Tiki Bar in Marina Del Rey?

Upstairs at Angler's Choice resturant on Fiji Way in Fisherman's Village in Marina Del Rey, CA, there is a resturant/nightclub with an excellent variety of tikis and a very high TIPSY factor.

There is a larger than life Hawaiin style tiki, a plastic wall mounting of a moai (visible from the outside) and numerous Papa New Guinea style tikis throughout.

My concern is that it appears to the tiki lounge that time forgot (otherwise I would have posted under Locating Tiki).

When I went there on Sunday afternoon (free music in the courtyard) it was empty (truly a shame) as the waiter explained that everyone sits downstairs or outside. When I returned on Monday night the upstairs was closed.

However, they advertise a salsa and international style nightclub on Sat and Sun nights and a Carnaval happy hour (1/2 price drinks and appetizers), so return trips are in order.

There is a wonderful panaromic view of the marina, although, like the Bali Hai, the windows do not open.

Has anyone ever been to (or heard of) this place?

PS - Bring your own tiki mug, as none were apparent.

[ Edited by: christiki295 on 2003-08-13 09:31 ]

Christiki,

I'll try to get down there in a couple of days and check it out. Another good person to do some reconnaisance might be Johnny Velour, as he lives in Playa Del Rey. He may know of it already. John?

Hey!, thats my back yard!.That place used to be a really cool fish joint that closed some months ago.Now I have a new tiki joint to defile!!, sweet.I will giva a report very soon.Chris, I love ya!, it was right under /over my nose!.TWT

keep the rubber side down ,the gas on and the drinks coming!

[ Edited by: twowheelin'tiki on 2003-08-13 22:28 ]

It must be new then, at first it sounded like it was vintage..?
(..which seemed unlikely, given the number of Tiki hunters and collectors in the area)

Sigh...Marina Del Rey, graveyard of the Polynesian Village apartments, cruelly and sneakily taken from our midst.

Awaiting the report.

But MDR is also home to the WAREHOUSE. Not tiki, but an acceptable ambiance. It is decorated in what Sven calls, "Trader style". The exterior is that rugged sea shanty look and the place is situated on the water with a great view of a former Don the Beachcomber restarant.

We should meet up there one of these days...

What's the name of that old steakhouse in Marina Del Rey (possibly in Newport Beach) with 50s/60s Olde English decor and serving "wenches"? A friend of mine up here who grew up in Newport said I would like it.

Well, we aim to please...

Here's the report. Tikibelle and I stopped by after our appointment with the wedding caterer yesterday afternoon. It's so nice to have a fiancee' who's up for a little spur-of-the-moment tiki exploration, (as long as it includes dinner).

No one was upstairs at the restaurant, so we snuck up the staircase, into the dimly-lit bar, and everthing that Chris said was true. There were two beautiful big bars, and tikis everywhere and the feel of the place was definitely of a long-undiscovered tiki grotto. We began snapping photos, both of us excited because it looked too good to be true. Unfortunately it was.

Downstairs, we met the head chef of the restaurant who was very nice and not at all upset that we were taking pictures unattended. In fact, he even encouraged it. He said that the tikis and Polynesian decor had been carted in about a month ago in a huge truck. The corporation that bought the Angler's Choice evidently has a corporate style for its restaurants that includes, (at least in this case), tiki decor. He did not know the name of the corporation though, nor the chain of restaurants that it owns. He even wondered if we were the new owners, checking up on him clandestinely.

Here's the bad news. The decor is really wonderful and it would make a stellar new hangout for Tiki Centralites, but unfortunately, the whole upstairs restaurant and bar area has been created as "Club Narain" - an expensive Mediterranean restaurant that requires reservations and becomes a dj-run dance club after 10:00pm. There will be belly-dancing on the weekends. You will still be able to order seafood from the downstairs menu if you sit upstairs, but looks like the bars will be serving typical bar drinks. Nothing tiki, I'm afraid.

Here are some pictures of the interior. Which will probably only make you sad, as this will not be a tiki-bar befitting the decor.

So what's the opinion, Bigbro? Are these all current Oceanic Arts pieces? Or were they salvaged from an old tiki bar? Does anybody recognize these tikis? The giant tiki in the last photo is hollow (fiberglass?), as is the stone moai face in the first photo.

I'll go ahead and add this restaurant into the Locating Tiki forum as well.

Regarding Floratina's idea - I would definitely be up for a trip to the Warehouse. We drove by it after Angler's Choice and it looks really wonderful. I've always wanted to see the inside.

