clown tiki number 2 right?

So this guy asks what do you think on Facebook, and then knows nothing about the over 80 posts saying the new clown tiki sucks.

Right.

I got money on clown tiki still go up.

From Cody....

"New bartenders have cleaned out the riff raff and made it safe and fun to hang out at this iconic tiki bar since the 1950's."

Ha! tiki nuts are the riff raff.

"New Bartenders Cheese and. House are 2 Vegas style bartenders with flair and professionalism."

I wonder what bars they worked at in Vegas?

Gives a new meaning to hold the Cheese, and that ones on the house.
YUuup, Yuuup, what up HoMMie tiki!

I'll take your bet tikiskip. My rarest mug against yours. You can pick which one. :)

Anyway, to be fair, it had gotten pretty spicey in there late at night. The previous wait staff let folks smoke pot in there, hookers came in there, that all seems to have been cleaned up. Cheeze the bartender/manager responsible for the clown tikis did a great job cleaning up the gardens and had reached out to me for opinions on his new tikis, unfortunately the response is not what he wanted.

But he's not the owner. I worked with the owner on a tiki event we did there and when I saw talking to Cheeze(Steve) was going no where, I went over his head to the owner. He is not happy that this new direction is getting bad PR and asked me how to do it right. Going there in an hour so we'll see what happens. Wish me luck.

All this talk has restarted the discussion to hold another event there. My previous event, Jungle Fever, also had a couple Florida roadside attractions involved, including Jungle Gardens and Cars of Yesteryear. We also had the Sarasota Trader Vics as a sponsor, though they are now long gone. If I am successful today, look for the Jungle Fever event to return.

Robotiki, I'll come to your event when you get it scheduled. Again, so glad you can educate these folks. I'm not perfect either, have had my share of wild hairs, and benefitted from the input of others. So there is no question later, I will gladly support this place when they finish with whatever they are doing. I know they mean well, not everyone knows real tiki, and surprisingly they certainly didn't seem to have had time to visit Frankie's and other tiki/retro spots in Las Vegas.

Another question here... Does anyone we know actually like the tacky Party City style of tikis? With the exception of little kids, I literally do not know anyone who really likes clown tiki and actually wants to hang around with it.

Good luck robotiki, and I'm looking forward to your report!

You know I'll be there to defend the bowling title!

I met with Jim, the owner. He is on board and named me "curator", with the condition that the clown tikis be used elsewhere. I suggested by the hotel's pool but he thought they were too garish for even that. He said the may end up on ebay. I am working up a modest proposal to correctly populate the Hut with some tikis again and bring back some of the former lore.

I hope this is the end of the nonsense and a beginning of the path to enlightenment. It will all be for naught if there is not more of "us" in there giving our feedback.

If you are on the west coast of FL and value authentic tiki, get your ass in there and tell them.

On 2017-07-31 16:44, robotiki wrote:
...It will all be for naught if there is not more of "us" in there giving our feedback.

Weeeelllll, you're right. And he does have some $$$ invested in the clowns. But the owner has to make some good hiring and management decisions too. After all, it's his business to run into the ground. An absentee owner could be a risky situation no matter how much we love the place. TC'ers alone may not be the answer. Fingers crossed...

But now I have another question: What are a couple of "Las Vegas experienced" guys (or is it 1 guy?) doing at the Hut? Couldn't get jobs in a larger venue than the Hut? Did something happen to them in Vegas, so they moved all the way across the country to upgrade jobs and work at the Bahi Hut? Hmmmmmm... Just curious, not sayin' that anything is wrong, but it is interesting, especially because there is a Hard Rock not too far away where a couple of guys from Las Vegas might feel right at home. This could be their first "management" experience though. That would explain it for me. But - hey - this is great bar conversation for those who go and visit the place and have some drinks and ask them directly, right?

Ok, I'll keep quiet now, lol... Nice job, robotiki!! Let us know when they start stapling coconut bras to the ceiling, and I'll arrange an outing with the missus, hahaha... (Guessing coconut bras would be tiki, right??)

[ Edited by: AceExplorer 2017-07-31 18:04 ]

Well good job, hope it works.
Sorry to be so snarky but I have done what you are doing before, well the place was not as bad.
And I owned a restaurant that people would come in every day and say... "You know what you should do?"
When my mom had the place she would say.."Buy the damn place and do what you want with it"

But I put in lots of free work, ok I may have got a free drink or two, and even gave them free lights.
Then the place goes out and I could not even get my free stuff back, Heck they made a lot of money selling my stuff.

