Breakfast at Alphie's

Hey everyone. Just thought I would mention my own "discovery" in the Santa Barbara, CA, area (Goleta, roughly 15 mins. N. of SB, to be precise). Santa Barbara, once proud home of a Trader Vic's, still has at least one old tiki restaraunt! That restaraunt is Alphie's, located at 5725 Hollister Ave in Goleta, about 90 mins north of LA. Alphie's is a little odd, in that the current owners only serve breakfast and lunch and there is no booze. I know most of you are saying "No booze?! Well, MAYBE I'll go to this place if I ever have any other reason to go to Santa Barbara." But I am just glad that there is an old school tiki eatery in my town. I've lived here for about 15 years and I never knew it was a tiki place until I just walked in one day. Sorry, I don't have pictures (no digital camera yet and no working scanner, either), but since most of you live in LA, maybe somebody could come up and take pictures of the place. In fact, who snuck in to that one guy's back yard to take pictures? Or was that a joke?
Anyway, I already told Otto of Tiki News and James (bigbrotiki?) of the Tiki Bar Review Pages, so now I thought I'd tell all of you. Pass it along, I don't want this place to be remodeled or shut down or something!
Trader Rick
[email protected]

Rick Rick Rick,
Welcome aboard, the backyard was mine.
I have installed racoon traps to rid my yard of unwanted pests. If you want to see all the things I have caught beheaded and hung on the wall, then go to "events" under the heading (PARTY is on)and come visit this weekend. Bring down that Gaucho spirit (UCSB)
And nice piece of urban archeology (Alphie's).
The foremost (urban archeologist) is Sven Kirstin (bigbrotiki)he wrote "The Book of TIKI" and has been to more TIKI related spots than any person I know of.
About the pics, I'm sure now that Al K. and Bongo will be right there for lack of anything else to do.

Baxdog,

What do you mean lack of anything else to do? Hey, I have lots to do, like ... ah, ... yeah!

Hi Rick!

And I was the poser who re-posted those photos of Baxdog's backyard. Since he's installed those racoon traps, I've had to go elsewhere to steal my chickens and collard-greens. This weekend I will be entering through the front door like everyone else.

If you're curious, you can see Baxdog and myself co-existing in symbiotic or at least symbolic harmony at Johnny Velour's on this thread:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1241&forum=4&start=15&17

I'd love to beat Al & Tiki Bong to Alphie's and get the first photos, but I'd much rather see it with them. I think a road-trip is in order. Maybe next Saturday, on the 26th? Or some other convenient day. We could leave early and have breakfast at Alphie's, take our pictures, then on to Morro Bay for lunch at that seafood restaurant with the giant shark-tikis out front. Any interest?

Also, I was looking at lists of restaurants in the SB area that included Alphie's, PLUS a SAMBO'S restaurant on 216 W Cabrillo Blvd!? Is this an original SAMBO'S? I thought those were all closed down years ago.

Sabu

I believe that is THE original Sambo's - like the first one.....

I believe that is THE original Sambo's - like the first one.....

Not only is it the original Sambo's, it is now the ONLY Sambo's left. Now that I think about, there is quite a bit of other cool old stuff here besides Alphie's. There is also this cool old Chinese resaraunt and Bar called Jimmy's in what was once Santa Babrbara's Chinatown. It has a very old vibe to it. Not tiki, but kind of related, isn't it?

Hey, if anybody wants to make a day of it here in SB, just reply to this post or better yet, e-mail me at [email protected]

Oh yeah, and I, Uh, new that was your house all along, Baxdog. I was just, uh, kidding. Yeah, that's the ticket. Seriously, cool pad. Looks like it's going to be a swinging affair at your place.

Sabu,

A road trip up to them parts does sound good. Let's discuss it with Al this weekend at the B-dogs!

Sounds like fun to me, too.

I'd like to hangout with anyone who wants to come up to Alphie's this weekend OR next weekend, it doesn't matter, just e-mail me. Also, if there is going to be a big caravan headed this way, maybe we should post something in the event section?

Oh, btw, Aphie's is open 6AM till 2PM, very unusual hours. Just keep that in mind when a time (or times) is (are) decided on.

Trader Rick
[email protected]

I am not sure if this is the Morro Bay restaurant "with the shark tiki's out front"--the Harbor Hut in Morro Bay has some tall tikis out front, including some smaller ones and more shall tikis inside near the roofline and a Tiki beer tap!--bruce the leider-hoser

I'm meeting some friends in Solvang for the weekend and am going to use the opportunity to stop at Alphie's for breakfast along the way and to take some digital photos. I'll probably be stopping there between 8:00 and 8:30 am.

Trader Rick (and anyone else in the area),

You still interested in having breakfast? I know it's early, but It'd be great to meet you. I'll wear a Hawaiian shirt.

Sabu

Hey Everyone,
I got to meet Sabu this weekend when he came up on his way to Solvang. He was very impressed with Alphie's, as I'm sure many of you will be once you see the pictures he took! Stay tuned to this post, as he should have them up in the next couple of days or so. Also, meeting another Tiki-Centralite in person was pretty cool, and I hope other folks will come out to Alphie's if they get a chance.