I also snapped this photo of Shanghai Red's in the same general area as Angler's Choice. It has the same chunky Polynesian Piling facade that the old Castaway chain of restaurants used to have, though not quite as peaked-roofed as the Mark Thomas Outrigger or the Tonga Lei.

Nice bridges and koi-ponds within, but definitely not tiki. Two-Wheelin', do you know what type of restaurant this is?

Sabu

On 2003-08-14 16:02, thejab wrote:
What's the name of that old steakhouse in Marina Del Rey (possibly in Newport Beach) with 50s/60s Olde English decor and serving "wenches"? A friend of mine up here who grew up in Newport said I would like it.

That was "Gulliver's." We used to go there when I was a little kid. Seems some of our older relatives liked the joint. I still recall those serving "wenches" who would gather 'round and give rousing renditions of "Happy Birthday(anniversary, graduation, bris, etc)" to the tune of "The William Tell Overture." There is no longer a Marina del Rey location, but the Orange County one is intact. http://www.gulliversrestaurant.com
Next time you're around, let's check it out.

-Weird Unc

I would just happen to know which one you are asking about. It was Gulliver's restaurant. The one in the Marina shut down years ago, I think it is now Jerry's Deli.

I was a Serving Wench there when I was in college. Our costumes consisted of a full green skirt, apron, one of those granny sort of bonnets that they would have worn back then.

Most notable was the top. It was a lovely needlepointed number and it was very sturdy. It had to be because it was low cut, shallow and laced up the back. After a girl got loaded into it, another would have to do one of those put-your-foot-on-her-back-grab-the-laces-and-pull numbers. There was noplace for a girls endowment to go but up to her chin! Then, with everything
spilling over, she goes to the table and announces, "Good Evening, I'm your Serving Wench."

*On 2003-08-14 16:38, weirduncletiki wrote:*That was "Gulliver's." We used to go there when I was a little kid. Seems some of our older relatives liked the joint. I still recall those serving "wenches" who would gather 'round and give rousing renditions of "Happy Birthday(anniversary, graduation, bris, etc)" to the tune of "The William Tell Overture." There is no longer a Marina del Rey location, but the Orange County one is intact. http://www.gulliversrestaurant.com
Next time you're around, let's check it out.

-Weird Unc

Sounds good. I hope you'll be home on Oct. 16-18th. Isn't that harvest time? I hope not because I'll be in the So Cal area doing a Mexico to L.A. tiki crawl with Robin and Jeff. Our friends Brendan and Cindy are getting married in Baja on Oct. 11th. so we're going to spend a few days combing the coast after the wedding, stopping at San Diego, Laguna and Huntington Beaches, and Los Angeles, before heading for home. Hope to see many of you then! More details on our itinerary after I get back from Chicago.

Oh, in San Diego we had the Tickled Trout restaurant, complete with serving wenches with heaving bosoms as well. It's still there but I haven't been in there in years so I don't know if it's still the same.

Tina, I can see you now, what a classic!

Shanghai Red's looks like it was the old "Pieces of Eight", actually part of the same restaurant chain that owned the Castaways, the Ports of Call in San Pedro and the Reef in Long Beach.

Regarding the Angler's Choice joint:

Yep, that looks like someone came by Oceanic arts with a truck and went shopping (maybe an oil sheik?: "Club Narain?"?!).

All the Tikis are from there, the big Ku is fiberglass, they used to have two (for rental only). The only one I've never seen before is the one with the forked tongue, pretty nice, but like the other ones (and the wall masks) they are from the unfortunate "tropical fiesta" period of painting primitive art, a no no in my book, and thus go well with those pesky painted palm fronds.
And the nailed bamboo pieces on the bar look pretty lame, they should let Ben loose on it.

All in all it shows that simply buying a truck load of Tiki at O.A. does not make a Tiki Bar alone, money is not mana.

A regularly reserved table for TCers might help...

But I am all for going to the Warehouse, I still think Burt Hixon (BOT p.79) had a genius concept with photographing all those natives he saw on his travels with the Warehouse menu in hand.

Thanks Bigbro,

As usual, I knew you would have the knowledge to fill in the details. Looking at the photos, the decor does look a little cheesy, but yesterday, at dusk, with all those tikis poking out of the gloom, it felt more authentic. Besides the tikis, there's all this laquered plywood and cork floats that indicate the restaurant had a marine or nautical theme in the old days. That's why the tikis fit in so well. It was easy to mistake them for part of the original restaurant if you didn't know better. I recognized the big guy from Oceanic Arts as well as the masks, but didn't know if they'd been selling that style for years or not.