Oh well, I do like those guys so it's not that big a deal.
And they did give me stuff as well.

If you have a bar business and you are not there, this is not good, they will give the place away.

It says right on the Dollar bill "In god we trust" unless God is your partner you can't trust em.

The owner needs to put a camera to see the bar and cash register that way he could count the drinks and see if they are rung up.

I bet that Cody guy almost never pays for a drink.
Find out what Cody drinks I bet that booze fly's out the door with few rung up.

It's easy to see who gets the free drinks as they are there every day, they are not people that have cash really, and the bartender loves this customer and that customer loves the bartender.

The bartender gives drinks for free and the person getting the free drinks tip a bit more heavy, it's a win, win, lose deal with the bar owner being the loser.

I know a lot of bar owners, and have gone to a few bars in my day as well.

I have been to the Bahi Hut several times and loved it. I am concerned about this new management as we all are. They need to fix the broken wall in the ladies room (which was clean thank goodness) and stop wasting their effort on clown crap! And the "riff raff" they say they got rid of, those people were nice to me and made by visits awesome. Everyone in there was friendly when I was there. Plus the drinks were strong-- woohoo!

I've only been to Bahi once, last year. Had the worst drink I've ever had. I feel like they should have clown tikis outside to warn people away from this place.

Then again, maybe it was just a bad night. Maybe I'm being too harsh.

"Plus the drinks were strong"

See that's bad, That is a sign the bartenders are giving the place away.
You can decorate and have the coolest tiki bar around but if the place does not make money it won't last.

Plus a strong drink is not always a good drink.

On 2017-08-03 09:49, tikiskip wrote:
"Plus the drinks were strong"

See that's bad, That is a sign the bartenders are giving the place away.
You can decorate and have the coolest tiki bar around but if the place does not make money it won't last.

Plus a strong drink is not always a good drink.

So True Skip. I've employed and observed 100's of Bartenders. I would say to my Wife "He's a pro". She would say that's good, correct? I would say NO, he/she knows how to play the system. Restaurant Pro Tip=If your bartender drawer is over and not short you are screwed...they have forgotten how many drinks they gave away and pocketed the $ w/o ringing them up. I unfortunately had to bring in spotters on my high volume operations. It sucks, but YOU are in business to make $. The profit margin is a very fine line. I have found it is BEST to be out front and ALWAYS visible to your employees. Setting expectations to the employees up front is only fair, while following through w/ consistency is KEY.

On 2017-08-03 09:49, tikiskip wrote:
"Plus the drinks were strong"

See that's bad, That is a sign the bartenders are giving the place away.
You can decorate and have the coolest tiki bar around but if the place does not make money it won't last.

Plus a strong drink is not always a good drink.

Their schtick has always been strong drinks. What they call a mai tai is more akin to the Jet Pilot at the Molokai. But is is a local tradition and rite of passage for over 50 years

On 2017-08-03 08:48, scottxwl wrote:
I've only been to Bahi once, last year. Had the worst drink I've ever had. I feel like they should have clown tikis outside to warn people away from this place.

Then again, maybe it was just a bad night. Maybe I'm being too harsh.

Was it one of these ones?

We too were there last year, in Feb. 2016. Saw and heard no riff-raff. As far as we could tell the 10 or so people there were mostly, if not all regulars who were there because smoking is allowed. We were the only ones having cocktails. While the place was indeed very tiki inside, I found all the drinks essentially tasted the same, only the colours were different. The "Mai-Tai" was very strong and as just noted above not the usual Mai-Tai.

Robotiki I wish you well in your endeavor. I hope you can help this little tiki oasis thrive as a destination place along that stretch of disappearing motels

...I should add that we did have a great time that evening, talking with the locals, checking out the place and stayed until closing. Then walking the 10 yards to the motel room.

[ Edited by: rum on the rideau 2017-08-03 11:25 ]

[ Edited by: rum on the rideau 2017-08-03 12:17 ]

That drink on the right looks like a glass of sour mix.

Hope that's not the Mai Tai.
Heck the other ones pink, so I hope that too is not a Mai Tai.

Robotiki, thank you for taking the time and effort to save the Bahi Hut! Wishing you great success!! Thank you!

"Wishing you great success!! Thank you!"

I think it's clear that we all do, well maybe not clear, but we do, it looks like an uphill battle right now though.

