Nautical style in tiki bars

Yes, Sabu, tres awesome!

Some postcard views of Dante's Down the Hatch in Atlanta. (Nautical but no tiki at all so probably does not qualify for an add in Locating Tiki. Also, gone.)

On 2012-10-14 08:08, tikilongbeach wrote:

http://www.stockteam.com/harpoon_harrys.html

Harpoon Harry's in Sunset Beach, California
UPDATE: Business is being renovated and will become another restaurant under the Schooner or Later (Alamitos Landing, Long Beach) umbrella. Reports say similar menu will be served to the harborside restaurant a few miles north.

Harpoon Harry's Restaurant 16821 Pacific Coast Hwy. Sunset Beach, CA 90742

This place was fabulous and very authentic. Wish we had more photos of it than we do, but grateful for what we got. We don't know why LA area tiki peeps and retros never gave it much love ... most we talked to had never heard of it! The fine dining restaurant area was like Fox's in Miami and the big nautical bar area was as good as anything you would see in places like Hermosa Beach back in the heyday, as good as the Chowder Barge (another place LA tiki peeps don't seem to give much love to) ... with that other nautical place across the street (Captain Johns?) and Turc's and of course Don's that was a nice little strip of lost nautical / tiki to visit. It was wreckovated into a hipster type place a few years ago with no character at all and we think that has subsequently closed. Damn shame.

tikiskip can probably tell this thread a thing or two about Windward Passage

We knew a place in Ohio's Vacationland called McGarvey's on the water in Vermilion, OH that would qualify here.

And JD's in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida ... still kickin' even though their robot tikis in the parking lot are now gone

On 2017-07-13 15:15, mike and marie wrote:

On 2012-10-14 08:08, tikilongbeach wrote:

http://www.stockteam.com/harpoon_harrys.html

Harpoon Harry's in Sunset Beach, California
UPDATE: Business is being renovated and will become another restaurant under the Schooner or Later (Alamitos Landing, Long Beach) umbrella. Reports say similar menu will be served to the harborside restaurant a few miles north.

Harpoon Harry's Restaurant 16821 Pacific Coast Hwy. Sunset Beach, CA 90742

This place was fabulous and very authentic. Wish we had more photos of it than we do, but grateful for what we got. We don't know why LA area tiki peeps and retros never gave it much love ... most we talked to had never heard of it! The fine dining restaurant area was like Fox's in Miami and the big nautical bar area was as good as anything you would see in places like Hermosa Beach back in the heyday, as good as the Chowder Barge (another place LA tiki peeps don't seem to give much love to) ... with that other nautical place across the street (Captain Johns?) and Turc's and of course Don's that was a nice little strip of lost nautical / tiki to visit. It was wreckovated into a hipster type place a few years ago with no character at all and we think that has subsequently closed. Damn shame.

Just an "FYI" update on the current state of the former Harpoon Harry's location. The Schooner or Later franchise that took its place shut down recently and a (presumably, based on the name) Hawaiian place called "Ohana" opened up soon after.

Oh and the nautical place across the street that you were thinking of is "Captain Jack's"

On 2017-07-13 15:18, mike and marie wrote:
tikiskip can probably tell this thread a thing or two about Windward Passage

I should take better pic's of Windward and post.
BUT Windward is so great because of the many years it has been there, I worked there in high school.(1977)
Heck one of the girls I worked with is still there! ask for BJ, er Barbara jean.

Most of the people in the bar know each other, most of the employees have been there for over 15 years.
Not many places can say that.

So some people go there and don't see that magic and I get that.
The food is good, the drinks are ok but where you going to get a brandy alexander these days?
Do not get a Mai Tai, it will have grenadine in it, I told the bartender but in won't change.

Late at night is when we go in as it dies down(9:00)and we all sit around the bar and talk about cartoons or Colombo, old music.
Like the whole bar! even if we don't know you.
"What was the name of Colombo's dog?"

If there is a birthday everybody sings, even if we don't know you.
90 year old guys talking about the war and singing old songs with their friends there.
If I drink enough I may sing "God bless America" and sound a lot like Ethel Merman when I do.
If someone dies like an old customer we go to the funeral! Damn I hate funerals!

If you go in ask Sean the bartender if Tikiskip is there he will know.
Sean is GREAT with trivia and we try to stump him often.

That's how the Kahiki was to me as well.

When the owner dies that house of cards will come tumbling down you can bet, so go now.

It's a small club and the dues are the price of a drink.
That's a great place to me.

Windward Passage is an American gem

How tikiskip just described it is exactly how it is every time we go there

It's just like all these old nautical places in this thread, but it still exists. We love it so much!

CosmoReverb, yeah, Captain Jack's!

Oh, another thing about Harpoon Harry's. There were a lot of rooms in there, different themes. So in the back the fine dining area with C-shaped black leather booths and white tablecloths and the Rat Pack playing and the lighting was down to 2 from just the candlelights, and up front past the big fishtank is the nautical bar area with the long laquered or varnished wood bartop and the whole room looked like the inside of a ship ... but there was tiki in there, and that's really the main reason why we wondered how come no one in the LA tiki or retro scene ever seemed to care about the place. When you left the bar to go down the hall to the restrooms there was an alcove room, very small, just big enough for a couple of two-tops ... and there were a few old time phone booths recessed in the wall ... but this room was all done in old tapa cloth, and there was big bamboo trim and some stuff about Hawaii in there, but again this stuff was old, like it was all stained dark amber as if it had hung in a cigar shop for 80 years ... like the old stuff in the Hawaiian Room. We took a few shots and regrettably not enough, and we weren't there when the new owners took over and probably threw it all in the dumpster.