I'll have to do more research on the Pieces of Eight restaurant. That facade of Shanghai Red's matches the ones from my Castaways postcards almost exactly.

Shall we make a trek to the Warehouse two or three weekends from now?

Sabu

OK, the picture of the restaurant below is Shanghai red, good location but bad food. My friend, the restaurant guy, wanted to buy the restaurant and turn it into a Don the Beachcomber, Gladstones or Trader Vics. It would be a great location and it would put some new blood into the area.

The tiki stuff in the restaurant/bar above the village which use to be a fish and chips place I think. Well the tiki stuff, I am not positive, came from the defunkt restaurant in the Marina called Waikiki Willies. A Red Onion/Tiki bar restaurant that closed at least three years ago. I think the Tiki and I am almost certain the outrigger came from there.

Waikiki Willies in the Marina? Had not heard of it before...Maybe SOME of the stuff came from there (the forked tongue Tiki?), and some from O.A., because the painted masks and the plastic Moai are definitely from O.A.'s stock from last year.
If you look at the BOT page 242, the chainsaw picture of Leroy, you can see the head dress of the blueish Hawaiian Tiki peaking out behind Leroy's head. But that pic was taken in the late 90s, so it might have been sold to Waikiki Willie's first and then made it to the Angler's place....

Bob and Leroy will know.....

Sabuuuuuuuuuuuu!

Good investigating job! I really like that dual-forked tongue Tiki! At first I thought it was a single forked tongue, but it's actually a DUAL-forked tongue! Yowza!

WeirdUnc/Iuka/Judd~
I completely forgot about Gulliver's Restaurant until now! It's only 8.7 miles (Huntington Beach to Irvine) from my house! mmmmmm, prime rib!

It was also right around the corner from another restaurant I used to love to go to as a kid...anyone Hoity Toity's remember Blackbeard's Restaurant in Irvine? That was a great themed restaurant too! If anyone has or obtains a matchbook from there, I would be ever so grateful!

Ok, first off, the new tiki place was the "fish market" I do believe, shanghai reds is a great place to eat with amazing service, but the decore could "gag a maggot!".It looks like the owner of the cocos or marie calenders chain got the bid to decorate.Lots of green and maroon plus cheezy brass fixtures!(swap meet crapola).I also disagree that O.A. is the source for(most of) the tiki stuff in the new club.It looks like they shopped at" benson imports" for most ALL that stuff(except the big tikis).The used /cool tikis I would have to assume were in fact rescued from that previously mentioned bar/club.By the way, "ports-o-call restaurant" still lives in pedro and still has a cool hawaiian/oceanic vibe with the kick-ass brunch.Ignore the bellows of "it's run down" from the ignorant,the place just shifted with the area to a latin vibe.Politiki and I went and dug the food and were amused at the changing of the guard at the "asian fish market", which was all latin,despite the original asian decore(there were lots of pinatas!).

Oh yea,Tina is correct!,we MUST do a run to the warehouse for gods sake!.The drinks rock(barrel of rum!!),and the food is killer.

I went to the Warehouse recently for brunch and liked it. Great decor (like you're actually on the docks somewhere in the south China Seas about to leave on a Polynesian adventure).

Tiki and Belly-dancing? I don't know...Is the belly dancing contingent in Marina Del Rey such that that sort of thing can survive? (I hope not)

The adverstised 2-1 + pupus happy hour has yet to materialize. I went recently, and there was only one harried waitress tending bar as the bartender did not arrive until 8 p.m. Although the waitress strongly recommended her margaritas, I have had better, to say the least. Do remember to bring your own tiki mug.

However, the upstairs bar is a great vantage point for watching the sunset as the west wall is completely mirrors.

The nightclub was going on that evening, although I had already left by then.

I'm all for bellydancing. Any ethnic and (quasi) historical dancing is appreciated. (particularly when it involves hip gyrating -
the costumes aren't bad, either.)

This is just a guess, but there is a distinct Persian community in Marina del Rey, so maybe "Club Narian" is trying to market itself to them? I'm all for spreading the tiki love.

PS - the bar & bar patio from Sanghai Red's has very reasonably priced appetizers and the view is better than the restaurant patio as it is not blocked by the Lifeguard's boats docked in front. My recommendation is to take in the sunset and then stroll past the exotic water garden at Sanghai Red's to dine on the heat-lamp warmed patio.

On 2003-08-19 23:10, twowheelin'tiki wrote:
I also disagree that O.A. is the source for(most of) the tiki stuff in the new club.It looks like they shopped at" benson imports" for most ALL that stuff(except the big tikis).