"I unfortunately had to bring in spotters"

My sister was a spotter for some bars too, she was good at it as she was a bartender at one time and she was also good at ripping me off at my restaurant.
So she knew crooks when she saw them.

"If your bartender drawer is over and not short you are screwed...they have forgotten how many drinks they gave away"
This one guy would take a match and put it in his pocket every time he would take $5.00 bucks at the end of the night he would count the matches and know how much he had stolen.

Another guy would take his booze into the bar, like say one bottle of vodka.
Then he would be selling his booze, even weighing the bottles would not catch that guy.

Pouring heavy drinks is bad on so many levels if you have a guy crash and die well it's legend that you pour heavy and could be sued easy.
People drink less as you get them drunk quickly, this means less tips too. well maybe.

There are people that don't want a heavy pour most of the time these are maybe the better type of people that you want in your business.
Heavy pour brings in heavy drinkers and many times these are not the best clientele.

Heavy pours can bring on the fights.

With heavy pours the bar makes less money.
You need to make money in these places to stay open, some people think these places make a ton of cash and it's many times just not true.

If you own a business you must be there to make sure all is done right, and at least some of the money makes it into your register.

My guess is that the clown tikis are meant to appeal to spring break types, sort of like the clown/cartoon Rastafarian characters that I've seen before.

Anyways, hope they are sincere in considering your input and you can get them on the right track.

[ Edited by: tikitube 2017-08-04 08:18 ]

I don't remember, but it was probably the Mai Tai. On further reflection, it was so bad that I think one of the ingredients must've been off. Like, spoiled. But I didn't say anything at the time, I was too in a rush to get the heck out of there.

Was it one of these ones?

The latest communique with the owner. Now I am not only helping get the decor on track but also make sure the new roof is done as a restoration as well.

"Yes Scott, there is no way I am going to let the iconic Bahi Hut lose its roots. I am currently struggling with Steve's friend in Ohio about the 3 so called Tikis he created. Will let you know the outcome.
Regarding the roof, please go ahead and get the estimates. I will continue to stall the roofer. I think it will be better if we do it the way you want to do. You know what should be done to retain its original glory. I dont want any amateurs messing it up.
Regarding outside window panels, let me know what will you do and a cost estimate.
Thanks Scott for your continued support and guidance."

Way to go Robotiki! It's so fortunate that you were able to work with the owner on the Bahi Hut. We owe you our gratitude for doing so much to keep this bar a vintage gem in the rough and not letting it turn into a plastic party bar!

I was just informed the guy that bought the clown tikis no longer works there. Since the expenditure was not authorized, the clown tikis won't be staying in Florida. I really didn't want anyone to lose their jobs, but it's all for the greater good. Now there is nothing to stand in our way to do this right.

I am talking now with all the stars of Florida tiki carvers to commission some custom stuff worthy of an intact 1954 gem. I'm sticking with mainly tangora & marquesan styles to stay away from toothy tikis, we have too much of that in FL already.

To stretch my budget, I am taking donations for small stuff. I need 20+ tikis to go above the bar, 10"-24". No tikis with anything on the forehead (suns, turtles, etc) will be used, and they should all be brown, no colored tikis will be used. No big toothed tikis either. Larger Coco Joes stuff is fine as are wooden tourist tikis. Contact me if you would like to have a tiki from your collection be part of the new permanent collection of the Bahi Hut.

Robotiki
Mira Mar League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

[ Edited by: robotiki 2017-08-11 07:09 ]

Good job!
It may help to post pictures of the inside of the place so as to
see what may work and or needed plus what the inside looks like now.

Why are you only asking for tiki statues?

Could the place not also need maybe some tapa?
How about lights? I know these maybe be harder as they need to be wired up.
Is the owner open to putting in more tiki lights?
Do they have tiki lights now?

I used to give lights to many of the bars I would go to, kinda stopped as the
people in the bar forget who gave them that light a second after you leave so any publicity or good will one might receive is not going to happen.
I give out at least 4 or 5 lights a year.

What about a mug design, could get a TCer that wants to go down in history as the person that did the mug design for this bar.

maybe people could help by painting or installing stuff with you, or even work to fix lights they have in the bar now.

I did this for Tropical bistro and was going to rebuild an Alibi light before they changed hands.

What about paintings or graphics for menus or even table tents or mock up ads for the internet or news papers, t shirts,There are art types on TC that could help with that.
Website design could be done as well.

Would this be areas that could also be looked into and be needed?

Good luck with your task ahead.