Welllll...not having been to the place, let's just say that 7 of the 12 pics have O.A. Tikis or masks in them. Bensons never carved/manufactured Tikis.

(Maybe those palm fronds are from there, but I never considered them seriously, even in the heyday they were on the same level than those Mexican import masks...)

twowheelin'tiki wrote:
It looks like they shopped at "benson imports" for most ALL that stuff(except the big tikis).

bigbrotiki wrote:
Bensons never carved/manufactured Tikis.

Actually, Benson's has and does carve tikis. They are done similiar to the Floridian style. They are done by a hispanic gentleman, and he goes by "Wild Tiki's". He works there on the floor and in shipping part of the time, does the carvings from home, and brings them into Benson's for sale. For some reason, the employees "walk on eggshells" when the owner is around (I've heard reports that he is not too kind), and he is protective of information on how, where, and who carves their tikis (even though I do have the direct name and number to the employee/carver). Weird situation there, but they've sold them for quite awhile, and seem to sell quickly. A few are 3-footers, with most being 4 & 5-footers. It is not advertised in their catalog at all. You have to be a shopper there right at Bensons to know about the carved tikis.

Just my 2 coconuts worth.

SugarCaddyDaddy's SoCal Hoity Toity Schedule!

[ Edited by: sugarcaddydaddy on 2003-08-29 03:38 ]

YEA!!, what he said!!. The owner of benson is a little spoiled rich twerp whos daddy gave him the buisiness to keep him out of trouble(keeps him from destroying small anamals).

The "new Benson's might carve" but the "Real Benson's"(3 generations of them!!!) did not.

Has anyone been to Club Narian?

People dine there on weekend days, but I went for happy hour a few months back and it had yet to catch on or even have a full time bartender upstairs, although the sunset was magnificent.

Is this the first documented example of Persianysian Pop? I wouldn't mind smoking some apple or banana shisha surrounded by tiki decor.

Persianisian? That's funny, I have to tell my wife about that one. Eb-na-de-re(sp?)

Here is the official version on who supplied what at that joint, Bob wanted me to set the record straight:

"Oceanic Arts supplied Waikiki Willies at 13535 Mindanao, Marina Del Rey in 1998. At the time all of the Tiki's and Masks and Shields were from OA. The palm frond masks and the large plastic Maoi on the wall were from Bensons and added later.

LeRoy carved the "forked tongue" for stock and Waikiki Willies bought it from OA. This job was owned by several owners of the Moose McGillycuddy's Pub & Cafe in Pasadena.

The tall Hawaiian figure with tall headdress was carved by Ed Crissman and we had rented it out in the past but sold it to WW's when they asked.

We have 2 super size Menu's from Waikiki Willie's that are very well done in full color.

We also supplied a night club/tiki place called Donkin's Inn at the Marina which had lots of wall artifacts. Maybe this is the same place (building-not decor)."

Since O.A. had many different carvers in their heyday, they do not have a definite style per se, but I have been there so many times over the years and know their catalog by heart. I just spent an evening at the Tonga Room up in S.F. and again admired their handywork.

Hey, where's this "Benson's"? Is it worth seeing, knowing about, whatever?

On 2004-01-01 14:22, spy-tiki wrote:
Hey, where's this "Benson's"? Is it worth seeing, knowing about, whatever?

http://www.bensonsimport.com

Its basically just a warehouse.

On 2003-08-13 09:20, christiki295 wrote:
Upstairs at Angler's Choice resturant on Fiji Way in Fisherman's Village in Marina Del Rey, CA, there is a resturant/nightclub with an excellent variety of tikis and a very high TIPSY factor. . . .

they advertise . . .a Carnaval happy hour (1/2 price drinks and appetizers), so return trips are in order.

Disappointingly, when I visited Angler's Choice/Club Narian on Friday, there was no "Carnival Happy Hour" in existence. In fact, there was only a single table upstairs with diners and the waitstaff encouraged me to to downstairs for dinner.

Such an excellent tiki bar, probably the bar with the most tikis in the city, is so inept in its ability to serve a happy hour mai-tai.

It also is wasting a great vantage point of seeing the sunset over the water.

RIP 9-5-04.

The tiki bar with so much potential, which never realized any of it, is now no longer.

On Saturday night, the tikis were being removed and the upstairs repainted barn red.

Maybe the moral of the story is to market a tiki bar as a tiki bar. The LA nightclub set, Persian or otherwise, are a finicky and disloyal group, moving from the latest to the latest without remorse.

"LA nightclub set, Persian or other." Persians hold on to their old stuff for thousands of years, in their own country, but apparently not in LA.